Date: May 25, 2017
Miles: 14.5 miles (23.3km), from the summit of Mt. Baden-Powell to mile 398.7.
Health: Legs are tired from the climb. Would've needed extra day in Wrightwood to recover. Keep getting new blisters from my shoes.

​​​Note:​ as my camera is still broken (see day 25), all photos here are from iPhone 7 Plus. 

Today was a quite a mixup of emotions. It started with us all waking up at the summit of Mount Baden-Powell. The sunrise was just epic.

We all just sat and walked around the summit marveling the unbelievable beauty opening to every direction. We could see the city of Los Angeles covered in a thick ocean of clouds, the highest mountain tops around us painted with the soft morning light, and the shadow of the Baden-Powell being drawn far below us in the distance. That was quite a way to eat breakfast.

We were in no hurry to leave but as the sun rose higher, everyone slowly started to head down and get back on the trail. The PCT goes only few hundred feet from the summit. On the way down we passed the famous, over 1,500 year old tree. I didn't see it yesterday as I passed it in the darkness.

Our next goal was getting to the next water source. Later in the day Blis's father was rumored to be giving us trail magic along the highway we’re crossing.

Sunshine was still in her sleeping bag and looked like she was not going anywhere soon. Blü had already left as far as I could tell. Everyone was just doing their own thing, it was funny.

I left the summit with Sam and Trevor but as I was feeling all energetic, I passed them and kept running down the mountain. I had forgotten to look at the elevation profile for the day. So when I hit a large uphill, I was quite surprised. We climbed another, a bit lower peak, but it wasn't that bad.

On the way up I met Morgan and Kristen. They were going fast, and the elevation was affecting my ability to breath properly, so I stayed behind them. It was fun hiking with new people. We've met at many stops and camps during the past few weeks, but never hiked together. So that meant new interesting conversation topics.

We soon caught up to Wilder and the rest of the group and made our way to the water. It was a spring on the side of the mountain. Blü was already there and we talked about the strategy for today.

I had completely missed that we would be hitting the endangered species closure today. Part of the trail is closed due to endangered frogs that live on the trail. There are few workarounds, but the most common is a couple mile road walk around the closure.

The next water source was a bit iffy due to the closure but we filtered two liters and would just make it work somehow. It was going to be a hot day.

Everyone got on the trail at different times and I was soon walking solo down the mountain. My legs started to hurt from the climb yesterday and I really didn't feel like hiking today. I turned the music louder in my headphones and hoped that would make the miles go faster. It didn't help. The rocky trail and the continues downhill made my feet hurt more and more. Soon I was going about half the speed I usually do. Frustration started to kick in.

I finally made it down the mountain to a rest stop on the highway 2 where few other hikers were having an early lunch. I still had 3 miles to go before the spot where Blis's fathers trail magic would be, but it was too early, so I sat down and made a bagel for myself.

I ate as slowly as I could as I didn't feel like getting back on the trail. Soon Sam and Trevor got down too and made a quick lunch. It was time to move again. As I was begrudgingly putting on my backpack, I see Trevor putting on his earphones and heading down the trail. Only problem was, the trail goes up from here. He was heading down. He was on the wrong trail.

We tried yelling after him but he didn't hear us. And of course there was no connection here so we couldn't call him. We looked at the map and the trail would lead him back on the PCT, after a 21 mile (33.7km) detour. Ugh.

Luckily he only made it 0.5 miles down before he noticed he was on a wrong trail. We marked the spot with an arrow so that no other hikers would make the same mistake.

I started hiking up but I just wasn't feeling it. The climb was quite steep and exposed. Some way up I made the mistake of looking at the map and elevation profile. The trail basically goes around a mountain, climbs close to 1300 feet, then drops down the same amount, only to end up at the same elevation we started from. So basically we climb for hour and a half to go down again, only to get to the almost same spot where we started from. I felt super frustrated. The trail made no sense, again.

I've noticed the same pattern few times before. We do these completely pointless climbs and detours when we could just walk straight from point A to point B. On my way up, I cursed the trail designer.

Once I reached the top I found Blü there. He had the unfortunate luck of having to listen to me bitch and moan about the trail for about 5 minutes. He just kept laughing and pointed out that the PCT is a "national scenic trail", emphasis on the scenic part.

I apologized for my midday meltdown and started to descent down to where we had started. On the way down I realized what he meant. I was still frustrated with the trail doing pointless loops, but I guess I needed to change my attitude a little bit. I'm so used to hiking somewhere with a purpose that this kind of "let's just pointlessly circle around in the wilderness" hiking feels kind of odd. Now I understand why everyone says you have no use for a compass on the PCT, you're never actually going towards the north.

Blü soon catches up to me and we hike down together. There we find others at the rest stop waiting for Blis and his father. We sit in the shade waiting. Blis arrives but his father is late. We start wondering weather he meant the rest stop 0.7 miles down the road. We have no way of contacting him as there's no connection.

We noticed that the next rest stop has a picnic area and it sounds way nicer than the one we're at, so we decide to go there instead. We walk along the highway to get there but no signs of Blis's father. We wait.

It's starting to get late. At one point we hear back from Fyre. She's off trail and in LA. She's resting her ankle as it has been hurting and she's meeting us in few days in Aqua Dulce. It's great that she's getting her ankle some rest but at the same time we didn't get to say bye to her, and it feels like we lost a member of our trail family. Even if for a short while.

As there's no sign of Blis's father, we decide to send Sunshine back up the highway to check the previous rest stops to see if he's there. She gets on the road and catches a ride instantly. We keep waiting.

After 20 minutes we see a car approaching and it's Sunshine, with Blis's father. We had ended up on a wrong rest stop and he had setup everything on the rest stop before the pointless climb.

We stuff about 15 hikers to his car in two separate rides and get to the correct rest stop. There we have quite a feast waiting for us. Blis's mom and dad had made a huge pot of chili, cornbread, watermelon, and a cooler full of beer. Blis's sister was there to help also.

We eat our stomachs full and enjoy the ice cold beer. What a setup. They had driven two hours from LA just to meet and feed us. Thank you so much for everything!

As it's getting time to leave, Blis tells us he's leaving with his father to LA as his ankle is also busted. We understand but it's really a shame, we're going to miss him so much. And loosing two members of our trail family on the same day, not fun.

We all wish him well and hope to see him in Aqua Dulce as we arrive there in few days. Hopefully Fyre is also there by then.

Blis's father drives us back to the spot where we were before and we thank him so much for all that he has done. While other hikers climb back up to the PCT, me and Blü decide to do a little sneaky move. Here the PCT follows the highway but pointlessly goes up and down on rocky mountains. It doesn't make much sense. By looking at the map we see that by hiking along the highway we can skip most of this pointless zigzagging and join the PCT little way down.

I don't need to hike every mile of the PCT, I just want to have a continues footpath from Mexico to Canada. And my legs hurt and I'm tired. The road walk is easy and we soon join back on the PCT and start going down. We find a nice spot next to the trail where to camp for the night.

Just as I get my cowboy camp all setup I notice I'm on top of an anthill so, as Blü keeps laughing, I move my camp.

I can't wait to get to Aqua Dulce and Hiker Heaven and take two or three zeros. I really need the rest and my feet need to recover. Sierra will wait. Also I need to get my camera fixed.

Tomorrow we'll cross the 400 mile marker.

Date: May 24, 2017
Miles: 8.6 miles (13.8km), from Highway 2 to summit of Mount Baden-Powell. 
Health: After long nights sleep feet feel better and blisters are healing. Still very tired.

We sleep late with Blis. I'm up at 8:30am and he gets up at about the same time. Although I'm well rested, my body feels like it would still need more rest. Sadly that has to wait as we're heading out again today to summit the 9,407 feet (2,867m) Mount Baden-Powell.

After slow morning tasks we head out to the town, I need to still do my entire resupply and Blis needs few more things from the store. As our checkout time is at 11 we still have plenty of time.

We loiter our way towards the grocery store while meeting friends at every step. These trail towns are fun as you get to meet all the hikers who would otherwise be spread out along the trail.

I do my resupply, buy a breakfast burrito and eat that outside the store while sitting in the sun. Members of our trail family come and go and there's constantly someone new to hear from. Everyone is slowly going around the small town, trying to get their town chores done before the sun starts setting.

We get back to our room, collect our stuff and move them out on the yard and do our checkout. Blis stays with our gear and I do a quick new round since I forgot some items. Blis found me a jar of petroleum jelly from the hiker box but Sunshine informs me that they sell a smaller jar at the store so I add that to my list.

I do a quick round in the grocery store and also buy some fresh fruits to eat before leaving the town. I head back to our motel and Fyre and Sunshine have joined us. I crawl under the yard table for a nap while the others eat, talk, and rest.

Soon it's time to leave. Our plan for today is to make it to the top of the Mount Baden-Powell to watch the sunset. Then camp there, or little way down, and come see the sunrise again in the morning.

Breaking my camera

As I'm getting my stuff from the table, I accidentally pull my fanny pack and without noticing my camera underneath it, drop the camera on the rocky floor. The camera hits the floor with a sinister thud and I fear for the worse. I turn on the camera to see if the drop caused any damage. The lights turns on, yes! Wait, the screen is black? Nothing happens. After about a second the camera turns itself off. Oh no. I remove the battery, maybe it's a software thing. Insert the battery and turn the camera back on. Again no luck. I do this few more times but I know the answer, my camera is broken. Right when I'm heading out to the top of a mountain to see an epic sunset and sunrise.

I curse profusely in my head. And I think few f-words escape my lips. No help, I have to use my iPhone until I figure something out. LA is not that far, but that needs to wait.

 Note: all photos from here on are taken with my iPhone 7 Plus.  

Blis, Fyre, Sunshine, and I headed to the main street to try to get a hitch. As soon as we reach the road a car stops over and they tell us they can fit two. Sadly their old WV Beatle only has room for Fyre. While she is getting in, they call their mom and tell us to wait for a second. Not a minute goes by and their mom arrives and picks the rest of us up. Wow!

Getting rides in and out of Wrightwood has been super easy. We talk with the lovely lady and she tells me about her trip to Finland few years back. She's super nice and soon we're at the trailhead. We offer her gas money but she refuses. We thank her for everything and head on the trail.

I was worried that my hiking would be painful but I feel great. Everyone is in a good mood and the first few miles go by fast. Then we start dropping down. Weren't we supposed to climb up? We drop down few hundred feet until I see a big mountain in front of us. There's a small rest area and me, Fyre, Blü, Blis, and Sunshine gather there and start climbing up the trail.

Baden-Powell

I look at my clock and do some calculations in my head. I think we are out too late and won't make it up to the top before the sun sets. In my head I'm staying at the campsite a mile down from the summit.

As the sun sets the scenery gets more beautiful by every step. Our friends ahead of us must have amazing views from the top.

About halfway up we stop at a small spring on the mountain side to fill up our water bottles. We need water for the rest of the climb and what ever we consume tomorrow morning before we get to the next source down on the other side.

As we get past 7,000 feet the elevation starts getting on me again. My breathing gets harder and harder and I have to slow my pace. Blü keeps cheering me up but I can't keep up with his pace.

It gets darker and darker and by now it's painfully clear for everyone that we won't be making it to the summit to see the sunset. After 8,000 feet we come across some snow that we need to hike over. By now my legs are just screaming for mercy. I keep counting "one - two - one - two ..." in my head to keep my legs moving. I can't wait to get to the campsite before the summit and rest for the night.

We finally reach the campground and I'm ready to stop. Sunshine, Blü, and an ultralight Australian hiker we met earlier called Baton talk me over to continue all the way to the top. I don't have any energy left but their reasoning is solid so I agree to push to the top.

We continue but soon Blü and Baton push ahead, I'm a bit behind, and I can't see Sunshine behind me anymore. It's getting really dark and I'm getting worried. I look behind on every switchback but no sight of her. She's usually ahead of me on climbs. We cross some questionable spots and snow in the dark.

Finally on one longer switchback I see Sunshine below me. I yell to check that she's okey. She's fine, just going slower. I push up a steep snow face to reach the exposed and narrow ridge line before the actual summit. I can't see a thing except for the city lights down far below. I think that's LA in the distance. The views are amazing but the whirling wind makes me want to get off of the narrow ridge. I throw on my wind jacket and follow the path to where I think the summit is.

For a while I can only see dark but then sky appears and I see a shade of a person. That's Blü putting on warmer clothes. We celebrate for a second and then I start putting on my puffy as well. It's cold at the top.

We hear sounds from ahead of us, and see headlamp lights coming from the brushes just down from the summit. I head down there to find everyone else there. I find myself a sheltered spot for the night and then go back to see Sunshine reach the summit.

Almost every single flat spot is used for sleeping as people squeeze between bushes to cowboy camp for the night. The sky is clear and the stars are out. I lay in my sleeping bag eating and looking at the sky. I'm happy I pushed all the way to the top.

Date: May 23, 2017
Miles: 12 miles (19.3km), from mile 357.3 to the Highway 2.
Health: The climb was rough. Both my heels hurt and my feet are swollen. Couple new blisters.

The alarm goes off way too soon, my hurting body needs more sleep. It's still dark and cold outside and every part of my body hurts. I don't want to get out of the warmth of my sleeping bag. But I also know that we still have miles to climb and in few hours it's going to be excruciatingly hot.

I begrudgingly get out of my bag and start packing my pack. I see no movement in any of the tents yet, but Sunshine is fighting the same battle as I, just a little ways down the dirt road.

The view is just absolutely breathtaking. We didn't see anything when we arrived here at night but now we're rewarded with gorgeous mountains basking in the morning light. I stuff my shorts pockets full of bars, shoulder my pack and follow Sunshine back on the trail.

The climb starts immediately and my legs haven't fully woken up yet. It feels like I'm climbing at snails pace. What feels like the longest hour and a half, gets us on the top of the mountain. We can see the desert floor far down below us. We stop to breath and enjoy the view for a second. I'm happy that we climbed that far last night, but at the same time I feel bad for all my fellow hikers still behind us, having to do all that climbing in this heat.

We still have one short very steep uphill and then we get to a campground at the top of the mountain. Man that was a long climb. We stop for water and an early lunch.

We learn that the water is down a steep hill, on the side of the mountain. We don't feel like doing any more climbing and so we even out all our water and calculate that we can probably do the last five miles with the little water we have. It's mainly downhill.

As we climb down we hike past ski-lifts. It's already way too hot to hike but we need to get to the highway to catch a hitch to Wrightwood. I can see the highway in the distance but the trail just keeps twisting and going away from the road. At one point the trail crosses a dirt road and I notice that the dirt road is a quicker path to the highway. As my feet hurt, I hike the last mile along the dirt road.

Once I reach the highway there are about 15 hikers there already. I haven't seen any cars go along the highway all day. Just as I'm thinking this is going to take forever, a pickup truck drives by and stops. Topo is already onboard and enthusiastically waves at us from the bed of the truck. The driver waves us to jump aboard. As Sunshine and I are the last to arrive, we don't fit. But that was fast.

We sit down and prepare for a long wait and right then another car drives past, stops, and waves for us to get in. Wow. That was super fast. In less than 10 minutes we all get rides to town.

The ride to Wrightwood takes us down from the mountains and along the way we see the ski resort. The town is small and compact. Everything is a walking distance away. I like it.

Our first priority when we reach the town: get ice cream. The driver leaves us right outside of the best ice cream shop in town and we buy large scoops of our favorite flavors.

Next is time to go to the post office, I have a package from ZPacks waiting for me. On the way to the post office we pass many hiker friends. It's like everywhere you look, there's someone you know. I love coming into towns and seeing all the friends at the same place and hearing all their trail stories.

At the post office all the people inside strike up a conversation and we talk about the PCT for awhile. People in these small towns are so friendly. They all wish us good luck and we continue to the sandwich shop next door.

We leave our packs there and go to the Mountain Hardware shop to register and get our PCT pins.

The lodging in Wrightwood is a bit bad. There are only expensive options. There's a list of all the trail angels and people have already called them all through. We hear of a place where you can stay for the night for a donation. After hearing the description of the place, we nickname it The Bunker. It's a cheap option for most, but I want to take a proper shower and sleep in a comfy bed. Blis feels the same and we reserve the last two bed room in the Pines Motel.

We get to the motel and get our room. It's way too expensive for what it is, but I'm too tired and hurting to care. I immediately hit the shower and start washing the layers of dirt off of me. It seems that no matter how long I scrub, the dirt just keeps coming. My feet look pretty dinged up.

We take our dirty clothes to the laundry and hop on our huge beds to watch TV. It feels so good to just lay down and not do anything.

Later in the evening we all gather in the Mexican restaurant next door for 5 cent margarita. The food is good and the margaritas cold. The evening goes by too quick. It's time to go to sleep. It has been really rough few days and I'm happy to not having to wake up early tomorrow.

Date: May 22, 2017
Miles: 21.6 miles (34.8km), from mile 335.7 to mile 357.3. 
Health: One of the toes on my left foot had swollen during the previous night, and my right heel hurts.

We wake up early but stay in our sleeping bags. We only have to do about 8 miles this morning to get to the Cajon Pass McDonalds where we're spending the day staying out of the sun. It's going to be a hot day and the section out of Cajon Pass is a long waterless and shadeless climb that you do not want to do during the day.

Queso celebrates his birthday by opening his beer the moment he wakes up. We all just lay and chat while eating our breakfast. Then it's time to go again. Queso leaves first and Sunshine and I head out after him. The trail goes up and down and the sun is already hot even though it's not even 7am.

We talk about books, Sunshine's family, and then politics. You usually avoid politics on the trail like a plague, but we've hiked so much together that we felt safe to talk about it. And it was nice. Sunshine has traveled to over 25 countries, and is what I'd call extremely well read for her age. I always find talking with her fascinating and super interesting.

My foot starts to hurt on a long downhill, but I'm too lazy, and we're too close to the McDonalds, to do anything about the issue. I limb down and we see the trail sign to the restaurant. Yeah!

I don't think I've ever been this excited about fast food. And that's saying a lot.

The last few hundred feet are on concrete and switching from sand to a hard surface feels really bad. My feet feel even worse and I tell Sunshine to just go ahead.

As we get to the McDonalds it's already full of hikers. We storm one of the empty tables and find a power outlet right next to it. Score! I open my shoes to let my feet breath a little bit and then order breakfast with extra bacon. Warm food and ice cold drinks taste amazing!

For the next 9 hours we sit at the McDonalds and greet all the incoming hikers. Soon there are only hikers in the restaurant. I calculate that I eat about 4,000 calories worth of junk food during the day. All-you-can-drink-soda is awesome!

We charge our electronics, use the toilets, and I ice my foot. It's going to be a long night hike up a big mountain so all the calories are going to come handy.

As the sun starts to set, all the hikers slowly head out. We set out in a big group and hike under the highway and train tracks and then start the climb. The mountain range looks daunting and the beautiful evening light makes the scenery look like a painting. We take a lot of breaks to take a ton of photos. Slowly our big group breaks into smaller groups and I notice I'm hiking ahead of everyone else.

As I feel really good I push on as it's not yet dark but it's already cooler. After the first mountain range we go down to a valley and then start climbing an even larger mountain. As I get some way up it gets so dark that I feel like I can't see the trail or rattlesnakes well enough. Time to switch on my headlamp.

As I look down to the valley and the opposing mountain I see small groups of headlamps following the trail. I can pretty much guess who's hiking in which group.

The trail starts to get really narrow and the overgrown vegetation makes it hard to see where I'm stepping and I start to freak myself out a little. I try to see how long of a drop I'm standing next to but my headlamp isn't strong enough to light all the way to the bottom. My morale goes down as I feel like I'm all alone in the dark. The howling wind that shakes me around isn't helping.

Soon I see headlamps ahead of me and my morale goes up again. I see few other groups ahead as well and I don't feel so alone and small anymore. I pass few groups who've already stopped for the night. I stop for a second for a small chitchat and to get a morale boost.

On one of the shoulders I see something black slithering in the brush. As I carefully get closer I notice it's a headlamp. Dang, this is a bad section to lose your headlamp. I pick up the lamp and plan to find the owner down the trail.

After some time I look at my clock and notice I've climbed for 5 hours without a break. I stop to get some more water from the back and to eat a few bars. While I'm eating a headlamp light turns around the corner and I hear Sunshine's voice greeting me. She's in the zone and doesn't want to stop so she continues on. Soon I see her light go behind a shoulder.

I head out after Sunshine and continue my climb. Every now and then I can see her light above me. After awhile I find her eating a bar on a ridge line looking at the highway down in the distance. The white headlights and red backlights of LA traffic make the highway look like a river from far above. I sit down next to her for a while and then push on.

This feels like the longest climb so far on the trail. At some point Sunshine catches up to me. We look below us and see no lights. And no lights above us. We wonder if everyone else already stopped hiking or if we're just around a corner or a hill and just can't see them.

As the clock gets closer to midnight I notice I keep on dozing off and that I have to rely on my hiking poles for support way too much. That's not a good thing in the dark on a narrow trail on a mountain. I have to stop and shake myself awake. But it's too hot and I've been up for close to 20 hours now. Sunshine catches me and I try to follow her to stay awake but end up not being able to keep her pace.

The elevation and the hours of climbing are starting to show and my legs are really telling me to stop hiking. But I can't as there's no place to stop on a mountain side. I slowly move one foot ahead of the other and use the poles to balance myself on the narrow trail. Finally I see Sunshine's headlamp and she's stopped. I climb up to where she is but this is just a road, our camping spot is still 1.2 miles away.

I just remind myself that these miles will be much harder to do tomorrow once the sun gets up again.

At 1:35am we get to our camp for tonight. One of the toughest and longest days on the PCT so far, I'm completely done. I start to look around for a spot to drop down on and there's nothing but a forest road. There are few tents close by but tonight we'll sleep on a road.

I setup my cowboy camp in no time, quickly do small feet maintenance, and then just crash. Sunshine is putting up her spot a hundred feet down the road. We agree to wake up at 4:45am to climb the rest of the mountain before the sun gets up. It's going to be a short night. I fall asleep almost immediately while looking at the stars above.

Date: May 21, 2017
Miles: 17.8 miles (28.6km), from mile 317.9 to mile 335.7.
Health: Morning I felt a bit slow, but after the siesta I felt absolutely amazing.

We woke up early and packed up our gear quickly, we wanted to get on the trail to beat the heat and to make it to the Silverwood Lake early to get the rumored pizza delivery.

In 20 minutes I made my way from my sleeping bag to the stream close by to filter a liter and a half for the hike. As we were getting ready to leave a southbound hiker approached us and asked our trail names. After a short discussion he tells us that he's hiking the trail and giving trail magic. We get to pick between coffee, cookie, or chips. We all take chips. Thank you GoalTech.

We still get on the trail when it's dark and start our hike. The mountains are beautiful at dawn and we stop often to marvel and photograph the scenery.

We're constantly going downhill and start approaching the small town at the foothill of the mountains. Once we get down the scenery changes. We hike along a highway, and at one point through a industrial zone. We see some large pipes and make a quick detour to take our official PCT band photos.

After a little more road walking the trail wiggles back to the woods and we run into some trail magic. It's early but we stop for ice cold water, candy, strawberries, and a bottle of rose wine. We carry the wine out for our afternoon pizza. Crimson agrees to carry the bottle if we pay for his part of the pizza, we all instantly agree.

After little more hiking, the weather is getting really hot and hiking without umbrella gets almost impossible. We hit a larger climb and I can't keep up with the others in the heat. Soon though I hear yelling and hollering from the top and wonder what all the fuzz is about. As I get to the top I understand. We're looking at a massive lake.

Everyone's excited to get away from the heat and to chill by the lake. The excitement soon wears off as we realize we're at the complete opposite end of the lake and we still have over 5 miles (8km) to the rest spot.

The trail wiggles along the shore of the lake little bit up from the shoreline. The heat is getting unbearable and I keep sweating bucket loads.

Finally we reach the road that takes us down to the lake and to the rest spot. We run down the road and throw our packs on the tables in the shadow. It's way too hot to be out in the sun.

Sunshine starts to organize the pizza order. She's organizing the order like a real professional. I keep wondering where she still gets all the energy. Soon we have the order ready and she calls it in. The place is still closed and doesn't open until another hour and a half.

We sit in the shade and use the faucet close by to wash our dirty clothes. Time goes by slowly and we're starting to get hungry.

Finally the pizza place opens and we can get our order in. And then we hear that they don't do deliveries on sundays. Sunshine sweet talks the pizza owner to call his delivery man to come to work on a Sunday with a promise of a hefty tip. After some waiting we hear back and it's a success. The driver even agrees to do a beer run and to get us a 24 pack of beer on the way here. Sunshine collects everyone's contributions and it looks like the driver is going to earn a nice tip for a short work.

Finally the driver arrives and as he steps out of his car he gets a loud round of applause and cheers. Soon everyone has a plate full of pizza and an ice cold beer or soda. It gets real quiet. Eating thru-hikers are silent thru-hikers.

We wait out the heat in the shade and me and Queso took a dip in the lake. A passing by ice cream salesman makes a killing by selling his cart empty to us hungry hikers.

Soon it's time leave again and we set out to the cooling evening. It's still hot as hell though. We do a little bit more road walking and then the trail starts to climb back up the mountain. After all the pizza and sodas I feel strong so Sunshine, Queso, and I power up the long climb. Before we even notice it, we've done over 5 miles uphill and we're at our next water source.

We fill up our bottles and and start descending downwards. Queso and I set out to a really fast pace where we're basically running down the trail. I time our pace and we're doing close to 5 miles per hour (8km/h).

We soon reach spots were few other hikers are staying for the night but push further. Then we reach a dried up riverbed and as I look at the topo map, this is going to be the last possible place to sleep for the night.

You should not sleep in dried up river beds in the mountains due to flash floods. We look at all the available weather reports and there isn't any precipitation in the entire Southern California during the next five days so we feel quite safe to brake this rule for now.

Soon Sunshine comes down as well and sets up next to us. The soft sand makes the ground really soft and smooth to sleep on.

We don't feel sleepy at all and talk really late into the night. We talk about the stars and constellations, our favorite movies, and quantum physics. Queso is celebrating his birthday tomorrow so he carried a beer from the pizza lunch and plans to drink it in the morning.

This was a good day.

Date: May 20, 2017
Miles: 12 miles (19.3km), from mile 305.9 to mile 317.9.
Health: Legs are good and blisters are gone. Left knee feels a bit iffy. Wondering if I should have my knee braces shipped ahead on the trail. 

I cowboy camped on the small flat area at the foot end of Morgan's tent. Most of us are starting to switch, or have already made the switch to cowboy camping. It just so easy. You stop walking, open your pack and throw down your groundsheet, throw your sleeping pad on it and then your sleeping bag or quilt. In the morning just reverse the order and you're ready to continue hiking.

This comes especially handy now as the weather is heating up again and we need to switch back to the early morning – late night hiking routine, avoiding walking during the hottest hours of the day.

I woke up late again, as did most of the camp. We had no rush as we were only doing few miles to the Deep Creek Hot Springs. We had to camp a bit outside of the springs as overnight camping is prohibited within mile of the hot springs.

We quickly do the miles and make it to the hot spring early in the morning. As I get there, there are already some people in the water. The Deep Creak flows around a bend, and on that bend there are springs that spew hot water. That water is directed to the man made rock pools. The area is also "clothing optional". That, combined with the fact that it's also Saturday, meant we were expecting to see a lot of old naked dudes.

As I arrived I only saw a bunch of other thru-hikers in one of the first hot springs and few other, dressed individuals. I quickly made my way to the pool.

As soon as I get in the water, an older gentleman who has chosen the clothing optional option, comes over to inform us that there are far better pools up where he just came from. We inform him that we're good, and thank him for the info.

We soon also spot the many squirrels that run around the area. My first though is "how cute" but that quickly changes as we see them charge our backpacks and trying to bite through to get to our food bags. Fyre's pack takes a little damage and we carry our packs right by the pools so we can keep a better eye on the steeling little rats.

As the day goes on, more hikers and more swimmers arrive and soon it's quite a hot springs party at the river. People in different levels of nakedness enjoy the cold stream and the hot springs. Most of us hikers have moved to shade by this point as we're trying to wait out the hottest part of the day.

We hear information that after two miles from the Hot Springs, the trail turns to quite exposed without any shade. Guthooks advices not to cross this section during the hottest part of the day. So we wait it out by the stream.

But people are getting itchy, we've only hiked couple of miles today, so some head out to the heat. After the cold period of past week, I'm all worn out by this heat. My thermometer maxes out at 120 degrees (49C), and it's maxed out in the sun.

We eat, sleep, and try to avoid the sun all day. As the evening comes and the sun starts to set, we head out. I hike out with Sunshine (Justine). There's only a little uphill from the creek to the trail and I'm already sweating like crazy. Sunshine tells me that she can always tell if I'm hiking behind her because I'm either blowing my nose, or burping. I laugh as I can't really argue with that. Guess you start to know someone when you've hiked with them for 21 days.

As we hike on, we talk about how funny the Finnish language is, how we met on the first day on the trail, how our first discussion only happened on day six, and how that led to my trail name.

As we round a corner on the mountain side, we see a couple stopped, and as we get closer, we notice a dog laying on the ground. A dog really shouldn't be out on this kind of trail in this kind of heat. We stop to talk to the couple and ask how they're doing. They tell us that the dogs paws have turned raw and he can't walk anymore and that they still have 2 miles to their car. I look at the dog and he's not wearing any boots. They've gone out in this heat, hiking on a trail that's covered with hot sharp rocks, with a dog that doesn't have any protection on his feet?

We try to see if there's anything we can do for them, but come up short. I tell them where to get good dog booties for the next time and inform the man how to carry the dog if they have to. They've come to the right conclusion that they have to wait out the sun, get the dog in a shade, and then try to move out once it gets colder. We also inform them that there are more hikers following us, and that maybe some of them will have bandages that could be used to protect the poor puppies paws.

We make sure that they have enough food, water, and that they have headlamps, and then continue on our way.

We hike for few more hours and right as it's getting dark Sunshine receives a message from Blis, informing us that he's camping not far ahead. We decide to cut our 15 mile night hike plan short and stop at the same spot. There's also water there so no dry camping.

Tomorrow we need to push 20 miles to make it close to the Cajun Pass McDonalds. After the McDonalds there's a 21 mile dry section that we want to night hike. The plan is to get to the McDonalds in the morning, eat there all day, and then head out right as it's getting dark and get through the dry section while it's cold so that we don't consume and have to carry so much water. That will put us almost right up to Wrightwood.

We get to the camp area and it's already dark. We meet Dragon and Andrew and they inform us that there are ants at the first area so we push deeper and find Blis there. There are also other familiar faces among the many hikers but most of them are already sleeping so we try to be as quiet as possible.

Right as I'm finished setting up my camp I feel an urge to go dig a hole in the desert. I rush deep in to the brush to give back to the country where I'm hiking in. As I get back after an successful hole digging, Andrew and Dragon inform me that I should include more of these kinds of stories on my blog posts. So, this one's for you two :)

Date: May 19, 2017
Miles: 20 miles (32.2km), from mile 285.9 to mile 305.9.
Health: Still feeling good. Legs are slowly getting stronger. Knees are a bit iffy but I try to shuffle gently to not put too much strain on them.

We had talked about hitting the trail early and waking around 5:30am. I woke up at about that time, listened and could not hear any movement around the camp. I poked my head out of my shelter and everyone was still sleeping. It was cold and I had no desire to get up, so I closed my shelter and get back to sleep.

The past week has been quite cold so we haven't had reasons to do the whole "hot weather hiking" routine and instead we can just hike straight through the day. It's easy but doesn't prepare us for the upcoming heat and desert crossing.

Everyone gets up around 7am and we quickly get on the trail. We all leave about same time and start wiggling up and along the mountain side as a one big worm.

Today's hike is almost as uneventful as yesterday's. We hike for few hours to the next water source, take a long break, then hike few hours to the next one and take a break. On one of the breaks Dragon (Pin) tells me how she saw a dream last night about my blog. She had seen a title on my blog called "Day 55: Why I quit the PCT today". This freaks me out a bit. I don't even want to think about quitting, little less to jinx a day like that. I hike on thinking that I'll do everything in my power to not make that dream come true.

The next break is a bit different, we get to a stream with a swimming hole. Everyone gathers along the sandbank of the stream, washing their feet and socks in the ice cold water. Few brave ones even swim in it.

We already have good mileage in so far so we spend a good chunk of the afternoon resting and eating by the stream. We make jokes about the roughness of thru-hiking fully aware what's still ahead of us.

As we still have about 6 miles (9.7km) to our last water source before the Hot Springs, we head out around 4:30pm. The trail follows the stream high above along a narrow path with steep drops down to the rocks below or to the stream. The trail is nice to hike but I feel lazy and the miles seem to go very slowly.

All of a sudden we turn a corner and there it is, the 300 mile marker (482.8km). We've already done over 10% of the trail. We take the mandatory photos and hike on.

We move very lazily and keep taking breaks at every possible spot, but still make good time to the last stop for today. The water source is a stream passing through a small valley with rocks and sand. As there are quite a few of us here, it's hard to find enough flat ground to sleep on so most of us cowboy camp in very creative spots.

I fall asleep watching satellites and planes fly overhead while listening to frogs and crickets. I love this life!

Word about my strategy from here on out

This year has been a big snow year and that means there are still a ton of snow in the Sierra. Usually people try to aim to get to Kennedy Meadows by Ray Day, June 15, which should give the snow enough time to melt, and the hikers enough time to make it over and to Canada before the winter.

This year this might not be possible as there is still too much snow in the Sierra for most thru-hikers to safely cross the highest passes. According to the trail rumors there are already around 120 hikers stuck in Kennedy Meadows waiting to start their Sierra crossing.

What that means for us is a) we don't really want to rush to get to Kennedy Meadows as there's nothing to do there, and b) once we can start crossing the Sierra, we'll still be facing a ton of snow but have less time to cover the Northern California, Oregon, and Washington to reach Canada before the winter snowstorms.

So my plan is to get to Kennedy Meadows a week or two after the Ray Day, hopefully by that time the snow has melted enough, and to be as physically rested and in good condition as possible. So I'm coasting across the desert section trying to cause as little damage to my body and legs as possible to be able to a) get over Sierra, and b) start doing big days to make it to Canada before winter.

So far this plan is working out well. I have no big injuries, I feel like I could start doing big days already, and I haven't heard anything from Sierra that would suggest any other viable plan.

This year is going to be a rough one for thru-hiking the PCT for sure.