Saturday, March 30, 2019 - 8.50 miles The trail climbed steadily today, leaving Aqua Caliente Creek in favour of sunny, rocky slopes covered with shrubs. I enjoyed the views, especially towards the end of the day. A procession of hikers that had probably camped along the creek last night passed me in the morning, and …
Continue reading Pacific Crest Trail (2019) 16: Making Camp in Early Afternoon Is Best
Friday, March 29, 2019 - 5.30 miles I read during breakfast and finished the book, then completed my other chores. While waiting for my external battery to charge, I bought a root beer float at the community centre. I received a bottle of root beer, an empty cup, and a plastic cup of ice cream …
Thursday, March 28, 2019 https://flic.kr/p/2iu3GrH Zero in Warner Springs today. I had breakfast in the town centre with Katarina and Mosey, but forgot to pick up my resupply package and made a second trip with Peter later. Sadly they were only taking a nero and left in the afternoon, so I probably won't see them …
Continue reading Pacific Crest Trail (2019) 14: Warner Springs Zero
Wednesday, March 27, 2019 - 13.60 miles https://flic.kr/p/2iu2QJz The scenery transitioned into meadows, oak trees and cows. At Eagle Rock I unexpectedly reunited with 5150, who now has the trail name Bake. He explained that on the first day of his hike, he had fallen in with a group of twenty-year-olds and injured himself matching …
Tuesday, March 26, 2019 - 11.40 miles I’m generally in favour of switchbacks, but today's trail was inanely winding and long. eTrails states: ‘The length of the hills is only 11 miles as the crow flies, but the PCT travels more than twice that as it winds in and out of every gully and makes …
Continue reading Pacific Crest Trail (2019) 12: As the Crow Flies Is Bogus
Monday, March 25, 2019 Surprisingly chilly temperatures overnight froze the condensation on my tent walls. Unfortunately my water filter can be damaged by freezing temperatures, and I hadn’t stored it inside my sleeping bag. I suspect that the condensation on the walls was subject to lower temperatures than the filter, but I have no way …
Continue reading Pacific Crest Trail (2019) 11: Prove You Love Me by Backtracking on a Slope
Sunday, March 24, 2019 The wind was terrible overnight. Sand blew into my face when I tried to sleep facing the door, and the walls kept pushing against my sleeping bag. In the morning I apologized to Magoo, whose tent was pitched beside mine. He said with a completely straight face that he hadn’t heard …
Continue reading Pacific Crest Trail (2019) 10: Digging for Relics
Saturday, March 23, 2019 - 3.70 miles The wind intensified several times during the night, loosening my pitch so my tent became happily flappy (I like to imagine that it’s happy making noise so that one of us is happy). The sound woke me up early and I was on the trail by 7:15 AM. The other …
Continue reading Pacific Crest Trail (2019) 9: As Many as You Want
Friday, March 22, 2019 - 10.30 miles The condensation in my tent was frozen in the morning. I slowly ate breakfast while the sun slowly crept high enough to illuminate my tent. The sunlight made little difference in temperature but the sky was blue and the visibility flawless. I saw a second snowy mountain in …
Continue reading Pacific Crest Trail (2019) 8: Life Is One Big Missed Opportunity
Thursday, March 21, 2019 The wind and rain continued for hours into the night. Waking up around 2:00 AM, I performed a thorough inspection of the interior of my tent. Due to being pitched on a slight slope, the back of the tent was high and the wind was blowing rain through the mesh; rain …
Continue reading Pacific Crest Trail (2019) 7: Bizarro High Precipitation Zone
Wednesday, March 20, 2019 - 14.30 miles Dawn heralded grey skies. I'd known that rain was in the forecast, but was disappointed when I left the campground and found the views marred by low-hanging clouds, my archrival. One of my archrivals (the other one is cows). https://flic.kr/p/2iu2pE1 A strong wind was driving the mist through …
Tuesday, March 19, 2019 - 5.30 miles https://flic.kr/p/2itYNQh Because of the campground closure I abandoned my plans for a zero in Mount Laguna, deciding to instead take a nero at Mount Laguna Campground five miles down the trail. At a saddle with amazing views out over the Anza-Borrego desert, I settled in for a long …
Continue reading Pacific Crest Trail (2019) 5: Views + Views
Monday, March 18, 2019 - 9.80 miles https://flic.kr/p/2iu2vaQ I only had nine miles to walk to Mount Laguna today, and I was planning to take a rest day there, so I walked slowly throughout the day. Near Long Canyon Creek I encountered a trio of PCTA trail runners who asked whether I had a long …
Sunday, March 17, 2019 - 12.10 miles Another hot day with substantial elevation gain and good views. I concluded that Cottonwood Creek required fording after already getting my foot wet by stepping on a useless clump of reeds. There I met Ron and Bryan, two section hikers, and we took a break together at a …
Continue reading Pacific Crest Trail (2019) 3: Trust No One, Even Yourself
Saturday, March 16, 2019 - 11 miles https://flic.kr/p/2iu3sNz A cold night turned into a hot day. I crossed Hauser Creek, which was flowing - California had a soggy winter and I expect to see lots of running water sources and snow at higher elevations - then began a notoriously steep and exposed climb where people …
Continue reading Pacific Crest Trail (2019) 2: Don’t Give Her That Beer
Thursday, March 14, 2019 https://www.flickr.com/photos/186779238@N07/49543363758/in/dateposted-public/ We didn't need more white chocolate macadamia nut in our lives I shipped off my resupply boxes this morning, using Uber again to transport them to the post office. The driver wasn’t as accommodating as the driver in Bend - he parked across the street from the hostel so I …
Continue reading Pacific Crest Trail (2019) Pre-Hike 6: A Machine Gave Me That
Wednesday, March 13, 2019 I took a break from preparing resupply boxes today to visit the La Brea Tar Pits, which I've wanted to see ever since first researching touristy things one might do at the PCT's endpoints. Look at this tragic scene: https://www.flickr.com/photos/186779238@N07/49544084357/in/dateposted-public/ Yes, your parent mammoth is trapped forever. Why do we need …
Continue reading Pacific Crest Trail (2019) Pre-Hike 5: Tar Pits!
Monday, March 11, 2019 A terrifying plane ride to Calgary kicked off a to-be eventful trip to Los Angeles. The wind was so strong near the ground that the pilot had to abort the first attempt at landing, and the second attempt was a scary success after which people clapped and a guy called ‘good …
Continue reading Pacific Crest Trail (2019) Pre-Hike 4: To Los Angeles
Friday, March 08, 2019 I've been doing some last-minute grappling with my tent. During PCT 2018, I patched most of the holes, but the zipper is worse than I had thought, with the two sides separating even after I applied a zipper lubricant (arguably the lubricant made it worse). Zpacks has this to say: If …
Continue reading Pacific Crest Trail (2019) Pre-Hike 3: Gear Sadventures
Thursday, March 07, 2019 https://flickr.com/photos/186593395@N08/49485370171/in/dateposted-public/ In keeping with my new hiking motto, 'Hike strategically', I've processed some lessons learned from PCT 2018. During that hike I spent a million hours (estimate) at every major resupply point trying to find certain items, mainly dehydrated vegetables and Knorr flavours I like, and that's madness in the age …
Continue reading Pacific Crest Trail (2019) Pre-Hike 2: Lessons Learned
BANE OF THE TRAIL 