Gear Review

Gear! my favorite...

I know there is a lot of people gearing up and getting ready for 2015. I thought I would review and give my thoughts on my gear choices from my hike. I didn't like a lot of the things I thought I would. I changed a lot along the way. Like my shoes, tent, sleeping bag, and pack. 

IF i was to finish the trail and/or do it all over again I would lighten the load for sure. But only from my experience could I have learned that.Yeah, I am dumb like that. I don't listen. But even when my pack was at it's heaviest in the beginning, it didn't bother me as much as it did in the ended when it was at it's lightest. My body was in a downward spiral of getting weaker and weaker. I only lost 7lbs on the trail and gained 2 back. I don't really know what was happening. I walked 17 miles leaving Lake Morena only stopped to dig a cat hole.  I took one 15 min break and walked into Mt. Laguna. In the last few hundred miles I could only muster 5 miles at a time before taking a break, and taking a long 30 min to hour long break after 10 or so miles. I was plagued with injury till I was forced to quit the trail in Chester. It took me a solid 6 weeks before I was 100% again. Sadly I haven't hiked further than 3 or so miles since I've been home. I miss the trail and my Friends. 

So check out my gear page to see my reviews. Gear page click here or the tab above. 

The freakiest thing!

Do you believe??? In you know... The big man... No not that big man (God) the other one...

So I had just passed the mid point monument. My knee was hurting so bad I could barley stand to set up my tent at PCT mile 1327.42. So I got all set up, crawled into my tent and ate dinner. I was all by myself (of course) everyone I was hiking with was miles ahead. Steak toe and LowLander are Somewhere behind. So I was all cozy in my bag, sleeping really good.

I was woken up by the sound of sticks breaking (something walking) And the sound of a constant deep humming sound. It was a ways away from me. I was holding very still and breathing softly so I could listen... My heart wanted to jump out of my chest it was beating so hard.

It was getting closer! Facing north I was to the right of the trail. The sounds where coming from the south of me and further to the right. (Off the trail) I was still, very still as it got closer louder and loader. The pace was constant and so was the humming. It was heavy cause the sticks where breaking loudly. It was at least 20 feet away directly beside me...

I can feel every beat of my heart as I listen. I can hear the deafening sound of the blood pulsing through my head... A thousand things are flowing through my mind. A few of those thoughts. I have no weapons. My trekking poles are outside the tent. My knife is maybe 2" long. What the hell is that. I know it's walking on two legs. I know the sound of two legs on the ground I've heard my own foot steps for over 1000 miles. Humans and big foot are the only things I can think that walk on two feet.

The steps and breaking of sticks keeps on going and thankfully the going away from me now! I check my phone to see the time. 1:34 am. Oh come on! Hurry up sunrise so I can have light and get the hell out of here. The sound is getting further and further away. I finally exhale. What was that. I'm still having problems processing what the hell just happened. Then I heard a crashing sound off in the distance. Sounded like a tree falling. Then there was another. Then a loud scream/screeching sound and more crashing of trees and things breaking... Then it's quiet...

WHAT WAS THAT??? Seriously!!! WTF.

I am just glad it kept going. Why and I all by myself right now? Why was there no one else here to witness that with me. I'm not crazy. I know I am wide wake cause I wish I was sleeping and never heard anything that I just heard. I tell myself it's gone, it's fine, just go to sleep. Sunrise will be here when I open my eyes again.

I force my eyes shut and clear my mind.

Well there you go. The freakiest/scariest thing to happen on the trail. Well being followed by mountain lions while night hiking was pretty freaky too.

When I woke up to my 6 am alarm I had some business to take care of and a cat hole to dig. I went over to where I heard whatever it was pass by to see if I could see tracks. But I didn't notice anything.

Honestly I don't know what that was. Big Foot is the only thing I can think off. It wasn't a hiker cause it wasn't on the trail. It wasn't a bear it was on two feet. Cause think about the cadence of sounds when a dog walks on hard wood floor or the sound of a horse on asphalt. Then think about the sound of you make walking. The steps per minute is less. Really think about it. You could tell the difference.

So yes I believe now. I believe in big foot. Seriously. July 28, 2014 at 1:34am.

So that morning I walked less then 100 yards before my knee was in full fledge pain mode. I only had 6 miles to go. I was going to just keep going and not stop. I'm moving really slow but I kept going.

I finally arrive at the highway to hitch into Chester. I crossed the street. To check out the trail magic!


I ate a cookie and drank a soda. I found the register and left my final entry.


I had to get two separate hitches into Chester. I told the first guy about my Big Foot story. He said he believes. He has worked In these forests for 20 years. And has heard many stories.

I got into town and paid $15 to set up my tent in the RV park. I ate pizza across the street at the pizza factory! I love it. Called Jordan to let her know I was coming home. I thought about just showing up and surprising her. (I wish I would have done that.) but I want to talk to someone and validate my decision to quit and come home. I was still trying to decide which side of the line I was on. The side where I am quitting cause I'm being a pussy or the side where I'm quitting cause it's the right thing to do... I don't know. I don't want to quit now. I'm enjoying he trail again. Like I said in my last post. It's harder to quit than it is to keep going.

I sat around as I did my laundry. I decided to hobble up the street to the gas station. On the way back I ran into Lowlander who has just got into town. I brought him back to the camp ground. Where he set up for the night. I suggested we go to he bar close by. He said na at first. But then I said I'm buying. "Ok" so we went. It was cool. Heavy metal playing on the juke box. I put in a couple dollars and played some Pantera my fav from back in the day.





The bartender let us behind the bar to take a photo. We stayed at the bar for a while.

I slept pretty good. With a pretty good buzz going. I had to pee so much that night. I filled up my pee bottle and two other bottles I had in the tent. Haha.

I had decide that I was going to take the Amtrak train home. So I needed to get to Reno. So I'm going to take a bus from Chester to Suzanville then another bus to Reno.

They bus doesn't run today so I have to stay another night.

I was told I needed to go to the dentist office for something special??? So I went. And the gal there was so nice. She took my photo and gave me a gift certificate for $20 to use at this place called the Locker Room. Yea! More pizza! I ran into Dust bunny and Danger Spoon there. They offered to let me stay in the hotel with them! Sweet. Which is cool cause it's right across the street from where the bus is going to pick up at like 6 in the morning to take me to Suzanville.

We drank beers and watched cable. Danger and I went to sit in the hot tube. Oh the life.

So I the next day I caught the bus to Suzanville. I had to wait like 2 hours for the next bus to come. so I went to Starbucks to use the wifi. I'm trying to download the movie Noah I rented from ITunes (something to do on the trail) I ran out of time. But I did run into this sign on a truck.



Haha LA-Z-BOY.

I arrived in Reno. I only had a few blocks to go to get to the Amtraks but I have 4 hours till the train arrives. I left my pack at the bell desk in Harrahs. Time to drop a few dollars in the slots. I put a $5 in the .25 cent wheel of fortune. I played that $5 for about 45 min. I was up $39 at one point but just kept playing. Of course I lost it all. But I wasn't going to stop unless I won enough worth to stop playing.(open to interpretation) i walked around the huge car show that was going on. Reno is kind of cool.

The train!!!

Riding the train was nice. I think it was like 23 hours. I got to relax, reflect, recharge, and re... I don't know. It was nice. I could have flew for the same price. I just didn't want to mess with that noise. The train is so stress free it was the right move.


My pretty lady who came to pick me up... Oh so happy to see here.



THE END




Well the end of my journey. Not quite the end of my story. I still have to see how long it's going to take me to recover from this nonsense. (It's been over a month and I still hurt) I have my gear review to do. And I guess I could talk about what's next in my life. Like my Go zero to HERO project. And my next vacation I plan to go on, ect, ect, ect.

I miss you PCT. I miss my PCT friends, no not friends my PCT family. If any of you read his blog be sure to say hi and if your in Colorado you better hit me up!

Thank you for following my blog I appreciated those of you who commented. It was my favorite to get those emails. Telling me I have a new comment. I ended up with 18,000+ views. Anyone feel free to say hi sometime. Or ask questions. Cause I know some of your are future PCT thur hikers.

I don't know what your life is like or what your situation is. All I know is. You know all those things you've always wanted to do? You should GO DO THEM!

If Hiking the PCT is one of them don't let yourself make up excuses. Cause anything other than living the life of your dreams is a lame ass excuse.

Yes any excuse is a lame ass excuse. This time last year. I didn't have the money to hike the PCT. I didn't own a single piece of hiking gear that I took on the trail. I didn't know about resupply boxes, i sure ass hell couldn't hike 20 miles in one day. (I had only hiked 9 miles in one day when I decided I was going to do the PCT.) I didn't know anything about tents, packs, sleeping bags, water filters, cooking stoves, down jackets, and what... Toe socks aren't those for girls? I still decided I was going to do it.

Decide to do it! And everything will work itself out. Even though I didn't finish. I'm so glad that I tried. I spent over $10k when on the trail and was pretty much broke in the end I was going to keep going and figure it out. I knew injury would be the only thing that would take me off the trail. And it got me but you can't be scared to fail... Oh I love ranting haha.


Next: dude my feet still hurt. What the heck am I going to do now? I have no home, no job... Maybe I'll become a professional archer. even though I've never shot a real bow before. It sounds like a good idea....


- Posted from my iPhone

My Hike has come to an end...

Sorry I haven't posted in a long time.

I have been home now for a month. I left the trail on 7/28. There was a lot leading up to that point. I wanted to finish posting everyday. But it makes me sad when I think about being back on the trail. I didn't see the point to continue posting. But I guess I need to finish this.

I left off from the day we went into Truckee. Only two days from Sierra city. Heres some things that happened a long the way.

Saw this little hut along the way. I remember seeing a video Muk Muk had on her blog about this place. It looked really creepy in her video. It's pretty neat actually.

Oh the characters I hike with.

On the day we walked into Sierra city steal Toe and I where super motivated. Instead of our normal 5 miles and take a break we went 10 and then pushed 14 miles to get into town around 4pm Steal Toe was motivated by half gallon of chocolate milk he was going to drink when we get into town. I just wanted to be in town again. We got to where the trail meets the road. There were other hikers just leaving town. It was Hugs, Pockets, and Karaoke. They told us about all the drama that went down at the Red Moose last night. I guess Bob the owner kicked everyone off the property and no one was aloud to camp there anymore. So that's going to be awkward since I had to go there and get a package.

It was awesome at the little general store. Everyone was there eating free Ben and Jerry's ice cream. I guess power went out and they had to throw out the ice cream so they gave it to us!

So the church lets us camp in their yard so I went there to set up camp before it was to crowded. I got set up just in time.


Tent city.

Back at the store siting on the front porch.



Heres what Jordan got me for my birthday. Envelopes to open in every town with surprises inside. She is so amazing. What a good idea.


There was $15 inside for me to use at the store.



Below is a picture of all the food I got for $15. A huge amazing veggie burrito some everything bagels, Roman, cliff bars and some hot sauce.



The next morning. I went to the red moose and had breakfast. The owner Bob was not friendly. I didn't like him at all. His wife was super sweet though. I got my boxes and paid $5 for a shower. I washed my clothes at the store and hung out for a bit. We got everything all packed up and left at 4pm.

We are 4 days from Belden.

Skip ahead a little. I was 2 days from Belden and right away in the morning I was not having a good day. My left knee and shine splints was hurting. I kept trying to stretch it out. I took vitamin I. Didn't help. I was hiking slow. I came to a road crossing where I could hitch into Quincy. I told my friends I would meet them in Belden in a couple days I waited 3 hours till I was finally picked up by this really nice lady who had passed by over an hour ago and she felt bad for me since I was still there. Haha. The Quincy Laport road just has no traffic. There was tons of logger trucks. But only one car every half hour it seems.

She dropped me at the grocery store. I picked up a few things, went to subway for dinner and got a hotel room and had a nice night in the room resting and watching movies. I had planned to skip a head to Belden. I couldn't really afford to get further behind schedule. Plus I was enjoying hiking with Steal Toe and Lowlander.

The next day I caught a ride to Belden instantly. Actually before I even started to hitch. I met a guy in the gas station who offered to give me a ride. So I planned to take 2 more days off and hopefully my knee and shine splints would be better. Or at least manageable.

Arriving in Belden was cool there was a huge party about to go down that weekend. I ran into some more friends



Danger spoon, Cracker Jack, Dust Bunny and Cheese Burger. Some of us called the Braatens and Brenda came to pick a few of us up. I really liked her. She has a great since of humor. Her little haven was sweet to. It's like a little apartment off their house all set up for us hikers.


I had a box waiting with a note from Jordan.

I did my laundry again and spent the night in a nice little bed. Blister was also there so that was cool getting to see him again. He left early the next day.

Packed up my stuff and back to Belden. To check out this party/rave.






Some more Friends. Doc, karaoke, Pockets, Hugs and Didgeridoo.



That night was awesome. The music started at 7pm and went until 7am. The people that was putting on the rave let the PCT hikers in for free and let us go back into their campsite and gave us food and beers! It was sweet.


video is short and  you can't really see anything. I should have taken another one but I didn't think it was going to turn out.

Crazy party everyone dressed all crazy too. It was fun to people watch.

There was a bunch of us who slept just across the river from town and up above the rest stop there was a nice big flat area for us to camp. The music was so loud even with ear plugs in it didn't seem to help much. I was able to sleep pretty decent actually. I only woke up twice. The music was playing in my dreams haha.

The next day was shitty...




Look at all those tents!

So I was only 3 miles in and my knee started hurting pretty bad. I should have turned around and went back to Belden. But I would stop and rest and I would feel better for a little bit. I only went 18 miles. I left before Steal Toe and Lowlander. I expected they would catch me since I was going so slow. But they didn't.

The next day I went another 18 very painful miles. My knee is killing me. It's my IT band. I must have inflamed my bursa cause it keeps hurting after 3 days rest, vitamin I , ice and stretching. By far this was the worst most painful day on the trail. I walked sun up to sun down and barley got 18 miles. Every step is pain. So terrible I feel sick even thinking about it a month later. Nothing I could do but just keep hiking. I was a little sad to, I got to the midpoint monument and I was by myself. No one to celebrate with. It was bitter sweet. I was so happy to make it halfway...






but also sad cause I knew this was going to be the end when I get to Chester. I'm not going to be able to take a zero or two to feel better. This is going to take a week or more.

At this point it's harder to quit then it is to keep going...

Mentally I feel good and I'm happy. I want to keep hiking. Physically I'm breaking down. Even when I didn't hurt the miles where harder and harder to do. Instead of getting stronger I'm getting weaker. I don't know what going on. My body is calling it quits. I guess I better listen.

I camped a mile from the mid point monument.

The craziest/freakiest thing ever happen that night...

- Posted from my iPhone

Day 81, "quick" stop in Truckee

July 18

Mile 1142 to mile 1155

Hiked 13 miles

We woke up this morning and Steal Toe informs me that our plan to get to Sierra city will put us there late on Saturday. And the Post office will be closed Sunday. So forcing us to zero.

After he told me that. I said "looks like we are hitching into Truckee for Pizza and ice cream!!!" Since we have a day to kill, why not.

We all got water and started hiking a 7:40am. It was a nice day and easy hiking.

We came down to the road and there was some trail magic! This guy had his bear can with ice and drinks.

It was an easy hitch into Truckee. This couple that worked at a kids summer camp picked us up. It was a fun ride. Wow it's awesome to ride in a car! It's fun to go so fast.

I'm Dork, I know.

We arrived in Truckee at about 1pm and the plan was to eat Pizza and go to DQ and get a blizzard. Then hitch back out to the trail. A couple hours tops... Ha will see.

So I managed to break the new iPhone charging cable that I bought in South Lake Tahoe. So I walked around town till I found one at a drug store. Of course it was more expensive, another $25 wasted. Guess I have to have it though. I also bought some Dr. Scholls inserts for my Planters Fasciitis. My heal is starting to bother me.





By the time we decided to hitch back to the trail it was 5! So we waited little over an hour before we got picked up by this cool couple from the UK. They were here on holiday. Lowlander and Steal Toe needed water so we walked over to the ski lodge and it was closed. They got water from the spicket which they said smelled and tasted like rust. I told them to filter it. But they didn't. I wasn't about to get water from there. I have found that I'm kind of a water snob. Haha I only drink from the finest springs and streams. If available ;) So we just went up the trail to the first campsite not even a 1/4 mile. I was so full and sick from the ice cream and large strawberry limeade. All I wanted to do was sleep. We joked before we got picked up that we should stealth camp in town next to the on ramp by some trees lol.

Tomorrow is another day of hiking. Two days and will be in Sierra City.
- Posted from my iPhone

Day 80, day dreaming

July 17

Miller Creek mile 1124 to ski resort mile 1142

Hiked 18 miles

We are getting a late start today. I didn't feel like getting up this morning. Steal Toe likes his sleep too. So I tried seeing if he was awake. "Steal Toe you awake man!" "Hmmm yeah" he said. But neither of us started moving. Lowlander was packed up and took off. We slept some more.

I had to dig a hole. So I'm up now. Everything is still soaking wet. I pulled off my rain fly and laid it in the sun light. Some other hikers pasted by and we asked them if they had seen giggles. They said they passed him yesterday 10 miles back, he didn't look to happy.

It was 9:40am when we started hiking. Talking about video games and movies really helps pass the time. I have this crazy desire to play halo 4 now. I haven't played it in over a year. And it's all I can think about. I don't know what it is. There is just something really exciting about running around shooting and blowing up aliens. Haha

We hiked about 10 miles before we caught up to Lowlander sitting on a rock reading a book. He went on when we stopped to eat lunch. The clouds looked nasty in the direction the trail was taking us. We kept joking saying we are walking towards Morador (from The Lord of the Rings) The one place you don't want to see any closer and it's the one place we are trying get.

After lunch I unpacked all my stuff and repacked it inside my XXL ziplock bag. And then wrapped my pack cover over my pack. Cause it's for sure raining. And we are going to be walking into it. I wasn't going to bother putting on my rain jacket. It just makes me sweat. I would be all wet before it even started to rain.

So there I was in my shorts and t-shirt and down came the rain. It only rained for maybe 5 min. I was completely dry again in less than 15 so it was a good little experiment. I kept hiking so I stayed nice and warm.

We caught back up to Lowlander. He said he got a lot more rain and he got hailed on. So it looks like we missed that part.

We hiked on till we came to this ski resort. There was a pretty cool campsite with water under the ski lift. So that's where we decided to make camp.


- Posted from my iPhone

Day 79, Oops we lost one.

July 16

Aloha lake 1100 to Miller Creek 1124

Hiked 24 miles

I woke to my alarm at 5am and fired up the jetboil. I could here Giggles was also awake. I started yelling "Steal Toe, Steal Toe you awake man?!" "Hmmm yeah" he said. "Haha lets go!" We started packing up and got on the trail at 6:40am. We are planning to hike to a campsite with water about 24 miles away.



Aloha lake in the morning

We hiked 5 miles and took a break were we found Lowlander. I met Lowlander for the first time just before the KOA and the Saufleys around mile 440. All 4 of us left together. We hiked over dicks pass.


Hiked 5 miles and took a lunch break at Dick's lake. We waited there almost a hour and Giggles didn't show up. So we continued on another 5 miles and took an other break and waited for almost a hour again and still no Giggles. We figured he would meet up with is when we camp since he knew the plan was to hike 24 miles. Steal Toe said he doesn't like to camp alone. (I can relate)



I love the crazy bright green stuff all over the trees.






Steal Toe and his sweet Mustache. He is from Georgia. Pry one of the nicest guys on the trail.

The sun is getting low in the sky. My shin splint started hurting. I took some Vitamin I and in 15 min I'm hiking pain free again. I love this stuff.



We found a campsite by Miller creek. We ate dinner and waited for Giggles. It's dark and starting to rain. He never showed up. We are suspecting that he stopped to charge his iPhone with his solar panel. I guess he likes to watch movies and what not at night. So he pry waited around to charge his phone. Hopefully he's alright.

The rain doesn't last long but there was an extremely loud and close lighting strike. It scared the shit out of us lol. It came out of no where and was really bright I could see it through my tent.

I'm really glad to be hiking with these guys. I looking forward to tomorrow. I lay down to sleep and I can hear Lowlander playing his Nintendo DS lol.
- Posted from my iPhone

Day 78, leaving S. Tahoe Lake

July 15

Echo Lake mile 1094 to Aloha Lake mile 1100

Hiked 6 miles

I woke up at 7 and started walking around town looking for a iPhone charging cable. I found one at a gas station for $15. So that's taken care of. I ran into Bugs on the street. Talked to her for a little bit. They all stayed in a hotel down the street. She was looking for a coffee shop.

Back in the room I can now charge my dead phone. I laid on the floor next to the outlet and reached my issues on the runners websites. So it turns out I have developed Planters Fasciitis in my right foot and I have shin splint in my left. Well that's just great. Planters fasciitis takes a long time to heal due to the fact that there isn't much blood flow in the bottom of your feet. I got on YouTube and researched how to use the KT tape for those two issues. So now I'm rapped up on both legs. Hopefully the tape stays on for a awhile. This shit is expensive. $20 for a roll. But I know it's good it helped my achilies issue that I had for 700 miles heal up in a week!

It's 11 and StealToe and Giggles finally wake up. They are leaving today as well. So we plan to hike out together.

We took the bus to the small outfitters in town and they have a list of trail/ride angels that give hikers rides to the trail. In 15 we had a ride to the trail. I bought a foot long subway sand which and packed out half of it for dinner tonight.

We got to Echo lake at 1 just in time for it to start raining. I also realized I left my trekking poles here yesterday lol. So I got those back. I went to the small PO there to retrieve my resupply boxes and forward my bounce boxes to Old Station since I don't need anything in them. However they only had one of my 4 boxes!? It was the box Jordan sent me with the hot sauce, hammer gel, coffee and what not. Which isn't what I needed. I'm expecting two boxes with 6 days of food. And where is my bounce box? They where really busy at the store so I felt bad asking. But I really need her to check again for my boxes. She reluctantly went back and found my bounce box. Shit that still isn't what I need. I called Jordan she checked the tracking and it shows they have arrived at twin bridges. Which is where they get there boxes from. I asked her one more time to go look. And she finally came back with my other boxes. Dam I'm glad I was persistent. It only took 3 hours to get this all figured out. I sent out my boxes and sorted my food and I bought a few packages of roman noodles (poor mans pad Thai and peanut butter and hot sauce) from the store so I can have two dinners a day. ;)

The rain stopped and we started hiking around 5:50pm we only planned on going 6 miles.

We arrived at aloha lake. Wow this place is sweet.








SteelToe and Giggles.



My fancy KT tape job. Steal Toe calls them my bionic legs lol. I wish. Bionic legs don't hurt this bad. Well actually the KT tape really helps. They feel good so far. Only went 6 miles today.



We camped by the lake and plan to be on the trail by 6 tomorrow morning.


- Posted from my iPhone

Day 77, Echo Lake

July 14

Nipple Lake 1071 to Echo lake 1094.

Hiked 23 miles.

Ok so today is a town day. So getting up early is really easy. I'm excited to be headed into town again. I have a resupply box at the store/PO in Echo lake. I plan on just getting my stuff showering and laundry if possible and get out of town.

I'm on the trail a little after 6am. We are all excited and everyone is awake. MilkMan took off first as per usual. Then me. I saw my second bear! It was really big and brown color. It was pretty far away. I tried to take a photo but it was to far. I silently watched it walk up the valley over the hill. I stopped to get water where Bugs and Cree passed me. They have a friend that's going to pick them up at the first road crossing. They plan on staying in South Lake Tahoe for 2 days. So I will have to hike on alone again.

The miles roll by. However I am starting to notice a pain I've never had before. The front of my right heal is hurting. When I walk I try to land my foot flat. Now I'm trying to land on my fore foot to easy the pain on my heal. My left shine is acting up as well. I think I have a shine splint. Which sucks cause I'm not zeroing. I bought a Roll of KT tape in Tahoe the last time I was here. So when I get to echo lake I'm going to reach my issues and figure out how to apply the KT tape. I just realized I broke my IPhones charger cable and shorted out the electronics in my battery pack. Dam now I have to go into Lake Tahoe to by a new cable. I need to send Goal zero an email and see if they can send me a replacement battery pack too. I borrowed a cable from other hiker and charged my phone from my solar panel. The first time on the trail I had to keep my phone on airplane mode to save battery life.

I am a few miles from Echo and I found this sign.



I took a picture just incase I needed to known the phone number and or address. Bugs, Cree and Milkman had already gotten to the road and were gone when I got there. I took a short break to rest my shin splint. All day I have been stretching the muscles in the front of my shin. It helps but the pain returns shortly.

I hiked the last mile past the road and walked into the Echo lake resort. The post office was closed when I arrived so looks like I'm staying the night. I got a veggie deli sandwich, a large cookie, bag of pita chips and some spicy hummus. Yes town food. I take my food outside and sit on the ground next to the building. There is day hikers and weekend warriors around here. A couple guys where out for a few days and they lost their water filter and decided to cut their trip short. I actually saw their filter on a rock next to a steam lol.

The two guys watched and listened to me struggle to find a place to stay in echo lake. And then fail to find a ride into Tahoe. So I said goodby and was going to go out by the road and hitch. And then they asked me where I was going. I told them the hostel is by the state line in Lake Tahoe. They said "oh we are going right by there we can take you"

Heck yeah. It pays to talk to people. Their girl friends showed up 30 min later. They took me to the hostel. It was nice talking to them. Thanks for the ride!

The hostel just opened July 4th. The owner is a pretty cool guy. It's only $25 for the night. I love hostels. There is bunch of other hikers here. I go to my room and Pepper is there. I first met him in Kennedy meadows he asked me how I liked my Altras I was wearing the lone peaks at that time. He told me that Steal Toe and Giggles were also in our room. Sweet! I haven't seen those guys since it left them at Kearsarge pass.

I started my laundry and jumped in the shower. I checked movie times at the theater a few blocks away. Mountain Mama and the Red Barron went with me to watch the new Planet of the Apes. It was awesome. It got over pretty late. Everyone was asleep when I got back to the room. I climbed into my bunk and it's pillows and sheets tonight.
- Posted from my iPhone

Day 76, The lake, the nipple and beer

July 13

Leach pond Mile 1050 to The lake below the Nipple mile 1071

Hiked 21 miles

Got on the trail earlier today. 7:40am. Once again Milkman left, then me. And Cree and Bugs where right behind. I'm surprised how quickly the seem to catch up as soon as I stop for water.

Lunch time stop.





Haha once again I tried to take a photo of Cree and Bugs and the lighting is weird. Later I joked about how they don't really exist since they weren't in the photos. Milkman is has the white shirt on. I love taking a nice long lunch break. I ate roman noodles, peanut butter and hot sauce. So good.

Later this is me without my chair taking a break in the dirt. Chair! I want you back!





Have I mentioned how much I miss my chair?

Almost done hiking for the day and look at those...









Kind of looks like a... Is that a nipple? Haha it is. It's the nipple. No it really is. That's what the mountain is called. "The nipple" so awesome.




See I wouldn't make something like that up.




The view from the nipple.




Sweet little lake.

We planned on hiking another 3 miles but we saw this lake a little ways off the trail and just went for it. I was so beat anyways my shin is killing me. Dammit why does it hurt so bad. There was a road up here to this campsite and there was a family car camping. The guy came over and asked if we are thru hikers. He gave us some beer!!! What luck. Two nights in a row I got a beer for the end of the night! Trail magic, got to love it. Man I need to stick with these guys lol.








Where oh where is my chair? Oh yeah like an idiot I sent it ahead. However this time. Laying in the dirt feels awesome, especially with beer in hand.





Great spot to call it a night.

- Posted from my iPhone

Day 75, Trail life is good again

July 12

PCT mile 1027 to mile 1050

Hiked 23 miles

I had mentioned to Cree, Bugs, and Milkman I would pry wake up and start hiking around 6am. (They usually start around 8:30ish) But this morning I woke up that early to do so. But... I want to hike with these guys some more. Just hiking the last 10 miles with them has added so much more enjoyment to the trail.

We are up and packing up around 7:30ish.



Cree and bugs. Lol the lighting is bad in this photo.

I'm on the trail at 8am. Milkman has already taken off and Cree and Bugs are just behind me.

There is the nice crispness to the air that I enjoy so much in the morning. I have that old familiar awesome feeling again that I get while hiking in the morning. I have missed you old friend.


Enjoy the little things, like this Sweet little water fall where I got 2 liters of water.


A sweet view for the day.

I noticed how many little breaks they take through out the day. I'm not used to doing that. It's actually really nice. My usual style Is to walk to the point of exhaustion. Then taking a break need it or not. We took a longer break for lunch. Where I actually laid down a slept for few minutes. I had to sit on the ground of corse since I don't have my chair right now. I'm so regretting sending it ahead.

After hiking a few miles. I can feel a pain on my left leg. It's not to bad but it's high on the outside of my left shin. I'm not sure what it is but it's annoying. I remember feeling it yesterday to. It seems to come and go. Vitamin I really seems to help.


We hiked all day and crossed a road and found some trail magic! There was a box filled with v8's and 1 Fat Tire beer I took the beer and a v8. MilkMan yelled from a little ways up telling me to come up where he was. There was a surprise. It's a cooler with cookies and sodas!!! So awesome. There was also a register. So we sat there and read all the names and I could finally see how far ahead everyone was. I'm really not that far behind a lot of my friends. I can catch them. I know it. If I don't take anymore zeros and stay consistent.

We camped just a little past the road. There was an American flag up on that mountain.


We camped by this little pond. We all set up camp just as the sun had set. I'm not a fan of getting water from lakes and ponds. The water is usually nasty. I am a little low so Milkman and I head down to the water. I think I'm going to go in and wash my legs off. We both have our head lamps on and Milkman is filling up his sawyer bag. I noticed there are hundreds of little baby crawdads swimming around. Gross I'm not going to drink this water it just doesn't look good. I'm about to take my shoes off and I'm looking in the water. I notice there is long skinny black things swimming around. Oh shit, Leaches!!! Leaches everywhere. I'm definantly not getting in the water. Yuck. Looks like I'm dry camping... Next to water. That's a new one haha.

I cleaned up with my wet wipes cooked dinner, slipped into my bag and ate laying in my sleeping bag. So comfy.


- Posted from my iPhone