Date: April 14, 2016

Bushcamp (mile 140.3) to bushcamp (mile 155.9)

Miles: 15.6
(plus 2 off trail miles roundtrip to Paradise Valley Cafe)

Neither of us slept well. Andy woke up every hour after midnight mostly due to shoulder and IT band pain. His IT bands are insanely tight and always bother him when sleeping on a pad while backpacking (despite having the luxurious Exped Hyperlite air mattress.)

Laurie is still fighting a cold and woke up many times in a pool of yellow snot. Sudafed helps, but not for the 9 hours we sleep per night.

Backcountry problems…

Laurie is a real trooper. “It’s gonna take more than this to get me off the trail.” She’s quite the inspiration!

We woke up at 5:45 and we’re ready to hike at 6:32. We’re getting faster breaking camp and getting in the morning miles.

Just before we started walking, Andy went off trail to have his morning pee and almost peed on a snake. It was coiled and never moved a millimeter, as though it was asleep. Just goes to show, we have to be alert every moment we’re out here.

We love hiking early in the morning. The desert sunrises are beautiful and temperatures are cool.

The trail today climed, plateaud, descended and climbed some more. The first 100 or so miles of the PCT were gently graded, as though it was taking it easy on us. But now, it’s getting steep. Today we climbed our first real switchbacks – a moment of familiarity amongst unfamiliar territory.

We also passed two water caches, one that was empty and one that was stocked. The second cache, called Malibu East, was wonderfully maintained by trail angel Mary. She had a food box, a mini library, picnic tables, trash and recycle bins and a really cool surfboard for hikers to sign.

Not having these caches on any maps and stumbling upon them is a real treat. Thank you Mary for putting smiles on our faces and giving us a place to rest our feet for a while.

By noon we were at Hwy 74. We hiked 12 miles by 12pm! We also contemplated whether we should go to Paradise Valley Cafe or not as we still weren’t craving any food. Ultimately we decided to go because it was our only dependable water source for the next 10 miles.

We tried hitching the one mile from the trail crossing to the cafe but only half heartedly. And when none of the first 10 cars stopped, we started walking. The smells of hamburgers penetrated our noses about a quarter mile away from the cafe. It was lunch time and we started feeling hungry.

We enjoyed lunch with Kiter, a man who we’ve been seeing on the trail and at camp the last 2 nights.

We ordered a Greek salad and a burger. The food was delicious! And the salad was HUGE. They definitely know their hiker customers and have portions to satisfy any hunger. Kiter order extra fries which he shared with us. Thanks Kiter!

After lunch we reserved a room in Idyllwild (Yay!), coordinated the visit with Andy’s parents, charged our phones and chatted with fellow hikers. Paradise Valley Cafe is very hiker friendly, and so are the people we’re hiking with right now. But alas we had to break away from the pack. Most of the other hikers were going to have dinner, camp and have breakfast at the cafe, but not us. We like sleeping in the woods.

Again we tried to hitch, but Andy wasn’t a willing participant since it was only 1 mile back to the trailhead. We soon gave up as cars honked at us and made hand gestures but didn’t stop. So we walked back to the trailhead. Laurie was feeling defeated.

It was now 4:45pm and Laurie was tired, grumpy and snotty. And her blisters were starting to hurt. She was ready to be done walking for the night.

Unfortunately we still had 3.5 miles to hike before making camp. The wind picked up and the dark grey clouds gathered yet again.

“If it rains, I may start crying. I’ll keep going, but I’ll be crying.”

Happily, it didn’t rain. We got to camp sooner than expected and all was well.

Laurie’s smile returned when she drank her hot apple cider, a treat she found in the hiker box.

It’s now 9:20pm, twenty minutes past hiker midnight. We are camped alone, surrounded by oak trees sheltering us from the wind and moonlight partially lighting our tent. We’re hoping to sleep better in these cool temperatures.

Tonight we are grateful for open communication and early birthday text messages from friends (it’s Laurie’s birthday tomorrow!!)

Date: April 13, 2016

Bushcamp (mile 123.9) to bushcamp (mile 140.3)

Miles: 16.4

We slept on a little knoll amongst the boulders. It was the best campsite so far. We watched the sun fade behind the  mountains showering the opposing hills with an alpine glow. This morning we watched the sun rise while drinking hot beverages in our sleeping bags. It was such a wonderful treat!

We took our time getting ready and finally rolled out of camp around 8:15. Three or four hikers past by as we were getting ready and we shared a friendly “good morning.”

We are starting to create a hiking community. There are familiar faces at the water stops and camping spots- each person hiking their own hike but with a common goal- to keep going. We help one another out- commiserate about blisters and relish the moments of shade and wind.

Today felt like real desert hiking. The trail was hot- at times too windy to hike with our umbrellas so we resorted to hats and sunscreen. Both work but it is quite nice to get to camp without a thick layer of sunscreen and dirt on our faces.

In the morning, we hiked about 3 miles to Mike’s Place (a trail angel who makes pizzas in his pizza oven for hikers), grabbed 5 liters of water and left soonafer. We are still eating well with the food we’ve packed for this section and chose to skip the glutenous temptations of pizza and breakfast burritos.

The trail climbed most of the morning. As it began to descend, we remained on a ridge overlooking a small city. In the distance we could see a snow capped peak and large mountains in between. It is crazy to think that we may be walking through those mountains in a few weeks.

While on the ridge with the town in view we checked to see if we had service. Text messages and app alerts immediately came through. We were pleasantly surprised to see a town fund donation from someone we don’t know. The trail magic continues.

We are choosing not to disclose names on our blog so the donator shall remain anonymous. Thank you very much for your kind words and generous donation, we really, really appreciate it!

Throughout the day we took a few shoes off breaks to rest our feet and air out our sweaty socks. Our original plan was to wash and switch socks regularly throughout the day but with water sources every 10 miles we somewhat abandoned that plan.

Our feet are happy though. Or as happy as they can be with hiking 15 miles day after day. Laurie’s blisters didn’t require minor surgery tonight so we consider that an improvement. It still takes at least 10 min to prep our feet each morning but it is totally worth it!

We walked past many dry creek beds scattered with small white flowers. Small yellow and purple flowers line the trail in other areas. There is an unexpected beauty to the desert this time of year. To compliment the flora, the only fauna we encountered today was a curious horny toad.

Throughout the day, we ponder many things. One of them is thay the hiking life is simple. You wake up – pack all of your belongings into a backpack – and start walking. You stop when you want, eat when you want and go to the bathroom when you want.

Our bodies are free to find their natural rhythms. In the city, we eat and poop around work schedules. It is nice to let our bodies rather than clocks dictate our routines.

We made it to our planned campsite but there were already 3 people set up. One guy suggested a spot just up the trail. We lay here now starting up at the stars nestled between bushes, relatively protected from the wind.

Tomorrow we head to Paradise Cafe to sort out a plan for the next few days since our original itinerary gets us in to Idyllwild on Saturday when all the hotels have a 2 night minimum and are booked solid. We’ll figure it out. We always do.

Tonight we are grateful for laughter when brushing our teeth and unexpected generosity of strangers.

Date: April 12, 2016

Warner Springs (mile 109.5) to bushcamp (mile 123.9)

Miles: 14.4

We slept well in tent city. Andy has been waking up between 5:40 – 5:50 every morning without an alarm and today was no different. But since we were in no hurry to leave, Laurie slept in until 7.

We enjoyed our lazy morning. This gave Laurie time to come up with a tape job that provided more padding and support under her left foot. It sure was creative. But the miles would reveal if she was successful.

We tried drying out our tent fly before packing up but that didn’t work. Everything was just too wet.

Around 9:45 we started walking. We felt good – Laurie was still a bit stuffy but smiling.

We started by walking through more feilds filled with small purple wildflowers. It was nice to enjoy the view without the looming dark clouds. The skies were clear, a gentle breeze kept us cool inn the shade of our umbrellas and we were happy hikers.

The trail steadily climbed from 3,000 ft up to 5,000 ft. This time not as gradual as before. There weren’t as many views as we were hidden among tall shrubs but it was interesting seeing desert plants mixed in with trees. Gentle reminders that we were still in the desert. The views opened up as we gained elevation.

We didn’t see many people today until mile 118.6 at Lost Valley Spring. Watering holes tend to be places many hikers take extended breaks.

We chit chatted with other hikers that arrived as we finished getting our water. One of the guys we’ve been seeing on the trail the last few days is James. We gave James Nutrasilver colloidal silver to treat his water with – he was very grateful.

He thanked us and said that we’re a good team. It caught us by surprise that others notice our interactions. It was nice to hear what he thought of our teamwork.

We carried 3 liters each to our dry camp 5.3 miles away and for the 3.4 miles to Mike’s Place – a local trail angel with a water tank near his home. We are making sure we drink plenty to feel at our best.

We exchanged many friendly hellos with other hikers we passed, who later passed us. Trail leap frog as we call it. Not much conversation as most everyone was hiking fast to get to Mike’s Place. The promise of pizza is too good to pass up for many!

We like sleeping outdoors and weren’t craving pizza so we found a nice spot in a boulder field and set up camp. It might get cold tonight, down into the mid 30s, so we reluctantly put up the rain fly.

Another satisfying day of hiking in the books. It’s our kind of 9 – 5. Well, 10 – 6..you get the point.

Oh, and we’re happy to report that Laurie’s creative tape job worked! She was in minimal pain all day and still had to drain the pesky blister at night, but it seems to be healing. Unfortunately though Laurie noticed a hot spot on her right heel. It’s minor and she caught it early so the caterpillar probably won’t become a butterfly 😉

It’s 8:30pm now. We are fed, our teeth brushed and we’re ready for bed. Night night.

Tonight we are grateful for dry trails and more frequent watering holes.