A Reflection: April 28 to the Present

As of tomorrow we will have been hiking for one full month- April 28-May 28. It truly is hard to believe we have been on the Pacific Crest Trail for a whole month! To honor the occasion, I thought I'd reflect on how the last month as gone and what we are preparing for coming up.

Quick Summary: 
Miles Hiked: 454
Days in Town to Resupply Food: 5
Days Hiking: 24
Rattlesnake Sightings: 3, including one that Garrett had a very close encounter with...
Other Snake Sightings: Too many to count
Most Common Animal: Small lizards
Most Despised Plant: Chaparral, particularly a really thorny one we've nicknamed the "devil bush" 
Best Day: The day we hiked to the top of Mt. San Jacinto
Worst Day: The day we hiked through the area decimated by the 2009 Station Fire in the Angeles Crest.
Toughest Physical Ailments: Blisters

As I write this, we are resting up after a pretty tough week on the trail. We hiked over Mt. Baden Powell, a 9500 ft peak in the Angeles Crest that was covered in steep snow pack, and then proceeded to hike through more than 50 miles of burned area along the trail. The vast majority of it had not been maintained since the fire so it was either in really bad shape, overgrown with weeds. Burned trees had fallen into the trail which gave us a feeling that we were actually in a jungle gym or obstacle course instead a national scenic trail. It was draining physically as well as mentally. Hands down, this week was definitely the most trying time mentally for us.

When we first started in April, our biggest challenges were the physical ailments. We both started at less than 100 percent. Garrett had literally not eaten for 3 days due to the flu and I came down with a nasty cold just days before we started. We then spent the next 2+ weeks dealing with multiple blisters and finessing gear and food. We now feel pretty good physically and have figured out what food/gear works for us (We actually didn't change our gear too much--just changed shoes and I did end up buying gaiters to keep the sand out of my shoes...). Overall, we've been resourceful and overcome any adversity and feel confident about that is coming up. 

Now that we feel pretty good about managing the desert (which was actually quite wet & cold this year), it is ending in just over 200 miles and a new challenge is around the corner. The Sierras await, where there is still significant snow pack at 10,000 feet. Logistics become much more difficult as easily accessible towns get much more sparse. We are already making adjustments and preparations to be ready for this next phase of the trip. For the next section, we will be adding bear canisters to store our food in, Microspikes for our shoes to get more traction in the snow, the mesh body of our tent to keep the mosquitoes at bay, and ice axes to assist in traversing steep snow slopes. To say the least, it is a little intimidating, but I feel confident about our preparedness and am excited about what the wild Sierras hold for us.