(Almost) Out of Touch

Posted by Andrew on June 17, 2015 Posted in Trail Journal

Just a quick note to readers: I’m at Vermillion Valley Resort, deep in the Sierra, and Internet access here is incredibly limited to the point where I can’t really post pictures (and hence no blog posts, because who wants blog posts without the pictures?). (For technical folks, this is a satellite system with crazy latency and a 100Kbps speed cap, at $8/hour.)

It may be as long as two more weeks before I manage to post again, from South Lake Tahoe — hopefully not that long, but who knows? I just wanted to put this point online so that everybody knows I’m OK, and that all is well here.

We’ve been seeing some truly incredible stuff and I have many tales to tell…stay tuned!

Day 19: Sunshine and Desert Canyons

Posted by Andrew on April 26, 2015April 29, 2015 Posted in Trail Journal

Oh, what a joy it was to look outside our door this morning and see blue skies! After getting rained out all day yesterday, the sun looked so, so good. When we returned to Ziggy and the Bear’s place, it was completely unrecognizable from just twelve hours before: sunshine everywhere, the carpets were all drying, and almost not a hiker in sight — they’d all left for the trail! And, so, with nothing more than a brief farewell, we did, too.

One of the cooler things we’ve gotten to do this trip: …

Day 18: Rained Out!

Posted by Andrew on April 25, 2015April 29, 2015 Posted in Trail Journal

Normally, you don’t stop hiking just because it rains. But, then, normally, rain doesn’t happen quite like this.

The weather forecast last night said we’d get “light showers” from about 3 to 4 PM today. OK, no big deal — we got hailed on two days ago, so this is going to be a piece of cake. So, this morning, …

Day 17: Descent to the Desert

Posted by Andrew on April 24, 2015April 25, 2015 Posted in Trail Journal

Our descent down Fuller Ridge was both brutal and incredible. Brutal because we spent eighteen miles going down the side of a mountain; incredible because the views you get from a trip like that are just spectacular. We woke up this morning at 8,800′ with 31° chill in our tent and ice in our water; we’re falling asleep this evening at 1,700′ and a balmy 61°.

We had it all laid out before us today: …

Day 16: Snow!

Posted by Andrew on April 23, 2015April 25, 2015 Posted in Trail Journal

Did you know there were 10,000-foot mountains two hours east of Los Angeles? Me neither, but I certainly won’t forget again. We got snowed on today! And hailed on! Isn’t this supposed to be the desert?

We’re camped at almost 9,000 feet tonight, and it was 31° at 7:00 PM. This is the slope of …

Day 15: Good Food, Great Friends, and Fires

Posted by Andrew on April 22, 2015April 22, 2015 Posted in Trail Journal

No, I don’t mean wildfires, either — I mean the kind you start in your fireplace, in your hotel room, at night. Because you can, and because falling asleep in a real bed in front of a crackling fire in a warm room (and with indoor plumbing!) is wonderful.

Today was our first …

Day 14: It’s Finally Cold! (Just in Time For Us to Be Indoors)

Posted by Andrew on April 21, 2015April 22, 2015 Posted in Trail Journal

Our hike this morning was the strangest yet for this trip: it was cold! It’s the first morning yet that I actually wanted to leave my hoody on for a while after I started hiking, and, even hiking up hills with a big pack, there were times I was a little too chilly. It was wonderful.

Not only that, but the world was beautiful in a completely different way than it has been, too: …

Day 13: An Extremely Long Day, and Why There Is No One “True” PCT

Posted by Andrew on April 20, 2015April 22, 2015 Posted in Trail Journal

Today, we, in order:

Climbed 1,500 feet up a ridgeline;
Up there, walked along our first “crest” of the Pacific Crest Trail, and it was spectacular;
Descended 2,500 feet off that very same ridge;
Continued walking along power lines and roads for another eight miles or so…

All told, this made today …

Day 12: Time and the Trail

Posted by Andrew on April 19, 2015April 22, 2015 Posted in Trail Journal

Think back to what you were doing last Thursday. It doesn’t matter what it actually was, and my point isn’t that it was likely reasonably predictable. It’s more that last Thursday probably doesn’t seem all that long ago — there’s been an intervening weekend, and now the week has started again.

To me, right now, last Thursday feels like …

Day 11: Miles, Miles, Miles…

Posted by Andrew on April 18, 2015April 22, 2015 Posted in Trail Journal

When a survey was sent to past PCT hikers, they were asked what their favorite and least favorite sections of the trail were. Favorite was usually the High Sierra; least favorite, however, was …

Day 10: It Isn’t Always Fun, Exactly…(And Then Trail Magic Happens)

Posted by Andrew on April 17, 2015April 22, 2015 Posted in Trail Journal

Hiking the PCT isn’t something you should try if what you’re looking for is absolute enjoyment, every last minute of the way. There are days that are amazing, days that are fun, and then there are …

Day 9: Technology and the Trail, Part 1

Posted by Andrew on April 16, 2015April 22, 2015 Posted in Trail Journal

Three days ago, my backpack tore itself apart. Or, at least, tried to: the long metal “stay” running up and down the spine broke free of its enclosure, and punched a hole through the bottom of the bag. It wasn’t trip-ending, but it was concerning: not only did I not have the support I needed from the stay, but, well, holes in the bottom of the bag containing all the possessions you need to survive are generally frowned upon.

So, I did what any enterprising through-hiker these days would do: I hiked about ten minutes up the trail, pulled out my …

Day 8: Water, Water, (Almost) Nowhere

Posted by Andrew on April 15, 2015April 22, 2015 Posted in Trail Journal

In the eight days and 100 miles we’ve been hiking, we’ve come across naturally-occurring water out here twice. All anyone thinks about when planning the next segment of their hike is water: where it is, how sure they can be of it, and …

Day 7: Parting’s Sweet Sorrow

Posted by Andrew on April 14, 2015April 22, 2015 Posted in Trail Journal

As I lie down beneath the stars tonight, I’m filled with a kind of sadness — because I’ve already felt such friendship with so many fellow hikers out here, and because it’s obvious that some of those connections will be lost soon enough.

It started this morning in Julian, when, after showering (again, just because we could!) and a two-course breakfast (waffles, mmm!), Clare and I went out to sit on the front porch of the hotel…and suddenly found …

Day 6: Sweet, Sweet Zeroes

Posted by Andrew on April 13, 2015April 22, 2015 Posted in Trail Journal

Clean! After 77 miles out hiking through the desert, it really is just about impossible to describe how good it feels to be clean again. Layers and layers of desert dust mixed with sunscreen are now gone from our bodies, and (mostly) from our clothes.

This is due to the glory of …

Day 5: It Gets Hot in the Desert!

Posted by Andrew on April 12, 2015April 22, 2015 Posted in Trail Journal

It’s true, believe it or not — it really does get hot in the desert. OK, so that surprises nobody…and, in fact, it hasn’t even been that hot: today was the first day it got to be over 80° out there. But …

Day 4: What’s for Breakfast? French Toast!

Posted by Andrew on April 11, 2015April 22, 2015 Posted in Trail Journal

The trail isn’t all deprivation, because at 8:45 this morning, I was eating French toast, bacon, poached eggs, and fresh orange juice.

As you might have guessed, today was …

Day 3: This Desert Sure Ain’t Flat

Posted by Andrew on April 10, 2015April 22, 2015 Posted in Trail Journal

When you hear the word desert, you probably imagine the places Snoopy’s cousin Spike trundled through: almost completely barren, except for the odd Saguaro cactus and a vulture flying overhead.

Today we climbed…

Day 2: The Social Trail

Posted by Andrew on April 9, 2015April 22, 2015 Posted in Trail Journal

So many people we’ve met already! This is a social trail, far more so than anything we’ve hiked before. 25–30 people start each day at the southern terminus, and the relative dearth of camping spots means you end up meeting practically all of them. There were well over …

Day 1: A Very First Day on the Trail

Posted by Andrew on April 8, 2015April 22, 2015 Posted in Trail Journal

A 5:15 AM alarm at Girlscout’s house began our first day on the trail. After months and months of preparation (and literally years of thinking about it), it’s kind of crazy to suddenly have it be here like that. We dressed (in hiking clothes, of course), put our all-too-heavy packs into the back of his car, and off we went. The night faded into the grey of dawn as we drove…I don’t honestly remember the conversation much, because…

Wandering North

Author: Andrew