Thanks for all the love! No worries on the heat stroke thing, Keith's sickness wasn't related to that, we were sure of it. He got some sort of bug, don't know where from but it was quick-ended & short & we were SO happy that it only lasted through the morning. He had to force himself to throw up & felt better but not 100% better until after receiving that amazing trail magic from Shepherd & resting in the shade throughout most of the heat of that day. We take many breaks throughout the day & as soon as we feel out of sorts at all, we stop, find any kind of shade that's there & force ourselves to drink & eat.
Got in early yesterday morning into Agua Dulce & stopped first thing at Sweetwater Cafe for a very yummy breakfast. Reunited with No. 2, then went to the grocery store for round #2 - more food & cold drinks. Our favorite lunch right now is a tomato, avocado, spinach, cheese & mayonnaise sandwich on wheat bread. So we bought ingredients for that (again) after eating it back in Wrightwood as well. Speaking of Wrightwood, we stopped in to check the post office & were pleasantly surprised at receiving a few packages/letters from people/cats we love. It supplied us with enough food to make it all the way here, which was amazing! Wrightwood was very friendly to us, we were given some free food from the grocery store & we were bummed we weren't spending more money there. We passed on staying in town because we had just spent the night at the Best Western down in Cajon Pass 1 1/2 nights before, so we were focused on making it here, to Agua Dulce next.
We have passed through some absolutely beautiful places. The mountains we just went through were so diverse & so beautiful. We especially enjoyed the 8,000 ft.+ parts because there were trees! The Vasquez Rocks, rock formations just about a mile before we arrived here, were breathtaking & blew our minds. Walking through tunnels under highways while taking turns playing our instruments (my Native American flute & Keith's harmonica) makes for some fun & spiritual moments.
I guess we came out here with an expectation of solitude, but we are finding that that's not very often the case. There are a lot of people out here...a lot more than we expected, at least. Perhaps we should have come out with no expectations at all. We stayed last night here at the trail angel's house - The Saufley's, the only place to stay for hikers here in Agua Dulce. They are very kind, giving people & cater entirely to hikers. It's amazing that they open up their property & let us pretty much take over for at least a month straight (as hikers filter through). The part we most have enjoyed is the bicycles they have here for us to use to run our errands. We feel so spoiled...I imagine what it would've been like to hike this trail or the AT 10-15 years ago, or more.
We had plans to zero here but have decided to move on later today, after the heat of the day cools down. We might go to the pizza place to see if we can catch a Red Wings game before we leave. We spent the afternoon yesterday watching a Detroit Tigers game & we have never seen anyone get as excited for baseball as Mud & Dingo! (Mud is originally from Michigan & Dingo is originally from Ohio) Reunited with Acid Glasses, The Blur (Keith gets credit for giving him his trail name because he hikes so dang fast but just recently someone literally got a picture of him hiking early in the morning but all he is in the picture is just a blur!), Faceplate (or is it Licenseplate?) Dan, Paul from England who is now Walkie Talkie, Matt, The Andrews, Mermaid, Thread & many others as well. The remainder of the Mexican Train (many of the hikers we started with at the Mexican border) are just behind us.
Received some more packages here & are thankful again for the love we receive from friends & family. It pulls at our heart strings. Thank you. If you'd like to send us something at our next pick-up location (Kennedy Meadows), you can send it now because we are expecting to arrive there in just over 2 weeks.
Our next destination (where we will for sure zero) will be Tehachapi which has a MOVIE THEATER. We are SO pumped to watch the new Star Trek movie & eat as much popcorn as our hearts desire. We've been dreaming of that for the past few days straight now.
We are currently at mile 454-ish & have been warned that the next 250+ miles are going to be super hot & super exposed. We are so greatly looking forward to the Sierra's & beyond! We'll take it one day at a time & keep on keepin' on.
Life is good.
Goodbye for now. Much love.
Monday, May 20, 2013
Monday, May 13, 2013
342 miles down & back in the hot hot HEAT.
Record heat, a high of 105 degrees today (although Mud & Dingo saw it got up to 107 degrees at one point!) halted us after a 13 mile morning hike up to Interstate 15. We arrived before noon, looking forward to the chance to walk .4 off the trail up to a gas station for some cold drinks & snacks...had plans to skip out on the heat & hide under trees until it cooled down enough to hike on another 7 or so miles. BUT...then we discovered there was a Subway on the other side of the highway. Fresh ingredients & fresh bread sounded SO GOOD. THEN we remembered there was a hotel here & after much thought...we decided to get a room because it was just so dang hot! Hiking through much wide open, exposed area has again begun to wear on us...we must remember to listen to our bodies & to take good care of them. Turns out, we weren't the only hikers who made the decision to cool off in a hotel room. We caught up with some & are sure others will still show up yet tonight. There are constantly new faces & new names we have to remember...there seems to be so many people out here on the PCT.
We are at the part of the PCT where we crossed when we drove out here & we had taken a picture & posted it earlier in the blog. We were at this exact place just under 4 weeks ago & so much has happened since...
27 miles to Wrightwood, which we will now just go in & out all in one day to run our errands, but not stay. We plan to push on all the way to Agua Dulce next & will (hopefully) be able to zero there. There will be some HOT hiking in between here & there but apparently it's supposed to get cooler within the next few days & possibly even get down to 80's at one point? That would be so magical...
Keith woke up yesterday feeling very sick & nauseous but determined to hike at least a little bit. We got a late start so it started out pretty hot already but we were pleasantly surprised to come across some TRAIL MAGIC set up under the lone shady tree at the end of a road. Shepherd, a PCT section-hiker had some tables set up & whipped us up some ROOT BEER FLOATS! It was truly a dream come true! There were also oranges, other snacks & eventually...watermelon, which is something I'd been dreaming of ever since we left the Mexican border. Truly magical & after a few hours of rest & relaxation in the shade, Keith felt a lot better. We ended up hiking on quite a few more miles, which is when it just got soooooooooo hot but we cannot complain because we came across 3 more water caches/coolers full of things like fruit, hard boiled eggs, candy bars & other goodies. We eventually made it to a ranger station to fill up our water for the night & as we were desperately searching for the water (because it was actually going to be cold!), two men who clearly didn't speak English as their first language started talking to us. Only one spoke English & he started asking us what we were doing & we explained our travels. He explained that they were from France & had rented an RV & would be heading back to L.A. the next morning to fly back home. They were amazed by our adventure & eventually said "Au revoir!" & then headed back to their RV. One minute later, the RV door swung open & two little girls in swimsuits came running up to us to hand us something...which turned out to be half a bar of dark Ghirardelli chocolate! Then they ran back to the RV & came running back again with some slices of pepperjack cheese! It was by far the sweetest thing I have seen in a long time. The experiences we encounter on this trail remind us so often that humanity has such a beautiful & giving side. It's part of what makes this experience so magical. We added the slices of cheese to our single box of macaroni & cheese & it was the cheesiest, most delicious thing ever & was almost like homemade! And the dark chocolate made for the most absolutely fabulous desert.
We swam in the pool & went for a dip in the hot tub earlier today & hope that this (mostly) day of rest will help get us up the mountains & through the next 100+ miles to Agua Dulce healthily & happily.
Until then...still not able to post any pictures, sorry!
Much love.
We are at the part of the PCT where we crossed when we drove out here & we had taken a picture & posted it earlier in the blog. We were at this exact place just under 4 weeks ago & so much has happened since...
27 miles to Wrightwood, which we will now just go in & out all in one day to run our errands, but not stay. We plan to push on all the way to Agua Dulce next & will (hopefully) be able to zero there. There will be some HOT hiking in between here & there but apparently it's supposed to get cooler within the next few days & possibly even get down to 80's at one point? That would be so magical...
Keith woke up yesterday feeling very sick & nauseous but determined to hike at least a little bit. We got a late start so it started out pretty hot already but we were pleasantly surprised to come across some TRAIL MAGIC set up under the lone shady tree at the end of a road. Shepherd, a PCT section-hiker had some tables set up & whipped us up some ROOT BEER FLOATS! It was truly a dream come true! There were also oranges, other snacks & eventually...watermelon, which is something I'd been dreaming of ever since we left the Mexican border. Truly magical & after a few hours of rest & relaxation in the shade, Keith felt a lot better. We ended up hiking on quite a few more miles, which is when it just got soooooooooo hot but we cannot complain because we came across 3 more water caches/coolers full of things like fruit, hard boiled eggs, candy bars & other goodies. We eventually made it to a ranger station to fill up our water for the night & as we were desperately searching for the water (because it was actually going to be cold!), two men who clearly didn't speak English as their first language started talking to us. Only one spoke English & he started asking us what we were doing & we explained our travels. He explained that they were from France & had rented an RV & would be heading back to L.A. the next morning to fly back home. They were amazed by our adventure & eventually said "Au revoir!" & then headed back to their RV. One minute later, the RV door swung open & two little girls in swimsuits came running up to us to hand us something...which turned out to be half a bar of dark Ghirardelli chocolate! Then they ran back to the RV & came running back again with some slices of pepperjack cheese! It was by far the sweetest thing I have seen in a long time. The experiences we encounter on this trail remind us so often that humanity has such a beautiful & giving side. It's part of what makes this experience so magical. We added the slices of cheese to our single box of macaroni & cheese & it was the cheesiest, most delicious thing ever & was almost like homemade! And the dark chocolate made for the most absolutely fabulous desert.
We swam in the pool & went for a dip in the hot tub earlier today & hope that this (mostly) day of rest will help get us up the mountains & through the next 100+ miles to Agua Dulce healthily & happily.
Until then...still not able to post any pictures, sorry!
Much love.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
266 miles in! @ Bear Lake Hostel in Big Bear Lake
Mr. Green informed us as we were hiking the last few miles before town yesterday that once we reached the road (which we did this morning) we were 10% done with the trail....weird to think about it like that. Tented with No. 2 last night about 2 miles before Highway 18, woke up super early to the sound of coyotes howling (which made my day) & as soon as the sun popped up, we packed up & headed to the road crossing. It was pretty early in the morning so it took us a while to get a hitch but soon enough a woman who was familiar with the trail (& said she might someday do it herself) picked us up & took us all the way into Big Bear Hostel in Big Bear Lake. Spotted some coyotes playing in the field on our drive into town as well...which was even more good medicine. Ate the most deliciously filling breakfast at Grizzly Manor Cafe & when Keith asked where he might be able to purchase a bottle of the yummy garlicy hot sauce they gave with his meal, the waitress brought him out a bottle to take, on the house & said "have a good hike!" So he's taking the whole bottle even though it probably weighs a good 2 lbs. It's that good, it's totally worth it.
Our bodies are finally really feeling like they're in the groove...wouldn't say we exactly have our trail legs yet but by the end of the day, our feet aren't killing us, which is a good sign. With the higher elevation & cooler hiking we've been able to hike all throughout the day instead of taking like a 3-4 hour siesta during the hot hot sun. It's been so lovely. We managed to avoid the snow/hail/rain storms that were going on up in the mountains although they were always looming around & hit people both in front of us & in back of us...we just happened to get lucky. The last two nights were freezing, literally. The hoses to our camelbacks froze & we learned our lesson - to sleep with our filter so that it does not freeze. We have been grateful for a switch to the high desert with TREES & cooler air & water (a little more frequently) because the desert was really starting to wear on us. But soon enough, we'll be going back to the desert...we have just been glad to have a little break.
Apparently there is still a huge bubble of hikers behind us - all coming up from Kick Off (which we did not go to). We've kind of bursted through the bubble we were in but we keep hearing...they're right behind us! There are still way more people out here hiking than we ever expected...although we've started hearing here & there where some people have gotten off the trail...
Going to spend the rest of the day in town, running some more errands & are waiting patiently for dinner (when our stomachs are fully ready to fill up) because we've heard such wonderful things about this Himalayan restaurant downtown. Heading out first thing in the morning & our next stop for resupply will be Wrightwood. We will be thinking of "No Way" Ray Echols & his beautiful PCT stories as we cross through the Deep Creek area. We will also be coming up on the Highway 15 crossing - where we found the trail on our drive out here so it'll be cool to cross that spot again, this time on foot!
Sorry, still not able to post any pictures...but, just use your imaginations. :)
Our bodies are finally really feeling like they're in the groove...wouldn't say we exactly have our trail legs yet but by the end of the day, our feet aren't killing us, which is a good sign. With the higher elevation & cooler hiking we've been able to hike all throughout the day instead of taking like a 3-4 hour siesta during the hot hot sun. It's been so lovely. We managed to avoid the snow/hail/rain storms that were going on up in the mountains although they were always looming around & hit people both in front of us & in back of us...we just happened to get lucky. The last two nights were freezing, literally. The hoses to our camelbacks froze & we learned our lesson - to sleep with our filter so that it does not freeze. We have been grateful for a switch to the high desert with TREES & cooler air & water (a little more frequently) because the desert was really starting to wear on us. But soon enough, we'll be going back to the desert...we have just been glad to have a little break.
Apparently there is still a huge bubble of hikers behind us - all coming up from Kick Off (which we did not go to). We've kind of bursted through the bubble we were in but we keep hearing...they're right behind us! There are still way more people out here hiking than we ever expected...although we've started hearing here & there where some people have gotten off the trail...
Going to spend the rest of the day in town, running some more errands & are waiting patiently for dinner (when our stomachs are fully ready to fill up) because we've heard such wonderful things about this Himalayan restaurant downtown. Heading out first thing in the morning & our next stop for resupply will be Wrightwood. We will be thinking of "No Way" Ray Echols & his beautiful PCT stories as we cross through the Deep Creek area. We will also be coming up on the Highway 15 crossing - where we found the trail on our drive out here so it'll be cool to cross that spot again, this time on foot!
Sorry, still not able to post any pictures...but, just use your imaginations. :)
Monday, May 6, 2013
Ziggy & The Bear's, mile 210.8
What an oasis Ziggy & The Bear's has been. Ziggy & The Bear are trail angels that allow PCT hikers to come & relax in their backyard with all sorts of goodies for us. We just came here for water so we were pleasantly surprised when we discovered this place. We arrived here this morning after a 5-mile hike across the VERY WINDY valley between two huge mountain ranges. The San Jacinto's were absolutely breathtaking & quite a change from the desert hiking we'd been going through previously. We got up to 8,000+ ft. & we even hiked through small patches of snow! The most beautiful sound we've heard was the sound of a creek rushing down the mountainside just before we began our descent down the mountains. We hiked our first big day yesterday, 22+ miles and although we still had time to hike on, we rewarded our bodies with a good night's rest.
Per Jana's request, here's the address for a post office where we can accept mail/packages, at mile 363.6 (before our first official box drop in Agua Dulce):
General Delivery
Wrightwood, CA 92397
Our Estimated Time of Arrival is May 14th.
Now we're antsy to hike on. Next stop: Big Bear (City or Lake, not sure which yet) - via Highway 18 at mile 265.3. Until then...goodbye for now.
Per Jana's request, here's the address for a post office where we can accept mail/packages, at mile 363.6 (before our first official box drop in Agua Dulce):
General Delivery
Wrightwood, CA 92397
Our Estimated Time of Arrival is May 14th.
Now we're antsy to hike on. Next stop: Big Bear (City or Lake, not sure which yet) - via Highway 18 at mile 265.3. Until then...goodbye for now.
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Idyllwild!!!
Just got into Idyllwild this morning after an amazingly successful TWO hitches to get here; 13.5 miles down one road & 4.5 miles down another. The first guy even gave us fresh water to drink for the ride! We woke up at the first sign of daylight this morning in order to hike the 11 miles to get to the road crossing in hopes of catching a ride at 10am with Cuddles & his wife, who were also headed to Idyllwild, but we must've been just a wee bit late because we missed them. But we still managed to get here alright & we already have our belly's full of the most delicious gourmet pizza...it was very large...& we ate the whole thing. Yum!
The lady we got a hitch into town from gave us a tour of the town & dropped us off at the outfitter so we could buy some stuff. I, new shoes (going back to the Soloman's that worked so well for me on the AT) & also a new water filtration system. Our MSR ceramic filter broke 2 days ago, so we are giving up on it. It's heavy & apparently unreliable (although magically as we stayed the night on Trail Angel Mike's property, the caretaker, Kushy had a spare of the exact same filter & gave us parts from his to fix ours). But still, if it quit that easy on us, we're not taking another chance.
We got a room at the Idyllwild Inn but are waiting for it to open up for us. At this point, we still have NOT showered since before we started the trail! So we are excited for a shower. We only know one other person who also has yet to shower - Martin from Switzerland, so he is our soul brother. :)
The trail has absolutely kicked our butts the past few days. We are being pushed to the extreme & our bodies are more than ready for a day (or so) of rest. Our bodies are doing weird things & we're trying to work out the kinks & figure out what's normal & what is not...We will be resting today & are still deciding on whether to take the day off tomorrow as well. This town is way too cool so that's making it even more tempting to stick around for another day.
We are at trail mile 151.9...many more to go!
Much love to all you who are reading this. :)
The lady we got a hitch into town from gave us a tour of the town & dropped us off at the outfitter so we could buy some stuff. I, new shoes (going back to the Soloman's that worked so well for me on the AT) & also a new water filtration system. Our MSR ceramic filter broke 2 days ago, so we are giving up on it. It's heavy & apparently unreliable (although magically as we stayed the night on Trail Angel Mike's property, the caretaker, Kushy had a spare of the exact same filter & gave us parts from his to fix ours). But still, if it quit that easy on us, we're not taking another chance.
We got a room at the Idyllwild Inn but are waiting for it to open up for us. At this point, we still have NOT showered since before we started the trail! So we are excited for a shower. We only know one other person who also has yet to shower - Martin from Switzerland, so he is our soul brother. :)
The trail has absolutely kicked our butts the past few days. We are being pushed to the extreme & our bodies are more than ready for a day (or so) of rest. Our bodies are doing weird things & we're trying to work out the kinks & figure out what's normal & what is not...We will be resting today & are still deciding on whether to take the day off tomorrow as well. This town is way too cool so that's making it even more tempting to stick around for another day.
We are at trail mile 151.9...many more to go!
Much love to all you who are reading this. :)
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