Miya
Because I am able.
- Joined
- Dec 31, 2017
- Messages
- 1,404
Days: 21 - 47
Miles: 208.5 - 565.4
Zero Days: 3
Thru-hiker trick, always wash your socks several times before you put them in the washer. If you can spare the money, wash your socks in a different machine completely. If you don't do this, the chance of your sock funk contaminating the rest of your clothes is almost an absolute certainty.
This rattler joined me on my snack break. He was super cooperative, but I couldn't manage to get an in focus shot while I was backing up.
This section from Banning to Bear Lake, was stunning, but for some reason there were no other thru hikers. It was going to be a hot one and there was flooding a couple years prior that was supposed to have left the trail difficult to navigate (it wasn't). From what I would find out of the majority of other hikers on trail, I can now safely assume they waited for cooler temperatures or they SKIPPED this section. Yes, it was extremely rare to come across other hikers who hiked the entirety of the trail. I never considered myself a Purist, but turns out I am.
When I could find Spam singles I never settled for cold. I always took my pot lid, put it directly on my burner, and very carefully seared it. Other thru hikers lost their Spam to the dirt trying to do this maneuver, so proceed with caution if you try to attempt yourself.
The desert section of the PCT is actually a lot of ups and downs. It is not flat. You ascend and descend all day, everyday. Sawyer and I drank some...maybe vodka? and used the cooler temps to climb. By this time, I was no stranger to night hiking. I struggled with the heat and so most of my days started at 10 or 11 AM, lots of breaks in between, and ended at midnight - 02:00 AM. We saw a mountain lion, watching us not too far away, but it left and so did we.
This life, not wasted. Maybe eaten by an animal, or maybe just consumed and returned to the earth.
In the earlier miles, there are more '50' mile markers. Probably because hikers are still so excited!
No Face and Yubaba made an appearance.
My most cramped hitch, lying on top of STUFF in the back of a van with our resupply.
Food seemed to be of interest to people. I would always repack my food into Ziplocs. I know some thru hikers are trying to use less plastic and that might be something I attempt my next thru hike, but I sure as heck didn't think about it this time around.
Eh, my hair just looks good. No trail name yet, but it would come.
NightRyder was not a purist. He got off trail due to another injury for 80 miles, but met back up with us. We were reunited and enjoyed some English Muffin sandwiches. English Muffins ended up being something I would try to always have in my pack.
300 Miles down
Shortly after mile 300, we would reach McDonald's. I walked to Subway instead and someone tried to give me $5 because they thought I was homeless. I returned it. I would leave NightRyder and Tom Sawyer here, since they wanted to stay and zero in their home town. We would meet back up at the next resupply in Acton.
I got to be above the clouds!
I would reach my first trail closure. Lucky me, there was a PCTA approved 22 mile highway walk around. Since I would be road walking, I put on my trail runners, only to discover they no longer fit. By the end of this closure, my feet would be wrecked, and it would take nearly 200 miles before they felt normal again. The alternate was extremely unsafe as the highway was used by little sports cars who would race up and down it. I would leap frog with PCT hikers that decided to hike the trail closure after almost getting hit by one of the cars. I managed to survive and made my own mile marker when I was able to rejoin the PCT. This experience would make me question future closures and some of the PCTA approved/not approved alternates.
I was getting pretty tan.
Wished I had been at this pink house during a cool sunset!
Vasquez Rocks were neat.
Happy to be back with my Tramily (I did not graffiti the pole)! Another part of the PCT that follows a busy, fast road.
This was still early enough in the season that the PCT wasn't too crowded. I was able to take a nap on trail and no hikers came by.
We would come to another PCT closure due to fire from the previous year. There was no approved alternate and the PCTA was not recommending roadwalking. Considering some of the PCT is actually on a road/highway and the previous approved closure was on an extremely dangerous highway, I decided I would roadwalk anyways. It ended up adding some miles onto the hike, but I think only a few.
We ran into other thru hikers along the road and someone even pulled over and gave us cold Gatorade!
We camped when rejoining the PCT and got to talk to all the people who went ahead and just hiked the closure. They said there were some downed trees but barely any burn. Shucks. Wished I had just walked the closure haha Made my own marker again.
Heading to the LA Aqueduct!
Made it! We resupplied at a small shop, took a nap at Hikertown and then around 17:00, headed out to tackle this long exposed section.
'Oh...that fire looks pretty close. Hopefully I am not walking to it.' Indeed, we did walk closer to it as the night lagged on, but it was small and we could see firemen working to put it out. I don't like to turn around...I suppose this would mark the beginning of mine and my Tramily's close call with fires and fire closures. Oooh yes, this was only the beginning.
My folks met us in Tehachapi and took us all out for dinner and drinks! I NEVER thought I would be in a laundromat with my family. Funny how life can surprise you!
Tropical Starbursts have always been a favorite of mine and I NEVER got sick of them on trail. Off trail, I am low carb. On trail, I carried a 3-6lb bag of candy for EVERY resupply.
Before trail, I used to have Starbucks 5-6 times a week (granted it was 1 shot of espresso), but I figured I would crave it a lot more on trail. I definitely liked to have it in town, but it wasn't what I craved most.
I feel like I do a disservice by being so vague. Just know that not EVERYDAY had something amazing or special. Most of the days, you just walk. But, when I look back at my journal and read each entry for each day, I REMEMBER each day. There is something special about having so little and experiencing so little. Through these miles, there was a Jack in the Box delivery, another mountain lion encounter, more intoxicated hikes (which is how our Tramily name became the Intoxicated Night Ascenders), a pizza delivery mishap, my worst tent pitch, a side trail from hell, and many more anecdotes!
Miles: 208.5 - 565.4
Zero Days: 3
Thru-hiker trick, always wash your socks several times before you put them in the washer. If you can spare the money, wash your socks in a different machine completely. If you don't do this, the chance of your sock funk contaminating the rest of your clothes is almost an absolute certainty.
This rattler joined me on my snack break. He was super cooperative, but I couldn't manage to get an in focus shot while I was backing up.
This section from Banning to Bear Lake, was stunning, but for some reason there were no other thru hikers. It was going to be a hot one and there was flooding a couple years prior that was supposed to have left the trail difficult to navigate (it wasn't). From what I would find out of the majority of other hikers on trail, I can now safely assume they waited for cooler temperatures or they SKIPPED this section. Yes, it was extremely rare to come across other hikers who hiked the entirety of the trail. I never considered myself a Purist, but turns out I am.
When I could find Spam singles I never settled for cold. I always took my pot lid, put it directly on my burner, and very carefully seared it. Other thru hikers lost their Spam to the dirt trying to do this maneuver, so proceed with caution if you try to attempt yourself.
The desert section of the PCT is actually a lot of ups and downs. It is not flat. You ascend and descend all day, everyday. Sawyer and I drank some...maybe vodka? and used the cooler temps to climb. By this time, I was no stranger to night hiking. I struggled with the heat and so most of my days started at 10 or 11 AM, lots of breaks in between, and ended at midnight - 02:00 AM. We saw a mountain lion, watching us not too far away, but it left and so did we.
This life, not wasted. Maybe eaten by an animal, or maybe just consumed and returned to the earth.
In the earlier miles, there are more '50' mile markers. Probably because hikers are still so excited!
No Face and Yubaba made an appearance.
My most cramped hitch, lying on top of STUFF in the back of a van with our resupply.
Food seemed to be of interest to people. I would always repack my food into Ziplocs. I know some thru hikers are trying to use less plastic and that might be something I attempt my next thru hike, but I sure as heck didn't think about it this time around.
Eh, my hair just looks good. No trail name yet, but it would come.
NightRyder was not a purist. He got off trail due to another injury for 80 miles, but met back up with us. We were reunited and enjoyed some English Muffin sandwiches. English Muffins ended up being something I would try to always have in my pack.
300 Miles down
Shortly after mile 300, we would reach McDonald's. I walked to Subway instead and someone tried to give me $5 because they thought I was homeless. I returned it. I would leave NightRyder and Tom Sawyer here, since they wanted to stay and zero in their home town. We would meet back up at the next resupply in Acton.
I got to be above the clouds!
I would reach my first trail closure. Lucky me, there was a PCTA approved 22 mile highway walk around. Since I would be road walking, I put on my trail runners, only to discover they no longer fit. By the end of this closure, my feet would be wrecked, and it would take nearly 200 miles before they felt normal again. The alternate was extremely unsafe as the highway was used by little sports cars who would race up and down it. I would leap frog with PCT hikers that decided to hike the trail closure after almost getting hit by one of the cars. I managed to survive and made my own mile marker when I was able to rejoin the PCT. This experience would make me question future closures and some of the PCTA approved/not approved alternates.
I was getting pretty tan.
Wished I had been at this pink house during a cool sunset!
Vasquez Rocks were neat.
Happy to be back with my Tramily (I did not graffiti the pole)! Another part of the PCT that follows a busy, fast road.
This was still early enough in the season that the PCT wasn't too crowded. I was able to take a nap on trail and no hikers came by.
We would come to another PCT closure due to fire from the previous year. There was no approved alternate and the PCTA was not recommending roadwalking. Considering some of the PCT is actually on a road/highway and the previous approved closure was on an extremely dangerous highway, I decided I would roadwalk anyways. It ended up adding some miles onto the hike, but I think only a few.
We ran into other thru hikers along the road and someone even pulled over and gave us cold Gatorade!
We camped when rejoining the PCT and got to talk to all the people who went ahead and just hiked the closure. They said there were some downed trees but barely any burn. Shucks. Wished I had just walked the closure haha Made my own marker again.
Heading to the LA Aqueduct!
Made it! We resupplied at a small shop, took a nap at Hikertown and then around 17:00, headed out to tackle this long exposed section.
'Oh...that fire looks pretty close. Hopefully I am not walking to it.' Indeed, we did walk closer to it as the night lagged on, but it was small and we could see firemen working to put it out. I don't like to turn around...I suppose this would mark the beginning of mine and my Tramily's close call with fires and fire closures. Oooh yes, this was only the beginning.
My folks met us in Tehachapi and took us all out for dinner and drinks! I NEVER thought I would be in a laundromat with my family. Funny how life can surprise you!
Tropical Starbursts have always been a favorite of mine and I NEVER got sick of them on trail. Off trail, I am low carb. On trail, I carried a 3-6lb bag of candy for EVERY resupply.
Before trail, I used to have Starbucks 5-6 times a week (granted it was 1 shot of espresso), but I figured I would crave it a lot more on trail. I definitely liked to have it in town, but it wasn't what I craved most.
I feel like I do a disservice by being so vague. Just know that not EVERYDAY had something amazing or special. Most of the days, you just walk. But, when I look back at my journal and read each entry for each day, I REMEMBER each day. There is something special about having so little and experiencing so little. Through these miles, there was a Jack in the Box delivery, another mountain lion encounter, more intoxicated hikes (which is how our Tramily name became the Intoxicated Night Ascenders), a pizza delivery mishap, my worst tent pitch, a side trail from hell, and many more anecdotes!
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