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.

Fantastic breakfast at the
Julian Gold Rush Hotel

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.]





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.

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!

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.

Hey look, it fits!

So I started to have paranoia that maybe my stuff wouldn't all fit in my backpack... eek! So I pulled out my newly-made gear list and loaded it all up. Shuffled some things around, trimmed some excess stuff off my backpack to make it lighter and more spacious... lo and behold it all fits! Phew.

Castle pointed out that having the bear can on top of my pack will probably make the load top heavy. My friends My-Lien and Richard were kind enough to show me their gear stash, and I found a couple of straps that might work to lash it to the bottom of my pack instead. I'll move the tent up on top.

I'm still trying to think up a reasonable way of attaching my ice axe to my pack.

I'm getting so excited! While I was at work today I talked about my trip with a number of my regulars, and the enthusiasm has been just wonderful. Everyone is so genuinely happy and excited for me and it's a big positive feedback loop. I left work feeling so psyched!

PS. and then Jon and I raced to squeeze in five miles before sunset. It was a beautiful day today!

So Much Love!

You guys already know that I'm a headstrong, independent gal. It almost never crosses my mind to ask for help; I usually find a way to get things done myself. Even when that stresses me out enormously, at the end of the day I'm gratified that I tackled a big job alone and did it well. Planning this trip wasn't going to be any different from my usual MO. When I started getting ready for this trip, it didn't cross my mind that I would have help with buying gear, preparing food, or, really, anything (except shipping boxes). I was prepared for that, and spent three years reading, researching, and saving up my money.

Preparing for this has been such an amazing experience, especially as the clock ticks closer. People I seldom talk to have come out of the woodwork on Facebook to offer me words of encouragement and to say "let me know if I can help in any way!"

My friend Lou was married recently, and at her wedding she thanked her guests saying "I usually think of myself as a pretty forgettable person... and now I see you all here and I'm thinking 'Holy shit! people actually like me!'"

Although I lovingly laughed at Lou at the time [OF COURSE WE LIKE YOU, LOU, YOU'RE THE BEST!], I'll admit I'm having the same reaction right now. So I want to THANK ALL OF YOU so deeply for the love.

My mom has been especially amazing. She has been 100% on board since I first announced my intention. She's been reading trail journals and websites, watching indie hiking movies, bragging me off to her friends, and bought me all kinds of gear from my wishlist for my birthday and Christmas. And yet she still asked me the other day "What can I do to help?" after she read my post about the Battle of Resupply Boxing. I gave her the task of inventing some good recipes for me with ethnic flavors. By the end of the next day she had rustled up a couple of dehydrators from the ladies at her church, visited three ethnic markets, and had started creating recipes. And when I offered to reimburse her she said "HELL no! I'm your MOTHER. I'm ENTITLED to buy you food! Don't be ridiculous." (Crap, now I'm all verklempt).

I've been promising everyone else that I would update my wishlist and let them know when it was ready. But last night as I weighed my gear I've realized: I'm pretty much good to go. Anything else would be "dead weight". Really, the only thing left that will have a major, positive impact on my trip is cash. Being who I am, I don't *expect* to receive cash and receiving any amount would be mind-blowing to me. But I've had so many offers to help... who am I to tell someone that they can't help me?

So cash it is. If you would like to send me something, send me a Facebook message and we can figure out the best way of making it happen.

$10 will buy me a big juicy burger and a milkshake when I come into town
$15 will pay the postage on one of my 30 resupply boxes
$50 will get me a motel room and a SHOWER and a tub in which to wash my clothes
$100 will get me burger, a SHOWER, and a motel bed PLUS a trip to the grocery store to buy fresh fruits, vegetables, a bit of meat and some bread
$150 will pay for a month of medical and dental insurance

If you do prefer something tangible... here's my wishlist... Caveat: it's only got a couple of "maybe nice to have" things on it.

Thanks again everyone and BIG HUGS!

Gear List

Okey dokey, true to word I've compiled my gearlist in Excel and posted it. Check out the link at the top of the page just below the John Muir quote.

My chart is missing weights for a few things, but I have the bulk of my gear weighed. I tried to include everything that I am responsible for moving. That includes the clothing I'm wearing, although others don't always include this in their total pack weight, arguing that it's not in their pack (Cheaters. You still have to carry it on your body!) This measurement of EVERYTHING is called "Skin Out Weight".

There are two totals: One is my regular skin-out weight. The other is my Sierra skin-out weight. The reason for the separation is that the Sierras require some extra gear: bear resistant food canisters, and potentially an ice axe and traction devices, depending on the snow level (we'll see how March goes).

I haven't measured consumables (food, water, fuel, sunscreen, hand sanitizer, soap, toothpaste, toilet paper). The way I'm going to handle that is to measure the weight of the empty container--since that is constant--and call it good enough.

I had been vaguely dreading the total tally. I had a rough idea that I would come in under 20 lbs based on the manufacturers' spec sheets for my gear. I was crossing my fingers that I'd be under 18 for my "regular" weight. I was downright giddy when I came in at 14.3 lbs and ran around the house telling all of our roommates that my pack is only 14.3 lbs so far! They've heard me talk about this long enough to know that it was good news :)