I left Idyllwild Friday morning, on the 8:15 shuttle from the Idyllwild Inn. Brian and Julia, a couple from Canada, got the same ride, and I’ve seen them of and on since then. The climb up the Devils Slide trail was not too bad, but the section immediately afterward was harder than I remembered. GipC and Hamburger were also hiking that day, as well as Sea Hag and Robo-Knee, a couple from BC who are section hiking California. I think we were all feeling the effects of the altitude – we were up above 8000 feet for much of the day, and the whole thing felt much harder than it should have. We stocked up with plenty of water before Fuller Ridge, only to find two more well-flowing streams a few miles later. Fuller Ridge was just as hard as everyone says – a lot of up and down, rocky trail, and small sections of snow to navigate carefully all contributed to slow going. We all ended up camped together about a mile before the Fuller Ridge trailhead – it was about 6:30 and none of us had enough energy to go any further.
The next day was a long day of descending. After passing the FR trailhead, there were 16 miles of switchbacks, descending 6000 vertical feet. Of course this was all on an exposed ridge with very little shade, so I would periodically curl up next to a large rock to get a few minutes out of the sun. There were also killer bees! I noticed that one set of bees seemed closer to the trail than others, and sure enough they followed me for a few minutes as I hiked through quickly and yelled at them to go away, but I only got stung once. Some hikers ran, and several were stung multiple times as they went by – maybe the bees got angrier as more people went through. I reached the bottom of the descent, and water! – a seemingly random faucet sitting in the middle of the desert, around 2:30 in the afternoon, and stayed there enjoying the meager shade with the other hikers until around five. I ( perhaps foolishly) declined the ride from the water authority security guard, and set off to hike the last five miles to the home of trail angels Ziggy and the Bear. This was a very windy, sandy five miles of trail – not very fun, except for the “oasis” under the 10 freeway, where I hung out with a few other hikers and downed two cans of coke (one too many, it turned out – I couldn’t fall asleep until 11). I finally made it to Z&B around 7:30 pm after my first ever 21 mile day – I was just in time for ice cream! I also got the customary hiker foot bath, scored a roll of carpet to lay my sleeping pad out on, and won a Milky Way bar in thru-hiker jeopardy. It was a fantastic place to stay, with lots of shade (and chairs! And port-o-potties! Things that become luxuries when you’re hiking.), so I decided to stick around until about 5 pm on Sunday to avoid the heat and recover from my long day.

Last Saturday I hiked a relatively easy five miles out of Warner Springs in the evening. The scenery was beautiful, with horses roaming a pasture, and a surreal abandoned campground complete with tire swings and picnic tables. I hiked with Moxie for the evening, and we had the eat intentions to do ten miles, but stopped to cook dinner where some friends were camped near a creek, and decided it was far too tempting to just make camp nearby! Sleeping near the water was nice, but predictably resulted in a lot of condensation – I has to wipe down my tent in the morning and let it dry out the following afternoon.

Sunday was only a 12.5 mile day – It was a hot day with a fair amount of climbing, and I took a lot of shade and rest breaks. As I was making my final descent down to Chiuaua Valley Road, I noticed big fluffy clouds shading the valley down below, and I was quite jealous! I made it to trail angel Mike Herrera’s house around 2:45 and settled in for my afternoon siesta – drying out my equipment and enjoying some of the grilled chicken and beans that Mike was so generous to prepare for the hikers. I planned to move on around 5pm, but a storm blowing over the horizon convinced me to stay put for the night. I slept in an RV on Mike’s property – the comfy mattress another amenity I was incredibly grateful for.

Monday I pulled my first 20 mile day with my full pack. I also did my first faceplant – tripped over a hidden rock on the trail, landed on my face, and then rolled into the trailside bushes thanks to the momentum of my pack – not something I hope to repeat! I handled the heat pretty well – took a break from 11:45 – 2pm, then set a slow but steady pace until I reached an irresistibly shady boulder around 4:30 and took another half hour break. I ended up reaching the road crossing I was aiming for just around dark, and quickly set up camp, pleased with my 20 mile progress.

I was hoping for another 20 the next day, and was feeling quite good through the crossing of highway 74. I missed the hiker-favorite Paradise Valley Cafe, since they were closed the day I went through, but skipping that 2-mile detour did save me time. The next few miles were some of my favorites – the desert landscape and blooming wildflowers were complimented by giant boulders and isolated oak trees. I was rattled at by a snake I didn’t see, and spooked a horse that didn’t like the sight of my pack while I waited for the riders to pass. I took my lunch break at a “shady campsite”, but things got tougher as I gained elevation during the afternoon. Water sources on the climb into Idyllwild are all off-trail and downhill, and I opted for a short but slightly sulfur flavored spring instead of one of the longer descents to a tastier water source, but even so the climb was steep and tough. After that I really struggled on the climb – fully laden with water and taking lots of breaks. I finally made enough miles for the day, several short of my hoped-for spot, and found a great campsite under a tree, again just before dark.

Wednesday was shaping up to be another long one – about 18.5 miles into town. I got through the first three miles pretty quickly, passing Only a Test’s tent an hour into my hike, and figured she’d catch up before too long. Before I got to the first big climb of the day, I assigned it to myself as a mini-day hike – just get through the next three miles and I could take a break. I was passed by the two guys who had camped near me, and was happy that I had just enough water to avoid another downhill trip to a spring. The next few (flat) miles went quickly, then I braced myself for the final 3.5 miles of climbing. I cranked them out slowly, with many many shade breaks, but no long lunch break, since I wanted to get to town as quickly as possible. I did stop to chat with GipC and Hamburger, who had gone into town and were heading south (downhill!), then continued trudging along until I finally reached flatter ground, and a creek! I did take the slightly shorter, flatter alternate to Saddle Junction, where I ate a final snack and then raced down the switchbacks of the Devil’s Slide trail. Some day hikers from San Diego were nice enough to give me a ride into town, and I snagged a room at the Idyllwild Inn for the evening, excited to have a day off to look forward to – and a shower!

Last Monday’s final seven miles to the Laguna campground were long and hot, but with great views down to the desert. The campground host was very hiker-friendly, and let 10 of us share a site, for a cost of about $2 each – good deal! On Tuesday morning I saw a trio of deer as I was leaving the campground, but they ran away before I could get close enough for a picture. That morning was a pretty hike along the east ridge of Mt Laguna, with a morning stop at the pioneer mail picnic area. The following six miles were more challenging, with wind and heat and hurting feet – I don’t have major blister problems, just very sore feet from all the miles with a big pack. I took a long afternoon break at the sunrise trailhead water tank, then used my mp3 player to help the last 4 miles go by more quickly. I camped in the dry creek bed at Chariot Canyon Road – there were probably 15-20 hikers there. It was fairly calm in early evening, but the wind picked up overnight and the moon was close to full and very bright, so it was a bit hard to sleep.
Wednesday was a seventeen mile day, mostly descending out of the Lagunas to the Scissors Crossing water cache were highway 78 and S2 intersect. Other than my sore feet it was a really nice hike, and it felt great to descend from the hills and be able to see my destination ahead of me. I reached the cache with Moxie and Lunchbox, who got a ride to Julian, and Dusty, Marissa and Easily Distracted, who went to the RV campground a few miles away for the night. I headed up into the San Felipe hills for another three miles of slow climbing, loaded up with six liters of water in case the next cache was empty. I ran into Laughing Feather and a cache counter hiking south, and they advised me to grab the next campsite around the bend, a nice sandy spot that was mostly well-sheltered from the wind. I took their advice and cowboy camped there alone, hiking poles close by to fend off the mountain lions that I imagined would pounce me during the night.

I woke up Thursday morning unscathed, but the next eleven miles were the toughest of the trail for me so far – it got hot pretty quickly, my feet hurt, and I felt like I was making no progress – the trail wound around the hills in such a way that i seemed to walk four miles just to make one mile of progress as the crow flies. I finally got into the third gate cache at mile 91 at 1:45, after almost 7 hours of hiking. I relaxed in the shade with Only a Test until around four, then we hiked another five miles to a tiny campsite, where we ended up squishing five hikers in for the night – the campsites really are hard to come by in the hills! Those five miles were the best of the day for me – I’d propped up my feet while I rested, and they didn’t feel so bad in the evening. I ate some cheesy bacon grits and set my alarm for 5:20 the next morning, so j could make it to Warner Springs before the post office closed at four.

Especially compared to Thursday, yesterday was probably my best day on the trail. My feet were still feeling ok, and I made the first five miles down to Barrel Spring in time to take a nice break and catch some trail magic in the form of coffee, OJ and hard boiled eggs from some RV campers from near San Diego. After Barrel Spring we were out of the hills and into rolling fields, and I saw a jack rabbit with huge ears in the middle of the trail. After a couple of quick stops in shady spots, I got to eagle rock (a rock that looks like an eagle!) at mile 106 with GipC, Hamburger, Flatlander and Shutter Blast, where I ate lunch and took some pictures (ad should have reapplied sunscreen!). After that the last four miles to the post office were fairly easy and pleasant, with shade and a creek running alongside the trail. I even saw my first rattlesnake! It was in the grass beside the trail, and moved when I went past. I turned around to see the source of the noise, and saw the snake uncoil and slither across the trail. Now that I’ve checked that off my list, I don’t necessarily need to see another one!

I’ll be hanging out here until around 4pm, when I’ll hike about four miles for the evening, starting the trek to Idyllwild, where I’m looking forward to my next zero!

I started out at the border on Friday morning, and hiked the twenty miles into the kickoff party at Lake Morena. That was the longest day hike I’ve ever done, and I was very happy to see Chuck at around mile 17 – he had hiked up from the lake to meet me for the last few miles, a much-needed morale boost.
After a day off for the party, I started out yesterday at around 7:30 and hiked 12 miles up to Fred Canyon Creek, where I called it a day around 2:30 and relaxed in the shade. There were about 16 of us camped there, and I cowboy camped for the first time – no tent, just my ground cloth, sleeping pad, and sleeping bag. I wasn’t attacked by any creepy crawlers, but there were some little twigs falling out of the tree I was camped under.

This morning I finished climbing up to Mount Laguna, about 3000 feet of climbing in 11 miles. The trail climbs gently, so I was able to keep up a steady pace. I’m disappointed that I haven’t seen a rattlesnake yet, but the bushes were abuzz with bees this morning, and I was glad to escape unstung. I’m now relaxing at Burnt Rancheria campground where hiker Griffin and his dad are hosting hikers, after a great lunch at the Pine Hill Tavern, which was open especially for PCT hikers today – amazing how a restaurant meal feels like an amazing luxury after only two days! Will be heading off for another six or so miles to the next campground. Afternoon beaks are definitely the way to go.

My food bag hanging practice kit:

A (mostly) successfully suspended food bag:

Triathletes storm the water in a mass swim start. Photo by Flickr user foleymo, used under Creative Common License.

Toward the end of last year, I decided that I should start participating in triathlons in 2012, with the goal of working up to a half-Ironman, or 70.3 distance in 2013. I’m not sure why the 70.3 distance is appealing – maybe because it’s a significant endurance event, but doesn’t seem too out of reach, and doesn’t require 6+ hours of biking (yes, I finally completed a century in 2011, but I’m still not sure if I ever want to do another one – that’s a long time in the saddle!). So 1.2 miles of swimming, 56 miles biking, and 13.1 miles running seemed perfectly reasonable – until  I thought about how I haven’t been swimming since my last year of college (more than 10 years ago!), and quit running 3 years ago because my knees were hurting all the time….eh, minor details, right?

So I asked one of the Spin instructors at my gym which local triathlons would be good for a beginner, and he recommended the Spring Sprint Triathlon in Mission Bay – easy (flat) course, short swim, calm water. So I signed up for that one – a 400 meter swim, 9 mile bike, and 3 mile run. And then I joined a triathlon team sponsored by our local bike shop, Moment Cycle Sport. Conveniently, Moment Cycle Sport is a sponsor of the San Diego Triathlon Classic, an Olympic distance tri that takes place in September – I have to be able to swim 1500 meters by September! And then when I was asking one about swimming at one of our tri team meetings, someone recommended the Monday-Wednesday Tri Club San Diego swim workouts…and that is the story of how I’ve managed to join two triathlon clubs, sign up for two triathlons, and commit myself to more swimming and running than I’ve ever done in my life – this should be fun!

Becoming Odyssa: Epic Adventures on the Appalachian Trail by Jennifer Pharr Davis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Becoming Odyssa is another great trail memoir that inspires me to get out and hike! Jennifer Pharr Davis does a good job of balancing the details of her daily life on the trail with the personal growth she experiences while hiking. Compared to the Barefoot Sisters books (which I also recommend), Becoming Odyssa feels grittier – it stays closer to the trail with less of a filter.

I’d suggest skipping the preface and forward until after reading the book so they can be enjoyed in better context – the author matures into their praise during the story, but some passages come across as extremely self-absorbed and even unkind, reflecting the youth of the author at the time of her journey. Like any journey, Odyssa’s thru hike had good days and bad, she presents them to us authentically while telling a great story about her life.

Pacific Crest Trailside Reader: California: Adventure, History, and Legend on the Long-Distance Trail by Rees Hughes

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A great compendium of historical and contemporary accounts of travel along the Pacific Crest Trail in California. The Trailside Reader offers a glimpse of the evolution of the California wilderness through US history and offers glimpses into the modern trail experience and culture. Fair warning, though: reading this book will only feed thru-hiking obsessions, and may result in the planning of extended backpacking trips!