Journal Entries

May 12th- Day 21- 23.9 miles from ridge after camping closure at mile 242.2 to The Nobody's in Big Bear Lake from I-18 at mile 266.1.

I wake up to the sun shining in my face, far up in the sky. I pull my phone out of the recesses of my sleeping bag and turn it on; it's 7 in the morning. I look over and Mike and Rachel's tents are still up. I unzip my sleeping bag and go to pee behind a boulder. I think I've woken them with the sound of my sleeping bag unzipping, and they talk to each other softly while still inside their tents as they consider getting up. I feel a pang of sadness as I hear their voices and laughter; waking up every morning to my friend's voices is definitely something I miss.

I pack up quickly, shoving cheese puffs into my mouth for breakfast, and am heading out just as they're leaving their tents. The trail is cruiser, and I walk quickly and without stopping for breaks. Two guys named Phil and Austin leapfrog me; Austin is wearing a purple kilt. I sign a trail register in a mailbox sitting by the side of the trail, and leave a note for my friends. Karma and Nirvana signed it yesterday.

I take a break with a girl named Christine at the sad zoo that the trail runs by. Black bears pace in small chain-link enclosures, with oldies blare over the radio on speakers. She says that a doctor and his brother with a long beard are up ahead, and helped her with a knee issue! It must be Chris and Kelsey!

I turn my phone off airplane mode and a flood of messages comes in. Apparently my Spot didn't send its signal out last night properly and everyone's been worried. I text my family for a while and send out a trial Spot message. Apparently it's been the third or fourth time it hasn't worked. This is exactly what I'd worried would happen with carrying a Spot device.

I'm done with 16 miles by 1, and so I'm starting to think about possibly making it into Big Bear tonight instead of tomorrow morning. I pass by the 250 mile mark, and the 400 kilometer mark; the km marks make me happy because they're always a surprise, and because I imagine them making all of the international hikers happy, even though kilometers don't really mean anything to me. I get to the infamous couch and soda trail magic set up by the Big Bear Hostel. There isn't any soda, and there are hikers occupying the couch. I meet a southbounder Dad/son duo hiking with their Australian Shepherd, Boo Radley. I pet Boo Radley and give them the water report page that I just finished.

My right knee starts acting up. It's not the actual joint, but the muscles around it are getting super tight and making me walk funny. It twinges a muscle that runs from my knee up into my inner thigh when I have to put weight on it. I stop several times to stretch my quads and calves, but it's not slowing me down too much so I keep up my speed.

I get off of the PCT right after a footbridge- I'm standing in the middle of a 6-way junction and there are no PCT markers, which is always a sign that you're off-trail. The trail I'm on connects back to the PCT in a mile or so though, and skips some nasty looking elevation changes, so I keep on it. There's grass growing on the edges of the trail, something that you never see on the PCT. I rejoin soon enough, on red rocky trail tread. The stream the trail has been following along is far below.

I'm going up over a rise when I see two guys with white Superior Wilderness Designs backpacks start heading off. One of them has a long beard. I bound after them: "Hello!" I say. They turn around and recognize me. "I haven't seen you guys since Warner Springs!" It's Chris and Kelsey.

I hike in between them the rest of the 7 miles to the Highway. Chris, the doctor, notices that the back of my knee looks bruised (it's looked that way for days and it hasn't hurt) and that I'm limping. I tell him about my knee problem and he convinces me to stop and take 2 ibuprofen, my first of the trip. The first four miles go by very quickly. Chris and Kelsey hike fast but so do I at the end of the day, and it's nice to be around people I know after hiking into the new bubble ahead of me.

The last 3.5 miles go slower, the trail teasing us as it winds around the sides of the mountain to the Highway. They both live nearby and point out all of the mountains they know in the distance.

There's a cache of water by the highway, and I'm pouring some into one of my water bottles when an older guy walks up. He offers us a ride into Big Bear and it turns out it's Helen's dad, scouting out the trailhead so he can meet her tomorrow morning!! I say goodbye to Chris and Kelsey, since they're meeting someone up ahead at a later road, and hop into the car. He drives me to the hostel, but they're full. They tell me to call some trail angels called The Nobodys, who I've never heard of. I'm tempted to just go to the Motel 6 for the night, but decide to call anyway.

I explain my situation to Donny on the phone and he says to meet him at the Valero gas station around the corner in 10 minutes. Hal, Helen's dad, has waited for me and drives me over. I say thank you many, many times and go into the gas station store to talk with Rachel, Donny's wife. It's her idea to host hikers, and she tells me about her chihuahuas and the wolves that she rescued and has living in her backyard, and her boa constrictor named Ricky. I'm nervous but Rachel seems very nice and they have dogs so I feel okay.

Donny drives up in his truck and I get in. He tells me that the passenger door doesn't open from the inside, and because of that he calls it his kidnapper car; he says he wishes he had pictures of the look on the hikers' faces when they found out they couldn't open the car door. The house is further away from town than the hostel, which will complicate town chores and getting real food tomorrow. I'm left alone in the house with 3 barking chihuahuas while Donny drives back to give Rachel her coat. I call my mom and go to the bathroom.

Then he comes back, and I eat leftover mac n cheese and potato salad and microwaved frozen vegetables while we talk. I take a shower and we watch Star Trek: Into Darkness recorded on the TV. The chihuahuas snuggle on my lap. Finally Rachel gets back from restocking the gas store. The wolves go crazy and she shouts at them to behave while she gives them treats. They knock out the TV cable in their excitement. Finally I head up to bed.

I crawl up a squeaky fold-up staircase into a loft area, bending over so I don't hit my head, and put one of the folded blankets over me. And then I sleep.

Sunset while walking the last mile of the camping ban.

Mission Camp spring and horse trough- delicious, cold water!

Burn area after Mission Creek- camping prohibited for 4 miles due to falling tree danger.

Heading up Mission Creek

May 11th- Day 20- 16.1 miles from first Mission Creek crossing at mile 226.1 to ridge after camping closure at mile 242.2

I sleep in until a luxurious 7, after staying awake until almost real-midnight. By me, Helen opens her eyes and then turns to go back to sleep. I take my time getting awake and packed until a hiker who has some kind of stomach bug comes by to hang out in the shade near my camp-spot. He's been vomiting up all of the water he's tried to drink under a tree nearby. Even though he's a nice dude I decide to get out of there- I don't want to have anything to do with a sickness that could knock me out for a few days.

The trail follows along Mission Creek for a good 10 miles today, a steady uphill with about a dozen creek crossings. I leapfrog people; Rachel, Helen, Rainbow Snake. I stop around 12 at one of the later crossings and realize I've only done 5 miles. Even though it's not 90-degree heat, it definitely saps my energy. I take a nap for two hours in the shade by the creek.

Then slowly, more walking. Walking is definitely hard, and can be boring. The sun is so bright I wear my sunglasses for a bit. There's Poodle Dog bush somewhere along the trail today, and I step around every plant that looks remotely like Poodle Dog. At the last Mission Creek crossing where I'm taking a break with Rachel and Justin, Rainbow Snake backtracks to tell us that there is a first patch of Poodle Dog ahead of us, and where it is so we know what it looks like.

Right after a blowdown and on both sides of the trail, just where Rainbow Snake said. They kinda look like cute little baby Joshua Trees. They're very easy to identify, unlike Poison Oak. We're entering a burn area, where camping isn't allowed for a 4 mile stretch. The trail switchbacks out of the canyon where we've bee hiking all day along the creek, and then down into dry pines, and then up again into the burn.

The trees are blackened and eaten out by fire until they're just husks. The slope is covered with burnt wood and black debris and ash. A creek runs through the burn, babbling and swathed with new green. I stop at Mission Camp to get water at a spring cascading down into a round trough; there are a bunch of people camped here even though it's halfway through the camping ban. Justin and Rachel come to get water, and we warn all of the campers that they aren't supposed to camp there; two hikers got a 2,500$ fine each for hiking the fire closure near Idyllwild, and even though we don't know what the fine would be, we know it's not worth risking an end to our hike if someone came up the road and caught us.

We hike on through the burn, the sunset pink across the horizon. We get out of the fire section in the dark, hiking without headlamps. We finally find a flat spot. I set up my cowboy camp even though it's probably going to be freezing tonight, and cook baked potato soup and eat it in the cold and dark, as Justin and Rachel make ramen. I put on all my layers and try to sleep.

Helen and Legend as he calculates spaghetti times on his hand.

May 10th- Day 19- 15.3 miles from dirt road past Highway 10 at mile 210.8 to Mission Creek at mile 226.1

I wake up per usual to the sounds of campmates stirring. It's Gusher's birthday today, so A-GAME brought party hats for the two of them and gives Mark and I those miniature cocktail umbrellas. I pack up and stay to listen to A-GAME read a birthday Mary Oliver poem out loud for Gusher. Then we're off. They're all faster than me, and I stop to pee in a field of very low and sparse bushes- my pee game is getting riskier by the day, as I get lazier and lazier about it.

Someone passed by our camp last night and said there was going to be pancakes at Whitewater Preserve in 8 miles, our next water source. So, I'm trying to keep up a steady pace and not stop until I get there. It's not so much about the pancakes, but that I can use them as motivation; I pass right by the windmills as I'm walking along a gully, and a few minutes later the Mesa Wind Farm office, which offers water to hikers. My least favorite part of the day is when the sun is just rising and glaring into my eyes, so I have to walk with my eyes and head down even with sunglasses. The trail winds along the sides of a dirt road, crossing every few minutes, but I can't see where the PCT picks up again and have to backtrack a few times. It's miserable; I want to be able to be free to look anywhere I want.

Finally the sun is high enough that the sunglasses can be put away in their hip belt pocket. The trail goes up a canyon that recedes back into the hill, sandy-brown hills dotted with bushes. It switchbacks tightly up to the ridge, the canyon becoming longer and the ridge farther the higher I go. Even with the switchbacks it's very steep, eroding back into the slope. I trudge up, thinking of pancakes, telling myself sternly that I won't take even a breathing break until I get to the top.

I'm up, and after a congratulatory water break I descend. I turn past the corner of a hill and the mountains open up ahead of me, cascading up into the sky in streaks of orange-brown. In the foreground is a mesa covered in straw-brown grass, and a creek cuts a deep wound into the earth, its canyon heading towards the mountains in a curving streak of green cottonwood. A sign says 'Welcome to San Gorgonio National Wilderness,' with a number to call for more information. I'm pretty sure I don't have service to call, so I find the sign funny.

Then another 4-5 miles to Whitewater and possible pancakes. I don't take any breaks other than to drink water, and compared to the climb out of the wind farm earlier, the trail is mild. I'm still riding out the tail end of the cool weather from the storm; I'm sure it can get pretty hot though.

Below I can see Whitewater Creek, a giant field of loose white boulders, a strip of green running across it like a ribbon. Across are mountains whose sides have been carved away by the water, exposing striped layers of sediment and earth. If the Gramd Canyon is anything like this, I think, I can imagine it must be incredible.

I starting seeing dayhikers a mile out. One lady asks if the Sierra are passable right now, and how the snow is, as if all thruhikers are experts. I reply that I don't really know. I take the turn off to the preserve, and another lady pauses to talk with me.

"Where did you start?"

"Mexico."

"And where are you going?"

"Canada," I say.

"And you're not alone, are you?"

I nod my head yes.

"Oh! Well! God bless you and protect you," she says, and pats me on the shoulder.

Thanks?

I wander in on hiking trails around 10, stepping over pools of tadpoles and taking a footbridge over the creek. I pass a couple of private houses, probably for the rangers, and ponds of water. I'm pointed down to the pancakes, after preparing myself for them not being there for the last couple of miles. A trail angel named Legend with curly dust-brown hair and blue eyes and a chipped front tooth is having a thru-hiker flip the pancakes while he talks to other hikers at the picnic table.

I say hello and flop my pack down in the grass under one of the big oak trees. I dig around in my pack and eat some food and drink the rest of my water as I wait for a spot to sit at the table. Mountain is here, and A-GAME and Gusher, and Hot Sauce, and Adam (who is a female), and Haiwen. A bunch of people head out and I eat two big pancakes with molasses (accidentally because the bottle isn't marked) and syrup. I listen to Legend talk with the other hikers for a while, then head out with a hiker named Helen to check out the wading pool, which is apparently for wading in. I get in slowly and clean myself. I can feel the vortex sucking me in, but I don't mind, because it's beautiful here and there is swimming and food and bathrooms and shade and tables and charging stations inside the ranger station, which combined is everything a hiker could ever want or need. Helen and I and a guy named Hot Sauce who's hiked the AT all decide to stay all day until dinner at 4, and we watch everyone else move on. We talk and eat food.

Finally Legend comes out around 4:30 to talk with us. He knows all of the trail angels very well along the PCT and hiked in '13, and has volunteered for years. He tells us lots of stories and gives advice. We make a detailed plan for making Spaghetti dinner. I'm in charge of Parmesan, Mousetrap walks in and is the timekeeper who decides when we're going to eat, Hot Sauce chooses the location, Will is helping serve, and Helen is in charge of seats.

Legend goes back to his trailer and is walking back with the Parmesan, so I go out to meet him and take the Parmesan, taking my Parmesan duties very seriously; instead he misunderstands and I get a big hug. Not complaining at all. It's my second hug on-trail, not counting Sully the dog in Idyllwild.

Legend goes to get the Spaghetti and we walk over to the designated picnic table that Hot Sauce chose. We eat the spaghetti along with a bunch of other hikers who just showed up. Legend sings us a song he wrote, that ends like this:

"Encourage each other, Walk slowly, And follow your dreams."

Helen and I decide to night-hike out together, so we go sign Legend's truck (it's on a board that gets painted over every month) and we say goodbye and thank you! Legend is awesome, and will be traveling along the trail with the pack. So worth spending 7 hours lazing around today and swimming and talking to people, but Helen and I aren't satisfied with only 8 miles today so we hike out together.

Just before the trail crosses Whitewater Creek, I pass Colleen, Rawhide and Tarantino. I stop to talk, but tell them that I want to move on and I hike some more. We have to go upstream a bit to find a good place to cross, then backtrack. Helen is great company and we're both walking at the same pace, so the time flies by. We stop every now and then and point at where we just were.

"Hiking is like a super power," I say, "isn't it so cool that we were just over there a couple of minutes ago?"

The moon is full and rises over the hills, glowing yellow. San Jacinto is a towering black silhouette on the horizon, looking impossibly tall and far away. It seems crazy that we were both just there yesterday.

We eventually make it another 8 miles to Mission Creek in the dark. A city shines below us as we walk, Anza possibly, and the trail rolls up and down among hilltops and ridges. I start yawning. We quietly set up cowboy camp, and Helen offers me a beer can she's packed out. I take a swig, and it's cold from the night air, and good. There are people camped here, frogs are chirping, the moon is rising, the creek rushing as it slides down its creekbed down into the valley below.

In n Out! Mark and Colleen.