Day 5, 2.87 miles

I woke up this morning in the sandy wash and checked for mountain lion prints right away but didn’t find any. Andre woke up shortly after I did and I helped him discover Pop Tarts, haha. 

“Thank you, this is a great breakfast!”

I know in yesterday’s post I said the sun gets hot at 8:30, but it definitely got hot at 7:30 today. We’d been descending down down down into the desert floor and were now feeling the heat! 

I told Andre I’d meet him in Julian, and headed off. It was a pretty uneventful few miles except that there are suddenly TONS more cactus! The trail hit the highway and followed it for a bit, and eventually I made it to Scissors Crossing. There under the bridge I met another hiker named Alon from Israel. He had camped right near the highway last night and was also going to hitch into Julian.

Alon

This picture was from later in the day but I just wanted to give you a face for the name!

Alon and I walked down highway 78 for a bit just passed where another road connects to it. I’m glad we did because in a few minutes, a car pulled out from that road headed towards Julian and stopped to pick us up. If we stood before that road we would’ve missed the ride! The hitchhiker-picker-upper was named Sonny. He lives in the area and commutes to work past Julian everyday. 

He was very nice and drove VERY fast! Alon and I crammed in the back of the cluttered sedan and we zipped up the windy 40 mph country road doing at least 60 all the way to Julian! We thanked him and got out, I was pretty surprised I didn’t lose my pop tart breakfast! After walking for 5 days at 2mph, driving and making crazy turns at 60mph is pretty intense.

We walked up to Carmen’s Garden. CLOSED (except for hiker trash!!) What a beautiful oasis in the desert. Carmen is a trail angel in Julian that owns this restaurant. I’m glad I started my hike when I did because as of May 1st she’ll no longer be open to thru-hikers as she’s selling the restaurant. In 2016, Claire and I didn’t stay here but we saw Carmen in the general store and she gave us a ride back to Scissors Crossing!

Carmen

It was so wonderful spending my nero (near zero) day here. Carmen’s helped Sierra greeted me and gave me a nice clean tub of super hot water. First I soaked and washed my blistered feet three times and took off all the old bandages. Then I washed my dirt-face (above picture taken after the face wash) and I added my dirty clothes into a load of laundry to be washed.

Next came the fun part.. I popped 12!! blisters on my feet, yeeeeeouch! Why would I do that to myself? Well, for us hikers, it’s better to pop the blisters so that we don’t continue walking on them and making them worse. It actually doesn’t hurt that bad, you just break the skin with a needle and make sure everything drains out, before slapping some Leukotape back on and walking the next 20 miles. :p Becasue I took a nero here I was able to add the extra step of applying some salve to them and letting them completely dry out overnight before taping them up.

Sarah (with her dog Porter), let me use a sweet salve that worked miracles on my dried, gross blister-laden feet.. Climb On. Mainly used by rock climbers for dried cracked skin and open cuts.

This stuff is magic.

After my laundry was done and I had elevated my feet for a bit, it was time to go get my free pie from Mama’s bakery. They are a great little store in Julian that offered a free slice of pie and a lemonade (otherwise ~$12), to PCT hikers that show their long distance hiking permits. It was there that I saw a familiar face, PUMA!!

Puma

Puma thru-hiked the trail in 2016 and Claire and I met him/talked to him a number of times. He was one of the last hikers to see us after we got sick and before we got off trail! It was so great to catch up with him. He’s FLYING this time around, I believe he started on the 21st and has been doing 20+ miles everyday. No blisters! I could learn a thing or twelve.. his girlfriend started a few weeks ahead of him and he’s planning to catch up with her in a bit. I think that’s so cool!

We said goodbye and he headed back out onto the open trail. After hitting the grocery store and picking up some flip flops (I forgot to get some before I started), I headed back to Carmen’s for more relaxation. I met many hikers during the day there, some just arriving, some leaving that had already stayed a night out on the porch. 

When Carmen was leaving for the day the invited us hikers to come have a shot with her. She accidentally poured two extras, and just before we were about to take them, two hikers, Kayleigh and Debbie, entered the restaurant and received instant tequila shots. What a greeting! I said goodbye to Carmen for what will most likely be the last time :( She is so awesome and treats everyone like family. After leaving she leaves her restaurant open to us to sleep inside/outside, take advantage of free soda, and even a free beer on the honor system (see first pic) 

Speaking of free stuff, check out what someone left in the hiker box!!

Must be a $20 jar! I just scooped all of this into my big plastic peanut butter jar and it’s a great mix! 

Later in the evening Alon and I decided we would go eat at the Julian Grille, and the idea spread like wildfire! Out bro-date turned into a party of 10! It was really really fun meeting everyone at dinner and talking story. It seemed that everyone had a couple funny stories to add to the conversation. I told them my “Desert Creature Religion Theory”, you may vaguely remember this touched on in 2016. I’ll go into more detail about it at a later time, so you’re just gonna have to wait and keep reading! Gotta do something to keep this blog interesting, hahaha.

Roy took this sweet selfie of our 10 top. I’m in between smiles as we had no count down, that’s why my face looks weird. Roy was almost a pro surfer and I geeked out in his surfing “portfolio” that he had on his phone. This guy had surfed 20ft+ Hawaiian scale waves on the North shore of Oahu. If you know, you know.. let’s just say he’s really really good.

The cheapest AND biggest thing ordered on the table. I figured since I don’t eat much veggies on trail I need to stock up in town! This filled me up :)

I got to talk to Claire for over an hour after dinner. I miss her a lot... I lost my little bracelet she made me for the trail today at Carmen’s and no matter how hard I looked I couldn’t find it. It make me super sad. I know that’s a trivial thing to be sad about, but when you have so few possessions out here on the trail, losing something that someone close to you MADE for you is like losing a friend :( It’s all in my head of course and she said no problem and that she’d make me another one! :)

I’m sleeping out on the porch tonight at Carmen’s and plan on getting a nice and early start tomorow to beat the heat! Trout rolled in while we were at dinner and he’s going to let me have some of his leukotape for my (hopefully healed up) blisters in the morning. 

Thanks for reading! 

Day 4, 18.47 miles

What a crazy rollercoaster! Today was so so so so HOT in all caps!! Even though it seems like two days ago, I woke up this morning to witness a high desert sunrise in my beautiful boulder-side tentsite. Pictures below as promised!

Complete with wind protection!

#iwokeuplikethis

My hamstrings were extra sore this morning, so I actually started at a pretty mellow pace. Soon everything warmed up and I was feeling fine! I’m realizing it’s extra extra important to get those morning miles in since things start to get hot around 8:30am!

The first few miles of trail were comprised of yet again my favorite surface:

Who put that there?!

I soon approached today’s important water result point. It’s 0.5 miles off trail but without it we’d be facing a 26 mile waterless stretch. As I took the cutoff trail for it I saw some sweet trail magic:

Yum yum yum! Pink grapefruit! I took a big one and headed towards the water source. (For those that remember, this is the same area that Claire, Banjo, and I spent about 2hs crammed in a tiny outhouse just to have some sanctuary from the 70mph wind!)

 There was some nice shade and I sat down and had an amazing breakfast consisting of white cheddar popcorn, a pink grapefruit, and a snickers bar! (I love trail diet). It was there a became formerly introduced to a group of 5 hikers that I had seen just before Mt. Laguna: Queso, James, Sean, Coke Can, and Vincent. You don’t want to know why they call him Coke Can..

I also ran into Sarah and her dog Porter again!

After filtering 4 liters of water I headed back towards the trail. In the small parking lot near the trailhead back to the PCT, I saw a lady pulling a big container of  grapefruit out of her car. It was the trail angel that left them there and was back to refill the container! Her name was Ice and she’s so cool! She even gave me a SWEET custom-made buff of different points of interest on the PCT and the trail angels in each area:

Ice

This is a great multi use item that can be used for sun protection around the neck, a wet towel when you need to cool off, a wind blocker, the list goes on! And it’s super soft! Thanks Ice!

I helped her carry a big bucket of grapefruit less than half a mile back to the PCT. I thanked her, gave her my blog, and headed off. Not a few minutes later I finally saw my first snake on the PCT! About time! It wasn’t a rattler and was too far away to actually startle me.

Well, there’s not much to say about the actual trail today expect that it was long, hot, windy, and windy (both meanings of this word). After a downhill that seemed to last forever, I made it down to a sandy wash where in 2016, Claire and I met Ben (later to be dubbed Gladiator). It was there in the shade where I met Mike and Elaine from up in the Olympic peninsula! We talked about the beauty of the Pacific Northwest for a bit and then they were on their way.

I want to mention most people that I meet and talk with here, because I found that in 2016 I wouldn’t mention when I met someone, and later they would turn out to be great close friends! So bear with all the details! :)

At another super hot and dry moment on the trail, near a water source that is all dried up, I spotted a vehicle from afar on a dirt road that crosses the trail. I got closer and noticed a few hikers sitting under the shade of a canopy attached to the big SUV. It was Happyfeet,  a trail angel who hiked the PCT last year. He was providing shade and ice cold Powerades :) I’ll take both please!

Left to right: Happyfeet, ——, Candyman, and Tanya

I had seen the others before but just learned their names today. Candyman and Tanya are both from Switzerland but didnt know each other until now. Sorry I forgot the second guy.. I thanked Happyfeet and once again headed into the blistering (quite literally) sun.

The scenery soon opened up big time and we started a loooooooong downhill (and a little uphill) traverse, following the contours of the valley wall. (If you look close you can see the trail in the middle of the very right side of the picture)

It was during this intense challenge that I took a break on a nice rock in a rare patch of shade, when I formally met Andre. He is a great fellow from Germany. We asked about each other’s life and background and fields of work. He’s been married 5 years, and has done a lot of other hiking and backpacking. He’s backpjed across the Swiss Alps for two weeks, and lived in Banff/Lake Louise area up in Canada (one of my favorite places and the location of my favorite hike) for 6 moths! He has a 6 month visa for the states and if he finishes with enough time he’d like to fly to Kaui and rent a car for a few days, camping on the beaches and possibly hiking the world famous Na Pali coastline. He has a great outlook on life and is so glad that I’m out here doing this trail while I’m young and that my family supports me. I would definitely consider him my closest friend on trail now, hahaha! I will try and remember to get a picture of him tomorow.

Andre (Photo taken next morning)

As long and hot as the day was, there was a very special beauty to it. As the day grew longer and I become more tired and delirious, I witnessed the flora change. There were more cactus and the first blossoms on some plants that I’ve seen yet. The afternoon lighting made for some great sights.

The real surprise came when I FINALLY found a spot to camp. I had passed what I thought was a great spot, because I wanted to go a teeny bit further, and of course there was no other spot for the next 3 miles. I set my groundsheet down and did started doing some stretching and yoga. When I sat back up, facing the open side of the valley, I saw the most beautiful sunset unfolding right before my eyes. The colors came rapidly out of nowhere! Oranges, pinks, purples, yellows, within minutes! 

Looks about right. Then....

BAM! 

What a lovely sunset! My favorite so far, more to come I’m sure! There’s no filter on the photo, of any that I post here on the daily blog. I sat right there in that exact view until it got completely dark. When all of the light was just about to fade away, you could hear coyotes from all around, doing a sunset howl together. The bright 1/2 moon popped out of nowhere, and the temperature went from hot to perfect. What a perfect night..

Ok, I’m not exaggerating one bit about this next part. About 20 mins ago I clearly heard what I thought might be another hiker coming down the trail. I was waiting to see a headlamp but then realized there was no one coming... James saw a mountain lion last night while night hiking around this area, and that thought was enough for me to retreat to the tent to finish up the blog. Just now I heard some soft padding outside, not circling my tent, but pacing back and forth a little ways away. I’m sure I’ve heard it twice now. I’ve realized that mountain lions are curious, but not enough to mess with a tent. I’m not saying that that’s exactly what I hear, but I’m definitely going to check for prints in the morning!

Well, on the terrifying note that a mountain lion might be watching me right now, good night! 

PS.. if it is a mountain lion, I’ll shine my headlamp at these and it’ll run away! :)

Thanks for reading! 

Day 3, 14.51 miles

What a day!! I woke up at around 5am this morning and forced myself to go back to sleep. Usually I’d be up and at em, but the Wolverines said they’d cook some pancakes in the morning, and I needed to wait until 9 for the store to open. 

I was a little stiff and sore, and EXTRA cold.. it turns out that cowboy camping on a metal picnic table is a wee bit colder than the standard wooden variety..

I had a great breakfast of pancakes AND bacon (surprise!!), profusely thanked the Wolverines once again, then headed to the store a little early. Lucky for me, they were rolling out the Open sign at 8:30 as I hobbled up the asphalt road from the campground. 

“You guys already open?” I asked, out of respect, just in case they weren’t quite ready to take any customers yet.

He simply pointed to the sign then grumbled, “Why would he even ask me that question..”

Jeez Louise, great, I’m glad that me and all my similars are out here spending money at your store and being treated so well in return.. as you can probably tell from my slightly passive aggressive blog-venting, the rudeness continued and the store people were not very friendly. But, I digress.

Luckily, there was a GREAT hiker box there, so after buying a few items for $10 total, and supplementing with delicious items other people no longer wanted, my plunder looked like this:

Not bad for $10 eh? 

I headed off with Jacob, (oh yeah, I forgot to mention I caught up with him last night again), but this morning I told him the same thing: To go his own pace and I’d see him soon. He quickly spit off ahead as my stiff legs were still warming up. 

The trail started off with my least favorite terrain type..

Lots of hot rocks everywhere with no flat place to step are not very good for blisters. I definitely had some dejavu back to Claire and I’d time out here navigating these hot coals.. I didn’t have much time to pout as I was soon met with great expansive vistas and amazing views:

At this same spot in 2016 we saw our first baby rattler! Still no snakes yet this time. The wind was also not gusting at 70mph, and I was grateful for that. The morning grew hot quick, and I found myself taking a breather under this sweet deck:

The view from under the deck

One of these finally let me get close enough to take a good picture!

Hit the 50 mm today, yay!

Very nice new wood-burned sign

The trail today mainly stayed up high, traversing across huge walls of stone and steep brushed mountainsides. There is also a road that winds through and connects a few towns together, so every once in a while the trail would meet with a scenic lookout or a little picnic area. This is nice because the built parks and road stops provide planted shade which wouldn’t naturally be in this area.

One great spot like this was Pioneer Mail Picnic Area. I recalled resting at this place during the high winds in 2016 and receiving a trail magic beer, and I was glad there was some nice shade there this time so I could kick up my feet.

Yes, I have more blisters than toes at this point

Dirty boy :)

Not 10 minutes into my break, I saw 5 women coming up the trail behind me. I had briefly said hi to them at a nice scenic overlook just off trail a few miles back. One of them went to her car and brought down a cooler. On her way down she asked if I wanted a beer!

These ladies were so cool! I completed their 6-pack celebration while we talked about various things, mainly pertaining to the trail. The “leader” of the group (sorry I never got your name!) told me she was hiking 100 miles of the Southern California PCT in different sections and this was her team to do it with her! They even hooked me up with some electrolyte drinks and extra snacks they didn’t use on this section! Thank you ladies! :)

The status on a particular water source went back and forth on me a few times depending on which other hikers I talked to. The last PDF of the water report I saw online told me it was broken, but when I was leaving the campground there was a hand written note saying that it had recently been fixed. Given this information I decided to go for a dry camp (not near a water source) that I had seen was only a few more miles down trail. It was already 4pm and my blistered feet were ready to stop!

I’m so glad I decided to stop here tonight, this place is so beautiful! Just before I reached the official mile mark of where the campsite was, I veered off onto a faint side path which led me right up to a huge boulder with a flat spot underneath it. I hastily set up my tent in case more PCT hikers were close on my heels. The larger campsite a few hundred yards further was also nice but very exposed to the increasing winds. 

I took my food bag and scrambled up to the top of the boulder for a little dinner with a great view before things got too windy.

Why not?

Here, as I type this, I can here the wind whipping by the rock but it shields me and I’m not affected. I have good service here, and was able to call Claire for a good 40 minutes :) I miss her dearly and the thought of being away so long pains me to think about. I really appreciate her and how selfless her support for my dream is! Thanks babe! 

Here are more pictures of the area, I’m hoping to see some meteors tonight, as well as get a nice sunrise picture of my tent setup in the morning.

An on-trail panorama facing away from my tent

A sneaky, protected, cowboy camping spot 

A little pano from the top of the boulder 

Another shot from trail

The picture at the top of this post is also from tonight’s camp spot.

Well, it’s been a good day! I never thought I’d say “I decided to take it easy and stop at 14 miles”, hahaha.

Thanks for reading, goodnight!

 

Day 2! 20.9 miles!!

Whew!! What a day! I gotta say I’m pretty proud of myself, I just walked almost 41.5 miles in two days!!! It’s funny because, in 2016, I thought it was soooooo ridiculous that some people hiked 20 to Morena and then 20+ to Mt. Laguna the next day! I couldn’t even fathom it! 

The morning started off with a surprise.. it got a little colder overnight than we had planned for, neither Jake or myself put up our the rain flys on our tents, and we both woke up with soaking wet sleeping bags and frozen shoes/backpacks!

Luckily we both have great bags and remained dry and warm inside of them. I didn’t have the best sleep since I’m still getting used to sleeping solely on the closed cell foam mat again. (It requires sleeping on my back but I’ve become a side sleeper at home since 2016) oddly enough I was up at 5am. I heard Jacob rustle in his tent... 

“Jake, you awake?” 

“Yeah.. I kinda feel like starting..”

“Let’s do it!” 

Yup, that’s right, I David Teehee, in my sound and right mind, starting hiking this morning at 5:30 sharp! It was a beautiful morning, we stopped a few miles in to nom down some breakfast and watch the sunrise

I hadn’t slept much at night due to a constant chain of barking dogs, waking each other up for no reason and barking altogether every hour on the hour. Also, wild turkeys, yes turkeys, gobbling at indecent hours! I also felt extra sore and creaky in the cold morning. Because of this and seeing how energetic Jake was, I told him to go ahead without me and to not worry about me catching up. Out here on the trail, you’re bound to see similar paced people more than once! He soon left me in the dust!

I got about 9.5 miles in before 10am, my body slowly un-creaking and feeling smoother and stronger as the day went on. The blisters weren’t bothering me much today. Oh by the way I think the official blister count is now 7! More than last time this early! 

I met some day hikers and their huge goofy poodle, and shortly after that met a new friend named Trout. I had seen him in passing before this, and it was apparent that we are also similar speed. Trout did 800 miles of the trail last year! Also starting at Campo. Pretty soon we saw a nice small river and a shade-providing oak steep down a hill below the trail, one that didn’t exist in 2016. We made the scramble down and took a nice break from the beating sun.

SIESTA!!

The day became hot very quickly, but after dunking my feet in the ice cold water downstream, they felt good to go for more! Lots of climbing today, more than yesterday. The first few miles had been flat but after that it seemed like we were gradually going down 20% of the time, and going up 80%. I met lots of other hikers. A few that I have become friends with include Chris, a young chill guy, Redback, an older lady from Australia who ALSO hiked around 800 miles from Campo last year, and Sarah, a cool girl hiking with her adorable, 5 year old, big hunk of a dog named Porter. Poor guy was POOPED!! 

After meeting/petting the mega loveable pup, I was less than 4 miles from Mt. Laguna (mile 42). I wasn’t planning on going all the way there today but I ran into a couple of trail angels hiking south who gave me some M&M’s and an electrolyte chew, and told me they were providing some more trail magic up at the campground right near Mt. Laguna! When I climbed the last big hill and stumbled deliriously into the campground, it was 6pm.. I had started hiking over 12 hrs ago! What I saw was a beautiful sight!

Trail magic at its finest! Burgers, beer, chips, cookies, and even a small free box from which I scored some powdered milk and granola! I took some time to talk with/thank the hosts who were putting it on. They are called the PCT Wolverines. They had the tent at campsite #42 which I thought was neat since that is the mile marker Mt. Laguna is at. Feeling full and happy, I scoured our an available picnic table to cowboy camp on (only in my sleeping bag on top of my sleeping pad, instead of using the tent.) It’s a clear night tonight and I’m hoping to see some meteors from the Lyrid meteor shower in the wee hours of the morning tomorow. There’s also rumors of the Wolverines making some breakfast tomorow, so I may “sleep in” until 8am, nom some of that and then head to Mt. Laguna’s little store to result before I head out for a few miles.

Let’s see what else? Oh, I have seen ANY snakes yet of ANY variety, which seems crazy to me! By this time in 2016 I’m pretty sure Claire had been trapped by two snakes (one in front of her and one behind) on two separate occasions!

Also, I just want to assure everyone that my body is feeling pretty good. Yes I have blisters, yes I am THOROUGHLY exhausted, but I’m also genuinely ecstatic.. I’m thrilled to be back on trail, and I’m excited that I was able to hike so far in these last two days. I know I could be taking it a little slower, and I’m definitely listening to my body and responding appropriately. Tomorow won’t be as long of a haul!

Thanks for reading everyone!