Laurie woke up at 4 am to a familiar “pop”

“Shit” Andy whispered in the dark.

“Was that you?”

“Yup” Laurie replied in a sleepy and disappointed tone.

Now both of our pads had busted. 

A few mornings prior Andy was sitting up stuffing his sleeping bag when his pad popped. Initially neither of us knew what had happened. On closer inspection we noted that one of the baffles had come undone. The pad didn’t deflate completely, but with one big lump in the middle of the pad, it wouldn’t be very comfortable to sleep on. We sleep on Exped hyperlite pads. They are super comfy but apparently not super resilient. 

Andy was willing to make it work until we got to Big Bear on Friday, but now that both of us would be sleeping on lopsided pads we decided to attend to the issue.

So today we took an unexpected zero. 

Andy called a friend who drove 2 hours to come and get us. Thanks Tony! We exchanged our pads at REI and Andy got a new backpack.

Andy has had his pack for over 6 years and dealt with minor discomforts thinking it was all just part of backpacking. Majority of the weight fell on his shoulders rather than his hips. With our heavy water carries these minor discomforts became more bothersome. We tried to fiddle with the straps and placement of the hip belt, but that only led to love handle chafage- not pleasant! Today Andy settled on the REI flash 65- we hope it is a keeper!

With only 2 days on trail, Laurie struggled with feeling like she didn’t “deserve” this day off. She felt she hadn’t walked far enough to have another feast and shower. Funny how these basic parts of life are interpreted in her mind as rewards, rather than just a benefit of living.

It is amazing how deep rooted internal monologues surface even on long journeys like this.

This, however, is the life of a thru hiker- learning to roll with the punches and change plans on a whim. Laurie, who is accustomed to plans, is slower to adapt to this way of life than Andy.

Once at the home of Andy’s parents we feasted twice, took a short nap, laundered our clothes and attended to “adult” issues like car insurance and health insurance. The day flew by.

It is now time for bed as tomorrow the adventure continues!

Today we are grateful for good friends and  Rei’s return policy.  

Date: April 18, 2016

Bushcamp (mile 193) to ziggy and the bear (mile 210.8)

Miles: 17.8

Today was all downhill. We wanted to start early since we would be dropping down into the heat of the desert but our sleeping bags were too cozy.

We woke up to see the sun slowly lighting up the face of Mt. San Jacinto. Laurie had taken a Benadryl the night before and was slow to rise. For the first time Andy was packed and ready before her. I guess next time he doesn’t need the 10 minute handicap. But he does need to work on his celebration dance 😅

We headed down into the dry, dusty valley. The windmills grew larger as we got closer. Lizards ran out of our way as we slowly descended. The trail was gradually graded but the sun and heat intensified as the day wore on.

Laurie entertained herself with an audiobook to distract from the endless seeming descent. Andy stared out into the opposing hills trying to figure out where the next days’ adventure would take us.

Finally, after 12 miles and 5,500 ft we reached a water faucet.

“Which came first- the water faucet or the PCT?” Andy asked.

Laurie didn’t know and was too hot and tired to try to think of an answer.

The downhill wasn’t fun. It was a slog. And it wasn’t that easy either. Although gently graded, the heat and long miles do take their toll.

We walked the next mile on a closed paved road. Laurie chuckled at herself as she paced back and forth trying to figure out how to get around or under the gate without having to take off her umbrella. Amazing how lazy we get sometimes!

It was then another 3 sandy miles to Ziggy and the Bear. The longest miles of Laurie’s life!

We dogged through the flat land, sinking into the sand with each step. Just brutal.

We walked under the railroad tracks and Interstate 10, then up a gentle incline, still walking on what seemed like quicksand to the Trail Angels ziggy and the bear.

Laurie was like a wilted flower when we finally arrived. The bear had us sign in and took a picture of us holding our names and number – like mugshots. We were hikers # 201 and 202. Crazy to think that 200 people are ahead of us this early in the season! Bear said that they had a total of 1,800 hikers last year.

Laurie came back to life after drinking a cold Gatorade. We soaked our feet, washed out our socks and hung out in the anarondack chairs on the porch. The entire backyard is covered in carpet and it felt good to walk around with barefeet. We ate dinner and chatted with other hikers until it was bedtime.

We thank ziggy and bear for their hospitality. This place is a safe haven from the desert heat and wind. It was also nice to end here after a tough day.

Tonight we are grateful for healthy limbs and water!

April 17, 2016

Humber Park to bushcamp (mile 193.0)

Miles: 13.6 PCT miles + 2.5 miles on Devils Slide Trail (16.1 total miles)

We loved Idyllwild but it was time to hike once more. Two nights in a bed were relaxing and restorative. But alas, the trail beckoned.

We got up around 6, did a little yoga, finished packing our backpacks and had a breakfast of leftover kabob, hummus and cake. There is nothing like starting the day with yummy leftovers!

We got a ride to Humber Park, where we caught the Devils Slide Trail, 2.5 miles and 1,600 ft up to Saddle Junction, where we picked up the PCT once again at mile 179.4.

We started hiking around 8:30am. It was chilly and windy but beautiful!. Laurie was in her happy place and even offered to move to LA if she could have a 2nd home in Iddylwild.

We were back to hiking in a proper forest – big trees at high elevation. The northern facing hillsides were covered in snow providing a nice contrast with the blue sky.

We walked through the pine forest- savoring the deep piney smell and soft ground underfoot. This is more like it! This is what we’re used to!

The San Jacinto mountains are beautiful. And even more so when draped in snow.

This beauty came at a price. In the shady areas of the trail, the snow was covered in ice and was super slippery. Andy didn’t like this at all. He isn’t comfortable on snow and it’s a good thing Laurie hikes in front of him or else she’d be laughing at him all day.

Once past the icy stretch of trail, we came to a junction where some hikers chose to take an alternate trail to the summit of Mt. San Jacinto, but not us. It was really blustery and since we had summited before, we choose to bypass it.

Then the PCT turned into a rollercoaster. Up and down, up then down. Eventually we had to drop 8,000 ft back onto the desert so every uphill felt like a mean joke. Mentally we had prepared for an initial elevation gain and long long descent, not a 15 mile roller coaster. We just kept reminding ourselves that we are out here to hike, and that every step gets us closer to Canada.

At mile 186.2 we got water for the next 20 waterless miles. This made Andy slightly nervous because it meant we would be hiking heavy through Fuller Ridge – notorious for having lots of icy,  slippery snow in the early season.

At the watering hole we met up once again with Kashmir. We chit chatted about our experiences in Idyllwild and about the Lake Fire trail closure coming up.

We finished our leftovers from yesterday’s feast, got 7 liters of water to share and continued on.

Most of the afternoon we leap frogged with Bluejay, a woman from Tennessee who hiked the Appalachian Trail 2 years ago.

Around mile 188 we got to Fuller Ridge. Andy thought we had already hiked through it given all the snow we had already encountered, but we hadn’t seen anything yet.

Carefully we made our way across the snow covered trail. Our progress was slowed to a dismal 1 mile per hour,  mainly because Andy is slow on the white stuff. Huge thanks to Laurie for her encouragement and advice to help him through it.

In all honesty, Fuller Ridge wasn’t that bad. Perhaps that’s because we hiked through it around 4pm when the snow was soft and not as slippery. Had we hiked through it at 7am, things could have been very different.

At 6pm, we hiked over the remaining snow and reached Fuller Ridge Campground. We elected not to camp here and hiked on another 3 miles to lose some elevation today and make tomorrow easier.

We hiked on into the golden hour. The mountains basked in an orange and purple glow. It was beautiful. No photograph we took could capture the beauty of this breathtaking desert sunset.

We hiked 11 hours today, until 7:30pm – the latest we’ve reached camp, happy to be done for the day. We thought we had covered more miles because of how long we hiked, but the snow really does make for slow going. No matter though. We enjoyed our hike and are happy to be camped in a place with a great view of Mt. San Jacinto.

Tonight we are grateful for leftovers and high elevation mountains.