Wrightwood, Mile 265

We made it to Wrightwood, mile 365! The only crappy thing is that I have an injury. It feels like a strained muscle in my quad (hopefully nothing serious). James had to take most of my weight about 11 miles from Wrightwood. The days leading up to the injury we some awesome mileage days. We did 3 twenty mile days in a row! Everything seemed to be going fine. I felt a slight discomfort in my quad the last day but nothing that worried me to much. At mile 342, we came to a McDonald's and ended up staying half the morning and most of the afternoon eating. The McDonald's was packed with hikers, some had hiked as much as 35 miles to get there that day. It's amazing what a hiker will do for food. When we left we began a 20 mile stretch without water. With our packs filled with 5 liters (and a few cold burgers) we headed out and then the pain began. It was a little more than the previous days so we stopped short at 5 miles.

I woke up feeling great. We even got up at 4:30am so that we could make it into Wirghtwood in the afternoon (there was about 20 miles remaining), but then it happened. My first pain. We climbed the first couple thousand feet without an issue, but by mile 10 I had to stop. It was around 10am. Pain was shooting up my leg. It wasn't in my knee our anywhere to scary. It felt like it was just in the muscle itself. So we switched the wieght around and I walked with a limp, trying not to bend my leg that much. It was the muscle that lifted my foot up to avoid rocks, so instead I swung and dragged my foot around. By 5:30pm (7 hours later) we had made it an extra 6 or 7 miles. We grabbed our resupply package from the local Hardware store and they showed us a list of trail angels we could try calling. We wrote down 4 numbers. The first three numbers no one answered. James and I were pretty sure we were going to have to try and stealth camp somewhere, but then with the last number on the list we got an answer.

Thank God for Trail Angel Patty! She came and picked us up, took us to her home, told us to remove our shoes, showed us where we could shower, gathered our cloths to wash, and then feed us! She handed me some frozen veggies to put on my leg and a beer for my soul! Her home was beautiful. I couldn't believe that she welcomed dirty hiker trash like James and I into her home.

We keep on being blissed by this wonderful amount of hospitality, meeting wonderful people day after day. We're not just hiking to reconnect with nature anymore we're hiking to reconnect with our fellow species. The trail is just way more than I thought it was.

Well, I plan on resting for the rest of the day and we plan on going slower from here on out. I'll hopefully post if I leave tomorrow or not, but until then we'll be resting.....

Coming out of Idyllwild, we hiked 23 miles. It was our biggest day yet. That night we realized we hadn't bought enough food from Idyllwild to make it to Big Bear City. So we had to make a stop about five miles off the trail in Cabazon. The shitty thing was thinking about walking those ten miles extra. We got lucky and hitched a ride. The funny thing about Cabazon is that both of the two rides were from locals that lived only minutes away from the PCT yet neither of them knew about the trail! Literally, it was right in their back yard. After the Cabazon experience we got back on the trail about noon, which of course, is an unbearable time to hike in the desert, so we had to wait 2 more hours until some nearby clouds covered the sky.

When we started walking again, both of us could really feel the 23 miles from the previous day (15.2 miles of them were down hill). We just put one foot in front of the other. We've gotten to the point of crawling on autopilot until something difficult comes up. Which was like, for me, losing my sunglasses and anything that climbed or descended a few hundred feet. For James it was the sore on the back of his heel that his shoe caused. (Yes, I know mine sounds pretty lame, but in my defense, blisters and foot pain are just an everyday occurrence). But we worked through it. One foot in front of the other. I mean it is ‘just walking’.... Right?

At our 16 miles waypoint, we saw the closest thing to a river we have seen this entire trip. But first, we had to drop the extra thousand feet we had just climbed so we could reach it. Sometimes I swear the designer of the trail was into S&M or something. We made it to the bottom and then we saw it…..A piece of paper with our new favorite two words; "Trail Magic". Off this remote trail was Brian or "Buck-Thirty". He shared with us delicious hamburgers! Yum Yum! Trail Magic can really heal your soul. The next day, totally refreshed, we we're ready to hike on to Big Bear City. Thank you, “Buck-Thirty”, for your gracious gift.

Big Bear City has been a real treat! When we stopped to do our laundry we met some locals, Jeff and Michelle. They had a PCT sticker on their car and when we started a conversation about the trail, they offered to take us out to dinner! We had pizza and talked gear! It was so enjoyable. They showed us around Big Bear City, which is a beautiful mountain town! We had a blast and felt so lucky to have met them. When they hike the trail in the future, we will be their ‘Trail Angels’ in Oregon!

Yesterday was my Birthday and we ended up staying an extra day to let the weather pass. It sure was a memorable birthday. When resupplying at the local market, we were offered a ride back to our motel! The hospitality of this town is almost overwhelming. The lady who gave us the ride rescues wolves. She invited us to her home to meet them. So on my 25^th, I “pranced” with wolves.

We loved Big Bear City! It felt like home. We are sure going to miss this place. But, its back to walking!

Idyllwild, 179 miles

So we made it into Idyllwild two days ago. We were on top of a mountain the night before we arrived and on top of that mountain we ran into ice, wind and rain. I thought to myself 'Is this really the desert? It sure doesn't feel like it.' It actually felt like home so we were easily able to make 20 miles that day. That night we found some trees that reminded us of beach shore pine and so we crawled under them and set up our tent. We were the only ones on the mountain that night that had a great night of sleep. Coming from the coast finally paid off because it sure has been working against me when it comes to the dry desert hikes.

When we finally arrived in town we thought we'd just stay a night, but the next morning we decided to take a zero day (no hiking involved). $3 a night to stay in the state park was just to good to pass up. Idyllwild is an adorable town in the mountains. It reminds me of the Bayfront but instead of ocean based art it has forest based art. But the one thing about taking a zero day is that you have to walk to every place you want to see. Man, this trip involves a lot of walking :)

Next stop is Big Bear which is 96 trail miles. We plan on getting there in about 5 to 6 days. First we have to go over Fosters Ridge which is supposed to have snow on it right now. We're a little worried about getting over it, it's really easy to lose the trail when you have to go over snow packs. My moto is we'll be fine. Even if we have to back track and go around we'll get down off this mountain and back into the hot hot desert in no time :(.... Man I never thought I'd say this but I like hiking in the rain better than the desert heat.

Well I guess we better get back to our adventure and start walking....

Root Beer Float
Yes indeed, a Hamburger with Bacon!!

Made it to Paradise cafe, an oasis for hikers 151 miles on the trail. When turning the corner to head down the road we ran into some awesome trail magic. At the kick off, we ran into a couple with a blue heeler that had mentioned they'd be on highway 79 on May 7th and 8th. And there they were!!!! With beer!!!! We threw off our packs and caught some shade.

Right now where waiting for our fill up, which entails a big burger. And then back on the trail for another 8 miles.

First 100 miles done!

So we arrived in San Deigo at 11am on the 25th and called our Trail Angel Girlscout (Girlscout got HIS name because thats what he was eatting the first day of the trail). In about 20 minutes GirlScout arrived to pick us up. We hopped in his awesome Honda Element and he took us to his house. From there we meet two other hikers Ben and Whitney (both from the Northwest) who were also hitting the trail the next day. Girlscout then drove us to the store for resupply and then to the trail head the next morning.

It didn't take long for me to get my trail name. I actually got it about 3 hours after we landed in a Wal*Mart. I misprounced Laguana as La-gana and everyone hear Iguana. Girlscout said "I sense a Trail Name...." and then 3 days later we ran into someone else who stayed with Girlscout and he had told them that story. So my name became Iguana.

James, on the other hand, got burnt on the back of the neck and while calling himself a redneck in the same instance got deemed Redneck.

I just don't really know how to describe the amazing hospitality of the PCT culture. It feels like James and I have meet some long lost family members or like we're meeting a soulmate time after time. At the kick off (which is a big party for thru hikers) we meet a lot of the people we'd watched on videos and youtube clips about the trail and have found a lot of confidences in ourselves by talking to them. People are just so positive.

And everyone is just so friendly on the trial. It's like an unspoken bond you form with anyone you see out there because their going through the same thing as you are.

We've spent a little over a week (with only 2 zero days at kick off) on the trail now and have done 110 miles. Not as fast as we'd like but our miles are getting up there. Yesterday we did our first 20 mile day and the day before that we did 18! So far our feet have been doing great! After buying some sock liners at the Kick off I haven't had a single blister and I've been able to get big miles without ibuprofen, which is a great sign.

Right now we're at Warner Springs, a hot springs resort in the desert. They provide a hiker discount and so our rooms we're only $16 each! Tomorrow we head back out on the trail at 5 am and try to make another 20 mile day.

Hopefully, I'll find another computer on the trail because it's been hard to post things on this blog. I'm hoping to set up a post holer account that we can upload from the phone and then just post the link on this blog. If that works then I'll post the link on this blog.
So far we have been able to update James facebook account on the trail but blogging has been nearly impossible. If you want to see videos just add James Fackler as your friend on facebook and you'll get some cool videos of us on the trail.

Well, I think thats it for now. So as for us.....we're just walking...