Daily mileage 21
Total mileage 41
Hiked from 6:30 am to 5:30 pm
Trail magic and a very long hill.
I slept like a log last night despite the freezing temperatures. To put an exclamation point on that, there was ice on my tent this morning.
I got going a bit later than I would have liked. Just not in the routine yet. The first six miles were flat and fast. Then the trail showed her mean side. That was a three thousand foot climb over the course of about 13 miles. I am sure that later in this hike when I have acquired my trail legs, a climb like this will be no problem. But at this stage of the hike, it is a problem. Oh well, I made it to Mt Laguna whipped but no worse for wear.
Goodbye Interstate 8
The geology around this area is fascinating
A wet winter equals a green desert in places
About half way up the climb, we came to a highway crossing. And there was a car parked there with a gaggle of hikers around it. That can only mean one thing. Trail magic!
Leigh and her trail magic
Leigh from Pine Valley is providing trail magic every Sunday which made us a lucky bunch of hikers. Gateraid, cold water, sandwiches, fruit and candy. What more could a hiker ask for. If you ever read this, you rock Leigh.
The day started out cold and never made it past warmish. Add to that a final elevation of 6,000 feet as well as a brisk wind and it was actually quite cold by the time I got to Laguna. So, to stay in my tent or get a room at the only "Lodge" in town. Well that was easy. So here I sit in a cabin for which I doled out way too much money and had to endure the grumpiest inn keep I have ever dealt with. But I am warm, freshly showered and listening to the wind pick up out there.
Every now and then we get to hike through forest instead of chapparel
Daily mileage 20
Total mileage 20 (duh)
Hiked from 7 am to 6 pm
That was some kind of welcome back there PCT.
My ever patient wife and son got up at 4 am so that we could travel from Anaheim (we spent four days doing things that are the complete antithesis to hiking) so I could get an early start to my day.
After signing the register and taking the obligatory photos, I was off. Actually my son was off with me for the first two miles. We met up with my wife at the designated place and then I was off on my own.
At the Southern monument
Walking with my son. I could not convince him to carry my pack
The day broke cool but sunny. It did not take long for the cool to be replaced by pretty darn warm. Not outright hot but definitely warm.
One unexpected cool thing that happened was there was a training hike happening in the opposite direction on the trail. It was for an upcoming fundraiser for the San Diego branch of the Make a Wish Foundation. The same event that I walked through in the Big Bear area in 2017. This year they are estimating that they will raise almost a half million dollars in the event. Pretty cool.
So back to my hike. To put it simply, it started well and then the trail kicked the crap out of me. I was really struggling with the two largish uphills, particularly the second one out of Hauser Canyon. It was warm and it turns out that I am old and not in tiptop shape.
Dry hot trail
Fauna
Flora
Typical scenery
Lake Morena at last
But, with the aid of a couple of breaks that may have involved naps, I made it into Lake Mareno.
In less than 10 weeks, I will be back on the Pacific Crest Trail. And guess what? It is snowing in the Sierra like crazy. Not 2017 levels, but well above average. Man, can I pick them!
So, given that this will be my second crack at this trail, I do get asked just what it is that I will do differently this time around. I need to preface the answer to that question with the proviso that I am very proud that I was able to complete over 1350 trail miles in one of the most challenging hiking years on the PCT in recent memory. What I am trying to say is that I don't believe that I have to make gigantic adjustments, but several tweeks are in order.
First, there is food consumption. I lost about 28 pounds over the course of 73 days on trail. While it was nice to revisit my high school weight, it was obvious that I could not continue loosing at that rate.
This was me on Day 1 at 186 pounds
This was me on the second to last day of my 2017 hike at 158 pounds
So this time around, I simply must make a bigger effort to eat more. Unfortunately food weighs a lot. But c'est la vie. I will just have to suck it up. Also, taking town food like a burger or sub out will help. And I have to quit being so conservative on the consumption. Several times I ended up packing food into the next trail town because I was always lording over the calorie budget.
Next up - gear. I really liked the vast majority of the gear I carried. But minor upgrades are good. I have gone out and bought a very lightweight closed foam sleeping pad. This will serve two purposes. First, it will make a first rate seating pad. But it will hopefully also protect my inflatable sleep pad. I had lots of issues with small holes in the pad last time. My theory is that if I put the foam pad under the inflatable one it will reduce the incidence of punctures.
This time, I am going to carry a cell phone right from the start. Seriously, these new portable telephones are incredible. Everyone should try one.
The other item that falls under gear is footwear. Simply put, I asked too much of my trail runners. I will have to figure out a way to replace these shoes on the fly more frequently.
Yeah, maybe 850 miles on a pair of trail runners was too much
Another change I want to strive for is on the mental side. Simply stated, I want to be more flexible regarding the duration of my hiking day. Rather than arbitrarily setting a distance goal each day, I want to just hike each day until it feels like I should stop. Oddly this will likely mean more mileage rather than less most days.
Also on the mental side of the ledger, I know I will have to be cognoscente of the fact that the social side of the hike will be different this go round. I was extremely fortunate to fall in with a group on the trail in 2017 that was amazing. The chances of recapturing that lightening in a bottle are slim.
The group I hiked with in 2017. We were known simply as "The Big Group"
Finally, I want to take more photos and video. So many times on the trail, I would get past an outstanding feature, person or event and then wonder why I did not immortalize it at the time. In my defense I am of the generation where a photo had to be developed and printed at substantial cost. OK that is a poor excuse but it is the best I can do.
So there are the tweeks I think are necessary for my PCT 2019 adventure. Now it is back to the couch for some more training.
So when I attempted to hike the PCT in 2017, a few things got in my way. Surprisingly, one of the was not my age. The hiking season of 2017 will go down in infamy as the year of Fire and Ice.
It just was not the right year to complete the PCT, or at least for me. Yes, a very few hardy souls did as much of the trail as was available to them. And, tragically, a couple of hikers died trying. It was just way outside of my comfort zone to press through that summer.
So having said all of that, it has really been stuck in my craw that I was not able to complete the trail. Starting on May 4th (I mean, how can any hike go wrong when it commences on Star Wars Day), I am going to have a second go at this PCT thing.
I will once again do my best to document my trials and tribulations on this blog.
I thank you if you do take the time to follow along.
Daily mileage 30
Total mileage 1355
Hiked from 6:00 am to 7:00 pm
A day of long miles, wonderful trail magic, a bit of rain and my decision regarding the rest of the PCT.
I knew that if I was going to make it to Ashland today I was going to have to haul ass. 30 miles sat between my campsite and the trail town. So I slept in! Great start.
Once I was on the trail I could tell that my body was feeling much better than it was yesterday. I had two minor climbs today of 1800 and 1000 feet and they both felt like nothing at all. It helped that the weather was somewhat cool.
About 3 miles into my day I came to the California Oregon border. I have no idea why an arbitrary line in a map is so important to me, but it felt wonderful to finally finish California. That was one long walk.
Finally made it out of Cali!
You can see the trail ahead if you look closely
The green hills of Oregon look a whole lot like the green hills if Northern California!
Given that it was a fair Sunday and also that I would be passing near a few roads in the Siskiyou and Mt Ashland areas, it was somewhat inevitable that I would see dayhikers. Well yes I did.
One of the first dayhikers I saw was Allan from Medford. He very casually asked me if I would like a beer. Well yes, yes I would. So after a cold Bud and some conversation, I got back to the business of getting to town. But, a few miles up the trail a couple of mountain bikers and their friendly dog (Max, Allison and Charlie the dog) called me up to a parking area just above the trail and asked if I would like some food. Well yes, yes I would. So after a ham and Swiss on Croissant and a peach and some conversation, I got back to the business of getting to town. Then just another two miles up the trail, a trail angel had set up some lawn chairs in a shady spot and put out a couple of coolers full of soft drinks. So once again all forward progress halted while I sat in the shade and chatted to a Sobo section hiker who's name I have forgotten.
Trail magic.
After that, the only slowdowns I had were when dayhikers wanted to chat about my hike. But still, not a bad day for trail magic.
Then it was time to jet to the I5 and Ashland. Funny how the final five miles before a town always drag on. But these miles were spiced up by a very close lightening storm. Close enough that I did not use my poles for about an hour. No sense providing a metallic ground point during an electrical storm. It did spit a bit on me but nothing serious. Which is ironic in that it means that the only two times I got rain on my hike were the first day and the last day. But more one that later. (Ooh, the foreshadowing)
Once I got to within a mile or so of the freeway, there was a shortcut trail to a resort hotel called Callahans. It was a bit tricky to navigate, but soon enough I was sitting in a swanky dining room having not showered, shaved or washed my clothes in forever enjoying a wonderful meal and a couple of beers.
I really did not feel like hitching on the I5 on-ramp, so I called a cab to take me to the hotel in Ashland that my wonderful wife had booked for me. Turns out that I was booked on the ninth floor and the only elevator was out of order. Now why is it that I was capable of climbing a 4500 foot mountain just two days ago but I balked at 8 flights of stairs totaling probably 75 feet or so. So I negotiated a room on the sixth floor. I probably doomed some pensioner with two bad hips to that room on the ninth floor in doing so!
Now back to the rest of my hike. In short, there will be no rest of my hike this summer. Yeah, yeah I know, I have said this once before. But I do believe that leaving the trail in Ashland is the right decision. The problem ahead is fire closures. The interior of Oregon is burning up and there are currently four closures on the PCT. So what it feels like is that what we have left to hike is the gristle and bone shards while the rib eye and top sirloin is tucked away behind trail closures (I know, typical male analogy comparing the PCT to meat!)
But if I were to continue hiking this year, I would be forced by nature to miss Crater Lake, Tunnel Falls and most of the Mt Jefferson Wilderness. Those are some pretty iconic points to have to bypass.
So what I have decided is that 1355 miles that I have hiked this summer is enough. To put this in prospective, if you were to drive from Vancouver to Los Angeles on I5, you would still be about 70 miles short of what I hiked this summer. And the areas of the PCT that I can come back to in future summers are pretty spectacular. The Sierra, Oregon and Washington make a pretty good itinerary, particularly given that I can pick and chose the time of year to do them.
Also, the hiking has taken a toll on this old body. I suspect that when I get home, the bathroom scale will read on the 150's (it turned out I was right, I weighed in at 158, having started the trail in May at around 186) which is pretty light for me. And I am feeling worn out.
So, with absolutely no sadness, I am laying to rest my 2017 PCT hike once again.
Thanks for taking time out of your busy days to check out my musings. I will be embedding videos into each day over the next few weeks.
Daily mileage 28
Total mileage 1325
Hiked from 5:30 am to 6:45 pm
Last full day in California.
Well today was one of those days when the miles being hiked fought back. I was moving with great lethargy all day today. I even took several breaks, including an afternoon nap but nothing got me out of low gear.
I had about 1800 feet of the big climb out of the Seiad Valley left to do first thing this morning. It went ok as opposed to the rest of the miles today. There was a slight overcast and a cooling breeze most of the day also. The breeze eventually blew most of the smoke out of the valleys below me.
Early morning shots are my favourites
Ran into these bare areas today where nothing grows. Not sure what the geology is behind them.
More typical meadow on the trail
The only reason I could come up with for my tough day was that I ate poorer than normal yesterday, having foregone supper in favour of a second milkshake. Hopefully that is all it was as I have potential for a 30 miler tomorrow. I am bulking up supper tonight to try to make tomorrow as smooth as possible. Mushroom rice Sidekick with a pouch of tuna and a half an avocado along with a smidge of curry powder. Yum.
There was really not a whole lot interesting today. No grand vistas or funny stories. Kind of boring. But the big news is that I am camped within 3 miles of the Oregon/California border tonight. Goodbye California early tomorrow. I mean it only took me 72 days to hike through the State and I even skipped a bunch of miles. That is one long State.
Daily mileage 20
Total mileage 1297
Hiked from 5:30 am to 6:00 pm
A boring long downhill, a momentous California town, a great breakfast, some shitty news and most of a long climb done. All today.
All 6 of us who camped together got up early this morning knowing we had a long road walk into Seiad Valley in potentially hot temperatures. The walk down to the road was neither easy or hard or good or bad. It just happened.
Once I got to the road, progress slowed considerably as I kept coming across roadside patched of blackberries that were just screaming to be ingested. Funny part is I usually do not even like blackberries but out here you simply do not pass by any readily available food.
Walking through burned forest
The start of the six mile road walk. Ugh.
These signs were everywhere in Seiad Valley
Just before I reached the store and restaurant, a couple pulled over on their truck and simply handed me a bottle of cold water. Yet another example of how great people are, particularly those near the PCT.
Reaching Seiad Valley was somewhat momentous because it is the last California town before the Oregon border.
Once at the restaurant, I had a great breakfast of blackberry pancakes with eggs and sausage. And everybody knows that a breakfast like that is best finished with a salted caramel milkshake.
Yum.
At the restaurant, they have the five pancake challenge. These particular pancakes weigh in at one pound each. I guess that in the last decade only 4 people have beat the challenge. Radio (one of the hikers I camped with last night) decided to accept the challenge today. After a valiant effort, he tossed in the towel after 2 1\2 of the giant cakes.
Radio and five pounds of pancakes.
During breakfast, I had a look at the PCTA website to see about any new trail closures. It is really crappy news that they have had to close the trail at Crater Lake because.of a fire. Crater Lake is supposed to be one of the highlights of the trail. So now that means I have missed the Sierra because of snow and high water and I will miss Crater Lake and Tunnel Falls (further north on Mt Hood) due to fires. PCT 2017, you are starting to suck.
A bunch of us decided to hang out in the shade in hopes of cooler temperatures for the long climb out of the valley. While we were there, locals kept dropping by, some to chat and even one to give us a watermelon. We really are treated like celebrities in these small trail towns.
My original plan was to camp here and then head out uber early tomorrow for the long climb out of the valley. I decided to go out later in the afternoon for two reasons. First, although it was hot, it was not infernal hot. The smoke in the air is acting as an insulator, keeping the temps down a bit. And then there is the trail drama! There is a group of hikers here that seem to feel a bit entitled. When one of them had to wait an ungodly 15 minutes for his milkshake (bear in mind that there are three people working the entire restaurant - one cooking, one waiting and one washing dishes), he created a bit of a scene. I was a mere bystander for all of this, but it did act as an incentive to carry on rather than hanging with this group at the camping area.
At around 4 pm we started heaving on the packs and trudging out to the trail. The climb out of the valley is 4500 feet and I got in 2700 of those feet before finding a suitable camp site. The rest of the climb should be easy to finish in the morning. Then it will be off to the Oregon border and Ashland where I have to figure out what is best for me on this PCT thing.
