The End

Day 152 11/12
Mileage 11

That's all, folks. We woke, we walked, and we finished. We took a nice long break in Campo, a mile before the end, reluctant to be done. As we walked up the hill to the border, I felt like I was in a dream. It really seemed unreal. But there, on the top of the hill, stood the terminus, illuminated from behind by the afternoon sun. Then, we were there, and it was over. I'm going home.

Winding Down

Day 151 11/10
Mileage 20.7
Camped at mile 11.36

So, this is it. The end. Tonight is our last night on trail. Even as I write this, I don't believe it, even a little bit. This journey that has been years in the planning a goal that has stuck with me no matter what, is over. Having direction is so easy when that direction is as simple as "south". There aren't any trail markers for what comes next. No maps, no Halfmile app for my life. Life on trail is immediate. Your concerns are food, water, and miles. There are no looming deadlines besides those determined by your goals and your supplies. There's nothing on the trail that I "should" be doing. I just walk, just because I want to. It's simple, and the trail provides. The trail has taken on a personality to me, becoming as much a guide and companion as another person. It meanders through the topography of the landscape in familiar and predictable ways. The trail pushes me, never taking the easy route, presenting challenge, adversity, and pain, but also joy, beauty, and fulfillment. By the last few months of the hike, I could feel instinctually where the trail was going. After dark, when I struggled to see the trail and often couldn't figure out where it went by sight, I found that my feet already knew, with no input from my thoughts, and led me on, never doubting their course for a second. The trail really has a way of tempting you to just go and see what's around that next bend. It seems almost playful in a way. After tomorrow, my trail will be harder to see. Sometimes it won't be there at all. The PCT brought me this far, and now I'll continue my hike wherever my feet choose to lead me. I'm blazing my own trail now.

Anyway, we slept in today, until 6! Luxurious. Easy hiking to Lake Morena, and I savored every step. Except the ones through the deep sand, I won't really miss those as much. The scenery was lovely, golden mountains with just a little haze about them. We stayed up pretty late (it's 8:30!) talking about life and stuff, watching the meteors. Tomorrow is the last day. 11 easy miles to the border and that's it. "Reality day", as Jake aptly put it. Now that the end is here, I'm not so sure I'm ready for it. I am ready for consistent access to a couch, though. It's bittersweet.

¿Por que no?

Last campsite

The Last Push

Day 150 11/9
Mileage 30
Camped at Fred Canyon

Today was our last big push. Out of camp at 5:45 to a pleasantly green section of the trail. There were splendid views all day, as we were traversing some pretty steep hillsides. We filled water from a spigot in a picnic area around 9 miles in. The leaves there were in the last stages of yellow and had mostly already fallen. It looks and feels like late fall. The season's change is visible everywhere, besides the daytime temperature. It's still very hot, though I'm told it'll be cooling soon. The trail paralleled a road, with numerous picnic areas, so we saw a lot of people today. It was weird seeing all those outsiders in what now felt like our home. They all recognized that we're almost done and were all enthusiastic and encouraging. We reached Mt. Laguna, ate a pie, sodas, chips, dip, and two pints of ice cream, and loitered for a while. The second part of the day was nice and vegetated, and the scenery was very nice. The views to the south began to open up, and we caught our first glimpses of Mexico! Wow. It's the first time on this trip looking south into mountains we won't be climbing. We talked for a while about what we'll miss most about the trail, how to balance the trail and our other lives, etc. The hike ended with a game of trail jeopardy. Tomorrow, we only have 20 miles, 10 the day after that, and that's it. I have some thoughtful and sentimental things to say about that, but I'm too exhausted to continue righting right now.

We like pie

Mexico!

We walked, it was hot.

Day 149 11/8
Mileage 30
Camped at mile 61.51

Today was another difficult day. We had a total of almost 7000 feet of climbing over our 30 miles. It was noticeably hotter today, with afternoon temps (during the day's biggest climb, go figure) soaring up to an astronomical 97 degrees. We stopped at scissors crossing for lunch and blissful shade under the freeway. Then, we blazed up our last big climb of the trail. It felt surreal. But it got real quickly after dinner as we hit one of the steepest climbs I've seen on the trail, and I felt like I had been suckerpunched in the gut. The day ended on a plateau of sorts, with short shrubs providing a bit of shelter at our campsite. The lights of a city are visible below us in the distance, so far removed from us. I'm trying to savor this feeling of being so removed from civilization.

You love to see that

Trolling the bridge

The Desert-now pointier than ever!

Last Resupply, Gee Whiz.

Day 148 11/7
Mileage 28
Camped at Third Gate Water Cache

Our last resupply was easy. There sure wasn't much in Warner Springs to distract us from hiking. After getting back on trail, we crossed some wide-open prairie-like grasslands and stopped at Eagle Rock, which really does look like an eagle. As it got dark, we stopped for dinner and continued another 7 tough miles, which were hard mostly because I was so darn sleepy. I do love the desert at night, though. The moonlight changes the feel of the landscape dramatically, making it feel otherworldly and mysterious. The moonlight was again absurdly bright, and at 8:30, we stumbled down, half asleep already, to the awesome water cache where we're sleeping tonight. The admirable people who stock this cache pack in gallons upon gallons of water three miles uphill so we can stay hydrated. Wow. Just wow.

Last box!

Lovely Oaks

I think it looks more like a kestrel...

Just plain walkin'

Desert Moonhiking

Day 147 11/6
Mileage 30.5
Camped at mile 118.6

Last night's wind calmed down this morning, and we awoke to the very first rays of the sunrise. We hiked quickly over this morning's rolling hills, which really felt like the desert. Cacti, agave, and yucca dotted the landscape. Large boulders punctuated the vegetation every few hundred yards. Thanks to Arctic Fox's keen ears, we narrowly avoided an unfortunate encounter with an enormous swarm of wasps. Dodged a bullet there. The trail turned gradually uphill, and we followed the contour of the mountain as we slowly climbed. We grabbed water to last us to Warner Springs at trail angel Mike's house. To our left, the moon began to rise, full and yellow, over the mountains. When it got dark, we stopped to eat dinner, and continued our hike by moonlight, which was more than enough to see by. Last resupply tomorrow. What?

No, that's not the sun

The Road to Paradise

Day 146 11/5
Mileage 20
Camped at mile 149.05

We managed to tear ourselves away from Idyllwild this morning, somehow. After coffee, we headed on down the road to bypass the Mountain Fire trail closure. It was dirt for a while, which was nice, and turned to pavement, leaving my feet and legs in quite a state. You can just feel your legs wearing out when you walk on pavement. However, it was all worth it when we arrived at the legendary Paradise Valley Café, lauded as having the best burger on the entire PCT. I am inclined to agree. It was a friendly, delicious place, and it too was hard to leave. I find myself really dragging my feet as the end looms nearer. We have less than a week left, which really blows my mind. Anyway, back on trail (no matter how much I don't want to leave a town stop, I'm always happy when I get back to walking) we played some games, laughed a bunch, and arrived at our planned campsite before we knew it. It's now 5:30, dark, and I'm down for the count.

Walking that road

Nirvana

To Idle, Wildly

Day 145 11/4
Mileage 0
Staying in Idyllwild

We just couldn't bear to leave Idyllwild this morning. It's such a great little town, and we decided to spend another night. We got lunch, made tacos for dinner, played Scattergories, did some extremely painful but needed yoga, courtesy of Arctic Fox, and napped. It was a lovely, well-deserved zero.

Into Idyllwild

Day 149 11/3
Mileage 9
Staying at Idyllwild Inn

Woke up cold this morning. Air temps in high teens. Yeow. It was very misty and icy overnight, and I was wakened repeatedly by what I thought were the sounds of large animals stomping about, but what turned out to be large chunks of ice falling off the trees. There was apparently a large ice storm here recently, and all the trees were frosted in large ice crystals. Luckily, I had pitched my tent under an ice-free tree, and I passed the night unscathed. I hiked in all my layers, remembering wistfully the times back when I used to be able to feel my hands. The sun finally came over the mountain and by 9:00, it was almost above freezing. We meandered down the switchbacking Deer Springs trail until we reached the highway that led into Idyllwild. After a sketchy mile of road walking I arrived in downtown. I joined Jake and Celestial (Red Fox) for breakfast in a nice little diner, ate two full-sized breakfasts, and ran into Julien! More sobos! Julien was headed back to the trail this morning, and the rest of us, including Stef and Ricky, made our way over to the lovely Idyllwild inn. We rented a cozy little cabin with a fireplace (score!), ordered pizza, and did our resupply things.

Ice on the trees

Into the Clouds

Day 143 11/2
Mileage 23
Camped at mile 187.8

Today started wonderfully, with coffee and a morning temperature that was far more reasonable than what we've been experiencing. The Bear was incredibly helpful, and he really made us reluctant to leave. He and Ziggy were so wonderfully friendly and such genuinely nice people that we could have stayed with them for days. However, there were mountains to climb, and we set off, a bit stiff after yesterday, ready to tackle the largest continuous climb on the PCT. This climb is legendary, and it delivered. Just before we started the middle section of the climb, we were caught by Stef and Ricky! Yay! Sobo party! Then, we hit the hill. We switchbacked endlessly, winding higher and higher, inching toward the green ridge that towered far above us, below the cloud-shrouded summit. The whole mountain looked like a little island of high Sierra in the midst of the desert. As we approached the ridge, the vegetation became more and more reminiscent of the Sierra as well. Halfway up the mountain, I found a large knife on the ground and shortly after, saw a group of hunters to whom the knife belonged. I returned the knife, and they offered me orange slices and some tequila. Nice group of guys. They didn't quite believe that I was just walking for fun, I think. It became progressively cooler as the day waned, and soon we were stepping through piles of ice in the trail. The smell was different, too. Instead of the dusty smell of the desert, it had that cold, crisp, pine smell that reminds me of fall and winter in the Sierra. We hiked on through the cloud, then into the dark as night fell. We're camped at 8500 feet, over 7000 feet higher than last night. This means cold. Cold cold cold. Time for foodpillow. I filled ziplocs with air and put them in my stuff sack. Pretty ingenious, I think. Tomorrow, we're taking a nero (near-zero) in Idyllwild, hopefully someplace that has a hot tub.

Mt San Jacinto, from afar

Where we were yesterday

Zipping to Ziggy's (and the Bear's)

Day 142 11/1
Mileage 36
Camped at Ziggy and the Bear's

We did it! After a night with tumultuous winds battering our little cabin, we woke to a few wet snowflakes being blown about outside. It hadn't stuck, and we set off down the clear (if damp) trail. The winds were outrageous. We were buffeted about as we ascended. We walked through stands of tall pines, and as during one particularly strong gust, I felt a large thump on my back. I looked behind me and saw a giant Jeffrey Pinecone rolling down the hill next to me. It had missed my head by maybe six inches. Large pinecones were apparently called "widowmakers" back in the gold rush days, and for good reason. Falling from 150 or so feet, a two pound pinecone is going to do more than leave a bump. As we walked, we were treated to maybe the most spectacular sunrise I've ever seen. The storm clouds were making some vibrant colors, and we could see sheets of rain and a few dust storms in the valley thousands of feet below us. We found water in a neat, semi-underground spring just off the trail, where a large hole in the ground revealed clear, cold water dripping from a partially buried tree root. Our bottles filled, we began the day's 10,000 foot descent. The trail wound through a very nice valley, and we listened to some music, took our lunch by Mission Creek, as the landscape transitioned from pines and firs to yuccas and cacti. The end of the day had us climbing one last big hill, with ominous clouds just ahead that were always just ahead of us. The clouds made for a wonderful sunset, and I finished the hill in the dark with Arctic Fox. After a long, cow-eroded, sandy push to the top, we descended to Ziggy and the Bear's. They greeted us very warmly, with gatorade (yay!) and hot chocolate (even more yay!) We cooked dinner outside and sleep for days, maybe. I can't, though, because we're climbing up Mt. San Jacinto tomorrow, a continuous 8,000 foot ascent.

Arctic Fox was really excited about walking into those clouds

Just like any other day, but spoooookier!

Day 141 10/31
Mileage 20
Camped in Coon Creek Cabin

I arose blearily, having slept maybe two hours (Murray can snore like nobody's business), not wanting to do anything. We eventually mobilized and headed to breakfast. The portions were epic and I was content. We called another trail angel, Papa Smurf, who generously gave us a ride to the trail, and my journey's next chapter began! It was nice hiking with people. It was hilly and we felt off from the schedule change in town, but we plugged away and got the miles done. We made it to Coon Creek Cabin eventually, a spooky old frame of a building (fortunately still with a roof), around 6:30, after a spectacular sunset. The fog was rolling in below us, and the clouds were gathering above, leaving a clear strip of golden color in between. There's a large storm on the radar for tonight, with snow, 50-70mph winds, the whole shebang. The cabin has a fireplace, and we made a cozy fire, eating our dinner around it as the wind howled outside. It's slightly less creepy and slightly more cozy now. It still feels a lot like the plot of a bad horror movie, though. In an abandoned cabin in the middle of the woods in a storm on halloween. Nice. We're going for a 35-mile day tomorrow, all the way to trail angels Ziggy and The Bear. It's mostly downhill, and this should get us out of the worst of the storm.

Big Bear, New Friends!

Day 140
Mileage 11
Staying at Big Bear Hostel

Foodpillow/clothingblitz was a success, because I didn't wake up until just before my alarm, and good thing, because it had indeed cooled below the brisk 40 degrees of yesterday evening. And below 30. And 20. It was an arctic 17 degrees when I stiffly left my tent this morning. I had a lot of difficulty moving. It was by far the coldest night of the entire trip. I hiked in all my layers for the first half hour or so before the chill finally faded. Then, I blitzed the last few miles to highway 18. I got lucky with the hitchhike, getting a ride after less than 10 minutes. He was a nice guy who was also going for a hike today. I think we had a slight miscommunication about the difference between Big Bear City and the city of Big Bear Lake, which are in fact two different cities. He dropped me off in Big Bear City, and I walked the last few miles to Big Bear Lake. Sarge at the hostel was super welcoming, and I set up my stuff in a room with Murray, a local who's been staying at the hostel. I did my resupply and Just Jake and Red Fox showed up, followed soon after by Arctic Fox! Yay! We chatted for a while, did laundry, cleaned up, and went to the grocery store. Arctic met a very nice woman there named Jamie, who offered to give us a ride back to the hostel AND buy us breakfast tomorrow morning! Thanks, Jamie! Back at the hostel, we celebrated being under the 300-mile mark. We're closing in!

Coldest morning of the trip

Winter Comes Early

Day 139 10/29
Mileage 24
Camped by Caribou Creek

It was a rough morning. I had discovered overnight that my pad was leaking. As I roused myself, body sore from sleeping on the ground, I tried to tell my body that my morning poop was going to have to happen later, since I had a creek on one side and a sheer cliff on the other, and there was no way I could get 200 feet from the water. However, my body would have none of it. I began to panic. In a flash of lucidity, I remembered that there was a parking area with an outhouse a little more than a tenth of a mile down a side trail. It was by far the longest tenth of a mile of my life, but by some miracle, I made it. Upon my return to camp, I proceeded to look for the hole in my pad, which entailed dunking it (and part of myself) in the freezing stream. The air temperature was about freezing, and it felt like the water was not much warmer. In retrospect, I suppose it was lucky that the pad popped here, since I had the water to look for the hole. If it had popped anywhere else in the desert, I would have a snowball's chance in hell of finding the leak. After some looking, I found and patched the hole. From there, my day improved significantly. I heard a rustling in the bushes above me and turned to see a coyote running up the cliff near my campsite. It was climbing so gracefully, seemingly without effort. With this greeting from mother nature, I began my day's hike. The trail meandered generally up through forests of pines interspersed with burn areas. It really was nice. There were fall colors, too! In places it almost looked like late fall in New England. These were mostly oaks that were changing. I have 8 miles tomorrow before the hitch to Big Bear. Tonight is going to be cold. I'm several thousand feet higher than last night, and even at 5 pm, it was in the low 40s and dropping fast. I'm wearing pretty much every article of clothing I have, from my knee warmers to my rain jacket. I hope it's enough to let me sleep at least a little. My pillow, which is usually stuffed with clothes, is now filled with a hodgepodge of jerky, mangoes, nuts, and my knee brace. Despite its hard lumpiness, I just couldn't bring myself to put a pair of socks in there. Too grody. Chilly night, easy 8, resupply, then new people!

Chilly

Pretty

Yummy

Deep Creek Springs Day

Day 138
Mileage 20
Camped by Deep Creek Bridge

Another nice day. During the morning sometime, I realized that I would get wherever I'm going faster if I ran. Since the trail was mostly flat, I jogged on and off throughout much of the morning. My realization held true, and I arrived at Deep Creek Hot springs, which I guess was where I was going, in the late morning, despite a couple unplanned detours. There were a number of people there and we chatted for a while. I took three luxurious hours at the springs, which were set up really nicely. Located at a bend in the river, there were a number of small pools that people had constructed that drained into the creek. They were at a nice temperature, and they warmed the river slightly, making for some nice swimming. I had a nice lunch and continued on through the exceedingly pleasant Deep Creek valley. There were real trees, real flowing water, nice rock formations, and shade! What more could a guy want? I have one full day and one half day before I reach Big Bear, where I will meet my future group. They're camped where I was last night, so they're a little less than a day behind. I definitely feel more confident on my own since I started hiking by myself. In fact, I never really feel that alone. I am ready to hike with people, though. And now, I'll drift off to sleep with sound of running water for the first time in weeks.

Bridge over Deep Creek

Upper Deep Creek Canyon

Gatorade Lake and Nudity

Day 137 10/27
Mileage 18
Camped at mile 319.87

Woke up late (7:30) and walked along in the cool morning. The walking was easy and I breezed through the miles. Found a bathroom at a picnic area with running water! Whoa. Most of the afternoon, I was walking around Silverwood Lake, a large reservoir. So LA's sapped all the water from the rest of the state, but their reservoirs are overflowing. Real nice, guys. I thought about swimming, but the water was green and completely opaque, a bit like antifreeze, so I opted out. Around 3pm, I arrived at the water source where I had intended to camp. It was pretty icky, though. It was kind of a storage yard downstream of the dam. As I was debating where to camp, I heard footsteps on the bridge above me. It seemed too early for it to be Arctic Fox, but I poked my head up to check anyway and was met with a bare man-butt. He turned toward the highway and I started up the trail. When I looked back, he had started up the trail as well. I walked faster. The man started running. He was getting close when I recognized him. "Is that Coppertone?" I asked.
"Yep" he replied.
"Whew." I said.
"I thought there was a random crazy naked guy chasing me!"
"Nope." He said. "Not random." Coppertone is the trail angel who gave us root beer floats in northern Oregon! He had mentioned that he likes going on nude runs in this area. With the weight of death-by-nude lifted from my chest, we hiked together for a few minutes, until he started running again. I stopped for the day around 4, and I'm turning in early. Deep Creek hot springs tomorrow!

Back on trail (sorta).

Day 136 10/26
Mileage 3.5
Camped 3.5mi SE of Cajon Pass

Woke up late, had lunch with a family friend's uncle and great uncle, which was great, and now I'm back on trail. I'm taking it slow until the others catch up. I'll probably meet up with them within the next few days.

Nothing to see here.

Day 135 10/25
Mileage 0
Cajon Pass

Today, I was profoundly idle. I really did nothing. That's all.

The McChicken Massacre of '14

Day 134 10/24
Mileage 27
Staying at Cajon Pass

I was on trail promptly at 6:30 this morning. It promised to be an easy day, almost all downhill. However, I was anxious to make miles quickly, because my day's destination was the Cajon Pass McDonald's. Yippee! Now, I think I've eaten at McDonald's maybe once in the last fifteen years, but this place is legendary. It's right near the trail. There's even a trail sign. People break years of vegetarianism to eat at this particular McDonald's. Needless to say, I was eagerly anticipating it. All day, I was following large groups of cougar tracks. I wound around and descended from Sierra-esque pine forest to dry scrublands. I crossed the San Andreas fault early in the afternoon and struggled to follow the path through fallen vegetation before crossing under the cavernous I-15 underpass. I stood blinking in the light on the other side for a while and found the famed McD's trail sign. I made my way up the road and installed myself in a booth in the corner. I won't go into the gory details, but my time in that booth was nothing short of a massacre. Even the cashier made a comment about it. I think what he said was "Wow, man, I gotta say, I really didn't peg you for someone who could eat this much." I was very pleased with myself. "Thanks!" I replied. I'm staying in the hotel at Cajon Pass tonight to wait for the group of hikers behind me. Bed!

An unplanned detour and magic!

Day 133 10/23
Mileage 16.6
Camped at Blue Ridge CG

Finally, I got to see a sunrise from the trail! I got on trail around 6:45 and was met right away by a big ol' hill. Pushing myself forward, I stared at the ground as I climbed, stopping to watch the mountains changing with the growing daylight. Too focused on the ground was I, and I (apparently) blew by a trail junction, finding myself on highway 2 several miles west of the PCT. This bummed me out, since it meant that I missed the summit of Mt. Baden-Powell, which I had been anticipating. It also meant another several miles of road walk, so I was in a bad mood most of the morning. From there, it was all uphill (see what I did there?). I arrived at the trailhead parking area (with pit toilet) just in time for some stuff that needed to happen immediately. There was a nice national forest employee there who was working on fitting locks on the doors "so the ladies can have some privacy". From there, the trail turned sharply upward. It meandered just below a ridge for a while, and descended a tad to the final crossing (of 9) of hwy 2. There were very few cars while I was road walking so I was nervous about the hitch into Wrightwood, my next resupply. I pictured myself low on water, alone on the side of the highway, and felt sorry for myself in advance. At that very moment, I saw a large group of people taking a break on the side of the trail. We got to talking, and they said they were headed into town, and offered me a ride! Turns out one person had cancelled on their hike and they had just one spot left in their car. Fate, perhaps? People say "the trail provides" and it's true. Everything may not always go as planned, but you get everything you really need. I followed them to the parking lot, and we set off to Wrightwood. I left a window open, very conscious of my stank. They dropped me off at the post office and said I could join them for lunch! I picked up my packages and headed across the street. Lunch was very nice, and we chatted for a while about the trail. I got the "hiker special" ice cream sundae, which was massive and wonderful. Keith and Linda even picked me up some water at the store for the 28-mile dry stretch I had before me. And they gave me a ride to the trailhead! Thanks, guys! Today got me feeling stoked. I'm adjusting to being alone. The freedom and flexibility is certainly nice. I can hike however I want! Cajon pass McDonald's tomorrow! Yee yee!

Desert sunrise, somewhere near where I got lost

Desert sunset, back on track