We have been planning this hike since the beginning of our Lake Superior trip and now, with 8 days left until we leave, I am finally posting something about it.  I have been adding to the website lately to get it ready to include this journal. It all seems very last minute.  But what the hell, it all got done.

So we are leaving in 8 days for the Mexican Border town of Campo California and hiking north to the Canadian Border. It should be fun.  We left Calumet about a week and have been visiting my parents in Beaverton, MI. We are heading down to visit Hannah’s parents for a few days before we leave. I have been ready to hike since about a week before we left the UP.  I am getting pretty antsy.  All the gear is ready to go, all the details of leaving for 4 months are handled, I hope, and I just want to hike.

Day 1- 1.3 miles

Today was a whirlwind. We woke up at 5AM and started to load our gear in the car. After saying good bye to our dog we headed to the airport with Hannah’s Dad. One of the toughest parts of these trips is leaving Rainy behind. It always makes me a little depressed. We made it through security at the airport with no problems and had about two hours of sitting around until our flight. I was so excited I could barely sit still. I tried taking a nap since I had really only slept about twenty minutes the night before but I couldn’t fall asleep. When we got on our first flight to Pheonix I got super motion sick. It was a long six hours of trying not to barf. I think it was due to the lack of food and sleep. When we touched down we were both starving but we only had about twenty minutes before they boarded our flight to San Diego. We grabbed some over priced pizza and ate it as quick as we could, leaving our stomachs in rough shape. The next flight went much better, aside from the upset stomach, and we were in San Diego in no time. We grabbed our luggage and went outside to catch our first bus. The next three and a half hours were surreal as we rode through town, caught a trolley, then a rural bus that delivered within two miles of the start of the trail. It was really stressful for me because we had no idea what we were doing but Hannah handled it like a champ and it all went off without a hitch. The rural bus driver was really chatty and told us all about the history and current state of San Diego’ s rural bus system. After being dropped off we organized our packs, bought two gallons of water at the convenience store and headed toward the border. On our walk up to the trailhead another thru hiker pulled up and offered us a ride for the rest of the way. We took our customary pictures at the southern terminus monument and debated our next move. By this point it was already almost 8 PM Pacific time so we had been traveling for 18 hours. We watched a border patrol agent making his rounds and decided we should at least walk a mile or so in from the border. We were both exhausted and got lost once in the first mile. We pulled over at the first flat ground we saw and called it a day, a very long day. It has been rollercoaster day and I am beat. I miss my dog. I am trying to get a grip on the fact that I woke up in a bed in Michigan and am going to sleep in a tent in California. And I am trying not to think about the having 2700 miles of walking in front of me.

Sorry about any typos or if anything doesn’t make sense I am new to typing on the iPhone and I am exhausted. If you are reading this, please leave a comment, it would be nice to hear from people early on in the hike.

Day 2- 1 mile past Cottonwood Creek- 23.2 miles

I couldn’t sleep at all last night, which was great since I was completely exhausted after yesterday. Between the border patrol trucks and helicopters, the coyotes, owls and chickens, and the excitement/nervousness of being on the cusp of a 2700 mile hike I slept maybe 3 hours. I was wide awake at 8AM eastern time, which sucked because it was only 5AM here. The new time zone is going to take some getting used to. Scott, the other thru hiker we met yesterday camped with us and when I heard him moving around 5:30 I decided to just get up. We packed up and were hiking by a quarter to six. The air was cool and the trail was beautiful. I was expecting brown plants on brown rocks but was delighted to find tons of amazing plants, most of them flowering after the recent rains. There were tons of yucca blooms and cacti. It was really cool. There were lizards of all sizes and colors and a few Horney toads. The trail was fairly easy with some big rolling hills. The sun came over the mountains and the heat shot up. It was probably only 75 or so but it was pretty harsh for this north country kid. I tried with all my wits to avoid a sunburn but to no avail. No ammount of sunscreen could help me in the desert sun. As the day moved on I got sore and tired. We took alot of short breaks to get out of the sun, including one in a small cave under a giant boulder. We got to the campground at Lake Morena around 1 PM and settled in for a nice long break. We sat around with Scott, ate some peanut butter and honey tortillas and called home. Hannah even took a nap. We waited until it had started to cool down in the shade of a big live oak. Around 5:30 we got up and started moving on to find somewhere to camp so we didn’t have to pay 10 dollars to stay at the campground. I was still pretty tired and sore but the long break made a huge sufferance. We hiked another 4 miles and decided to stop under some oak trees a little ways off of the river. It was a pretty tough and long day for our first real hiking day. I feel good about it even though I am sore and I am sure I will hurt like hell tommorrow.

Day 3 – Flat head flat – 20.4

Finally got some sleep last night. Woke up a few times because I was so sore. I miss my inflatable thermarest. This foam one just doesn’t cut it. It is nice to be able to lay it out quickly during the day but I think I would rather have a comfortable nights sleep. Woke up around 5AM and were hiking by 6. My head ache and stomach from last night persisted and I was really sore so it was a slow start when we got wAlking. We stopped at a campground 2 miles in to get water but it was closed for toad breeding season and they had shut the water off. Hannah and I had enough to make to the next water source so it was no big deal. The trail was pretty easy with no steep climbs, but it got hot quickly and the heat combined with my tired, sore muscles made for a tough day. We stopped a few miles before Mt Laguna and ate a bagel and tuna for lunch. As we were sitting there eating we heard a loud buzz and watched a huge swarm of bees fly down the trail. They just blew past like we werent there. The last half of the day nearly broke our spirits. We ended up hiking much longer than we expected because we weren’t sure how far we had gone. We thought Mt Laguna was only 5 miles out but it was actually 9 so by the time we got there we were both totally beat. We saw our first rattlesnake today, it was a whopping six inches long. We pulled in just as the store was closing so we grabbed a cold drink and some rice for dinner. I was so excited fir a hot meal after two nights of bagels. We borrowed some fuel from Scott and said goodbye to him as he headed out. While the rice was cooking the pot tipped over and I nearly cried as dinner spilled onto the cement. Upon further inspection only a small ammount spilled and we ate that anyways. The hot meal brightened my mood and the rest helped my legs. We put in a few more miles as the sun was setting. Today was really the first day that the scope of this trip seemed real and I could could feel all 2700 miles pressing down on my shoulders. It was a tough day. There was a couger warning sign a few miles before our camp so I am in the lookout for some older women.

Day 4 – 19 miles

Slept in a bit this morning because we were finally getting some restful sleep. It made all the differance. For the first time out here I woke up without a headache and a stomach ache. We were packed up bt 6:30AM and as we were leaving I found out that camera stopped working; some kind of lens error. So i had to call my mom and have her try to get me a new one out here. It is a huge bummer because now there will be a big gap where we have no pictures. Hopefully we will have a new one in about a week. We stopped at Pioneer mail picnic area for a quick rest and a refill on water before we enter a 25 mile waterless section. We met two more hikers, one French and one Canadian. We hiked a few more miles then pulled over to rest and escape the hottest part of the day. We set up our Tyvek ground cloth as a sunshade and ate lunch and took a nap to avoid the heat. The break really helped and the second half of the day went so much better today. The trail was one long decent and we hiked until dark. Hannah’s knees were really sore so we just took it slow. I felt a lot better today. Not hiking in the noon time helped a ton. We saw a few more hikers and there are a few camped in the same area as us. Heading into town tomorrow for a resupply and some real food.

Day 5 – 17 miles

This is try number 3 on this journal. I keep having problems posting from my phone so here we go again.

Today was hot and much more like what I expected from the dessert. We decided to head into Julian, CA for a meal and some groceries so we had set out around 6:15AM to hike the thirteen miles down to the highway. By 8:30 it was already hot and the intensity of the sun was almost unbearable. We have been waiting out the hottest part of the day but we wanted to get lunch in town so we kept hiking as the temperature soared. We found a nice little cave under a giant boulder where we hid from the sun for a while but the ground was covered in cactus spines so it wasn’t very comfortable. We decended the mountains and crossed the dessert floor where the temperature wad easily 105 and the noon time sun was unbelievable. I sunburned the backs of my legs pretty badly despite applying sunscreen every 15-20 minutes and using almost an entire bottle. When we got to the road we hitch hiked the 13 miles into town and got some lunch at the local cafe. I had a huge burger and the stress of the hot morning disappeared as my belly filled. After lunch we bought groceries, more sunscreen and some aloe to help with my burn. We sat around with some other hikers and waited until 5PM and cooler evening air to head back out. We caught a ride with a local man who gives rides to tons of hikers. The trail out of the road climbed the side of a big, steep mountai via a bunch of swithbacks. The view of the dessert was amazing. We are camped in a dry creekbed high on the mountain that has just an awesome view. My sunburn hurts and I am tired from the long, hot, exposed day but going into town helped my moral.

Day 6- 19.5 miles

Today was a pretty generic day in the dessert. We got up early, 5:30AM, hiked until about 11:30AM when the sun got to high and it got too hot, took a rest until it cooled down, then hiked some more in the cool evening. The lack of water in this section had me worried but after about 11 miles, and just as we were running out, we found a huge water casche where someone had hauled in hundreds of gallon jugs for the hikers. It couldn’t have been more welcome. I only had one mire liter to make the ten miles to next reliable source. We set up our tarp and waited out the heat at the cashe and ate some food. I even took a nap. Around 5PM we headed back out into the sun and made it another 10 miles before the fading light forced us to find a campsite. We are in another dry creek bed tonight as they are some of the only flat spots on the steep slopes that the trail follows. Today’s hike went really well. We covered good ground on a hot day without wrecking ourselves. I am starting to get the rythm of hiking again. The heat makes it tough and the dessert is such an alien environment to me but I feel like I am starting to home out here again.

Day 7- 20 miles

I forgot to mention yesterday that we crossed the 100 mile mark. Not a huge milestone when you have 2550 to go, but it still feels good to know we are moving north.

Today we woke up to thick fog. It was awesome. It was cool and didn’t feel like I was walking into a hairdryer all day. We descended the mountains and crossed some cool pasture land where you could see for miles. It was such a stark contrast from yesterday’s high dessert and the day befores dessert floor. It’s amazing what crossing over a ridgeline or changing elevation by a few hundred fett can do to the landscape when you are in such an extreme environment. We saw Eagle Rock, a giant pile of boulders that look exactly like an eagle when viewed from a certain angle. I usually never see these types of things. They just look like rocks bit this one was spot on. It was unmistakably an eagle. And it was jus sitting out in the middle of a giant field. Nature can be pretty amazing sometimes. We followed a creek down to a highway for about 4 miles. It was nice to be near water, it’s one thing I miss out here. We caught a ride into Warner Springs where we got some more groceries and ate lunch. I had another burger. I am thinking of writing a hikers guide to burgers on the PCT. The last half of the day was pretty much the reverse of the morning. We hiked out of town following a stream and climbed back into a high, dry, dusty desert. The sun only shine today for a few minutes and it stayed cool all day. It was perfect. Were camped on an old abandoned road with a huge view of the surrounding peaks. It’s really petty. It looks like it might rain.

Just a few pictures from my phone so far. No real good ones and they don’t do the trail justice.

Day 8 -20 miles

Barely slept last night due to a pain in my knee. It started around midnight and kept me up. I kept rolling around and kept Hannah from sleeping too. I need
to get my inflatable thermarest out here. This foam pad just isn’t cutting it. When I rolled out of the tent around 7:30AM there was a heavy fog and a light mist falling. The mountains were beatiful as we hiked. It looked like one of the murals you see at Chinese buffets, only actually pretty. We hiked through a big boulder strewn valley with house sized rocks dotting the landscape. We met a few other hikers this morning and even more when we pulled over around 2Pm for a lunch break and a nap. The last half of the day dragged on as we hiked through some generic, but beautiful, dessert. Hannah was really tired still and got a little oversensitive for a while and the end of the day couldn’t come soon enough. We found a sandy spot about a mile short of intended destination and set up camp. I made some mac and cheese for dinner but a big gust of wind tipped it over and I lost about a third of it. I threw a fit, swore a bunch and stomped around some. All in all it was kind of a tough day and I didn’t need a food calamity to top it off. Hopefully we will get into town tomorrow. I think we are going to get a hotel room to relax and celebrate our first 150 miles.