Moxie
Latitude:38.74247
Longitude:-120.03404
GPS location Date/Time:07/07/2012 20:13:33 PDT
Message:I am safe and all is well.
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Moxie
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Saturday, July 7, 2012
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Some of My Fellow Hikers
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| From the left: Hamburger, LavaGoat, Easily Distracted, her sister Rear Guard, and Dusty Bottoms |
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| Scalawag, from Temecula, CA. He had been working in the water filtration industry, but was laid off. He decided to do the PCT with only 3 weeks notice! |
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| Easily Distracted (from Florida, did the AT), with the Michigan Wolverine (from Ann Arbor, did the AT) in the background |
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| LavaGoat, right after she face planted. She is such a champ! In her 30s, married, living in San Diego, I feel like I have more in common with her than with other hikers. She is a very capable outdoorswoman and it's my challenge every day to keep up with her. |
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| Style (did the AT) and Rear Guard (Easily Distracted's sister. This is her first long hike.) |
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| Dusty Bottoms (did the AT with Easily Distracted), signing the log book for a Geocache we found in the shade of a manzanita bush. Dusty Bottoms is a sweet boy about my age with an amazing sense of humor; he sees beauty when I'm too tired to appreciate it without prompting. He cares about everyone he meets. |
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| Hamburger, a true gentleman from Hamburg, Germany. He has a wonderful sense of humor and genuine warmth. Here he is in Warner Springs, right before heading out in the evening. |
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| Lunchbox has been living in Davis for a couple of years, so it's fun to hike with him and talk about familiar places. He recently did a cross-country bike tour to raise money for Habitat for Humanity, and as he went he helped to build houses. He's looking forward to doing the AT and building his own minimalist house. Mt. Everest is the very last thing on his bucket list. |
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| Here GipCGirl and LavaGoat watch Scalawag (in the red bandana) go through the hiker box in Warner Springs. His resupply didn't arrive at the post office, but he was able to scrounge up enough cast-off food to make it to Idyllwild. GipC is a retired woman from Australia. She did most of the AT in 2010 but broke her leg. She returned in 2011 to thru hike it. She finished just 7 months before starting the PCT this year. |
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| Neon and OnnaMove from Arizona. I ate breakfast with them my first morning in Julian and they told me about their section hikes on the PCT last year. Really friendly people. |
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| From Left, Houseparty, Tim (from NOLA) and Little Cubit (so named because she has short arms) at Mom's Pie in Julian. They fed us on the house there. It was wonderful. That was the last time I saw Houseparty and Cubit; I hear they were in Palm Springs recently. Tim and his brother Jeremy are also staying at the Motel 6 here in Big Bear. |
Monday, May 14, 2012
Mi. 211-- Cabazon, CA
Let me tell you, it's frickin hot in Cabazon, CA. Last night we camped at mi 206, where there was a water spigot at the road. After climbing 20 miles down Fuller Ridge with not-enough water, it was a wonderful sight to behold coming into camp just before dark. Jeremy greeted me with a liter of filtered water; I had run out of water nearly 5 miles before in the heat of the day. I guzzled it down and caught up with Lester, Marcus and Jeremy about the day's hike; we had all been attacked by the hive of feral bees, seen a rattlesnake at a serendipitous water source, and as a result of missing that water, had run out well before the spigot.
Today we came the five miles to a trail angel home. They have tents set up in their back yard to shelter us from the heat of the day; I started walking at 6am and by 7 it was already blazing hot. The place is a little odd... They have a nice setup, but it stops short of being hospitable. Hikers aren't allowed in the house, no fires (so no cooking I reckon), there is no place to purchase food, and hikers are not allowed to ride in their car. I wanted to leave a donation but didn't have any cash. The hostess had mentioned she was going to the store, so I asked if I could ride along to get some cash back. She pursed her lips, gave me a sour look and said that was NOT okay. The alternative was to give her my ATM card and my PIN number and have her get the cash for me! Hell no. So no donation. Another hiker mentioned that they lock up the computers at 9pm. Yet another hiker told me that their website mentions a 10 dollar minimum donation required. When I heard those reports, it felt more like a distrustful, money making scheme than trail angels. To their credit, they gave us a bowl of water to wash our feet, had plastic flip flops for loan, let us sit under the shade structure where they had two laptops set up, and let us rinse our clothes in a sink hooked up to the garden hose. All of these things were wonderful treats in the heat. I wish I had been able to leave a few bucks to extend my appreciation for them.
GipCgirl, who had been travelling at least a day ahead of me, showed up at the house an hour after I did. She reports that the next stretch is also waterless and difficult and she suffered from dehydration. She had to hitch hike back to this point to recover. She and Damsel decided to rent a car to get to Big Bear City (Damsel is hiking with her dog, Lucy. They got lost in the desert and made it here scratched up and dehydrated, but safe.)
Since I last updated, I've been to Warner Springs and Idyllwild. In Warner Springs, the resort went bankrupt and now there is nothing there but a school and a tiny post office. To stop the gap for us hikers, Warner Springs Monty worked with the school district to provide resupply, camping, showers, and BBQ for us. It was really wonderful. Sherry, the ag teacher, was wonderfully hospitable and made us feel totally at home (with Apple cobbler cooked in dutch ovens in campfire coals and pot upon pot of cowboy coffee).
After WS, it was 40 miles to the Pines to Palms highway at mi 151. Lawrence the Spring Guy picked up Scalawag, Style, Ori (a fellow from Israel), and myself and drove us to Idyllwild for lunch. I zeroed there the next day and since I had arrived ahead of schedule, I caught up with a bunch of people I haven't seen since kickoff. I learned from Anchorman that Ranger-- my hiking buddy from my first day on the trail-- dropped out. He had gotten a hitch forward to Julian and left from there.
We hiked out the next day (Saturday). It was only an 8 mile day, but it kicked my butt; it was entirely uphill and STEEP. And that brings us back to the beginning-- my miserable, hot, dusty, knee-busting, thirsty 20 miles coming down Fuller Ridge.
Overall I'm doing well. My little blister on my toe is looking good and my muscles are doing well. However, the last two days killed my knees. I woke up today stiff-legged and took a while to get going. Also, when I arrived in camp last night I had lost sensation in my toes. Today it's restored to all but my big toe. I can feel pressure, but not other sensations (another hiker told me that the same thing happened when they hiked the AT, and it took months to come back to normal). I'm considering joining GipC and Damsel in their car up to Big Bear.
More than anything I'm homesick, but that is starting to get a little better, especially in camp and in towns when I'm surrounded by a group of people who all have the same priorities as me (take off the pack, air out the feet, set up camp, filter water, cook food, go to bed).
Today we came the five miles to a trail angel home. They have tents set up in their back yard to shelter us from the heat of the day; I started walking at 6am and by 7 it was already blazing hot. The place is a little odd... They have a nice setup, but it stops short of being hospitable. Hikers aren't allowed in the house, no fires (so no cooking I reckon), there is no place to purchase food, and hikers are not allowed to ride in their car. I wanted to leave a donation but didn't have any cash. The hostess had mentioned she was going to the store, so I asked if I could ride along to get some cash back. She pursed her lips, gave me a sour look and said that was NOT okay. The alternative was to give her my ATM card and my PIN number and have her get the cash for me! Hell no. So no donation. Another hiker mentioned that they lock up the computers at 9pm. Yet another hiker told me that their website mentions a 10 dollar minimum donation required. When I heard those reports, it felt more like a distrustful, money making scheme than trail angels. To their credit, they gave us a bowl of water to wash our feet, had plastic flip flops for loan, let us sit under the shade structure where they had two laptops set up, and let us rinse our clothes in a sink hooked up to the garden hose. All of these things were wonderful treats in the heat. I wish I had been able to leave a few bucks to extend my appreciation for them.
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| Style gave me a sassy haircut-- it's spiky now! |
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| Sherry, the ag teacher in WS |
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| Lawrence the Spring Guy goes around to the springs in the area and cleans them so they'll be safe for us to drink from. This is the Chinese place where we bought him lunch in Idyllwild. |
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| Just before leaving Idyllwild. I got lost a couple hours later. |
After my zero in Idyllwild, I decided to go up the Devil's Slide Trail and travel South to make up the miles that I hitch hiked. On the way, I met OnlyATest who told me she had taken the Tahquitz Meadow alternate trail. Since it was .7 mi shorter and involved 450ft less climbing than the official PCT, it sounded pretty good to me. Well... after a few miles the trail forked to the south, but I continued east. Hours later, I was lost and off my map. I came to a cliff... where I could see the city of Palm Springs below me. That wasn't right. So I started backtracking. Finally, around 5:30, I came to the place where I messed up. It was 18 wasted miles of hiking. The next day I said "screw it! I put in my miles on San Jacinto!" and I hiked the 5 miles back to Idyllwild where I hung out with OAT, Dusty Bottoms, Lunchbox, Easily Distracted, and Rear Guard.
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| The Michigan Wolverine took this picture of me in camp with Mt. San Jacinto in the background. We had climbed over it from Idyllwild that day. |
Overall I'm doing well. My little blister on my toe is looking good and my muscles are doing well. However, the last two days killed my knees. I woke up today stiff-legged and took a while to get going. Also, when I arrived in camp last night I had lost sensation in my toes. Today it's restored to all but my big toe. I can feel pressure, but not other sensations (another hiker told me that the same thing happened when they hiked the AT, and it took months to come back to normal). I'm considering joining GipC and Damsel in their car up to Big Bear.
More than anything I'm homesick, but that is starting to get a little better, especially in camp and in towns when I'm surrounded by a group of people who all have the same priorities as me (take off the pack, air out the feet, set up camp, filter water, cook food, go to bed).
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Mile 77.6 - Julian, CA
I wrote this in response to a message from my mom, but its such a good summary, I decided it would do double duty:
Walking straight downhill for long distances, I've learned, is extremely difficult! I've been doing a lot of that and my poor little knees are tired. After the very first day, I had Jon order me some poles and he's sending them overnight to Warner Springs. I bet you wished you had brought yours to Carlsbad!
I'm in Julian today. I hitchhiked with two guys, and we got picked up by a British ex-pat in a luxury SUV! His son is looking at colleges in nor cal and I talked to him about UCD. It was a pretty good first experience with hitch hiking.
I got off the trail because I was feeling tired and discouraged by the news that all of the water for the next 25 miles is dried up. The first 13 of those miles are straight up out of a canyon! But I came here, got a room, showered, ate. After I talked with a lot of other hikers and townies and read the Facebook messages of encouragement I decided to rest here today and get back at it tomorrow. I met a lovely couple at dinner last night who took a great interest in me and gave me their phone number so I won't have to hitch back to the trail.
The b&b where I'm staying is full of hikers; they have a special rate for us: $70 for a private room with a bathroom, free WiFi, afternoon tea at 4, full breakfast in the morning and they do our laundry! it's extremely quaint, like everything else in Julian. Downstairs they have sitting areas with beautifully carved rocking chairs, board games, and a library. My favorite part is the bed! It's covered by gorgeous quilt upon gorgeous quilt and it's extremely comfortable! I closed the curtains so I could sleep past sunrise, but I only made it to 645 (I've been sleeping with the sun).
Speaking of sleeping, the night before last I cowboy camped for the first time. That is, I slept without a tent under the stars. My tent kept whipping around in the wind while I was trying to set it up and I finally said "screw it!". I laid out my groundsheet, sleeping mat, and sleeping bag. I got inside and started to cook my dinner when these yellow-jacket looking things started to hover around the edges of my sleeping bag. They weren't agressive, but they worried me. Finally I thought "crap, maybe they are ground nesting bees and I'm on top of their nest." So I rolled up my stuff in my ground cloth and moved away. Sure enough, they all landed and crawled into teeny holes in the ground. So I slept about two feet to the side and watched all of the bees come home as the sun set. It was so cool.
I haven't camped alone yet so far, and I've kindof fallen in with a group that travels about the same number of miles as me. Gipcgirl (gypsy girl) is a retired lady from Australia, near the city of Perth. Hamburger is a retired man from Hamburg, Germany. LavaGoat is a young married woman from San Diego. Lunchbox is a guy about my age from Placerville. OnlyATest is in her 30s and from southern California, I don't remember exactly where. Bolts (has bolt earrings in his ears) is from Sunnyvale and reminds me of Matt DeGroot. Jason is a nice kid about my age but I don't remember where he's from. Everyone is hiking solo. But it's worth mentioning the group of four 20something Israelis who are always nearby, but stick to themselves (in fact, they have the room just down the hall from me). There were also two brothers from NOLA, but they pulled ahead of us the night before last and I haven't seen them since then. [Edit: I just ran into them in town.]
Walking straight downhill for long distances, I've learned, is extremely difficult! I've been doing a lot of that and my poor little knees are tired. After the very first day, I had Jon order me some poles and he's sending them overnight to Warner Springs. I bet you wished you had brought yours to Carlsbad!
I'm in Julian today. I hitchhiked with two guys, and we got picked up by a British ex-pat in a luxury SUV! His son is looking at colleges in nor cal and I talked to him about UCD. It was a pretty good first experience with hitch hiking.
I got off the trail because I was feeling tired and discouraged by the news that all of the water for the next 25 miles is dried up. The first 13 of those miles are straight up out of a canyon! But I came here, got a room, showered, ate. After I talked with a lot of other hikers and townies and read the Facebook messages of encouragement I decided to rest here today and get back at it tomorrow. I met a lovely couple at dinner last night who took a great interest in me and gave me their phone number so I won't have to hitch back to the trail.
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| Fantastic breakfast at the Julian Gold Rush Hotel |
Speaking of sleeping, the night before last I cowboy camped for the first time. That is, I slept without a tent under the stars. My tent kept whipping around in the wind while I was trying to set it up and I finally said "screw it!". I laid out my groundsheet, sleeping mat, and sleeping bag. I got inside and started to cook my dinner when these yellow-jacket looking things started to hover around the edges of my sleeping bag. They weren't agressive, but they worried me. Finally I thought "crap, maybe they are ground nesting bees and I'm on top of their nest." So I rolled up my stuff in my ground cloth and moved away. Sure enough, they all landed and crawled into teeny holes in the ground. So I slept about two feet to the side and watched all of the bees come home as the sun set. It was so cool.
I haven't camped alone yet so far, and I've kindof fallen in with a group that travels about the same number of miles as me. Gipcgirl (gypsy girl) is a retired lady from Australia, near the city of Perth. Hamburger is a retired man from Hamburg, Germany. LavaGoat is a young married woman from San Diego. Lunchbox is a guy about my age from Placerville. OnlyATest is in her 30s and from southern California, I don't remember exactly where. Bolts (has bolt earrings in his ears) is from Sunnyvale and reminds me of Matt DeGroot. Jason is a nice kid about my age but I don't remember where he's from. Everyone is hiking solo. But it's worth mentioning the group of four 20something Israelis who are always nearby, but stick to themselves (in fact, they have the room just down the hall from me). There were also two brothers from NOLA, but they pulled ahead of us the night before last and I haven't seen them since then. [Edit: I just ran into them in town.]
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Lake Morena
Ok folks, I've made it the first 20 miles. ML, R, & B dropped me off in Campo at 8 after getting pastries at a panaderia. After about four miles of hiking, I made friends with Ranger, an older gentleman who liked my pace. The weather was perfect: overcast. We camped for the night at about 13.5 miles and got completely drenched in a rainstorm. It rained on us the whole way today to Lake Morena. We met a guy named Macgyver about a mile from the lake and walked with him to the general store where we got a bite to eat and I bouht some butter (forgot the olive oil, d'oh)
I walked down to the campground and met a woman named Mikki and her husband Jake. Jake grilled me on my gear and knowledge, and Mikki informed me that I passed muster. Jon will tell you that before I left I was worried about being scrutinized. So that was a relief.
Found my site and set up camp. I saw some 'celebrities' such as kolby "condor" kirk (i've been following his video blog) and Teddi Boston, the first woman to thru hike the PCT, before it was the PCT. Met the people I'm camping with; Butch (aka wedding dress guy), Jason, Tank, Malarkey, JB, and another fellow by the name Oso Bruto. All the guys are pretty friendly. It was nice to share a beer around the table. I volunteered to help with registration at 9am tomorrow; I figured it would be a good way to see everyone who arrives tomorrow.
Next stop is Warner springs, 89 miles away.
I walked down to the campground and met a woman named Mikki and her husband Jake. Jake grilled me on my gear and knowledge, and Mikki informed me that I passed muster. Jon will tell you that before I left I was worried about being scrutinized. So that was a relief.
Found my site and set up camp. I saw some 'celebrities' such as kolby "condor" kirk (i've been following his video blog) and Teddi Boston, the first woman to thru hike the PCT, before it was the PCT. Met the people I'm camping with; Butch (aka wedding dress guy), Jason, Tank, Malarkey, JB, and another fellow by the name Oso Bruto. All the guys are pretty friendly. It was nice to share a beer around the table. I volunteered to help with registration at 9am tomorrow; I figured it would be a good way to see everyone who arrives tomorrow.
Next stop is Warner springs, 89 miles away.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Train, bus, train
I'm here in San Diego! Richard, My-Lien, Berg and I finally arrived safely and I'm looking forward to waking up at 530 to drive to Campo.
Friday, of course, was my last day of work. I was surprised by my coworkers with beautiful flowers and a gift card to Sport Chalet. After work, I went home to wrap up some details before heading to San Jose for my bon voyage party.
Mom, Katie, Maggie and Jim put on an excellent party. They made me an awesome banner; Maggie decorated my favorite cake with a river, a trail, fields, trees, and a hiker figurine; Katie put together PCT maps with info about my blog and how to send me treats! It was great to see everyone again. For the next two days it was back to running errands.
This morning Jon and I woke before dawn and went to pick up ML, R, & B. We took a train, a bus, and another train to San Diego where R's aunt Irene picked us up. We made the rounds to visit their family and then went to the BEST hole-on-the-wall Thai restaurant I've ever been to. Stuffed, we are now at ML's parents' home and tucking in.
The forecast for tomorrow is a little drizzle during the day and thunderstorms at night. I never imagined that my first day on the PCT would necessitate my umbrella for protection from RAIN instead of sun! I'm nervous, but excited!
Saturday, April 14, 2012
T minus 10 days
I can't believe it. After saying to myself so many times "in a couple years" the day has finally come when I refer to my start day as "in a couple days". So much is going on right now, it feels surreal.
I finally got a Chrome Dome hiking umbrella from Golite, it was even on sale so the wait paid off! The outside of the umbrella is reflective, for the desert sun, and I'll be able to use it again in the Washington rain (photo credits to Jon). It has a nice span; I've just gotta figure out a way to attach it to my backpack so I can go hands free. Despite my last post, I'm back to having doubts about the capacity of my backpack, especially considering the bear can. I'm seriously considering switching to a Gossamer Gear G4. I would gain about 20 liters of capacity and lose about 11 oz of weight. It seems pretty win-win.
My mom made me a collection of wonderful meals. It was overwhelming to see how much love and attention she put into making these meals for me (she even took the time to sprout the beans before she dehydrated them so they would be extra nutritious). Included in each baggie is a sheet of the ingredients with instructions for cooking, an inspirational quote to keep me motivated, and a little snack to eat while I'm cooking. See what I mean? She went all out. Thanks Momma <3
This coming Friday is my last day of work. I've been enduring fond teasing from my bosses and co-workers (regarding work-ethic, wrestling bears, and my caffeine intake, mostly!), and hearing well-wishes and "we'll miss you"s from my regular customers.
Since I work in a very small grocery just around the corner from my home, my regulars aren't just customers to me. They are my neighbors and have become part of the landscape of my life. They are the faces Jon and I see when we walk in our neighborhood after dinner and run errands downtown. In two years I've seen pregnancies, births, and first birthdays (or at least, the daily runs for pickles, ice cream, and party supplies!). E has become a motherly figure to me and worries over me as I prepare, S suggested they put up a map of the trail on the bulletin board outside so everyone can follow my progress and M suggested that we hang an announcement of my last day so everyone will know to come say goodbye. There is heartfelt enthusiasm, encouragement, concern and excitement from everyone; it means to me that I am finally a Davis townie, not just a student passing through anonymously, anymore.
I am really, really going to miss everyone while I'm gone. But I'm planning to be back in October, and already I'm looking forward to sharing my stories.
I catch the train to San Diego on Tues 4/24 with Richard and My-Lien and their young son Berg. My-Lien's parents generously agreed to put me up for the night in their home. The next morning, we'll pile into Richard's grandparents' car and the three of them will drop me off at the border on their way to the Salton Sea (which, I am told, is quite a spectacle). Starting my journey off with friends by my side will be great; I had worried about how to get from the train station to the border, but I shouldn't have. Already I am experiencing trail magic.
My mom made me a collection of wonderful meals. It was overwhelming to see how much love and attention she put into making these meals for me (she even took the time to sprout the beans before she dehydrated them so they would be extra nutritious). Included in each baggie is a sheet of the ingredients with instructions for cooking, an inspirational quote to keep me motivated, and a little snack to eat while I'm cooking. See what I mean? She went all out. Thanks Momma <3This coming Friday is my last day of work. I've been enduring fond teasing from my bosses and co-workers (regarding work-ethic, wrestling bears, and my caffeine intake, mostly!), and hearing well-wishes and "we'll miss you"s from my regular customers.
Since I work in a very small grocery just around the corner from my home, my regulars aren't just customers to me. They are my neighbors and have become part of the landscape of my life. They are the faces Jon and I see when we walk in our neighborhood after dinner and run errands downtown. In two years I've seen pregnancies, births, and first birthdays (or at least, the daily runs for pickles, ice cream, and party supplies!). E has become a motherly figure to me and worries over me as I prepare, S suggested they put up a map of the trail on the bulletin board outside so everyone can follow my progress and M suggested that we hang an announcement of my last day so everyone will know to come say goodbye. There is heartfelt enthusiasm, encouragement, concern and excitement from everyone; it means to me that I am finally a Davis townie, not just a student passing through anonymously, anymore.
I am really, really going to miss everyone while I'm gone. But I'm planning to be back in October, and already I'm looking forward to sharing my stories.
I catch the train to San Diego on Tues 4/24 with Richard and My-Lien and their young son Berg. My-Lien's parents generously agreed to put me up for the night in their home. The next morning, we'll pile into Richard's grandparents' car and the three of them will drop me off at the border on their way to the Salton Sea (which, I am told, is quite a spectacle). Starting my journey off with friends by my side will be great; I had worried about how to get from the train station to the border, but I shouldn't have. Already I am experiencing trail magic.
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