Rattlers, Roadwalks and Poodle Dog oh my!

Mt. Baden Powell summit

Last we left you we had just finished our town chores in Big Bear Lake, much has happened since then. We hitched out of Big Bear with a very nice gentleman, hitching with great people who are truly enjoyable to talk to is always wonderful. We took a slow start out of Big Bear but it was well worth it. The day started out with humor as I told our friend Cheesesnake not to forget his water filter at our snack spot, but of course he did. We took a break in the shade of some trees while he hiked back 2 miles to get it

The rest of the day was very scenic. Starring at the lake while walking during the afternoon made us all want to run down the hill and jump in but we hiked on. We had joined with our new friend Rubix at this point, Josh and him powered through the afternoon quickly while I strolled behind taking tons of pictures. We got to camp fairly early and finally used the playing cards we had been carrying for 20 days but hadn't used till earlier that morning at the filter incident break.

We arrived at the hot springs a few days later and spent almost all day there. What a relaxing way to spend 8 hours of a day instead of hiking. Sunbathing, eating, napping, soaking in the hot spring, more eating, more soaking and finally leaving to put some more miles in on the trail. The hike out was truly gorgeous as we winded across the hill towards the sunset.

The next day was also scenic with another lake! If it hadn't been so windy we would have jumped in but a nice mid day lunch spot was good enough for us.  We pushed on and arrived at another picnic area to find a hiker who had met up with his family. They were find enough to let us eat some fresh fruit and sip down some Gatorade. Clint, Cheesesnake, Josh and I made plans to hike on but the idea of camping in such a nice spot with our good friends Tuck and Molly enticed us to stay. We also had the great idea of trying to get pizza delivered and it was a success!

Pizza on trail!

We went to bed with full tummies and awoke to the goal of reaching McDonald's for lunch. Hiking along the trail at a good pace we came to a halt with a rattlesnake on the trail. It wouldn't move, it was frozen soaking in the sun and we thought it might be dead. Josh nudged it with his trekking pole, nothing. So he moved it off trail with his trekking pole, it rattled as soon as he set it down. We looked at each other then the snake. Molly came around the corner and we all waited. Eventually we passed when another hiker, Dan, breezed through with no harm. McDonald's bound we were again.

We arrived at Cajon Pass to fill our bellies with warm food. After tons of calories we got a little claustrophobic from sitting in a building and decided to grab some snacks from the convenience store and push on to a shady spot for a mid day break. After a nice break we hiked to the base of the large hike we had in front of us the next day. We started the day going up, and up and up. We also got to experience with poodle dog bush on the trail. If you don't know what this is google it, nasty stuff.

Anyway it was easy enough to get around, we just had to really focus on that short stretch. The goal was to reach the highway to get us into Wrightwood and we finally did at about 9:30pm, well past hiker midnight. We made a poor decision to sleep on the concrete by the info center, needless to say we all woke up early. We had to put a couple miles on the road but we finally got a hitch from a great local who gave us the tour of the town and dropped us off at breakfast. The only sad part of town was the new shoes I had ordered to replace my pair that was breaking didn't arrive, I was bummed but got over it and got them shipped to the next town.

We did all the normal town stuff in Wrightwood and even got the luxury of crashing on our friends motel room floor. The next day we set out of town to do the climb of Mt. Baden-Powell. While tiring we made it to the top and were rewarded with a view. The next day we got the do some road walking for a trail detour for an endangered frog. We left Cheesesnake in the morning and when we took a break for lunch we still hadn't seen him. Another hiker passed and said we were the first hikers he had seen all day and he started from the base of the mountain, we knew Cheesesnake went wrong somewhere.

Eventually we camped in a wonderful spot that made us forget we were in southern California with multiple stream, large trees and tons of green all around. We set up camp and a few hours later Cheesesnake came rolling by, come to find out he had been off trail twice that day but he made his way back. We all decided to put two big days in to get us closer to Agua Dulce.

We hiked roughly a 24 mile day to get to a fire station where we spent a sandy and windy night sleeping under the bright moon, it lit up the sky like a spot light. From there we pushed out a 25 mile day, a lot of which involved road walking. Again this section was covered in poodle dog bush but it was everywhere. At one point in my mind I was comparing the view to that of a scary movie. Burnt trees loomed overhead and poodle dog pushed surrounded the hill side reaching into the trial every now and then. The bush may not bark like the dog but we didn't want to experience its bite.

Road walking allowed us to get to the same destination but avoid the next fields of the nasty plant. Some road was paved other sections we were lucky enough for it to be dirt. We made it to our destination and camped by a creek just 10 miles from Agua Dulce. Josh and I got up early, for once, and decided to put "10 by 10" in. A lot of hiker around us use this term as getting 10 miles done by 10am but usually we don't break camp until 8am so it's usually hard to do. But today we were successful and treated greatly for it.

View from one of our road walks. 

We arrived at Hiker Heaven which is the perfect oasis in the heat this week. We got to shower, do laundry, ride bikes to town to get supplies and the people that run the place are incredibly nice. Josh and I got to lunch today and a local even bought our food to show some trial magic even though they remained anonymous. We set out tomorrow on the trail again! Oh also I got my new shoes and just in time as mine were on their last thread, literally. Josh's mom Karen will be joining us soon as we hike north. Look for a post soon and adventure on!

-Grimace

Rattle snake on the trail, motionless.

Mad rattler! 

 

Grimace in a tree. 

Grimace on a tree. 

The gang by a 1500 year old tree. 

Teabag in the wind

Am I right? Am I left? (silly trail joke)

Looking back at what we have crossed so far.

Hello All!  It seems like the last update in Warner Springs was much longer than two weeks ago but the trail has a way of distorting one's sense of time. Coming out of Warner Springs it was a fairly short stretch into Idyllwild with pretty easy terrain so it kind of flew by.We hit some trail magic at Mikes house which was much needed and a solid moral boost. We had sloppy joes, soda and beer. Then we hit the trail again to camp atop a ridge and star gaze. We hit some more magic down the way in the way of a water cache (water that is set out on the trail by people wanting to help us hiker trash). These are always nice to hit but we never rely on them.

We also stayed a night at a really cool campground that was surrounded by large boulders and great people. Luckily we have managed to stay with a group of people for most of the trip, and one fellow since we met at the airport. Cheesesnake, or Omaha Cheesesnake is our friend that we have been with the longest and he sure is a hoot. The day doesn't seem right if we don't get our random Cheesesnake fact of the day. We are also still with Clint who is an extremely knowledgeable young lad. We have been hiking with those two every day since Warner Springs and the good times keep rolling. We keep bouncing around with Tuck, Molly, Kyle, Sky, Baggins and Jeff but we can't seem to get the whole group together for two long as the trail pulls us in different paces.

So back to the trail and all that grand stuff. We hiked down the hill and hit Paradise Valley Cafe which was some delicious food! We got there for breakfast and chowed that down then waited the 2 hours for the lunch menu to open so we could get burgers and it was well worth the wait! We hit Idyllwild on the perfect day because a storm rolled through the night we got there.

We set up at the state campground and stood around the campfire sharing good times with great people before climbing into our tents to hunker down as the storm hit. It was sure a breezy and snowy night. We awoke to frost covering the ground and we all shuffled over to a diner called the Red Kettle to chow down and escape the cold. After taking our first zero (no hiking) we jetted out of town to start the climb and saw that the San Jacinto peak was only a side trail to summit the mountain so we went for it.

It was a steep and snowy climb but totally worth it. We made it to the summit, with only one rolled ankle, and found an awesome stone emergency shelter to eat dinner in. Cheesesnake, Clint, Teabag (Josh) and myself all snuggled up in our sleeping bags and had many great laughs. I also got my trail name here, Grimace. In my sleeping bag, which is purple, I look like the McDonald's character Grimace, there is a picture below. Anyway we left the shelter to find a nice spot to hike on and find a nice place to camp.

Coming down Mt San Jacinto with a great view

The next day and a half was a steep climb down from the mountain but the views were incredible. We also woke up with some scorpions in our campsite which was interesting to wake up to especially since I felt something crawling between the floor of out tent and the footprint that sits underneath it. We made it to the bottom of the mountain and hiked across the flat section before Ziggy and Bears which was another wonderful spot of trail magic.

They had it all there: showers, foot baths, food, water, etc. We only did a pit stop there to get a few liters of water and a couple extra things of food but we were happy to see other hikers and the wonderful magic in action. We hiked on a few miles to the Mesa Wind Farm and stopped for lunch. They had cold bottled water for us, bathrooms, outlets, ice cream sandwiches and a A/C room to escape the heat. Again another magical place there to help us.

Grimace, Teabag, Clint and Cheesesnake at the Mesa Wind Farm

From there we had a beautiful climb but it was sure tough. Some parts seems fairly easy but the close we got to Big Bear the harder things got. My ankle was still pretty stiff but I tapped it up and it is doing better now but it made for a couple of slower days. Also one of the days Josh was feeling a little ill in the tummy so our 20 mile day was shortened but we took a wonderful break by a creek with paradise like shade and again amazing people.

The last day and a half into Big Bear was draining physically and mentally but we had to push on, it was time to resupply! We ran into a wonderful trail magic spot close to Big Bear before our last night that had a couch, soda and water that we stopped at for dinner. We got up the next morning and busted out a quick 10 miles to the highway by Big Bear and got picked up by Paul who helps out at the Big Bear Hostile. We decided to stay there to get cleaned up and do some laundry, oh and sleep in a real bed! It was great.

The guy who runs the hostile is super friendly and even worked with some of the businesses in town to get us discounts on food, yay pizza, ice cream and candy!!!! We also had dinner at a really cool sports bar called Sandy's where we ate way to much, had some great beer and cider and played pool. We are now about to resupply our food stock, grab some lunch and hit the trail again. What the trail has taught us so far is take things slow and soak it all in. It isn't about putting in big miles everyday, it is about the journey we have along the way. Look for another post to come soon! Adventure on!

-Sammy (Grimace)

Again photos are below....

Grimace by some sweet boulders

  

Teabag in the heat

Paradise Valley Cafe Burger

Teabag and Cheesesnake

Grimace on San Jacinto Peak

Outside the stone shelter

Sammy being Grimace

Hello all!! We have really enjoyed our hike thus far, so many great things have happened. The people on and off the trail are incredible. Lets see what we can update you on. On day one we hiked into Lake Morena which was 19.5 miles it was a intense first day. Started out pretty strong, it was surreal actually being on the trail. Plus we got showers at the end of the first day which was super awesome!

Day two we had a little off trail adventure which was fun and tiring all in one. Josh and I ended up on a horse trail only to realize we were not on the PCT. We used the Halfmile app to navigate ourselves back to the trail. It took us on a trail for a while but the we had a 1/4 mile left and had to navigate through bushes. We got a little cut up and lost one sock plus my sun umbrella but we came out of it alive, on the trail and in good spirits.

After that adventure we stayed on the trail and found our first group of friends. Kyle, Sky, Tuck, Molly, Mr. Blister, Omaha Cheesesnake, Mark and Stephen. We all met at lunch at a campground and made plans to stay together and the fun hasn't stopped since. Also at lunch Josh got his trail name..... Teabag. I asked for the bag of tea and he chucked a used bag at my face, everyone thought ti was pretty funny.

After lunch we went hiking on and ran into our first trail magic. David (photo at the bottom) was awesome! We met him on the top of a ridge where the trail crossed a road. He had fruit, cold salami, wine, beer and cold water! It was such a great morale boost and he was super duper nice! TRAIL MAGIC IS THE BEST!!!!

After that we made it into another campground for the evening, only after our buddy Mark got a little sick from heat exhaustion. We had way to many laughs in the campground and Josh and I snagged some bacon bits from Kyle which made our potatoes super yum!

Next day we hiked into Mount Laguna which was pretty fun, Josh's blisters were still being annoying at that point. Luckily my blisters had started to callous which was surprising and awesome! We went into Mount Laguna to try and get Josh new shoes, but the outfitters was closed for the day so we headed to a campground with the group. At the campground we struck another bit of magic! Todd was camping next to us and his girlfriend had gotten sick so couldn't join him. He had three days worth of food so cooked us all up some burgers, hot dogs, a steak, a baked potato and smores! If you haven't noticed we love free food.

We got up the next day and started to hike back into town to go to the outfitters which started out as a road walk. Luckily we snagged a ride thus completing our first hitch. The guy had a cat under the front seat of his car which was pretty fun, Josh thought it was a seat massage. We got into the store but didn't have any luck on the shoes for Josh. We also managed to snag another hitch back to the campground (photo below). We then managed to bust out a 14 mile hike in a little under seven hours to meet back up with the group in the most beautiful spot, it kind of looked like it belonged to prehistoric times.

The next day we hiked on some more, I know it's shocking. Josh and I found a solid hiking pace and cruised throughout the day. We made it to Scissors Crossing which was a wonderful cache. They had water, soda and beer. Josh got a beer and I got a Cactus Cooler which was a super yummy orange pineapple soda. Thank you trail angels for keeping that stocked. We hiked up the hill a little after we ate diner and did out first cowboy camping (just in a sleeping bag under the stars). It is incredible how clear the skies are out on the trail.

The next day we got up and put 14 miles in. It was rough for me but Josh did great! We stopped at another water cache and were going to be done for the day but our friend Sky motivated us to keep going. She is super awesome also! She managed to get us to hike another 10 miles and we did most of it under the stars which was a great time as well. Also Baggins joined our hiking family.

We got up this morning and but it our last 8 miles or so to get to Warner Springs. As soon as we got here we woofed down some double cheeseburgers, showered, got mail and tomorrow we get to do some laundry. Life has been great on the trail. When we have bad moments they are followed with many many good moments. I know I keep saying it but all the people out here are amazing! So much generosity from hikers and trail angels alike. Keep checking back for updates and adventure on!

-Sammy

I couldn't figure out how to label the pictures so here is the titles below. 

1. Our starting group

2. Me at mile one 

3. Josh being happy

4.David and all the trail magic

5. Cool trail

6. One clean leg and one dirty

7. Yummy cactus cooler soda!!!

8. Pretty flowers 

9. Lizard

10.The group at mile 100

11. Mile 100 :)

12. Barrel Springs 

13. Josh aka Teabag

The final countdown

So the big day has finally arrived, in less than twelve hours we will be on the trail beginning our hike. Today was an early day, starting at four this morning and we get a nice reprieve  tomorrow when we have to be up at 5. It really has been pretty amazing down here. Staying at Scout and Frodo's has been awesome, great food and hospitality... And around twenty other people starting tomorrow. Surprisingly for me at least, the nerves pretty much died down when we got to San Diego and I'm just ready to get on the trail... Or I just have yet to realize what we're about to do. Either way, it begins tomorrow at the border. Thanks to everyone for your support and hopefully we'll keep this up to date.

-porter

As for me nothing has felt real in the last day or so. As soon as we got our packs fully loaded I was calmed. Now the excitement has kicked in, luckily I'm full from all the amazing food (one of our fellow hikers is a chef, bomb curry!) so I'm ready to close my eyes and awake to the adventure of a lifetime. Thank you all for the support and love so far. Huge thanks to all the individuals at Scout and Frodo's. Josh and I get to challenge ourselves in ways we have never imagined, and with that thought we lay our heads on our last comfy bed for awhile. Adventure on.

-Sammy

The traveling has begun, sort of. We have officially moved out of Ellensburg, packed all our belonging up and now its see our friends and family time. We are so excited to hit the trail in two weeks! The last month has been a blur but everything is falling into place and this trip is becoming more and more real each day. Soon we will fly down to California to see Josh's mom, Karen, for a week and she will be our caretaker on the trail. After a week with her will fly down to San Diego on April 14th and meet our first set of trail angels, who will be making sure we get to the trail head safe and sound. The it is the big day! April 15th we hit the trail. Stay tuned for more updates and adventure on!

Hey all. I don’t keep a countdown to departure so I can maintain my sanity somewhat, I’m sure Sammy knows, but it is certainly getting close. While we’re on the trail we will continue to use this blog and update our Facebook so that people can follow our progress and get a little slice of our adventure. In order to do this, we will have our phones for Internet access and emergency cameras, our main camera, and a GoPro; all of which will be run on charges from a handheld solar charger. To build up the charge we will be hiking with the solar charger on top of one of our packs, allowing the sun’s rays to lap tenderly at its panels… or at least that’s the theory. If all goes well we will have some form of update available for your viewing once every two weeks at the most.

A common question we get is how do you get unplugged and away from society when you will be using technology though out your trip? This can seem like a contradiction but in reality, I think it is less of one than on the surface it may seem. In our day-to-day lives, the downside of technology is not our reliance upon it but rather our lack of control over how that frequent use manifests itself. We HAVE to check our emails, keep our phones on, etc. because if we don’t we might miss some vital bit of information that cannot be delayed. It isn’t our autonomous use of technology that brings us stress but rather the involuntary expectations of availability that technology use brings.

We will experience none of this stress dependence, updating things when it is convenient while giving ourselves a break from all outdoors all the time (after all we do have to make our societal re-entry someday). So any way there’s how we plan on keeping in touch on the trail and if you have a problem with it, tell your friends how dumb and hypocritical we are and you’ll feel better. Thanks for reading guys, Cheers! –Josh

PS- 47 more days!!!! (Sammy)

Hello all! So it turns out Josh and I are terrible at keeping up with a blog, considering this is only the second post. Nevertheless, we will march on in our efforts. So we are coming to the final months before our big adventure, we are planning on hitting the trail April 14th!

Since beginning  to blog we have debated whether or not we actually wanted to go through with it while hiking considering half the point is to unplug ourselves from technology. As time goes on we find ourselves wanting to utilize this as an educational and reflective outlet for ourselves, our friends and families.

We will update this blog leading up to the trip a handful of times with our pre-departure thoughts and feelings. Once we hit the trail we will use this to post reflective pieces, videos and photos. In addition we hope to use this as a platform to bring some exposure to the PCT community.

We hope to stay on top of this more diligently with the as the journey continues so check back for more information about how you can see pictures on Facebook and get into contact with us once we hit the trail.

Adventure on!