Day 0: mile 0.0 - 20.0

Hike your own hike
7L water + 4 days food = 41lb pack
Sun umbrellas are the shit
I'm either not allergic to poison oak, or its leaves aren't secreting the toxins yet
"Unregistered miles" is a term I'll be getting familiar with
New faces: Wrecker, Blondie, Tip Toe, Cowabunga, Hot Bait, David, Travis, Lauren, Wayne, Matthew, Daniel

I slept terribly last night. Got a solid three hours from 9-midnight, then stared at the ceiling of the wall tent until 5am. Scout and Frodo (the trail angels who help get hikers to the actual trailhead) had breakfast ready by 5:30, and we were out the door by 6. I'm not sure if it was nerves, but my normally large appetite was reduced to nothing. A few bites of scrambled eggs and a few pieces of fruit were all I could manage. No one else ate much either.

It was an hour drive to the trailhead. The first half was dead silent - maybe people were still waking up? But as we got further from civilization our collective energy started to rise, and by the time we got to the trailhead our car was bursting at its seams. We piled out, and after a whirlwind of pictures, were on our way.

There is no water on trail the first 20 miles, meaning we have to pack all enough with us. I went with 7L to be safe, but shit that made my pack heavy at the start, weighing in at around 41 pounds. We pretty much sprinted the first mile together, and as the adrenaline gradually wore off, settled down to our comfortable paces.

Everyone I have spoken with about thru-hiking leads with the same advice. Hike your own hike. Since no one from the initial group had the same cadence as me (they either walked faster and took longer/more breaks, walked slower and took shorter/fewer breaks, or walked slower and took longer/more breaks) I spent more than half of the first day hiking solo, albeit leapfrogging the same people countless times.

After a few hours the sun was beating down, shade was sparse, and it was HOT. When I first started researching gear for the PCT I was surprised to find a sun umbrella on the list. Now I know why. Hands down the most useful piece of gear on day 0. And with that chrome top, it is a hell of a fashion accessory.

Around 2pm, and 14.5 miles in, I decided to shade up and take a nap. I conveniently planned this so that I was in a canyon that normally runs water, but is dry this year. This means big oak trees, some grass, and a lot of shade. As soon as I set my pack down, nature called, so I grabbed my trowel and wandered off to dig a cathole (hiker talk for the hole that your solid human waste goes in). It is surprisingly hard to find a good secluded spot, not too far from the trail, with ground soft enough that you can dig an ~8" hole in. I found a good looking spot, dug my hole, and started doin my thing (there is a point to me telling you this, I swear). So I'm squatting there, and i start looking at the foliage around. Right in front of me is this pretty green plant, and I think "huh, that looks a lot like poison oak". Few second delay. "Shit, that IS poison oak... And the plants that are rubbing against my bare ass right now?" Yupppppp, poison oak. Awesome. Hopefully I have enough hydrocortisone to mitigate some of that damage (as of the time of this posting, nothing materialized from this little incident. Whew)

One snake, one nap, and all my water later. I rolled in to Lake Morena Campground. I was hoping to be done after 20 miles, but between the walk to the camp office to pay for my permit, and the walk to the actual campsite, it added about 3/4 of a mile to the day. I learned that these are called "unregistered miles", and people like to bitch about them. Sure, it's more walking, but you just signed up to do a 2,650 mile trail. What the hell did you expect?!?

I had every intent to be social, but once I crawled into my sleeping bag to reflect on the day, I wasn't getting back out. Also, it is really annoying to type all of this on a phone keyboard covered by an otter box case... Future days will probably be much more brief (imagine day 100... "Oregon is cool") but hopefully just as fun!

Ummmm... These are my feet after one day?!?

Day 1: mile 20.0 - 47.5

On the (wet) trail by 4:30am
Almost stepped on an owl
Where did the desert go?
Superglue and a screwdriver
New Faces: Charles, Bryan, Claire

3:30am wake up this morning after I laid in bed tossing and turning for 15 minutes. Between the 21 miles I wanted to cover before 5pm, the threatening rain (I was cowboy camping), and my full bladder, getting up didn't take much convincing.

Breakfast was powdered coconut milk and granola. Or rather, it was supposed to be powdered coconut milk and granola. Turns out that repackaging it, even in ziploc baggies, turn coconut powder into coconut rocks. So I had some very chunky milk. Need to figure out what to do about that, since that was my plan for breakfast for like the next four months...

I quickly realized I love hiking in the AM darkness. Legs are still fresh, air is cool, and there are animals out that you don't normally see. In addition to a few pairs of eyes whose owners I couldn't identify, I ran in to an owl. Almost literally. It's a good thing I was looking down, because there was this owl, about five feet away in the middle of the trail, staring at me. Still not sure what his problem was, but he squawked at me until I made a big circle around him and went on my way. I think I may have interrupted his dinner.

I hiked in fog until it was light enough to turn my headlamp off, and then hiked in fog for another few hours. I love those 15-30 minutes where you no longer need the headlamp, and it's just barely light enough for you to see the trail. I think an extra early start may become part of my routine.

My plan for the day was to make it 21 miles to Mt. Laguna before 5pm, since I needed to buy a bit of food to make it the next three days until my first resupply package. The hiking was easy and I made good time rising up out of the desert and in to the Ponderosa Pines near Mt. Laguna. I passed a bunch of people, chatted up a few, and spent the day leapfrogging ~5 others. You can tell who has roughly the same pace as you by how often you pass each other. These are the folks who i might end up hiking with, though to be honest this solo gig isn't half bad!

A few miles to go and I reach for my sunglasses in my pack, only to find them broken. And not just a loose screw. More like, "the frame decided to shear and you don't have a right lens anymore". Turns out superglue was one of the items in my first aid kit. As was a mini, 0.1oz screwdriver (thanks Mom!) I'm pretty sure supergluing the lens in place voids the return policy, but now I have a functional pair of shades! We'll see how long the patch job holds up.

Got to Mt. Laguna with plenty of time, grabbed the food i needed (roughly 3x markup from what I bought at home) and decided to try and make it to the next campground at mile 47.5. This was a little further than I initially wanted to push on the second day, but I was feeling good and the weather was stable. Rolled in to camp and pitched my tent just as the first rain drops were coming down. I'm expecting to sleep like a rock tonight.

Reminds me a bit of the country I used to archery hunt in...

Add this to the list of things to worry about

Day 2: mile 47.5 - 68.5

More rain, ironically
Uncharted territory
New Faces: Smiles, Sophie, Jesse, Claire, Meagan, Alexander, Max

No trouble sleeping last night. If anything, it was the opposite problem. Sooooo hard to get out of bed this morning. I'll attribute that to the rain. It had rained and blown all night, and it wasn't shaping up to be a good day. After more coconut rocks and granola for breakfast, I packed up, saving the tent for last. If there is a good way to take a tent down in the rain without getting it soaked, I haven't figured it out yet. At least everything else i have is dry. And hopefully the weather breaks and I have some time to dry it out today...

Despite the rain, it was 21 miles until the next reliable water source on trail. While I probably could have filtered some of the puddles in the trail, or gone a few miles off trail, I decided to carry 4L to last me the full 21 miles. There was a certain irony in packing 9 pounds of water on my back as I hiked out of camp to the pitter-patter of rainfall.

This is the day that I thought things would start getting interesting. I have done two-day, fifty mile backpacking trips before, and know that my body can handle that. But three days and 70 miles? Four days and 90 miles? Zero experience there. I assume there will be some new aches and pains as the miles build up, so now is when I really need to listen to my body...

...which I did a poor job of for most of today. Turns out when it is raining and windy, the last thing you want to do is stop, take off your shoes, and stretch. So with the exception of a few brief snack breaks, and a longer "lunch" (consisting of a tortilla and two packets of almond butter) I was on my feet all day. Although this is the high desert, it is still very green from the spring rains. And with marginal elevation gain/loss, it made for an easy 21 miles. The last five went a little slower, as the feet got sore, but when I stopped I wanted to stop for good.

I rolled in to the campsite at 4pm, just as a flash flood warning was issued for the area. My timing couldn't have been better. Tent was up and rainfly was on just as all hell started breaking loose. The inside was still damp from the morning, but my little towel did a good job of taking care of that. And I was still much drier than the hikers who rolled in ten minutes later and had to pitch their tents in the downpour.

So now I'm sitting here in a dry tent, cooking some instant mashed potatoes, listening to the rain while one of the other hikers camped here plays Over The Rainbow on his ukulele. Life is good :)

Day 3: mile 68.5 - 93.2

Could probably use a shower
Take the water report with a grain of salt
More superglue
Brown, brown, brown, purple!!
I need to learn more about ecology, geology, ornithology, and all those other -oligies related to nature

Slept through my 4am alarm, then woke up at 5 on the dot. It was bright enough that I didn't need my headlamp to eat and break camp, which I did at a leisurely pace. On the trail by 6am, before any of the other ~8 tents were stirring. And just in time to catch the tail end of a sunrise!

The first mile was slooowwwww. Every step was carefully placed, as my feet were sore and my calves were tight. Step by step things started to loosen up. About mile 5 I raised my arm to take off my beanie, and caught a whiff of myself. Gross. I think I'll try and keep my arms down as much as possible... By the time I finished the 9 miles to highway 78 at Scissors Crossing, the feet and joints were long warmed up, and I was on cruise control.

When I left camp that morning, I had a few options. I could 1) put enough water on my back to make it the ~33 miles to the next 'reliable' water supply, 2) pack 9 miles worth and hope for a water cache at Scissors Crossing, or 3) pack 9 miles worth and bank on one of the 'less reliable' sources about 3/10 of a mile off-trail at Scissors crossing. I went with option 2, which is not smart because you are never supposed to rely on water caches. And i wasn't. Option 3 was a solid backup, and plan C - to hitch 12 miles W to Julian on Highway 78 - was a legit safety net.

A brief aside on how PCT thru-hikers generally plan where to refill their water bottles. www.pctwater.net (referred to as "The Water Report") is managed by two former thru-hikers. They take updates from active thru-hikers (via email, text, or voice message when service allows) on the quality/flow rate of water sources. The Water Report is updated daily, and available in PDF format to download to your phone for off-line access. They simplify things by clearly delineating which water sources flow reliably, and which you might want to think twice about.

So i was pleased to find (after the water cache at Scissors Crossing was indeed nonexistent) a freaking stream(!!!) flowing at this "unreliable" water source. As I bottled 6L and drank a 7th, I made a mental note to be a bit more critical in my use of the water report.

I also used the water break to re-fix my sunglasses. Only about half of the initial superglue job held up. Now the whole freaking lens is superglued in to the frame. And I didn't glue my fingers to the frame this time. AND I can still see out of the lenses. Win.

I ended up logging 24.7 miles today. I stopped at a campsite with the intention of cooking dinner and logging a few more miles, but once my butt hit the dirt, it was all I could do to get the tent up and crawl inside, let alone walk for another two hours.

Today was more desert hiking. I think growing up hunting and camping in eastern Nevada (read: high desert) makes this seemingly boring landscape tug at some nostalgic emotions. And it is so neat to see brown, brown, brown, for miles on end, and then BAM!! you get this brilliant purple cacti flower in the middle of a random barren hillside.

Nature is awesome. And I realized today I know so little about what I am walking through. I can't identify half the plants. Or the birds. Or make heads or tails of how different rocks were made. I'm going to check out some of the resources available and dedicate time on future legs of the journey to learning more about what I am walking by. I should be able to do this at my next resupply point. Which, if my feet don't have other ideas, I'll arrive at tomorrow afternoon!

I saw this sticker as I was passing by, took a few more steps, got it, laughed, and then had to turn around and snap a picture to share it

I could just take the road to Warner Springs...

Day 4: mile 93.2 - 109.5

If you can't sleep, might as well walk...
First century down!
Time for a break

The wind beat the crap out of my tent last night. It really picked up around 2am, and after lying in my sleeping bag listening to it howl for half an hour, I thought "This is ridiculous. If I'm not going to sleep, I might as well start walking and get this next 16 miles knocked out." So I pulled the plug on my sleeping pad, which kicks off my "break camp" routine. I was on the trail, guided by my headlamp, by 3:20am.

I only saw one pair of eyes in the headlamp as I racked up about five miles before dawn. After it had been light enough to walk without the headlamp for a bit, I hit a little milestone on the trial: my first century. As you might guess, a century is hiker lingo for 100 miles. And I don't think those hundred miles were half bad! Only twenty five and a half more centuries to go...

How many more times do I get to do that!?!

But don't get distracted by that - first things first. I made it to my next water stop (which also appeared to be a popular campground) by 6:30. There was something satisfying about having already covered 9 miles just as some people were rolling out of their tents. Then again, these are probably the same people who passed me after I pitched my tent at 5pm last night. I had my second breakfast (I think this is the start of what people refer to as "hiker hunger", but the jury is still out here) and was on the trail for another quick 9 miles to Warner Springs.

I have a resupply package waiting for me at the Warner Springs Post Office. Unfortunately I didn't time things very well, as they are closed on Sundays. So I'll stick around town and rest until they open tomorrow morning. The Warner Springs Resource Center let hikers do laundry (i.e. gives you a five-gallon bucket, detergent, and a clothes line), shower, and connect to WiFi. So I'll be spending the rest of today here, cleaning up a bit, catching up on anything I might have missed, sleeping, eating, and getting ready for the next leg of this journey.