2-week Anniversary

It all goes by so fast! Today is two weeks since we've been on this insane journey, and I trust it'll only keep getting weirder. So let me share some stories from the past week. 

We got started hiking again on the 22nd, after taking a few days rest for Casey's knee. Day one back on the trail we knocked out 14 miles, but early in the day we saw our first rattlesnake 😱 so that set the tone for the rest of the hike haha! And shortly after that sighting we saw another snake cross the trail, but it wasn't a rattlesnake, still spooky though! We got to our campsite and had one of the windiest nights yet; this wind is insane lately! 

 

 

 

The other days blurred together, but we saw our first water cache on the 23rd and that was so amazing! Trail Angels bring jugs of water out, and leave them for the hikers, it's incredible. And the 23rd was also when we passed the 100 mile mark! What a feeling that was! 🏆

 

 

On the 24th we got to the amazing Warner Springs! But first we passed by Eagle Rock, which truly looks like an eagle we later learned, but instead Casey and I naively thought this was maybe just a place you can see eagles? We're not very smart.. But then we finally arrives to the Warner Springs Community Center. This village is very welcoming to hikers, and has a community center run by volunteers to accommodate all of us hiker trash, as we're so affectionately called. They have computers, showers, bathrooms and anything else you could ever want! They cook meals for really cheap or sometimes even donations. We had a great day hanging out with all the hikers for the day at what turns out to be tent city (slightly different from the Arizona tent city 🤑)

 

 

Our eagle rock..

 

What you were meant to see..

 

 

Unprompted, we wound up taking another zero (a day of no hiking) on the 25th because we keep hoping days off will miraculously heal Casey's knee. So we were productive and ordered microspikes and ice axes for the Sierras 😐 and then just lounged about playing cards and going out with our new "tramily," our trail family! 

 

 

We headed out on the 26th nice and early and knocked out 14 miles, but realized we have way too much food! We got called out by a fellow hiker of reminding him of Cheryl Strayed, I wanted to die! I just can't say no to the free food in the hiker box 😖 We had a hard time setting up camp this night, but found a place amongst the dinosaur eggs and had our first campfire of the trip!

 

 

 

We had another notoriously late start on the 27th, and after 3 miles we stumbled upon "Mike's place." Mike is another infamous trail angel, who not only has a massive water cistern for all, but cooks up 3 meals a day and offers a place to crash. This set up was amazing, filled with solar panels, old busses, and tons of land for parties. We only stayed for lunch, but they even gave me a plate of vegetables since I couldn't do the burgers! This day was also rounded out with my first "ram bom," which is ramen with instant mashed potatoes. It's so heavy, but admittedly so good and cheap! 

 

 

 

 

After a horrible nights sleep, because my tent collapsed on itself 3 times before I gave up due to the heavy winds, we got yet another late start because thankfully I had cell service and I ordered more stakes and guylines for my tent. But this wind is insane!!! Anywho, the 28th, was a good day, Casey's first happy day on the trail yet 😆 We met a German, "Ninja Pants," who very profoundly reminded us that the elevation profile for the day doesn't matter because, "you go up and then you go down, again and again and again." Needless to say we've been doing a lot of up and down. But we camped out this night knowing we'd be in town the next day, so spirits were good!

 

Yesterday we had an 8-mile hike to the outskirts of Idyllwild and we were so excited to see civilization again! We arrived to the road to a trail angel taking hikers to the infamous Paradise Cafe, which is between Anza and Idyllwild and we had lunch with our tramily before heading into town. Lauren arranged a cabin to split between 6 of us, which was heavenly because we could all shower and sleep indoors! So after picking up my first pieces of trail mail 💚 we headed back for a great night of pizza, drinks and lots of laughs! We ended the night at a bar playing folksy music so that was really great!  But going out with hikers means you get the most hilarious of "town" outfits, see below. 

 

 

 

 

Today is an off day, and we gave in to renting the cabin again because of the rain that is coming, possibly even snow 😩 so it's a lounging day filled with eating and our first trail visitor is showing up! I can't wait to see Jenna! 

All in all, life is good! We are having a good time and love all the wonderful people we're meeting along the way! The desert landscape can be very trying, however there are tons of amazing cactus and flowers all blooming right now so it makes up for it all (somewhat)!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 3 is bound to be equally as great, but we have to skip some sections of trail due to fire closures, so we'll be further along than maybe expected when we post next. And we get our second trail visitors next Saturday! Yay!

Not even a week.

It hasn't even been a week yet, and already we've seen, met, and experienced so many incredible things. It started with the generosity of my mom and dad graciously taking us to Campo last Friday. They got us rooms at Jacumba Hot Springs and we arrived around 6:00 pm (because I made them wait for the mail to arrive first) and we ate a great dinner and went to bed anxiously awaiting our start the next morning. Our alarms went off on Saturday morning, and reality set in that this was all happening! We made the 20 minute drive to the border/trail head, and we were staring at the fence the whole way there. I won't digress on the topic of the fence, but it's a bizarre thing to see. Anywho, we got to the border and after many tears and hugs and pictures, we were off!

Day 1 was also Casey's 29th birthday, and I think she was hating me for making this be how she spent her birthday 😬 Except day one actually went well, and we hiked 12 miles before calling it a day. We met some interesting other thru-hikers already on day one as well!

Days 2-4 were kind of monotonous, not in a bad way, but they started to blur together SO quickly. We woke up on day two, very sore (as was expected) and we took off to the Lake Morena Campground. We had 8 miles to go and naively didn't look at the topography ahead. The climb was steep and the sun was hot. We ultimately descended down to the lake after our 8 miles, and neither of us had ever been so glad to see the shade of a campground. Lunch/siesta time has become an integral part of the day, sleeping your way through the high noon sun. And then you take off for a few more miles before calling it a day. 

Day 3 we "leisurely" woke up at 7:30, as most people get up at 6:00. To be fair, our alarm goes off at 6:00 every day, but that's a smidge too early for us quite yet. But we had already made some trail friends by this point, and as they got to our campground (Boulder Oaks Campground) we knew it was time to move along. We had a 3.5 mile climb until our lunch destination, but Casey's hips and blisters started giving her mega grief. We posted up at Cibbet's Campground for our siesta, and we spent 3 blissful hours here to eat, wash our clothes, and wash ourselves. After our descansa, Casey popped some Advil, blasted some AFI, and we took off for another 4 more miles. En route to our campsite we saw the first person with heat stroke passed out on the trail, and we stopped to give them some of our water. This was a very humbling experience, as the desert is a very serious place. We got to mile 36 and camped out with our friends Vivian and Luis and slept well. 

Day 4 was filled with highs and lows. We started the day with inspiration knowing we would be going into Mount Laguna, as Casey had mail from her grandma to pick up. So naturally our trip to Mount Laguna meant we would treat ourselves to a meal. We hiked the 5 miles there, and ate lunch and drank coffee at the Pine House Cafe (highly recommended). We then started walking towards the post office and got side tracked by the outdoor store. Casey got new socks and insoles to hopefully help her blisters, and after picking up her card we took off for another 5.5 miles. This 5.5 miles turned out to be a huge mistake as Casey's knee then started flaring up because she was walking funny due to the blusters 😕But we finally made it to the Pioneer Mail Picnic Area at mile 53 around 7:00 at night. Those were the darkest miles yet, but at least there were mashed potatoes for dinner, finally! 

We woke up on Day 5 and Casey said she couldn't walk. It was hard to come to terms with, but she was in immense knee pain and it was wise to admit that rest and elevation were in order. We got a ride with Ed into Julian, and he was unbelievably kind. He gave us the 'tour' of the town, gave me aloe, promised Casey a knee brace and promised us a ride back to the trail. We got left at Carmen's the second of many "trail angels" we knew we'd meet (Ed being the first). Carmen runs a restaurant and a place for hikers to crash. We opted for a room at the Julian Hotel, where we then met more unsuspecting trail angels. A nurse and his wife gave Casey a knee wrap and some essential oils to help her heal. Oh and we went to Mom's to get the free pie and drink given to PCT hikers when they show their permit. We had such a nice day meeting so many lovely people. 

Today has been a very leisurely day, with Ed delivering Casey's knee brace and then giving us a tour of the countryside here. It's a beautiful landscape, reminding me a lot of Asturias. And then we got some lunch at a great pizza joint. We are waiting out one more day of rest for Casey's knee to heal up, but are taking off again tomorrow morning at 7:00 am to hopefully make the 30 odd miles to Warner Springs by Sunday night. 

We can't say enough about how great this first week has been, and everyone's words of encouragement have been much appreciated! Casey had a very different birthday, but a memorable one to say the least. We at least got to go out in Phoenix on Thursday night with Alex to see a rad, all female band called Savages and that was super great! So at least that felt like a proper birthday celebration!

Well this was a lengthy post for the first one from the trail, but we had the downtime. So don't expect future ones to be so detailed! Oh and please excuse typos, etc. as writing from a phone is no easy task 😖