Date: May 6, 2017
Miles: 18.4 miles (29.6km), Third Gate water cache to Warner Springs. 
Health: Tired but healthy. Got few new blisters during the last few hours last night but nothing bad. 

I woke up later than usual and after getting a liter of water from the cache, me and Jordan got on our way. I can't tell how grateful all us hikers are of the wonderful work the people who maintain this cache are doing. We heard that it takes a full day for 4 persons to get the water, drive it close by, and then fill the cache, take out the empty containers and to keep it as clean as it is.

Without this water, many hikers would be have a very hard time crossing this section. Thank you for all the work you're doing just out of the kindness of your heart!

We had 18.4 miles (29.6km) to make it to Warner Springs, and about 10 miles (16.1km) to the next water source. I left the cache with 2.75 liters of water which should be more than enough.

The air was still a lot cooler and the wind added to the cooler feeling. It was a lot easier to hike in this kind of weather than when it's hot.

After about 5 miles I started to feel really good and started to up the pace. Jordan stayed back and so I hiked ahead passing other couple on the way. I've had one Eagles song stuck in my head ever since day 4 when Blü played "Take it easy" on Ukulele. I put the song on and soon I was flying down the mountain side playing air guitar with my hiking pole and singing aloud.

I was feeling really good and the miles just kept going so easily.

At one point I started approaching other hikers from behind and noticed they didn't hear me coming so I yelled out "coming from behind!". They didn't seem to notice so I yelled again. No reaction. By this point I was right behind them and as I got there I noticed they had earphones on and they were listening to music. And not only listening but singing along out loud. Right as the last hike was getting in to the chorus he noticed me and obviously jumped as he didn't realize I was back there. I apologized and said I had yelled. They just laughed and let me pass.

At one point I was looking at my mileage and noticed I was approaching the 100 mile marker (161km). Soon the trail turned and there it was, 100 miles. Now I only need to repeat this 25 more times.

I took a quick photo and continued down. Soon after that I reached the next water source. The German hiker from last night was there, as was an another hiker called Snake Eyes. We were all about to eat. It was much colder down here than up in the mountains and I needed to put on my puffy.

Just as I got my food pack open and a nice tortilla done, a couple section hiking the PCT came to the water faucet and told us there was trail magic just 100 feet away. Some one was making hot dogs for hikers. For a second we wondered should we go or eat first, as we had everything out already, and go then. But at that moment the predicted rain started and we quickly packed our gear and headed to the direction of the said trail magic.

At the trailhead the was an RV and an nice couple who made hot dogs, had ice cold beer and sodas, and let all us hikers to use their motor home to sit in and to protect us from the rain.

Again the kindness of people just blows me away. The trail angels had driven their RV to here just to give hikers a Cinco de Mayo fiesta. As they had ran out of fajitas and other food, now they were serving hot dogs that they had brought as a backup. This was their first time doing trail magic, but they said they had enjoyed it so much that they would come back next year and even try to follow the herd up north to an other location to do more trail magic.

As the storm was getting closer, I wanted to get to Warner Springs as quickly as I could. Others were thinking of staying here but Snake Eyes said he'd join me. As the rain subdued a little, we got our packs and hiked on, thanking our dear trail angels as much as we possibly could.

The scenery changed heavily. As we were down from the mountains, now we were crossing grass plains that were swirling in the wind, looking like rivers of gold. It was fun hiking in an new environment.

Miles went down quickly but the wind kept my legs cold the whole time. I was worried that my muscles would start to cramp.

The Eagle Rock​

After a while we reached the famous Eagle Rock. I had completely forgotten that it was on this section. How fitting that I had just earlier listened to Eagles. We took our photos quickly as the storm front was gaining on us fast. As we saw the clouds roll through the plains, we knew it was rain gear time. Not long after that the rain started.

We hiked on as the rain and wind kept coming and going. Soon Snake Eyes wanted to take a break but I was still feeling it so I hiked on alone. Not long after that I reached Warner Springs and was greeted by familiar faces. It was good to see them again.

Neal had hiked ahead but I understand that as he only has two months to spend on the trail.

I quickly got the law of the land and setup my tarp under a large tree where a small tent city had already formed. All hikers were huddled up in the nearby Community Center where you could buy some drinks and snacks and sit inside warm.

As the Community Center later closed, the lady gave few of us hikers a ride to a restaurant a mile down the road and I hopped on. I'll happily eat real food every chance I get. For of us smelly hikers crammed in to her car and we were on our way.

After the dinner we walked back and as the hiker midnight was approaching, got in our tents and started to go to sleep. Before turning in for the day, I noticed Jordan, Snake Eyes and the group from last night had all made their way to Warner Springs. I keep wondering where Rebecca is, and hoping everything is fine with her.

There is surely going to be a ton of snoring this night.

Date: May 5, 2017
Miles: 13.9 miles (22.4km), from Scissors Crossing to Third Gate water cache
Health: Flu is gone. Feet are really starting to swell in this heat. Legs are getting stronger and well rested after the rest in Julian. 

Woke up fresh, in a clean bed, took a shover and went down for the breakfast. The plan was to head out soon after that and try to make it as far as possible to catch Blü and Neal who didn't stay for the night in Julian and instead hitched back to Scissors Crossing and hiked some way up the mountain.

It was going to be an 13.9 mile waterless hike up the mountain with no shade. While having the breakfast I got a message from Blü that they had reached the cache, and that there was water there, and also that the hike up was a loooooong climb.

I wasn't quite sure what to do. While the weather report had said that today should be a bit colder day, it was still very hot outside, even at the elevation where Julian is. And it's probably way hotter down at the valley.

I ditched the morning hike out plan and decided to hang back, checkout at noon, and then hitch to Scissors and wait out the heat under the highway bridge.

I went back to my room and finished uploading rest of the blog posts and scheduling them so that they would go live even if I had no internet connection for the next few days.

After checkout I headed to Carmen's to see if there were any hikers going down and if I could hitch out with them. As I got to Carmen's they were just taking orders and had the barbecue sizzling. Of course I couldn't say no to a pepper jack cheese burger so I put down my pack and delayed my departure a bit more.

There was a group of hikers leaving to Scissors at 4pm and we decided to hitch out together. It took us about 10 minutes to get rides. We got in two different cars. Ours was an Audi and we got a quick ride down the mountain road, the others in the older pickup had a more eventful ride. Apparently among other things, the steering wheel had fallen off while they were driving down the swirling mountain road.

At Scissors a bunch of us hikers waited under the highway bridge for the weather to cool down. One group headed out earlier, and me and Jordan, a hiker from Alaska, left together about an hour later.

Almost immediately the trail started to climb up hill. And it didn't look easy. We hiked up the endless switchbacks, slowly climbing higher from the valley floor. The wind had picked up, and with the setting sun, made for an nice and cool hiking weather.

We settled for a slow and steady rhythm. On an up hill, speed kills.

Rattlesnakes and spiders

We took a 5 minute break every hour and a half.  After one of the breaks we got to a section where the sun was still warming the mountain side and as I walked looking at the scenery, I got interrupted by a very familiar and unnerving rattle right next to my left foot. I jump forward to get away from the snake and probably screamed like a little girl. I warned Jordan who was only few feet behind me.

The small rattlesnake was curled up on the side of the trail, right on the blind side of an bush, and I had walked right next to her. Thankful she didn't want anything to do with us and we respected her wish. We marked the trail a little down from the snake with a warning and went around her,e leaving her to enjoy her evening basking in the sun.

Yeah, my first rattlesnake experience. I was hoping for more of an "seen from afar" experience, not "almost stepped on one", but nevertheless. My heart was racing as we hiked on. Now I was on extra lookout for snakes as this was their prime hunting time and I really didn't wish to meet one any more closer.

After about an hour it started to get dark and we stopped at one of the switchbacks to get out our headlamps. At the same time a German hiker, who had been trailing us but was a much faster hiker, came over and we changed few words. I was sitting down, redoing my shoelaces. As I got up, felt something tickling behind my right knee, like movement going up towards my shorts. As an instinct I did a quick brush and felt my hand hit something that fell to the ground. I looked down and it was a spider.

My first instinct was to ask if Jordan new the species and if by any change it would be a poisonous one. He took a better look at the spider and said that, yep, it was indeed a poisonous spider. His words were, I think, "not the kind to kill you, but you'll lose a leg".  (It was a Brown Recluse for those who're interested).

After some spider discussion and stories that were too detailed, the German hiker continued upwards. We trailed him by maybe 100 feet and switched on our headlamps.

The trail turned right and I stepped between two bushes and right at that moment my headlamp hit a figure right in front of me on the trail, another rattlesnake! This one was in the middle of the trail, smelling the air to the direction the other hiker had just gone.

As she was on such a narrow spot, we couldn't get around her, so instead we tried to talk to her to get her to more. She was big enough that we really didn't want to get any closer to her, and we were afraid that throwing rocks would get her angry and to curl up, prolonging her stay.

After a little while, she turned and disappeared in to the brush and we could continue our hike. Night hiking sure can be interesting!

The rest of the climb we just marveled at the beauty of the nightly desert, every now and then switching off our headlamps and looking at the stars.

Few hours in we met with the other group that had started before us. We joined forces and hiked the rest of the way up to the Third Gate Cache as a one big group, forming a line of lights that wiggled up the side of the mountain.

Near the end, the winds really picked up and it was getting strenuous to stay on the narrow path in the dark. The big drop to the darkness on the left of us made things even more interesting. With tired eyes and legs we finally reached the cache and setup our tents. The heavy gusts that kept swirling from all directions, made pitching the tent interesting. I've also been having a ton of trouble with my stakes not sticking to the ground and this was no exception. I need to buy different stakes.

I fell in sleep while listening to the wind blowing against my tarp. Tomorrow would be a push to Warner Springs.

Date: May 4, 2017
Miles: 14.9 miles (24km), from Rodriguez Road to Scissors Crossing
Health: Legs hurt from the night hike and I slept poorly. Blister on my right heel is ok. 

After a poorly slept night I woke at 4:45am. Some had already gone out and as I was putting my stuff together, Blü left also. I gave some of my extra water to Rebecca as she was running low, and I knew I could make 8 miles with about a liter before it gets too hot. 

Although it was still early, the trail was surprisingly hot. It snaked along the mountain side and at times I could see Blü on the opposite side. But the trail was rough. I drank more water than I had planned and needed to start moving along quicker as the sun was getting higher and soon it would make this shadeless trail unbearable. And I needed to get down from the mountain before I ran out of water.

I finally reached the valley floor and began the 2 mile hike to Scissors Crossing from where you needed to hitchhike 12 miles to Julian.

I met a SoBo hiker who was heading out towards the mountain where I just arrived, and right before the hottest part of the day. I gave her a warning that it would not be a great idea, she thanked me and told me she had plenty of water to make it to the next water source. I later learned from Black Swan that he had met her just a few miles ahead, where she had realized how hot the trail was, and had to turn back.

Hitch to Julian

As I approached the road crossing to Julian I heard the sound of an ukulele and saw Blü hiking along the highway towards me. He had spend some time with others under the highway bridge at the water cache.

We were joined by three other hikers and after about 20 minutes, got a ride from a trail angel who shuttled hikers between Julian and Scissors Crossing.

At Julian, we were left in front of Carmen's. She's a trail angel that lets smelly hikers to shover and wash their clothes in her restaurant while ordering drinks or food. While others headed to wash their clothes, we wanted to get our free apple pie.

In Julian there's a famous pie shop called Mom's that offers free pie and a drink to all thru-hikers with a PCT permit. The rest of our bubble was also there. We sat down and I got to taste my first ever real American apple pie. It was so good!

Then we wobbled back to Carmen's. Julian is a small town, kind of like an old western town, where all the houses are along the main road. You can walk through the town in less than 5 minutes. I really like the atmosphere in here!

The scene at Carmen's was sort of hectic. A lot of smelly hikers in different levels of nakedness, wearing clothes from the hiker boxes as their own clothes were still in the washing or drying machine.

As you arrive, you hear the house rules and you get a free drink. I went with an ice cold beer. As I had slept so poorly, the scene quickly became too much for me and I decided that I needed to get some rest. Only available rooms left were at the Lodge and I happily paid the price to get away from the heat and to get some sleep.

I took the first shower with all my clothes on. The amount of dirt that came off of me was unbelievable. As I was still dirty after a second shower, I decided I needed a bath. I don't generally like baths but this time it was divine.

After washing my clothes multiple times, I set them to dry and got on to bed. I had three days worth of photos, videos, and text to transfer into blog posts. I imported all the photos from the camera, edited them, copied all the texts and started the slow process of uploading. Even in towns, the internet here seems excruciatingly slow. It takes up to 5 minutes to get one photo uploaded and I can't get videos to upload at all.

After working on my blog for way too long, I headed out to get my resupply for tomorrow. Warner Springs is 33 miles, about a two days hike from here, but you can't buy anything from there as there's no store there. For that reason many hikers send resupply packages by mail there – but I didn't.

I'm leaving with three days worth of food and I'm hoping to score some more from hiker boxes in Warner Spring, enough to get me to Paradise Valley Cafe, about five days of hiking.

My only concern is the approaching storm that's supposed to arrive the day after tomorrow bring rain and snow. I don't want to get caught up in the mountain when the storm hits the area so I need to really buggy down the trail tomorrow as there's a big mountain between Julian and Warner Springs that I need to hike over.

On my way back I went to see few hikers at Carmen's and then it was time for bed. My pack is going to be so heavy tomorrow as I need to carry about 5 liters of water to make it to the next water source which is the Third Gate Water cache. You're not supposed to rely on water caches but without the cache this would be almost 23 mile water carry while going mostly uphill. 

Date: May 3, 2017
Miles: 26.9 miles (43.3km), from Water faucet junction to Rodriguez Road
Health: Legs are hurting, the poor taping job I did in the morning caused a blister on my right heel, and the long descends are starting to get on my knees. Very tired.  

The start for today was clear: we take enough water from the junction, to make the 10 mile hike to the next water source. From there it would be 20 miles to the next water source, the biggest water carriage so far.

I was first on the trail again, around 4:50 am. Black Swan (his trail name) was few minutes behind me. He cowboy camped last night so he's much quicker in setting up his camp than me. I'm still too chicken to cowboy camp, especially as I've seen what kind of crawlies the desert has out at night.

He quickly caught up to me as I was taking photos, and we hiked along talking about what ever you talk on the trail. He was having some issues with his knees and after a while stayed back as I hiked on.

First 10 by 10

In desert hiking there's a strategy called 10 by 10, which means you hike 10 miles before 10 am. I had tried it on previous days but always missed it by about 30-40 minutes. But today the trail felt amazingly good, and my feet were feeling great, and to my surprise, I was suddenly done with my 10 miles. Blü and Neal were there at the water source and I celebrated the feat with few awkward yells.

Now I had all day to siesta at the small creek that was the water source. Only problem was, there was no shade. Zero.

We had heard rumors from two day hikers that there might be trail magic 2 miles up on the Sunrise Trailhead. Neal and others who had already arrived decided that they'd try their luck and see if the rumors were true. I had already exploded my pack, and a 2 mile uphill hike in the middle day sun was not inviting, so I decided to stay. Blü set up his tarp and I tried to cover under my umbrella as best as I could.

Marge and Jim, the older hiker couple I had leapfrogged the previous day arrived, as did Black Swan and Rebecca. As the sun moved, we finally had a little shady spot, sitting right on the trail below some brushes. This turned into a another great siesta.

I also received my first trail magic. Trail angel named Deb walked down from the trailhead and brought us all homemade trail mix. She had specially made these, and walked along the trail to provide much needed salt and calories for hungry thru-hikers. Thank you Deb!

By this point everyone had agreed that the best approach to tackle the shadeless and waterless 20 mile section was to night hike it tonight. That meant it would be a 30 mile day for me.

As the sun started to set, we filtered about 4 liters of water each from the creek and headed out. As we got higher my phone got reception and I received messages from Neal that they had received trail magic at the trailhead; sodas, food, and ice cream, and then had another trail magic from an trail angel who took them to her house for the day to eat and chill by the pool. Dang.

But this meant that they were still not at the trailhead and would be at least an hour behind us. Marge and Jim were ahead of us, Rebecca and Black Swan behind us.

The trail snaked around on top of the mountains, with gorgeous views all around us. Soon it got dark and out came the headlamps. It was easy to hike as the air was getting colder.

After a while the trail started to descend in a steep angle. We had been quite high, but due to the darkness couldn't see how far we had to go. At one point we saw lights down at the valley floor, we figured it must be Marge and Jim.

The long, steep descend started to take its toll on our feet. On the way we saw our first scorpions, tarantula, and a lot of centipedes. It's so cool how the desert comes alive during the night. Every now and then we would stop, switch off our headlamps, and just marvel at the dark scenery and the stars above us. The moon, although just a half moon, gave us almost enough light to hike without lights. I can't wait to night hike under the full moon in few weeks.

We reached the valley floor and almost immediately started to climb back up. At that point we first saw one, and then a second headlight behind us, up on the ridge we just came down from. Rebecca and Black Swan.

We sent them messages with our headlamps even though they were miles away. At one point we could message both Marge and Jim in front of us, and Rebecca and Black Swan behind us, all three seeing each other on a different mountains. 

Little later we saw a long line of lights, this was Neal and others who had been at the trail angels place.

The mountain lion

After walking on top of the mountain range for a while, the trail started another steep descend and we caught up to Marge and Jim on one of the switchbacks. They were having a break and mentioned having heard some rustling in the bushes earlier, sounding like something big.  By this point both me and Blü were so tired that it didn't seem to register with us at all.

We hiked on and soon arrived at the Rodrigues Road water tank. The tank is empty according to the water report. We stopped for a late lunch, it was about midnight. We waited for Marge and Jim and congratulated them as they've had a long, over 25 mile day. They started to set up their tent to get to sleep, we layed on our backs, looking at the stars, eating tortillas and feeling too tired to keep going.

Soon we saw headlights approach and Black Swan and Rebecca arrived. They were little shocked and told how not far back, they had seen a mountain lion on a rock on top of them, stalking them, and as they had pointed their headlights at it, it had jumped over the trail in front of them. Yikes. It was about the same spot where Jim and Marge had heard the noice, so it was probably stalking all of us. Good thing we walked in pairs!

That pretty much settled the deal. Blü was already half a sleep, and I didn't want to push on alone knowing there was a mountain lion stalking hikers close by. I knew that I could make the rest of the miles in the morning with the little water I still had left.

I got to bed by 1 am, right as Neal passed us. I warned him about the mountain lion and he pressed on as he still had energy. Maybe I should have gone on with him to make the morning hike easier? But I was too tired and already in my sleeping bag. Eyes are too heavy, must sleep.

Date: May 2, 2017
Miles: 16.7 miles, from Fred Canyon to Water facet junction
Health: Legs are starting to feel it, but nothing too bad. I hope the flu stays away, I'm still feeling like I'm low on energy. 

The alarm woke me up at 4am but I was a bit foggy and it took me a good half an hour to get up.  It was dark outside and no one else was up yet. I taped my legs, packed my things, filtered some water and headed out while everyone else was still sleeping.

The air was cold by the creek but by the time I had gotten a little higher in elevation, the air turned hot again. The earth was still warm from the previous day.

I ate few pop tarts, a snickers bar, and washed my teeth while hiking towards Mount Laguna.

The views and the climb from the creek were beautiful. I had to constantly stop to marvel the beauty of the desert.

The sun came up pretty quick but the trail rolls on the western side of the ridge line so it stays in the shadow of the mountain the whole morning. When the sun is this hot, you try to stay in the shade as much as possible, even in the early morning.

Few miles in I happened upon an older couple, Marge and Jim, and spend the rest of the morning leapfrogging each other. As we approached Mount Laguna, the scenery changed and got more foresty with big pine trees and pine needles everywhere.

No sight of Blü or Neal on the trail again. They must have hiked long in to the night again and made it too far for me to catch them before the town.

Mount Laguna

Mount Laguna is a small town almost right on the trail. While the official PCT goes around the town, you can also walk from the trail, through the town, and join back on the PCT. For me it's all about the continuous footpath from Mexico to Canada, not about hiking every mile of the PCT, so I hiked through the town.

The actual town of Mount Laguna consists of just few storefronts along a small road. There's restaurant, gear store, grocery store (prices are high), and visitor center. The town is conveniently build so, that you can walk through them in that order and then head back on the PCT.

As I got to the restaurant, there were all the familiar faces. Blü and Neal were heading to shade to enjoy the long siesta. We swapped trail stories from the night before, and then I joined Justine, Alex, and others from our bubble inside for a breakfast.

After we had our bellies full, and everyone had used the toilet facilities, we headed to the gear store. Now, be warned, this is a great place to lose half of your budget.

They give weary hikers pack shakedowns, and for many this is a great opportunity to lose a lot of unnecessary pack weight. They also have a very good selection of ultralight gear inside. So if you need to update, replace, or add gear to your setup, they most likely have it. And the prices are set accordingly.

But for many hikers, the lure of a lighter pack, after 43 miles in the desert, can be too tempting. Just don't spend your entire budget here.

I had been having some trouble with the thickness of my Darn Tough socks and the swelling of my feet. This caused my toes to press together, and also pressed the sides of my feet against the side of the shoes. So I needed new socks, and Neal had recommended me the Injinji toe socks and I bought them.

After a long while of drooling over all the UL gear packed into this small store, we headed to the grocery store for resupply. The hardest part so far for me has been knowing what to buy as most of the brands seen here in stores are unknown to me. 

I managed to gather enough food to last me to Julian on mile 77.

The siesta

We had decided to leave late in the night and siesta all day to beat the hottest part of the day. We set up shop on the porch of the visitor center and waited for the sun to drop. As we had gotten to the town so early, this turned out to be the mother of all siestas, a good 7 hours.

We had a 6.1 mile hike to the next water source, the Water faucet junction at mile 41.5. It was again easy to hike in the cool evening air. The trail dipped through pine forests, and then opened up to gorgeous views of the desert.

Once at the junction, I joined others and setup my tent while Blü and Neal again pushed further. They had a shorter morning so they wanted to still get some mileage in before it got completely dark.

Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day as we're approaching a 20 mile waterless section that doesn't have any shade. Our only option seems to be to night hike it, but we either have to make a very short day tomorrow and night hike it the day after, or do a very long day tomorrow. That would mean doing the 10 miles to the last water source in the morning and then doing a 20 mile night hike after that in the evening – making it a 30 mile day.

But that decision can wait until tomorrow.

We had a nice, tight tent circle right at the junction. We talked about astro photography with Justine and Pin, traded more trail stories, and then headed to bed. The best part of the day is when you get to crawl in to your sleeping bag.

Date: May 1, 2017
Miles: From Hauser Creek to Fred Canyon, 16.4 miles
Health: Feeling good. No blisters but legs are swelling in the heat. 

I woke up at 3:45am, a good half an hour before my alarm. Packed up my pack trying not to wake up or disturb the others still sleeping around me. After a bit of fumbling in the dark with my gear, I found the trail head and started the climb out of Hauser Canyon.

Ate my breakfast, two Pop Tarts, while walking, same as washing my teeth. I got about half way up when I saw a single headlight starting out from the camp, slowly wiggling up the hill after me.

We spend the previous night talking about all the mountain lion sightings in the area so every time I heard some rustling in the brushes, I jumped. It's funny how these things get in to your head.

My goal was to make it to Blü's and Neal's camp two miles up, at mile 17.6, before they wake up. Once I got there, there was a tent but neither of the packs outside looked familiar, and Blü was cowboy camping, so it wasn't them. I must have either missed them in the dark, or they were ahead of me on the trail.

I hiked easily in the coolness of the morning, listening to podcasts, and quickly made the 5 mile hike to Lake Morena. The shop/restaurant opens at 7am, I was there at 7:02am.

Neal was there already and Blü showed up in few minutes. They had hiked longer in to the night and slept 0.5 miles outside of town. We ate breakfast, bacon and eggs, and charged our electronics. As the morning went on, other hikers started to appear as well.

Me and Blü wanted to get going before it gets too hot to hike and headed out. Neal stayed behind, charging his phone, promising to catch up to us. Our plan was to get 8.5 miles done before the afternoon and to make it to Kitchen Creek Falls for the siesta and to cool off for the hottest part of the day.

I was feeling good heading out. Blü played some ukulele while we hiked through the town and on to the trailhead. The heat was already setting in so it was time for the umbrellas to come out. After about a mile I started feeling bad and I knew I could keep up with Blü's pace and told him to hike out as I started to listen to some podcast to get the hiking motivation back.

The motivation never came back. It felt like I was getting nowhere slow. After a while Neal catched up to me and just blazed by. The miles felt so long, hiking alone with no shade and feeling like my feet were failing me. I climbed for what must have been over two hours.

By the time I got to the mile 28.5 where the Kitchen Creek Falls should have been, there were no Falls, and no sight of Blü or Neal. I had no other option than to hike on.

The trail just kept climbing up and up and up and I was running out of water. And I felt the heat exhaustion starting to set in – I had to stop. I found a spot with little shade, about the size of my backpack, and huddled there eating salts and drinking dehydration drinks. I was not feeling this section.

After I felt better, I got up, started walking and turned a corner on the trail. Low and behold, there was the creek and down below by the creek were Blü, Neal and bunch of other people sitting by the flowing river. We had apparently all missed the little sidetrail to the Falls and ended up a few miles up the river.

As soon as I got down to the water, I jumped in. This was heaven! We sat in the flowing water with our clothes on, covering from the sun with our umbrellas. I cracked open the Heineken I had hauled from Lake Morena and just enjoyed the moment. While the beer was piss warm it was still worth the haul.

We enjoyed the water until the sun disappeared behind the mountains and then started to hike again. The views were simply breathtaking. We stopped every few minutes to take photos and just marveled at the beauty of the desert.

Because I had 5 miles more under me already, I stayed at Fred Canyon while Blü and Neal continued on. I'll catch up to them in the morning as I want to hike the 10 miles to Mount Laguna while it's still dark and cold.

Alarm is set to 4am.

Tomorrow's plan is to spend the siesta in Mount Laguna and then do 6-7 miles in the evening, setting us up for making it to Julian at mile 77 in the day after tomorrow. I'm planning on taking a zero in Julian.

Date: April 30, 2017
Miles: 15.4, from Campo to Hauser Creek
Health: Good. Little concerned about the flu, but I think I should be fine.

We woke up at 3am, I hit the shower and shaved my face one last time. After a quick breakfast we were on the road at 3:50am. It was pitch black as we drove from San Diego towards the Mexican border and Campo.

After a little wondering around and a quick run-in with the border patrol, we found the Southern Terminus of the Pacific Crest Trail. I signed the trail register, I was the second to leave on April 30th, and we took the mandatory Terminus photos at the monument and then it was time to start my journey towards Canada.

We said our goodbyes with Mikko, he started heading back to San Diego and I took my first steps along the PCT in complete darkness. Standing at the monument and starting the hike felt surreal. I had been planning for this exact moment for over a year and now it was actually happening.

From Campo to Hauser Creek

Most hikers starting from Campo aim to reach either Hauser Creek at Hauser Canyon, 15 miles from the border, or push the 20 miles to Lake Morena which is a small camping area with a small store and a restaurant.

My plan was to hike the 15 miles to the Hauser Creek and sleep there, as the huge climb out of the canyon is notoriously hot and steep, and doesn't have any shade. So I was planning on doing the climb early next morning when it's still cold and make it to Lake Morena for breakfast.

The start of the desert

The beginning of the trail was quite uneventful. You basically hike back to the small road, then follow along it, and after about an hour, turn towards the hills and head to the desert.

Once there, the desert was everything I was expecting it to be. And more. It was hot, beautiful, full of life, and hot. Not like a sauna hot, but dry hot. You don't actually sweat as the moisture simply evaporates immediately.

Hiking in the early morning was easy as the air was still cold from the night before. But once the clock started to approach ten o'clock, the heat started to feel unbearable.

Chromedome to the rescue

I don't know what I would've done without my umbrella. Having something to shield yourself from the sun was invaluable.

As the day progressed, I met other hikers, and kept leapfrogging with few who had the same pace as I did. Eventually settled in to a rhythm with a hiker called Blue, and we crushed the last of our 15 miles quickly to make it to the cover of Hauser Canyon by 2pm. Hauser Canyon still has a running stream and trees that provide shade from the beating sun.

Although I didn't see a rattlesnake all day, and I was really keeping my eyes out, we had a snake crawl straight through the middle of our camp.

We spend the rest of the day laying in the shade and welcoming other hikers who kept coming all day and all evening. By the hiker midnight, there where about 15-20 people camping by the Hauser Creek.

I really didn't want to push any further today as I'm still recovering from the flu, and the climb out of Hauser Canyon in the evening sun would have been crushing. Instead I'm going to wake up at 4am, do the 5 mile / 8km climb when it's still cold outside. And make it to Lake Morena for breakfast and resupply early enough to still crush another 10 miles before it gets too hot.

I'm hoping to do another 15 mile day tomorrow. This way I could make it 43 mile trip to Mount Laguna by Tuesday, making it easy 15/15/13 mile days.

Gear notes

So far bringing the umbrella was a great idea. I, and others with umbrellas, felt sorry for those who had to hike in the beating sun all day without any shade or protection.

Bringing 6 liters of water was too much. We crossed at least 5 flowing streams and even without filling up, I had almost half of the water when we got to Hauser Canyon. I'm going to start tomorrow with 1 liter and refill at Lake Morena.

The liners in my shorts had to go. I got some serious butt chafing by mile 10, and had to wobble to Hauser Canyon because I really didn't feel like stripping bottomless on the trail. I either have to find a trail town that sells underwear, or I'm going to be the guy showing Willy all trail long.