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.

Donation Update!

As you know, during our hike we are hoping to raise one dollar for each mile we've hiked on the Pacific Crest Trail ($2,650) for the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy. So far we've raised just over $200 toward our goal. Thank you to those who have donated!

Miles hiked to date: 369 miles hikes on the trail

Our miles are starting to get a little ahead of our fundraising though, so if you can, please help us get them to match up again!

Trail Angel in Wrightwood

We've met a lot of awesome people with kind hearts who have helped us out in one way or another. Some people are committed to helping PCT hikers because they themselves have done it before. Others help because, well they just have kind hearts. Our most recent helper was a woman who was going out on a day hike with her dog and stopped to help, not just one, two or three of us, but eight of us poor, lost, stinky souls. We had just spent the night at 8,000 feet and were hoping to get into town Wrightwood for some good breakfast and more food before we continued onward. The highway was strangely empty and we just couldn't figure out why. One of the few people who drove by was this blessed woman who stopped and said the road was closed (due to the snow and rains this winter) just a few miles past where we were standing, thus the lack of traffic. She took pity on us and offered us a ride back into town 6 miles away in her suburban.

Soo in case you were wondering, you can in fact fit 8 stinky hikers, 8 stinky packs, one dog, and a driver into a suburban!

San Jacinto: 10,834 feet

On top of San Jacinto. Note the ice-covered trees in the backbround.

 A view of San Jacinto peak from below as we descended into much warmer climes...

A Day in the Life

Some of you may be wondering what a typical day is for us as we continue our hike on the Pacific Crest Trail so we thought (we have a lot of time to think...) we'd let you'll know:

5:30-6:00 am: Wake up with the birds!
6:00-7:00 am: Eat a calorie-loaded pre-breakfast snack (like oatmeal cream pies) and head out of camp.
7:00-8:30 am: Hike.
8:30-9:00 am: Eat breakfast, typically granola and vanilla protein powder).
9:00-11:00 am: Hike.
11:00 am: Eat another snack, like a protein bar.
11:00am-12:30pm: Hike on!
12:30-1:00 pm: Eat lunch, usually consisting of peanut butter, nutella and some sort of bread/tortilla.
1:00-4:00 pm: If its hot, like really hot, this is siesta time under some shade. If it is not hot, we continue our journey.
4:00 pm: That's right, its snack time again!
4:00-5:30 pm: Hike.
5:30-6:00 pm: Cook dinner. Currenty favorites are cous-cous, parmesan cheese and tobasco sauce; mashed potatoes and cheese; and stuffed pasta.
6:00 -7:30 pm: If we are really motivated, we continued hiking. This typically happens when it has been a reallly hot day and we want to hike in the cooler evening air. In the last week though, it has been so cold (high of 50's during the day, and 20's and 30's at night) here that we have not taken siestas and stopped hiking by 6:00pm.
7:30-8:00 pm: Stretching & yoga. Don't forget--one more snack before bed!
8:00 pm: Hiker midnight--its time for bed!

It's Snowing on May 15th

Its snowing outside as we wait for our ride back to the trail outside Big Bear City. Others are a bit nervous about the snow but I'm not really too phased by it. Bring it on, I say! The trail is still calling us back. About once a week we have to stay overnight in town and honestly it is getting harder to sleep in a real bed inside. The sound of the wind and the cool, fresh breeze across my face as I shut my eyes to sleep is hard to beat.

We've experienced quite a range of weather and climes in the last week--

We summited San Jacinto Peak at over 10,000 feet and had to hike through a lot of snow pack and use all our map navigation skills and good luck to get back to the PCT. The side trail loop to the summit had not been used enough yet to know where the trail was under the snow pack. Every once and we while we were rewarded with a glimpse of trail tread so we knew we were on the right track. It was a big confidence booster since we know it won't be the last time we run into snow. When we finally got to the summit, it was awesome to have a 360 degree view of where we had already hiked and where we were heading. Where we were heading was down to the San Gorgonio Pass which is at around 1000 feet, just outside Palm Springs. Within less than 36 hours we went from a snow-capped peak to a hot desert floor. Crazy!

I'm so thankful for those who worked hard to get the PCT trail together.  The incredible expanse of wilderness that we are traversing, climbing and descending through is just at times overwhelming. We are only a 10th of the way through the trip and we've already seen so much that few people get to see, just because of the remoteness of the hike at times. Until the next post...~Maya

Photos: Scenes

Yucca in bloom.

Name that Insect--Acts like a humming bird, looks like a fly....