Tehachapi to Walker pass

The first day out of town I hiked out of the wind farms and found an am a camp sight on top of a cliff. The next day I caught up with nails, banjo, and grapefruit at a water source. Nails and I split a Caramel Latte that Heather sent me! We hiked north to the next way source and took our afternoon break there. The next water was 43 miles away so I left late afternoon afternoon. Shortly after the sun went down my hip became to painful to walk so I rested until 2 A.M. I hiked out for 17 miles and then rested through the afternoon sun. After the heat passed i hiked another 15. I found a rock next to the trail to cowboy on top of. The next day I hiked a few miles into Walker Pass where I am now meeting up with Carissa!

The Anderson's to Tehachapi

Coming out of the Anderson's we hiked out of the forest into beautiful grass valleys with huge oak trees. We cowboy camped in a dry river bed and continued north. The trail took us into the high desert where we walked along the aquaduct. After we came off of the giant metal pipe we went through massive wind farms. We hiked the section at night to avoid the heat. We climbed out of the wind farms on ridges with wind coming by strong enough to throw us off the ridge. We came down from the gusty ridges to more wind farms and went into town to avoid some bad weather and resupply. Also we had some fun on the K-Mart kiddy rides.

A bih thank you to Jacob, Lisa, and Heather for sending me care packages! I love the support!

DSLR Pictures 2

Acton to The Andersons

I left the KOA in Acton at night with Banjo and Possum. We passed some awesome sandstone caves and tunnels and jammed on our instruments for a while. We camped within a days journey to The Andersons house and the next morning we woke up to storm clouds on our very close horizon. We packed up and headed out. Ten minutes later we had to throw on our rain gear. By the time we made it to the mountain pass there was hail snow and rain  whipping around in the wind. We ran off of the mountain and took shelter in a cove. We set up our tents and shed our cold wet clothes. Banjo made some hot chocolate and then we all went to bed. The next day it was very nice out, wildflowers are coming out bushes are green and the air is clean. Once we made it to the Anderson's the party started! I went for a 12 mile run along the road and stayed at the Anderson's for an extra night.

Out of Wrightwood, into Action

Coming out of Wrightwood Carissa met us at Sue's house and piled 9 people into her car with our bags on top. From there we joined the trail and climbed Baden-Powell. We made a fire and camped out in the sunset. A couple more days of hiking and we made it to a KOA west of Acton.

Storm into Wrightwood

Checking in again! We made it through the storm. Coming into wrightwood we were blasted by steering winds, snow, I've and thick fog. Once we got in we headed for the pub and everyone met up for the night. After crashing at a very expensive hotel we looked for a cheaper place to stay. I called Sue & Mike Holman, trail angels in Wrightwood and they took me and seven other hikers in for the night. They cooked us all chili, let us do our laundry, bathe, and soak our feet in Epsom salt. We all shared our stories and went to bed. The next morning we made breakfast for everyone and got ready to hit the task again. A huge thank you goes out to the Holman's! They have offered us some of the best trail magic so far on this trip!

Back to Hiking

I took a zero mile day on the fifth and shoved my face with McDonalds and Del Taco. Preparing for our next section I awoke to clouds surrounding us and snow above 5000ft. From here I have a 27 mile hike into Wrightwood with no water sources. It will be a very adventurous, difficult hike. Its days like this that I get to challenge myself! Of course safety is in the forefront of my mind and I will take lots of pictures! Look forward to the pictures guys!

DSLR Pictures

Coming out of Idllwild

May 4th

Today I walked/jogged a mind blowing 28 mile day. Half during the day and half during the full moon to make it to a del taco. We saw some pretty amazing things on the 28 mile hike but I really want to focus on how it feels to walk that far. At first you feel strong, you can power up hills and handle loose rock so you can look up and see everything. After a while your legs start to burn on the hills no matter how long your rest is. You're still able to look up, but more focus is spent on where you step. After 20 miles or so I start to take smaller steps. I keep the same pace but I don't raise my feet off the ground. This causes me to kick more rocks and my knees start to give. After pushing 28 miles with a fully loaded pack most of my attention is focused to the next five feet in front of me so I don't trip. Post hike I eat, eat, and eat. I had 5 half pound burritos, an Apple Danish, and two beers once I made it into town. I slept like a rock, even the trains on the bridge above where I was sleeping didn't wake me. After sleeping for seven hours I had three Apple pies, two egg mcmuffins, and a orange juice before passing out again. So far me and my fellow hikers have lost an average of 3-5 pounds.

May 3

Today I was able to hike alone for most of the day. I'm starting to split away from a lot of people and having solitude is nice. I thought a lot about the people I have met on the PCT. The people have been the best part of the trail. We are constantly helping each other or sharing. Conversations start easily and friendships and created quickly. Reflecting back to pre-PCT world, people wouldn't share, were too guarded to stay a conversation and almost allergic to new friendships most of the time. I pass through some burnt forest that is still recovering from a fire a couple years prior and end up at a stream where I find Banjo. After snacking and collecting water we run into a group of kids who were eager to try on our heavy, fully loaded, packs. We take off and hit some popular hot springs full of day hikers. We start seeing trash and graffiti. I pack out as much as I can carry but the amount of litter was overwhelming. That in combination with the graffiti made it the the worst 4 mile stretch of the PCT. If you ever decide to go hike, please leave the area better than you found it(don't leave any trash, fruit peels, toilet paper ect. Only your footprints). Afterwards I was so livid I ended up yelling at a small crowd who I caught littering. It leaves such an impact and it is so easy to pack it out! ANGER!

May 2

Before we left Big Bear, Alan came to visit again. We had breakfast and he got to observe us pack for the next five days into Wrightwood. We are pretty crazy when it comes to packing. Foxtrot, Banjo, and I were throwing around toilet paper, duck tape, climbing tape, and food we didn't want for ourselves. Afterwards we all climbed into the car and drove up to the Trail. We took a break from hiking through the scorched forest by a random picnic table. From there we continued to a beautiful campsite with a flowing river and big trees surrounding us. We finished off with our dinners and had a little bit of time to read and relax. Days like these make me happy to be on the PCT. I can't put the beauty and calmness into words. But falling to bed listening to the river flow and crickets chirp while you reflect on the sunset you just watched while sitting next to the nicest people on the planet and eating some half decent meal is paradise to me.

Big Bear, May 1st

A huge shout out to Miss Yvonne, Laura, Carissa, and my Mom for sending me a package! Laura sent me an amazing care package with chips(which I ate the second I saw them), candy bars, first aid supplies, new socks and lots of other things! After opening and reading ask the amazing packages Banjo, Foxtrot, and I set off for a day off slack packing(where you leave most of your gear behind for the day). We started off around 8:30 and went south bound for the day. Banjo and I knocked out thirty miles that day and saw a lot of amazing views and ran into a bunch of awesome people!

April 26th- April 30th

I just got my phone on the 30th coming into Big Bear City so I will upload the pictures next time I hit a computer!
On the first day out of Idyllwild I climbed San Jacinto at 10,834 ft. The night previous there was a nasty storm that left two people stranded and forced many hikers to retreat for the day. I walked through a foot of ice, snow, and slush alone. It was a scary trek to do alone but when I was at the top I ran into Foxtrot and Cuban-B. By the time I made it back to 8000ft I caught up with Grapefruit and Banjo. The next day we hiked down and passed mile 200. At the bottom of the hill Grapefruit's friend took us to an all you can eat buffet and the next morning we made it to Ziggy and the Bear. We night hiked out and took some amazing night photography (look for the photo updates) and camped at mile 223 on a bluff where we could see down the valley to Palm Springs. The next two days we climbed up into large pine forests into Big Bear Lake where we had three people offer Banjo and I a ride into town.