Day 20: Friday, May 24

7Cowboy camping under the Deep Creek Bridge (PCT mi 298.3), walked 16 miles today

As Pippin and I were breaking camp in the morning, up walked Lenny and Rebecca, my Kiwi/British friends whom I hadn't seen in about two weeks. They had been work-for-staying in the Big Bear Lake hostel for 9 days while Rebecca's ankle healed. They now have trail names, 'Murrica and Roast Chicken, although Pippin determined later that Rebecca Beaton anagrams to A Concrete Babe, so we're hoping she switches to that. It reminds me a bit of the early-90s rock balladiers Concrete Blonde, but I'm thinking most people won't make that connection. Lenny says that in Fiji, there are a lot of people named Concrete because parents name their children after what is most valuable to them. I have my doubts, but I'll defer to him on grounds of geographic proximity.

As were all standing around, up walked Russell from Santa Cruz, whom none of us had met before. He told us, very professionally, that his "friend is a medicinal marijuana grower, " and that his hike was being "sponsored" by the sale of that product. This was a great euphemism for "I am dealing drugs to make money on the trail," and we all had a laugh about it afterwards, although not before some contributed to the sponsorship effort.

The hiking itself today was rather pedestrian. Walked with Lenny and Becca (can't make myself call them by their trail names) for most of the first ten miles, during which we descended out of the nice high-elevation pine forest back down to the brushy no-shade desert. It was getting uncomfortably hot when we got to shady Holcomb Creek at 12:30ish ... we stuck our feet and heads in and then took a three-hour break there, Pippin, Skip and a Eugenian native named Siesta showing up in the meantime. Got the final 6 miles to here out of the way quickly by myself, would've gone farther but we've heard there's a paucity of good campsites up ahead and the company and the location are both too good to pass up. The air quality was abysmal this afternoon, there was a thick haze at every viewpoint. Either this is L.A.'s fault (we're northeast of it now, I realized looking at a map yesterday, which made me happy), or there are wildfires already, or both. Camping on the beach here with Siesta and Lenny & Becca.

Day 19: Thursday, May 23

Cowboying on a ridge (PCT mi 282.3), walked 15.3 miles

Woke up around 8, packed up, secured permission to leave my crap in the hotel office, walked my dirty laundry down the street to the laundromat and went to Thelma's for breakfast while it washed. The stories were all true--bomber breakfast food, I had eggs Benedict with the best home fries I think I've ever tasted in my life. Ate with Julia and Kelsey, the two Alaskan ladies whom I had met before. They had hitched into town straight to the restaurant.

After the repast, talked on the phone with Matt at Elemental Horizons, the maker of my Kalais pack, about my aforementioned problems. He offered to send a new hipbelt pocket to me up the trail, which was easy, then we talked about the issue with the stay. This turned out to be user error on my part; there are pockets of webbing that the bottom prongs are supposed to feed into so that they won't bust through the pack fabric and tickle my tush as I walk. He said he'd send me some repair tape for the two pinholes in the fabric as well, even though these were basically my fault. So the moral is, Elemental Horizons: good people. Also makers of at least one extremely comfortable backpack (mine).

Got a ride back up the highway to the trail from a local woman named Geesh, who appeared to be known to some of the other hikers at Nature's Inn already. Started walking at 1:30ish. The weather was, dare I say, cool for the entire afternoon, and cold enough now at 9 that my fingers are numb doing the typing. Ran into a dude named Pippin on the trail, I'd met him already but we walked and talked for a good ten miles today and we're bros now. When he asked how Kristin spelled her name and I said "without the E" and he said, "Oh, with the E would have anagrammed to stinker, tinkers and reknits," I figured we might have something in common. As it turns out, he peaked at 25th in North America in Scrabble in high school and was very excited to know that I had read Word Freak by Stefan Fatsis. He said he beat Stefan in a tournament once. We nerded out on Scrabble for awhile but we've got a lot else in common too. If nothing else, I can talk sports with someone on the PCT for the first time.

Hiked basically til dark then plopped down at this random flat, pinestrawy spot. If it weren't for Halfmile's phone app I would barely have a ballpark guess for my mileage in these instances, but it's known to about 50 feet now. Trying removing my phone battery for the night to see if that helps its longevity.

Days 17 and 18: Tues/Wed, May 21/22

- Tuesday: Cowboy camping under a tree (PCT mi 250.5), walked 19.7 miles today
- Wednesday: at Nature's Inn in Big Bear City (PCT mi 266.0), walked 15.5 miles plus at least 4 more getting around town (not sure how that fits into the total)

It all started to go a bit pear-shaped for me yesterday (Tuesday) when I turned my phone on in the morning to find that the battery had almost completely drained overnight, from 80% down to 15%. It was done by midday and even Rocket Llama's solar USB charger couldn't save it ... The charger appeared to work at first, but it gave me the death boop as soon as I unplugged it. So there went maps, water report, reading material, and journaling medium. Was able to hand-copy relevant map/water info for the rest of the section from other people's stuff. Was mostly walking blind from then on, which was kind of nice, in the way that not having a cell phone for a few days in the real world (while it's broken, lost or whatever) is nice. But not a good long-term situation. Today I ordered more batteries shipped to Cajon Pass aka Cojones Pass, 75 miles up the trail from here.

My backpack also has some issues, broken zipper on a hipbelt pocket that renders it mostly unusable, and the two ends of the internal aluminum stay have decided to poke through the fabric at the bottom of the pack and now they glance off my butt-cheeks at each stride. Also had to deal with this in town by e-mailing the pack maker, Matt at Elemental Horizons. Hopefully something good comes out of it.

As for the hiking days themselves, yesterday was pretty hard all the way through. It was hot, windless and mischievously uphill all morning, then cooler but rolly in the afternoon. Legs were cooked by the end, even though it wasn't even 20 miles. Also I must have sweated about 5 gallons, my shirt and shorts are both covered in Rorschach-blot salt patterns from where it all evaporates. At the very end of the day, walked by something called Randy's Predators in Action, which is where Hollywood stunt animals live in cages. Suffice it to say I wish that place would burn to the ground.

Today was a fairly straightforward 15 to the highway. Walked and talked with Cream Tea, a pretty great English lady, for the last 7 or so, which flew by. After a 30+ minute wait, a nice guy named Mark, who I got the sense did not pick up hitchers very often, gave me a ride in, and actually drove me a few places around town. He dropped me off for good at the Big Bear Lake Hostel, which was full of hiker-looking people I'd never seen before (this is usually a red flag, for me at least). They were drinking at 2pm and told me that the hostel owner as well was "out drinking for the day." Used an outlet there to revive my phone, then skipped out. After the town bus didn't show up when I had read it would, walked up an ugly ass highway for 2+ miles, went to the library, printed out maps for the next section, then ate 80% of a 14" Californian pizza (chicken, bacon, tomato, avocado ... why can't this exist everywhere?), did shopping, and tried to hitch to this inn/hostel. Had to walk half the way before local hero Brandon finally stopped and offered a ride.

The innkeeper here, while certainly a funny guy, gave me literally a 45-minute rundown of _everything_ in Big Bear and the hotel itself, and that was about 35 minutes too much. His maneuvering within the space of the hotel office and the room itself was subtle and ruthless: I had no way to escape his presence. "And then the eagle swooped down and BRAWWWKK!" I don't care, man, I just want a hot shower and ESPN on in the background. But the place really is boss: I got the "shared room" for $25, which includes a Jacuzzi, shower, fridge, microwave and queen-size bed. Too bad there's no one around to share it with. Just a shame.

Tomorrow I will break the fast at legendary hiker eatery Thelma's, do some laundry and then get back on the trail. Blog entries may be uneven, as I'm not sure about having the battery power to type them over the next few days.

Day 16: Monday, May 20

Cowboying by Mission Creek (PCT mi 230.7), walked 20.8 miles today. (I'm changing how I write the mileage stuff at the beginning of each entry to reflect the fact that there's often extra or supplemental walking not on the PCT itself, e.g. today I put in an extra mile going to the Whitewater Preserve and back)

Slept like a baby for the first time on the hike last night, up by 6:45 and out by 7:45 from Ziggy and Bear's. I was hiker 653 to come through their place this year. Felt sluggish for the first several miles and was sweating like a whore in church despite mild temps and a mild trail ... After puzzling for awhile I remembered from the AT that this always happens after town stops where a) I walk around a lot in flip-flops with no backpack, as I did yesterday in Palm Springs, and b) I get really cleaned up with a couple of showers. (a) makes me forget, briefly, how to walk with shoes and a pack on and (b) clears out all my pores for sweat to come gushing out at the first opportunity. After a few hours I was back to being my usual filthy hiking self.

Stopped for first lunch at the Whitewater Preserve, a hiker-friendly operation just off the trail that has shady picnic tables, water, toilets, camping, etc. Made extensive use of the first three, left around 11:45 to find that it had gotten dastardly hot in the last hour. Got 8ish miles done in ovenlike heat, stillness and sunshine before coming upon water and shade at the low end of Mission Creek, which the trail is still following. Read poetry and ate and drank in the shade til 5pm, then hiked out up the sweet-ass canyon in the evening light for another 5ish miles, saw a nice looking spot hard by the river and decided to call it a day here.

All along the canyon, I kept seeing what I could swear was poodle dog bush, the evil plant that sometimes gives people terrible skin reactions, but I can't ID it with 100% certainty and neither can the few other hikers I've asked about it. If I can't fit my swollen, rashy feet in my shoes in a few days, a la Spins last year, I guess I'll know I have it.

Day 15: Sunday, May 19

Still at Ziggy and Bear's house (PCT mi 210.8), a zero day

Woke up this morning only knowing that Kristin had the address to the house and she might be here at 8 or sometime after. Not much cell service here to help fine-tune that plan. She made it here no trouble at 8:45ish. Took Juma/Bill/whatever his name was 10 miles down the freeway to Banning, where he hoped to catch a bus that may or may not exist on Sundays. Then we drove to Joshua Tree NP, followed that up by going to Palm Springs and eating delicious Mexican food at a joint called La Perlita that we found on Yelp. The manager talked to us and after I explained the PCT thing to him, he comped our meals for us because he said "I like what you're doing."

That brings the free-meals total to 3 after 200 miles of this trip, compared to zero on 1800 miles of the AT in 2011. That's not mentioning substantial discounts on pizza and my haircut in Idyllwild. Why so much unasked-for generosity to PCT hikers compared to AT? First I have to qualify that by saying there's _plenty_ of generosity toward hikers on the AT, it just never showed itself in this form. Kristin (a West Coaster herself) thinks that out West, people are more likely to see a long hike as a noble pursuit, that captures the imagination and is worthy of support, as opposed to back East where you're viewed as having something closer to vagrant/bum status. I don't know about that. I think it's more that every town I've been in on the PCT so far doesn't need hikers to survive economically; they get by just fine on tourism from L.A. and San Diego. Hiker dollars are just a drop in the bucket for Julian, Idyllwild, etc. But for Hot Springs, NC or Damascus, VA on the AT? Those places would be just another Appalachian ghetto without a few thousand new hikers coming through and dropping cash each year. You can't afford to be giving out free meals left and right if you run a restaurant in one of those towns. But in these SoCal towns, we hikers are apparently still seen as novel, infrequent and economically inconsequential.

Anyway, after lunch we saw The Great Gatsby, which I loved. I've heard critics are hating on it. I don't really get why. Personally, I'm rejoicing thinking that high school English classes of the future have a much more entertaining Gatsby movie to look forward to now than that piece of garbage with Robert Redford and that alien-looking lady with the ninny little voice who played Daisy. I've had to watch that one twice for classes by now. It got worse the second time.

Ate some good Thai food for dinner, still in Palm Springs, then I was dropped off back here. This was goodbye for real real not for play play with Kristin; I might not see her for a few months now. But I got this same feeling after seeing her in the middle of my AT hike: as soon as the goodbye is over, the hard part is done, and the future is so easy to comprehend it floods me with confidence. I know exactly what I need to do and how to do it ... Just walk. I've done it before and I know I like it. Just keep doing it.

Days 13 and 14: Fri/Sat, May 17/18

Slept about 12 hours Thursday night because why not. Didn't break camp until 9 or so, by which time I had taken stock of my food and could tell it would last me another 24-30 hours at most, meaning I'd have to come down to my resupply box sooner than I wanted/needed. My food situation by the end of the day was: 4 corn tortillas, a half-dozen spoonfuls of peanut butter, a bit of olive oil, and maybe 20 dates. Using all my hiking savvy, I turned this into dinner and breakfast and got into Ziggy & Bear's house at noon today more or less on empty.

After breaking camp that morning, immediately went up almost 3k feet to the San Jacinto summit at 10,800. Had it almost all to myself for about an hour. Fuckin awesome. I really could look straight down 9,000 feet on Palm Springs on the desert floor. Solitude was broken when two middle-aged ladies joined me at the summit around noon. Before seeing them, I could overhear their conversation, which centered on some distinctly unfriendly observations about one of their mutual acquaintances. I was amazed they had the breath for it. They had come up from the Palm Springs Tram, which does 9000 feet of the work for you. They said there were 5 more women behind. I decided to get down.

Back on the PCT, got water from the coldest and purest of mountain streams, ran into some other thru-hikers who were seriously lame for a number of reasons. They hadn't taken the summit route, and in general seemed not to be enjoying anything very much. They were sloooww. I lost all of them walking at half-speed down Fuller Ridge trying to strike up conversations. These all failed ... I'm liking the trail, they're not. It's unspoken, but a big divide to get over. Can't imagine they'll be around for long.

Hiked until dark that day and cowboy camped at the windiest goddamn place in California, a campsite around 5000 feet. Had been a huge day--3k feet up, followed by an uninterrupted 6k straight down, 19 miles total, not all of them PCT. Slept on and off due to the wind. Got up at 7 and continued the remaining 4k feet down to the desert floor. The last 2 miles to the interstate underpass were murder, all on soft sand with what I legitimately guess was a 40mph constant headwind. At the underpass, was hoping to find coolers full of soda, and I did find coolers ... empty. In 15 minutes, a guy drove up in a Jeep with a trunk full of new sodas and beers. Local guy, introduced himself as DNA and he said he'd kept the soda cache stocked for hikers for the last 8 years, in addition to occasionally rescuing people with heat exhaustion/stroke and taking them to the hospital. Hard to tell what he was on about by talking to him, but hard to argue with the kindness of his acts.

Made it to Ziggy and Bear's, where I was immediately told to take off my pack, shoes and socks, sit down, and my bare feet were placed in a tub of warm water. Hard to describe the thoroughness and efficiency of this place, but suffice it to say they have everything hikers need, and the house was purchased specifically for its 100yd proximity to the trail. Got a hot shower, a huge salad, my resupply box, and a ton of conversation with Ron, the guy who's helping run the place. Hiking-wise, he's done it all, and repeatedly. The people behind me from yesterday never made it. Just me and one other guest, a section-hiker calling himself Juma from Fairfax, VA who is a smart guy to talk to.

Ziggy and Bear charge nothing but I've already given them a bunch. And tomorrow morning I'll see Kristin. Going to bed satisfied.

Day 12: Thursday, May 16

Tenting at a campsite near Saddle Junction (179.5), a 13.0 mile day.

Started crunching the numbers this morning and realized that if I'm going to meet Kristin on Sunday at mile 210 (the only other accessible point would have been mile 265, which is too far for Sunday morning), I would have to go slooww for the next three days. Luckily it's easy to dawdle up here. Can't say how much time I spent today taking unplanned breaks, sitting on rocks in the sun and just looking around, but it was a lot. These mountains look like the Sierra Lite, nothing like the lower desert of the first 150 miles. They smell different too--all high and dry and piney, just like the Cascades in Oregon in the summer. It's one of my favorite smells.

Trail was super hard and steep this morning, but it didn't really matter because I'd already decided I could take as many breaks as I wanted. Met another thru-hiker named Skip, cool dude, he and I talked for a long time as we walked. Alex went on ahead of me to get to Saddle Junction and hike down into Idyllwild for another night. I dillied and dallied and made it to Tahquitz Creek, a pure-snowmelt affair and the first on-trail flowing water since forever, by about 3pm. Made it to this camp spot about 4:45. It's at about 8100 feet. Gonna tackle Mt. San Jacinto in the first 5 miles tomorrow. Would so much rather be killing my time up here than hiking full-pace through this, getting down to the valley by Saturday morning and then waiting 24 hours at the trail angels' house for Kristin.

Day 11: Wednesday, May 15

Tenting at Fobes Ranch Trail spring (166.5), a 13.6 mile day

Slept okay on the floor, there were four hikers total in that room last night. No breakfast in town, Alex and I planned to get it next to the trail at the Paradise Cafe. Hitching out of town was a surprisingly slow process for someplace as earthy as Idyllwild. First ride took 15 minutes to get, it was in the bed of a pickup, they dropped us off halfway. Second ride also took about 15 minutes waiting, during which time I chatted with two utilities workers who were completely incredulous about the trail and someone hiking it for five months. "What about all them wildcats and shit? I know you at least packin heat, right?" was the best question I got. They also said Alex looked like he was from The Hangover (Zack Galifiniakis specifically), to which Alex said, "Well, I am hungover right now." They really liked that. After awhile we got picked up by an old lady driving by herself in a nice new CR-V. She was the complete opposite, she knew _everything_ about the PCT already, even though she and her retired husband had never hiked any part of it, no one in her family either. She was just a super-informed citizen ... don't think I've ever talked to someone with no personal connection to hiking who knew so much about it.

Had a Denver omelette at Paradise, ran into other hikers there including Sam and her mom Karen from the Barrel Spring incident, then with wandering steps and slow set out hiking at 11:30. Day flew by ... I was feeling good and rested, hardly noticed that the trail was definitely the hardest it's been so far. Some AT-style up-and-down ridge walking for a few miles. All spectacular, of course. Got a good look later in the day at Mt. San Jacinto, which we will probably climb tomorrow, weather/trail conditions permitting. The PCT comes close to the summit (gets to 9,000 of the 10,800 feet) but there's a side trail loop to take if you want to get to the top. The summit side trip comes highly recommended in the Yogi book so we'll almost certainly try it. The trail started at 5,000ft and scraped 7,000 feet today, then we lost nearly all of that descending to a saddle, then down below the saddle for water (almost all the water in this section is around a mile off trail, which is another reason people bitch about this part). So I'm looking at a potential 5,000+ feet of climbing tomorrow. Weather is milder now to the point that it might actually be cold tonight.

Day 10: Tuesday, May 14

At Idyllwild Inn (151.9), a zero mile day

Woke up to my nose bleeding profusely. Once that was over with, walked around town for some coffee, some baked goods and a haircut. The lady at the Idyllwild Family Hair Salon told me that she'd been in business here for 30 years, and the PCT hikers always come in with the same request: "Get it all off me." Those were roughly my instructions too.

Freshly shorn, I proceeded to loaf all day. A grocery run and two trips to JoAn's, the restaurant across the street, were the chief events. Talked with Matan for a long time at lunch about the Israeli army, and how young Israelis often go out to travel the world after their army service ends and they work "preferred jobs" for a year and save up money. He said he'd met 8 Jews out of the 40 or so people he'd introduced himself to on the trail. He also said he needed to relax more and take in "all this" (looking around at the perfect California scenery/weather) instead of hiking the way he'd been conditioned to by his army service--get to x point today, take x number of breaks at points x, y and z for x minutes, and so on. Made me realize that I'm much more distanced from that mentality than I was when I started the AT, although I can still call it in for short periods. The lack of shelters on the PCT changes everything--on the AT, it's so easy to shelter-hop, scheduling all your mid-day breaks and end-day camps around shelters. Water sources, because they're so precious, fill a similar role on the PCT, but it's so much less rigid in general. The lack of shelters even changes what I choose to eat. Instead of being guaranteed a flat wooden shelter platform to fix food on every few miles, as on the AT, I know that my PCT foods will be eaten as I'm standing or plopping down in the dirt somewhere, so I choose things that are easier to grab and shovel. No more sandwiches with all that required preparation; just straight cheese, peanut butter, dried fruits, trail mix--whatever I happen to reach in and get hold of first.

Around 6 pm I chatted with Hacksaw, an absolutely manic thru-hiker who started May 9 (it's now May 13, mile 152 for reference). He's from Nashville and has a deep, deep Southern accent, which actually warms me a lot more than it did when I would hear one even a year or two ago. He fed part of a pot cookie to a squirrel. He said he's going to leave town at 5am tomorrow to hitch out. Seeing how dead this place was at 9 this morning, I wonder if he'll have any luck.

Idyllwild is one of those towns that only exists in Southern California--it's impossibly sunny, impossibly beautiful, impossibly mild. No one appears to work and I'm sure anyone who spends any amount of time here quickly forgets that the rest of the world, with its bad weather, mean people and poverty, even exists. It was a great place to take a zero. But I gotsta move on. Getting out tomorrow morning, maybe 9 or so. Allegedly some difficult miles in the offing.

Day 9: Monday, May 13

Day 9: Monday, May 13

At the Idyllwild Inn

Woke up this morning not because of the sun or the mosquitoes, but because I was being stung by a scorpion! Never a dull moment out here, I tell you. Didn't know what it was that was biting me at first ... It felt like a bee sting, but I was guessing a spider or ants. Threw off my shirt and sleeping bag, and a few seconds later a little golden scorpion crawled out. He was, as the Sri Lankans would say, "a harmless fellow," but I didn't know that at the time. Took a picture of it (with my real camera, can't get it on the phone blog, sorry) and made contingency plans in case I started experiencing symptoms ... basically, these consisted of walking to the nearest water source so I could stay hydrated, then sitting and waiting for someone else to come along. It never came to that, I just have a red mark under my upper right arm now. Still ... a scorpion!

Walked the 15 miles to the road way too fast and with few breaks. It was bitchin hot out this morning, and a lot of elevation change ... By far the hardest I've worked so far. Drank 5+ liters of water over that time and still couldn't pee. Although maybe the scorpion venom coursing through my veins was to blame there.

Was dead on my feet getting to the storied Paradise Cafe, which was slammed even though it was a Monday. Cops, school buses and campers all over the parking lot. The wait staff seemed seriously stressed, I only found out why when a reporter for the local paper came to talk to me and I learned that the Tour of California bike race was coming by in the next half hour. Somewhere tomorrow, Chris Burke, whose "trail name" is "Scrub," is probably quoted in a newspaper article saying,  "I had no idea there was a bike race, I just stumbled in off the Pacific Crest Trail." The bike race did come by, the breakaway group followed by the peloton 9 minutes later. They were each going about 35 mph and it took five seconds for them to pass. Rocket Llama, a very cheery lady from Portland, and I were the only thru-hikers around to witness it.

Got a hitch into Idyllwild with local citizen Nancy, who freely admitted after five minutes of weaving around a bit that she had had "one too many glasses of wine up there at the Cafe." Whatever, I made it in alive. Took a room at the Inn and hoped I could find someone eventually to split the cost with ... At the pizza shop around dinnertime, I did run into Matan from Israel, whom I had last seen the first night at Lake Morena. He and I have the place for the night. Bought Vitamin Water, milk and beer at the grocery store and spent the evening on the Inn porch chatting with him. Good times ... Potential zero tomorrow. Definitely need groceries, a haircut, and some time off from the heat at the very least.

A scorpion stung me at sun-up
So I'm off to the Cafe to run up
A ludicrous tab--
Fries, burgers and Pabst--
By the time that my symptoms have shown up.
- poem I left in the water-cache message book at mile 7 today

Day 8: Sunday, May 12

Cowboy camping south of Tule Spring (136.7), a 21.7 mile day, plus a mile or so of extras

Couldn't sleep well last night ... I had too much energy left over because I hadn't spent enough (by my new bodily standard) during the day. Vowed to get a full day's output today. Definitely succeeded.

Left camp around seven, bugs had woken me up early this time (we were by a stream). Trail had a little tooth this morning ...relatively cool and shady, but all uphill for the first 6 miles or so and at a little steeper grade than we're used to so far. Then when the uphill stopped, it passed through a burn area that was filled with white boulders ... Utterly shadeless and dazzlingly bright at 11am. Had to bust out the shades for the first time. These go well with my sun hat.

Early on I was hiking with Alex's friend Doran, who is sectioning. He was eating the yucca petals so I tried one too. Tasted planty. Don't see the appeal. After awhile I shot ahead of him and all the others who had been camping in the vicinity ... Legs were feeling strong. Same exact thing happened at the one-week mark on the AT, I felt like the wheelchair guy in Avatar when he realizes his avatar has legs and he goes running around like crazy. That was this morning, just like the first Sunday morning coming out of Hiawassee two years ago.

Talked with a pro trail crew taking lunch in the shade around noon. Soon after, got to the turnoff for the big attraction for today, the house of Trail Angel Mike. Didn't know much about this going into it except that a dude named Mike owns a house right by the trail, gives hikers water for free and sometimes lets them camp and cooks for them. As I soon learned, Mike is a businessman in L.A. and is rarely at this house. He lets other people run the show while he's out, and they're pretty weird. They are all nominally PCT hikers but none of them had hiked much lately for one reason or another. One lady just started living there with her dog when they made it there three weeks ago, one dude is a total wack job, one is a fat guy who claims to have hiked there a week ago, and the guy who seemed to be the most in charge was also half-baked the entire time and not exactly Mr. Congeniality. Then there was Judith, a nice older hiker lady who had a genuine complaint, an injured knee, and Pascal, the Frenchman whose two enormous donkeys were posted in the front yard. Pascal was the best ... He had just started on a "3-5 year" "way of life, not an adventure" whereby he and his two pack donkeys, Daisy and Jimmy, are going to hike up the PCT to Oregon, cross over to the Continental Divide, hike south to Mexico, and then continue to Chile, ending in, of all places, Puerto Montt, which I've actually been to ... It's an ugly seaport and thus a bizarre ending goal but he plans to sell the donkeys into good hands there and buy a sailboat and continue around the world. His plans have currently ground to a halt because Daisy is limping. He seemed patient and optimistic. He also knew a lot about donkeys, including the fact that bears will attack horses but not donkeys because donkeys "fight to kill." When it came time for me to leave, Jimmy the donkey was blocking the one exit from the property, back end facing toward me. No way I was approaching that thing from the back ... They fight to kill! Luckily Pascal was able to coax Jimmy out of the way for me. His blog, for those interested, is longears2chile.blogspot.fr.

When I first got to the house all these people except Judith, Pascal and presumably the donkeys were pretty well stoned and trippy music was blasting all over the house, but they had just fixed some rice and bean burritos and I was welcome to it. I waited out the mid-afternoon there on the porch as the others trickled in ... T-Cozy, Brandon, Doran, Alex, the Clintons, and an old Canuck named Greg, in that order. Vajazzle has been suggested as a trail name for Alex. He was tepid about it.

Hiked out around 4:30 and after about 3 miles crested a saddle to what I can honestly describe as one of the most beautiful views I've seen in my entire life. Hard to really describe what I was looking at, even geographically ... I think Lookout and Table Mountains may have featured, but there was more to it than just that, all made better by the late afternoon light. I took video, pictures wouldn't have done much. Afterward it was 7ish miles downhill to this spring, which was my goal. Backtracked a bit after getting the water because I was weirded out being close to a road, even a dirt one, alone. This all leaves me in position to get to the Paradise Cafe 15 miles away before they close at 3 tomorrow ... They have something legendary called the Jose Burger there. Idyllwild tomorrow night.

Day 7: Saturday, May 11

Cowboy camping at one of the Agua Caliente stream crossings (115.0), a 13.9 mile day.

Woke up with the sun straight in my face for second day in a row, 6:45 this time. Lots of activity already at the campsite ... Clintons and T-Cozy had maildrops to catch at the Warner Springs PO ten miles away by 1:30, at which point it closes for the weekend. Cleaned up a bunch of the empties from the night before and left. Could find no way to dispose of the unused eggs and bacon that had been purchased for some reason on the second store run. Another warm morning, a lot of it through cow pastures with the sun coming down pretty hard. 80 degrees maybe, and very little wind for a change. I really liked the open-plain walking, which made me think I should do the North Country Trail someday, although Kristin would probably leave me if I did that, so maybe not. After 6 miles I saw the completely absurd Eagle Rock (pic below) ... all I could do was laugh.

Caught up with T-Cozy right at the town, he was busy being harangued by a sketchy ass fat dude that charges lots of money to run shuttles, resupplies and water caches (none of which are necessary) for hikers ... He was just hanging out on the trail within a hundred yards of the road flagging down anyone who walks by. "If you see an old Ford Explorer with a bunch of PCT stickers and the back window busted out, that's me!" He actually said that. Then he told me, scoffingly, that "the phone thing doesn't work on the trail." So fuck that guy.

Wasn't sure what there was exactly in Warner Springs. It's on the trail, essentially, and up until two years ago had a bumpin resort that pretty much every hiker used as their first town stop. Then the resort closed and it's basically just a post office now. However, it turns out that people volunteer at the town community center and run a little hiker aid station during day hours in April and May. They charge pretty modest fees, considering their location and the cornered market, for showers, laundry, hamburgers, hiker-specific groceries, etc. I had heard this place existed but it wasn't in any printed source so I wasn't sure what to believe til I got there. It was pretty damn plush. Ended up spending about 5 hours there, 11-4, waiting out the heat of the day, chilling with the crowd of hikers that has finally formed near me, and eating burgers. Had so much energy that I wanted to leave around noon but at the same time knew that wouldn't be bright ... I would hike too much too fast, get sunburnt and would more or less guarantee that I'd lose all my new friends for a few days or more. So I took it easy, still got almost 14 miles in regardless.

Last 5 miles was another pasture walk, in which I had a kind of scary standoff/retreat with some territorial horses and had to make a 200-yard arc off the trail to avoid them, followed by a climb up into the San Jacinto range. Camped by the crick with Alex and his section-hiking friends Doran (son of Drain?) and Brandon. Tomorrow might actually be a full day of walking.

Day 6: Friday, May 10

Cowboying at Barrel Spring (101.1), a 9.9 mile day.

Woke up at 6:30 with the sun shining directly in my face and the temperature rising, which was sufficient to inspire me to action. Got water from the enormous Third Gate cache (again, 50+ gallons) and walked the first 10ish miles with one small break in the middle, to eat one of the avocados I had purchased yesterday. Perfect trail snack. Sunny, warm and mostly windless for the morning ... the desert stuff I was imagining before I came out here.

Got to Barrel Spring, which is an oasis-like area with lots of big shady trees, around 11:30. First natural water source I've gotten to drink from so far on the trail. Only people there were Karen and Sam, a mother-daughter thru-hiking team who were still packing up from camping here the night before. After awhile, the mom, Karen, decided apparently unilaterally that she and Sam were going to take a zero and hitch to the Ranchita store 3 miles down the road for beer. If there was any extra leftover, we could leave it in the cold-water trough for anyone behind us. This plan met with my approval, Alex's too when he arrived a few minutes later.

There went the afternoon. Eventually others joined us, like Mr. T-Cozy and the Clintons (friends named Hilary and Chelsea who are thru-hiking together). We talked about Sixto Rodriguez a lot, and then a bunch of other stuff. We were all in the bag by about 4pm, when Karen made a second b-double-e-double-r-u-n beer run. There are still about 20 of them floating in the trough for posterity. Tomorrow: to Warner Springs, and beyond!

Day 5: Thursday, May 9

Cowboy camping at Third Gate water cache (91.2), a 17.5 mile day

Woke up, first thing I did was pee, second thing I did was look up and see a hiker I've never seen before, an older guy, walking right by with a full frontal view of my rig. I said a cheerful good morning and he laughed and said, "Don't worry, that happens all the time!" Caught up with him later, he calls himself T-Cozy and did half the AT in 2011. A little loopy but that happens out here.

Walked the hour down to Scissors Crossing, marveled at the enormous water cache there (50 gallons? Prob more), stuck my thumb out, got a ride into Julian from the second car. Thanks to Dave from ____ Valley (nearby town whose name I can't recall) for that one. In Julian, immediately met fellow thru-hiker Tree-Boo. A completely indescribable man, not going to even try. He and I sauntered into Mom's Pies, which, unbeknownst to us, gives all hikers a free sandwich, pie slice with ice cream, and soda, all of one's choice. What??? This is unheard of, at least as an institutional policy, on the AT, probably the rest of the PCT too. I had ham, apple crumble, vanilla, and a root beer. Then I ordered one of their iced ciders and actually paid for it, but only half price.

Did groceries, made phone calls, shot the breeze with passerby, and soon it was time to eat lunch. Went to the Rong Branch Saloon, had a decent lunch, and at the end the waitress asked if we were thru-hikers and when we said yes, she told us we didn't have to pay. Again, this hasn't happened to me before. Also I don't understand it. What exactly are we doing that makes us deserve such special treatment? Waitressing day in and day out is way the hell harder than hiking all day. On the AT I got treated like a celebrity too sometimes and I didn't understand it, and it's even more baffling now. We haven't even made it very far (77 miles at that point).

Anyway. Tree-Boo and I hitched out of Julian around 3 with a mom taking her kids home from school. That was a trip too. Ran into the Kiwis underneath the Scissors bridge, but they weren't going much farther today. We had this spot, the next water source, as our goal for the night, 14 miles up from the road. Left at 3:20ish, Tree-Boo and Bow made it here awhile before I did because they're faster than me and I stopped for a bit when thunderstorms threatened and I found a sheltered spot to let them pass. Rained again briefly this afternoon, making it 4 days out of 5 that I've had at least some rain. Desert my ass. Got here to the Third Gate just after dark. Dry ramen and peanut butter sandwich for dinner, which was a failed experiment. Tomorrow: to Warner Springs, and beyond!

Day 4: Wednesday, May 8

Cowboy camping at super-secret aerie (73.7?), a 17.8 mile day

Woke up to the threat of sun on our campsite. Threat quickly subsided and I had to put my windbreaker on after a mile. Temps still in upper 40s with thick fog after 3 miles, which was a gross horse trough water source. Passed on that, even though I could've used the water. Ended up stretching my last half-liter over the next 9 miles, during which it got sunny, to the next real water source, a fire tank at Rodriguez Spur. Luckily it never got especially warm (maybe 65 degrees) and the trail, despite traversing big mountains, was gentle as a newborn bunny. If only all long-distance trails in this country were so well-built ...

Two-hour break at that fire tank, in the shade of the tank itself, after which I was much improved. Walked last 5ish miles with Alex, who pushed on to get to the road, Scissors Crossing in 3 miles, where he's meeting some friends tonight. I'ma go there in the morning and hitch into Julian for some sort of enormous breakfast, as well as grocery shopping. Climb up from the Scissors into the San Felipe hills is legendarily hot and dry, so I might spend the better part of the day in town before heading back out in the evening to do it. My body could use the rest ... still feeling that second day in my legs.

Day 3: Tuesday, May 7

Tenting at a boulder field (55.9), a 13.3 mile day

Woke up to the same shit outside our cabin, wind rain and 100yd visibility fog. Dithered for a few hours, left cabin at 11, moseyed to store, talked to Lenny and Becca who had survived their night out but were very wet and now taking the day off at the Lodge, finally started hiking at 11:45. Bow stayed back to zero with them. Forecast called for a clearer afternoon, which was sort of right. Rain essentially was gone for the rest of the day. Clouds varied in intensity, the wind never went anywhere and only got stronger. Had fashioned a pack cover out of my second trash compactor bag and it made an almighty racket blowing behind me all afternoon. Would guess some 40-50mph gusts at the worst parts, although the trail usually moved to the leeward side of a mountain soon enough. I was only once tempted to de-layer (I was wearing three ... it never got above 50 degrees today) and I was quickly disabused of that notion upon rounding a corner into said wind.

Attempted to visit a Shriner camp after 5ish miles because sources said they were hiker friendly and offered water, which I was wanting. Place was like a zombie trailer park ... Office shut, no water, no people in fezzes, just an icy wind whipping through and one woman in a golf cart staring at me like she'd never seen a hiker before. Very disappointing. Scored a liter from a small cache after 10ish miles, enough to allow me to dry camp here now. Legs were feeling it after yesterday and there's no need for big miles because I'm trying to set up for a one-day, in-and-out visit to town of Julian at mile 77. Camping with Alex, a guy from Iowa that I met on the trail today. Second straight night someone that I have known for only a few hours has asked me if I know any dead baby jokes. They do say thru-hikers bond especially easily. Good times.

Scenery this afternoon was of the jaw-dropping variety. We're now in the Anza-Borrego desert, according to my maps. Can only imagine yesterday might have been this beautiful if we hadn't been in a cloud all day.

Day 1: Sunday, May 5

Tenting at Lake Morena (20.0), a 20.0 mile day

Woke up at 5 in our motel in Upland, on the road by 5:45. Breakfast at IHOP in Miramar, where the only other patrons were military men. Then we got stuck in traffic, at 8:30 am on a Sunday ... California ftw. No trouble finding Campo or the trailhead. We were both impressed already by the mountain scenery from the interstate ... Both of us I guess knew it was there in this part of SoCal, but had never tried to picture it.

Surprisingly, there were only about 6 names in the log book at the monument from today, and I got the feeling I was the last one. Started walking at 10 sharp, didn't see a soul for about seven miles, all of which were stupidly easy, helped by the fact that it was only about 65 degrees out with an occasional cool breeze. None of this 90 degree baking sun business.

After 11 miles, caught up to Jeff, dude my age from the Loo. Tall lanky strong looking guy but he's still trying to limit his miles because he's recovering from tibia stress fracture. We bonded over this. Soon ran into John, older fellow also going for a thru-hike who did most of the AT last year. Chatted a bit, then I went on ahead still on to make 20.

Wanted to rest before the Hauser canyon climb, the 1000 foot centerpiece for the day, but couldn't because thunderclouds were gathering, wind picking up and the trail was kind of exposed in that area. It did spit rain for a few minutes, then got off-and-on sun again. Climb was pretty tame, I was surprised how easy everything felt today. At the top, rain started to threaten again and temp dropped about ten degrees. Had to stop a few times and batten down my pack to make sure all the important stuff that normally lives on the outside of my pack (groundsheet, pad, camera, phone) was now waterproofed inside somewhere. Rain did start and didn't let up for about an hour and a half. Set up camp in it, ate dinner in my tent. This has to be one of the saddest first-night thru-hiker gatherings in Lake Morena history ... There are maybe 8 hikers here but everyone is huddled in their own tent instead of the big meet and greet that I figured would be happening on my first night out. It was about 50 degrees the whole time it was raining and afterward ... It's one of the great ironies that I ran away from the Oregon climate, which I often hate with a passion, to the Southern California desert only for the climate to follow me here (and leave it 80 and sunny in Oregon, which it is today).

Feel astonishingly good physically after 20 miles on a first day without a ton of training, but mentally spent. Severely sleep deprived and kind of emotionally exhausted by the past few days. Also somewhat deadened by the weather, although I presume the regular desert stuff will pick back up in a few days.

Day 2: Monday, May 6

At Mt. Laguna Lodge (42.6), a 22.6 mile day

Only one word comes to mind for today's weather: shit-tastic. Woke up at 6 when the stake supporting my tent pole finally gave out. It had done better than I was expecting, shitty loose soil all around my tentsite. It had rained all night, was still raining then, but I was happy to see most of the important stuff was dry inside my dubious Hexamid setup. Got things organized over in the campground bathroom building, where it was warm and dry. Met Lenny and Bow (actual spelling) there. Lenny is my age, from New Zealand, trying to thru-hike with his lady friend Rebecca from England. Bow also my age from Olympia, WA. Headed out with them, immediately lost the trail, realized it after about two miles, farted around for a bit as all our gps and phone devices failed (we did have paper maps too). Eventually we ran into a known streambed and a road, the latter of which took us back to the trail. We missed 4 trail miles, including a climb. Oops.

Weather was okay at this point and for the next few hours--cloudy but dry, 50 degrees or so--but went downhill as we went up. Afternoon was mostly a climb, Lenny and Becca dropped back, and Bow and I basically walked into a 45-degree windy, very rainy cloud layer and it stayed that way for about twelve miles. No stopping, we were too wet and cold. Quickly became clear that it was "hypothermia conditions," as they would say in my WFA class, camping started to look out of the question and we should try to get to Mt. Laguna with its potentially pricy lodging for the night. Got there at 4:30ish, met another dude named Gavin to go in on a cabin with ... $86 split between three was better than I was expecting. At that point my hands were too numb to sign the receipt for the room ... My signature looked like Jack Lew's and was nowhere near the line. This place does have a microwave, fridge and stove, and bed space for three comfortably. And hot showers ... Mmm, hot showers. Dinner, for the record, was two microwaved Cup Noodles, two Budweisers, and 12 Oreos dunked in a pint of whole milk. All bought during cold-and-hunger-shopping at the adjacent store.

Could have dressed better today for the conditions, but they came on gradually enough that by the time I noticed them it was too late and I was soaked. Turns out I'm barely prepared, certainly not ideally, for sustained cold and wet weather. My clothing setup is much better suited for hot dry days and cold nights. Which is what 80% of the days will be out here, just not the first two. Probably not tomorrow either, from what we hear.