Update

Passed the 100 mile mark yesterday morning.  Mailing some journals home to be put on here. Check for them at the end of this week or so. Only have a few minutes of computer time out here, so I have to make this short.  Things have been going very well so far.  No feet or blister problems. It is very hot, but I have really been enjoying the desert.  Keep checking here every so often!

Water… Water…

Day 1: Mexican Border to Lake Morena (20.6 miles)

After flying into San Diego yesterday, this morning an older couple from Idaho and I got a ride to the border to begin our hikes. I couldn’t help but be reminded of my yearly first day of school as a child. Nervous excitement abounded as our host looked on with pride in his eyes. We were left with a hug and wishes of good luck and sent off into the arid heat of the border lands. Interesting note about the Southern Terminus of the PCT: It reeks of human piss. Who knew? At the border there were border patrol trucks everywhere, and helicopters screaming across the sky. All this time I assumed that the border patrol was just making a nominal effort to deter immigrants when in fact, they are battling full force. So off I set. Temperatures were in the high 80’s to low 90’s. There were maybe fifteen people at the border sign, most of whom I quickly passed. From then on I went three or four hours without seeing a soul. I spent a good period of the alone time scaring myself into thinking I was hearing rattlesnakes scurrying in the brush, or dangerous coyotes (the immigrant leading kind) ready to take all of my water and money. I had brought four liters of water for this 20.6 mile section, and at fifteen miles in and facing a 1500 ft. climb, I only had 0.5 liters of water left. I learned an important lesson about water conservation today. The final five miles were wretched. My lips cracked, my head ached, I was the walking dead. Toward the end of the day I ran into three folks from Washington—Lou, a thru-hiker from Hood Canal, Jesse, a thru-hiker from Seattle, and Jesse’s father who was joining her for the first section. Jesse’s family drove us to a taco stand near the border where I ate with a shocking ferocity and ending my first day with a torta, fish tacos, and a cold beer. No complaints here. Okay just one: After arriving at the campsite and guzzling a half gallon of water in one go, I was informed that it was contaminated with Uranium. D’oh!

The Fellowship

Day 2: Mile 20.6 to Mile 42.6 (22 miles)

Woke up early and started hiking at 0600. Morning was clear and crisp and the kike began by climbing above the lake I camped at last night. I was alone and looking across to surrounding peaks, covered in a shroud of fog thinking about how fortunate I was to be here enjoying it. After a while, I caught up with Lou who started earlier than I did. In Lou’s previous life, he was an on board helicopter mechanic for the Air Force, and has tons of great stories about his time in the service. He told me he had been in five (!) crashes, including one where he walked away and everyone else had perished. I spent the day walking and talking with Jesse, Lou, and another thru-hiker Chip, a three time AT veteran. I really felt like part of a community today and it helped the miles pass more quickly. At night we came to Mt Laguna Lodge where Lou and I split a room. A shower and a bit of beer and food make me feel human again. Very sleepy after a long day. Ate spaghetti with Jesse’s family, who is extremely generous and kind. I will immediately fall asleep after writing this final thought. It is fascinating how intimate the trail relationships become so quickly. Lou and I will be sharing a bed tonight as if it is nothing and I have only met him a little over twenty-four hours ago. Climbed up to 6,000 ft. today and was amazed by the lushness of the environment Pine trees! Feels somehow much closer to home.

Day 3: Mile 42.6 to Mile 59.5 (17 miles)

Late start today. Left the lodge at 1100 am after picking up some food at the store. I was invited over to Jesse’s family’s room for eggs and pancakes. They are amazing, generous people. I am struck by how willing other people are to help out us hikers in this seemingly meaningless endeavor. Beautiful walking today. The entire day skirted the edge of the Laguna Mountains with views of the desert floor below. The green and relative lushness of the high elevation to the scorching desert floor miles below. Met a guy in the middle of the day who initially tried to start the PCT on April, 5^th, but on his first day got lost, then wondered around the desert for two days, trying to find his way. He went twenty-four hours without water in 95 degree heat and eventually passed out and had to get rescued. He told me he only eats peanut butter and white bread for every meal, and for snacks, he eats candy. Quite the character!

Spent most of the day hiking alone before reuniting with Lou and Jesse to end the day. Ate poorly for a few hours and I totally ran out of energy toward the evening. Moral was low. I was humorless and negative about this hike. After sitting down and eating dinner, (an entire orange, including the peel along with cold mashed potato powder mixed with foil package spam and some of Lou’s pepperoni. I am becoming hard as hell.) I felt a million times better. Funny how quickly moods can change. I find that this is boiling me down to my basic instincts and my focus is 100% on food, water, and warmth. The simplicity of this life is something I enjoy very much. I really enjoyed the end of the day. Beautiful sunset. Lots of joking around. This is how life should always be. I camped in the grass field next to a trail head parking lot. There are holes in the ground everywhere and I have seen toads in many of them. Sorry toads. Lou tried to look elsewhere. Tonight, we are bunk mates.

Day 4: Mile 59.5 to Mile 77, Sunrise Trail Head to Scissors Crossing (17.5 miles)

Hot Hot Hot! Drank water from my first horse trough today. Easy hiking in the morning; ten miles to water, then it got HOT. Temperatures reached at least 120 degrees, which is as high as my thermometer goes. Took a four hour break. Too hot to hike. I am burning through food. Feels as if I cannot eat enough. Hopefully once I get my resupply box with my more nutritious food tomorrow, things will improve. Extreme highs and lows today, and lots of self doubt. Questioning my mental aptitude for difficulty. Recognizing that I am a life long quitter and front runner , and I want that to change. Hiked into the night down into the desert floor. Got a nosebleed that I could not stop. It lasted at least thirty minutes. I’m too fatigued to write much else. Tired and hungry…

Julian, CA

Hitched in this morning and ate an enormous breakfast of machoca juevos rancheros. I apologize to anyone reading this. I find that by the end of the day my vocabulary and writing ability become very delayed from mental and physical exhaustion. I will need to clean it up and write with more depth once I return home. Had my first close encounter with a rattlesnake yesterday. They are perfectly camouflaged with surroundings and it is near impossible to spot them. I nearly stepped on it before it buzzed me. Today I will pick up my food supply box from the post office (Vitamins! Fish oil! Actually nourishing food!) and then head back to the trail.

Night Hiking

Day 5: Mile 77 to Mile 91.2 Scissors Crossing to Third Gate Cache (14.2 miles)

After getting my resupply box in Julian, I get a call from Lou saying that a lady from a local restaurant gave him her car and house keys and told him he could shower, wash clothes, and relax there. He gladly accepted and earned himself the trail name Lady Killer. He kindly asked if his friends could come, which included me. I sprinted through the town over to where her truck was parked and hopped in. My clothes were covered in blood from my nosebleeds and dirt from living and sleeping like an animal, so I was eager to get them washed and take a shower. After some well needed TLC, we returned to trail via hitchhiking and resume our march North. I sped ahead of the group and climbed into the dusty San Felipe Hills. The scene was reminiscent of a cowboy movie desert. Cactus abounded and all of the foliage was short, squat, and tough. After an hour or so I sat down to eat a snack (my resupply box is amazing. The protein powder/powdered milk packages I made feel like rocket fuel) and was caught by Jesse who had a close encounter with a baby rattlesnake. It was on trail and would not respond to the usual hiker intimidation tactics of throwing rocks and yelling. She had to bushwhack up a steep slope to avoid it, so naturally when she caught up to me she was a little on edge and suffering from what I like to call Imaginary Rattler Syndrome, or IRS. Every twitch of the grass would really kick it into gear. To get to the next water required a fifteen mile hike. The moon was out so we were able to walk without our head lamps, eventually arriving at the water cache at 2:00am, where we collapsed, exhausted onto our respective sleeping pads.

Day 6: Mile 91.2 to Mile 105.5, Third Gate Cache to Eagle Rock (14.3 miles)

Woke up at 0600 after getting into camp from a night hike at 0230. It starts getting hot out here once the sun rises, so it’s impossible to get any sleep after 0630. Jess wanted to sleep and we lost Lou last night so I struck out alone on a long, twisting descent to the next water source. Nothing interesting happened. I spent my time lost in thought, going over the way I act and examining why. This hike is providing me with an uncomfortable amount of thinking time. I am forced to really see myself without all of the lies and self inflation that surround you during day to day life You go through difficulties and are forced to work through it. It is exceptionally empowering and revealing. Camped in a beautiful grass field overlooking the next town I will stop in tomorrow. In the middle of the night, Lou passed by, and Jesse camped nearby. Tomorrow morning I will hike into Warner Springs.

The nitty-gritty

I will attempt to post blog posts as often as I possibly can, but as you can imagine, computer access while I am on the trail will be spotty at best.  I will be keeping a daily journal and will mail that back to Washington, where the lovely Brittany Casey will transcribe my scribblings onto this blog.  Due to this, it may get updated once a week or less frequently.  Keep checking back if I have not posted something in a few days. Pictures will be posted whenever possible, but I am still a little unsure of the logistics with that.   Feel free to ask any questions. I will try to answer them as quickly as I possibly can.   Thanks for following along.

-Chris

Embark!

Touched down in San Diego a few hours ago. I am relaxing at the house of a guy who hosts Pacific Crest trail hikers, and readying myself for my journey north. Already, I am blessed by the kindness and generosity of others.  I embark from the Mexican border early tomorrow morning, and am filled with excitement, and fear, and all sorts of things.  2,663 miles of walking to Canada. Tomorrow, a dream becomes realized.

  Standing at the precipice of this event that I have thought about for years is a very strange thing. Since I was a teenager, I have felt that this trail is something that I have needed to try. For better, or for worse, something about this hiking path has pulled me in. How will it change how I feel about myself if I find that I do not like it, or that I cannot do it?  What if this dream, something that I have used to define myself, turns out to be something that I neither want nor need?  I will be coming face to face with many fears, some of which I have held onto for years.  One of the reasons that I am doing this trail is that I have made a lot of decisions in my life based on FEAR: fear of failure, fear of commitment, fear of death.  I no longer want to live like that.  If I am successful, and get what I hope to out of this hike, and am no longer governed by  these fears, who will I become?

This trip will be a rebirth of sorts.  It is hard.  It is scary.  It takes a lot of commitment.  That is why it is important.  Trying this is going to make me a better man. So, here I am.  I have done all of the things that I can do to prepare for this.  All that is left is doing it.  It feels big.