*** excuse the typos, it's hard to type on our phones***
Also, we plan to post every week!!!
Mileage: 20
Miles: 1-20
Feels sooooo great to finally be on the trail!!! This is the day we've been planning for and looking forward to for months!
We got to trail angels Scout and Froto's house at 5:30am which was a convenient short walk from Morgan's house. They had a lovely breakfast for all the hikers they hosted which consisted of French toast with strawberries and fresh whip cream, eggs, fresh fruit, banana bread, coffee, and other assorted pasteries! Once we got in the car to head for the border, it got real. The car was full of nervous excitement and the drive felt very long with our heightened anticipation.
All three car loads of hikers jumped out with excitement and rushed over to the monument. Many pictures were taken and we were anxious to get on the trail. We immediately met great people and the day started with ease. We didn't plan to do 20 miles but it felt alright so we did it! We experienced our first bit of trail magic at the campsite where Sherpa made everyone spaghetti.
My hiking confidence has been boosted now that I'm on the trail. I was questioning my physical ability to hike so many miles daily, and I know today is the first day, but I feel so so so good and loving this. Now when people ask where we are hiking to, I leave out the "hopefully" and just say "to canada!!!"
Weather: sunny/ partly cloudy. Not too hot
Music : Metric
Wildlife: little bunny, lizards, horny toads, beautiful butterflies, bats.
Blisters: ZERO
(Amy)
Mileage: 12
Miles: 20-32
The second day started off with FREEDOM! There was lot of talk around camp about getting up at 5:30 am and pushing for another 20 miles. We said fuck that noise and decided to sleep until we were ready to get up and took our time getting moving in the morning. We did our first practice of our yoga sequence and it felt great. My feet were howlin at me a little so the yoga felt good to loosen some of my aches up.
After yoga we made some coffee, ate some breakfast, and enjoyed a friendly conversation with our friend High Pockets. We hope to see him down the road, he was having some issues with his knee so we wish him the best on his journey. We packed up camp, cranked up the jammy pack to11 and hit the trail with smiles and good vibes.
Just before we left camp we were starting to feel slightly anxious about being close to the last thru-hikers from our crew (our crew being those who started the same day as us) to leave camp. We kept reminding each other that we aren't on anyone's schedule, but our own and that our anxiety could be expelled through our breath. One big sigh and we left it behind. We felt great about our first day and we were already ahead of our own schedule!
The first day was spent playing tag most of the way with our new friends Sunshine and Micheal and we were hoping to run into them again soon. Just as we were pealing out of camp we see them on the trail leaving camp at our same pace! Another beautiful day of tag and wonderful conversation with those two.
We stopped with a group of the early hikers at a camp-ground for a mid day break and then continued on to mile 32 to camp at a "dry camp" for the night.
Met some new fantastic trail buddies and we are looking forward to a yummy meal in Mt. Laguna tomorrow. Yippie!(Seth)
Weather: slightly cloudy with a wonderful cool breeze and a tiny sprinkle of rain.
Soundtrack: Devil Makes Three and Railroad Earth
Blisters: Zero
Wildlife: lizards, red tail hawk, cottontail, and woodpecker
(Seth)
Mileage:11
Miles: 32-43
It was such a lovely day on the trail today. We went through all sorts of foliage that was beautiful and surprising. One of our breaks was under an oak tree that was surrounded by pine cones. Didn't expect pine cones in Southern California. This morning was a steady climb over some hills and then was pretty flat until we reached the town mount Laguna. Really, we all raced to town because we heard there was a cafe with delicious burgers. We made it to the cafe in Mount Laguna around 2 and ate with fellow hikers. Burgers, salad and beer!
Over lunch we talked about trail names and Michael and Seth both wanted to name each other Vibes, very funny that they both thought of that but Seth won and Michael's trail name is Vibes (for now). Michael also proposed Manimal to Seth... we'll see if it sticks. Sunshine and Vibes thought of the name Darlin' for me because I'm "small and sweet"... Not sure about that name. They call Seth and me "Samy" Seth+Amy, and because we have a lot of things matching, so silly.
We had intentions of hiking 16ish miles today but just got sucked into the town crowd. It ended up being a fun day and evening all camping together!
Weather: sunnnnnny!!!
Soundtrack : my morning jacket, animal collective
Blisters: ONE. Hotspots: 2
Wildlife: rubber boa snake, tons of woodpeckers and blue jays, squirrels.
(Amy)
Gear shake down at Mt Laguna store with Dave.
4/21/14
Mileage:16.5
Miles:43-59.5
Another amazing day on the PCT! We woke up to an orchestra of bird songs and a cool mountain air. Our plans were to put some bigger miles in so we got up slightly early to get a head start on the day. We were camped at a picnic area on the north end of Mt. Laguna. We weren't supposed to camp there, but we are writing our own rules now......and the locals said it was ok. Packing up is still a long process for us so we saved time on gettin out of camp by eating bars for breakfast.
Next, we said 'sélamisba' to our BFFs, Vibes and Sunshine, and hit the trail with a little grog in our step. After a short mile we both needed a poop break. We found a nice spot in the sun, dug holes, and relaxed into relief. Along with our bathroom break we also met a nice fellow that goes by the name of Bison. We played tag with Bison all day and had some wonderful trail chats with him.
After a few more miles, we took a late breakfast break where the forest ends and the trail starts it's plunge into the hot arid desert. The view was spectacular with the mountains below looking white hot from our cool mountain air perch. Amy did some beautiful Asanas overlooking the desert floor then we turned up Cheese to 11 and jammed down the trail.
We made a big push for another picnic area where we took a long mid-day break for much needed lunch and relaxation. The original crew that we left the border with was already relaxing under the big oaks when we arrived. The crew is complete with Fish, Dewey, Masshole, Zan, and Franklinstein. The break was a little longer than expected, but our spirits were high as we pushed off for our final stretch to camp.
Amy and I had a great conversation about the origin of thought and how every action is karmicly tied to everything else in the universe.....heady. The spark of this conversation came from an awesome Einstein quote that I read in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. "Evolution has shown that at any given moment out of all conceivable constructions a single one has always proved itself absolutely superior to the rest."
We cut our hike a couple miles short of our goal so we could fit our daily yoga practice into the day. Our tent is now set at the top of a winding drainage among some flowing green grass next to a horse trough. The setting is some what sereal with rolling hills full of big pink granite boulders and green grass flowing in the early summer breeze. What a wonderful life.
Weather:SUN, Son!
Wildlife: horny toads that were either making love or fighting, not sure which.
Soundtrack: string cheese incident (Hulaween 2013 first set, FIRE), fruition
(Seth)
4/22/14
Milage: 18
Miles : 59.5-77.5
Woweeee this wind is wacky. We woke up with the wind blowing like crazy and it was hard to get the day going. After patching up our hot spots, fighting the wind while taking down the tent and quickly eating a granola bar, we hit the trail around 730. Most of the trail was down hill on rocks today which was nice but also put our knees and ankles to the test... Thank goodness we have our hiking poles.
We descended along the ridge line the whole way down into the beautiful flat desert. I love this rocky, prickly, flower filled land! Who knew cacti flowers were so beautiful?!
Our night ended at the Stage Couch campground where we tried to set up camp in a huge wind storm and our tent collapsed a few times. With frustration, we gave up for a bit and went and hung out in the laundry room which ended up being so great; ate dinner, did yoga, did laundry!! Wind died down and it's a wonderful night.... 2 hours after I wrote this post, we ended up packing up everything and sleeping in the laundry room. we were COVERED in sand and not very happy.
Weather: WINDY, party cloudy in the morning.
Wildlife: snakes, lizards, horny toads, lotsa bird.
Soundtrack: Phish, strfckr
(Amy)
4/23/14
Mileage: 14
Miles: 77.5-91.5
Last night was a trip! We woke up at midnight after a couple hours of restless sleep from wind and dust slapping us in the face all night. We packed up our stuff in a rush and ran for cover in the campground laundry room. It was very nice to get out of the crazy wind and get some rest. I was quite worried about all the fine dust working its way into every piece of our gear....I'm a little anal about my gear.
After a quick breakfast of granola bars we packed up our stuff and headed for the rode to hitch to the town of Julian. After a few minutes a lady stopped and said she was acting as the local trail angle taxi for the day and gave us a ride all the way to Julian. She had lots of stories from her days of working in 17 of our countrie's national parks and of the years she has spent hiking sections of the PCT.
We got dropped off in the middle of the one street town and we went into the first bakery we saw. There has been a lot of talk about a pie shop in Julian that gives thru hikers free pie and a sandwich when we show our permit. The bakery/cafe we chose at first was not the right one, but we decided to get some breakfast and coffee any way. After coffee we talked to the town drunks who were totally trashed at 10 am and then went grocery shopping while we waited for the pie shop to serve the sandwiches.
While in Julian we were reunited with Masshole, Dewey, Zan, and Franklinstein, but they were just arriving for a 4 day layover to heal their aching bones. After we collected our free pie and sandwich we went to the road to hitch and there was the same lady that have us a ride in the morning! She drove us right back to where we left the trail the day before and we took off into the San Filipe mountains.
The trail was very exposed today and all uphill, but it wasn't a very hot day so the hiking was nice. We powered through the first 5 miles very quickly. With fresh water and food our packs felt a little uncomfortable so it took a little warming up at first. At our second break and around 9.5 miles we reunited with Fish who had broken off from the Masshole crowd.
After catching up with Fish and meeting his new hiking partners, which are two girls, Amelia and Nevada, we hit the trail again for the last 4.5 miles for the day. A mile later I rolled my ankle for the first (and hopefully last) time on the trail! It wasn't a bad roll so I wrapped it and kept going. There was some confusion as to where the water cache was, but after we found it we set up camp and made a dinner of rice and instant potatoes. Fish and the girls camped with us and Fish shared his version of a backcountry hot toddy. We Shared tunes, laughs, and drinks under a sky of stars at the end of another wonderful day on the trail.
Weather: sunny, mild temps
Sound track: Katie's playlist!
(Seth)
4/24/14
Milage: 14.5
Miles:91.5-106
WE MADE IT 100 MILES!!!!!
I hate packing my pack!! If one thing is in the wrong place, the whole thing feels off and uneven. It can make mornings a bit rough, but it's getting easier! Packing, plus windy weather, plus a hungry tummy= a not very smiley Amy...
The hike was pretty easy today, lots of switch backs and not too steep. We went from super dry desert down into a beautiful valley of flowing grass and beautiful wild flowers, it was amazing!!! We took it slow and took lots of pictures today, which I loved!
We are still taking breaks and nursing our feet, thank goodness! Everyday I am grateful for how strong my body is!
We are cowboy camping under the iconic eagle rock. So, so beautiful!!! The sunset is unbelievable tonight and I got to talk to some friends from home which made me so happy. Definitely missing my lady friends and all of my favorite things in Portland, but at the same time I am loving meeting everyone on this trail!!
Soundtrack: Of Montreal
Weather: sunnnnnny and warm!
Blisters: a couple. Whateverrrr.
(Amy)
