Day 33, out of the woods, straight to the KOA

Messenger flats camp ground mile 430 to Acton KOA mile 444
Hiked 14 miles

The plan today is to get water at the North Forks Ranger station. Then go to the KOA and get water and do atleast 6 more miles and camp for the night. The goal is to get close enough to the Saufley's house (trail angels), so we could just Nero (less than 10 miles) the next day and get there early morning.

The thing about the Going to the Saufleys is that they only take 50 hikers at one time. Since we are right in the herd we need to get there early in the morning so we can get the a spot of someone just leaving. Hikers are only allowed to stay 2 nights (unless your injured).

Drew and I get up at 4 and hit the trail before 5:30. Everyone around us is still sleeping. I can't believe how many hikers showed up after us. There was at least 15.

The views of the morning.

























We had finally arrived at the Ranger Station. Where there was a water cache they also had sodas and candy bars that we could buy/donate for a $1 or $2.





Drew is the first person I have seen eating a snickers on the trail. I always here about snickers and see the rappers but never anyone eating one till now.

We pushed on torwards the KOA. It was an easy hike. We arrived at 12:30 just a as huge group of other hikers are leaving. I guess they cowboy camped under the gazebo thats in the back. There was a huge Crowd of people here for the Memorial weekend. There was a pool and inflatable castle and whatnot for the kids.

We checked in at the Office paid our $10 so we could use the showers and camp if we like.

First things first lets get the hell out of these stinking ass salty cloths and take a shower and do Laundry.

The shower was incredible as per usual. Got into my town cloths and washed everything else. I ended up walking around the KOA in my boxer briefs lol. I love getting all town clean again. most people just get water at the KOA and just head to the Saufleys house but since we are in such a huge herd right now I didnt want to run the risk of gettting there and not being able to get all clean again.

We decided to stay the night at the KOA and head out really really early to beat the crowd that was here. I where quite about it. We didn't want others to get the idea to do the same.

It was fun we ate delivery foods and laid about.

Cowboy camping under the gazebo. My things all laid out in order to go back into my pack to make a quick escape at 4am.



- Posted from my iPhone

Day 32, poodle bush HELL!

I'm Freaking out man!

Campsite at mile 410 to messenger flats camp ground mile 430

Hiked 20 miles

Woke up in normal fashion and it is an amazing morning. I'm feeling really good.









Here is a little perspective of where I'm at. I'm the blue dot with the arrow.


Headed straight for Acton. Should be there tomorrow.

This has been an amazing experience. I can't believe I'm actually here doing it. Totally just proves the power of intention and what happens when you place a goal in your mind. Doing the things you said you wanted to do...

The morning WAS perfect...

Then I hit the poodle dog bush section. WTF!?

I didn't take any pictures of this BS I wish I did. I was so pissed off the whole rest of the day, it was just bad.

This section of the trail has been forgotten about... Over grown, fallen trees and poodle bush everywhere.

I somehow managed to over look the detour options. But I feel they weren't very clear or it didn't seem like it was that big of a deal. I half expected to see signs showing a detour.

Nope, I walked through like 6 miles of the worst section of bull shit trail I've ever seen in my life.

Disclaimer: I'm fully aware it was my own fault, but in the moment I was really pissed and pointing fingers. Heres a sample. "It was Halfmile's fault for not making the detour clear, why didn't Yogi make it more clear in here book, why the hell hasn't the PCTA cleaned up this section or officially close it? They did for some stupid frog" Haha I was all over the place. "They don't have money to pay people to clear this out. Ok how about this. The permit to thru hike is free. Charge $250 for it! With the snap of a finger I just raised over $250,000 to get that shit cleaned up!" Haha like I said I was really pissed. I went on and on in my head to the point I was yelling things. But no one was around to hear me.

It's kind of funny looking back, BUT like I said "I know I can really only blame myself."

At times I had to take my pack off and crawled under fallen trees. Feeling like I had poodle dog bush (PDB) all over me. Bush as tall as me covering the trail and surprise that bush you just brush up against was PDB! Ahh I'm freaking out!

I don't want to dwell on it anymore. You can't imagine it with out going through it for like 6ish miles. I just keep telling myself my thoughts have no meaning except the meaning I give them. Haha so I struggled to be in positive head space.

I made it though and I started to wonder how Drew is doing. And then here he comes walking up behind me while I'm digging through my pack looking for ibuprofen (vitamin I). I was just about to say wasnt that some Bull shit. And he tells me he did a detour... "What, there was a detour? How the hell did you find it? Aw whatever." He told me, but I just kept telling him how lucky he was. I guess the detour/road walk was pretty hard as well. (It was Steep)

We made it to the messenger flats camp ground. Set up my tent quarantined my clothes in gallon zip lock bags haha. Cleaned my feet with baby wipes, got in my sleeping cloths and ate dinner rolled up in my sleeping bag. Oh man this is what heaven feels like...

A few minutes later all kinds of people started showing up. Tink was just behind us she went through the PDB as well.

This guy named OG showed up. I had just met him at the ranger station earlier in the day. (Ranger station was a reliable place for water.) I heard him say hi to someone that had just walked in. I recognized her voice... It was Heather/Steady she had a new trail name now "Mung". I hadn't seen her since Warner Springs. Somehow I passed her? She wasn't going to take any zeros so I thought she would be 100 miles ahead of me by now. But apparently she has been part of a group for sometime now that has been just a day ahead of me this whole time. Hiking in a large group it's easy to be sucked into zero days with them so they could all stick together. Lol. (If your in a group you end up compromising quiet a bit. It's usually pretty easy to be convinced into taking a zero no matter what you do. I wish my friends I made at kickoff would catch up. I've heard they are only a few days behind.

For the most part I've hiked alone. Once and a while on and off with people. Drew and Tink are the ones I have hiked with the longest. It's been fun. It has a the day has a different feel. It's almost like a family. Either way I go I'm still never really alone...

I don't know if I've ever mentioned that I added my Spot GPS Locator to a page that shows my last checkin point. It also shows all my check in points along the trail. Clicker here to see that page

Off to sleep now.


- Posted from my iPhone

Day 31, A taste of rain

Buck hart camp ground mile 394 to campsite at 410
Hiked 16 miles

We all woke up at 5 and hit the trail.

400 baby!


Drew getting in on the action.

we Hiked on and then... It started raining.

I already had on my rain jacket, and I pulled out my sun umbrella, which also works for rain too. haha and just kept on walking. I have rain pants but they are at the bottom of my pack. So yeah, I decided to just let my legs get wet. They pretty much got soaked. The rain didn't last for to long. I pretty much just walked my pants dry.

Drew and I lost Tink somewhere. We got to this Campsite and both decided we are beat and this was going to be it for the night. We set up camp just in time for it to start raining again.




I was all nice and warm in my sleeping bag while the rain came down. I ate my chilli and passed out.

- Posted from my iPhone

Day 30, Wrightwood to Buckhorn camp ground

Wrightwood mile 369 to Endangered species detour 386. Hitched to buckhart camp ground (Buckhorn trail 394.30)
Hiked 16.82 miles
24.8 PCT miles

Got up at 5 and had Breakfast Packed up and hopped on the shuttle.

When I say shuttle I mean the sweet conversion van driven by the owner of the Pines Hotel.

There was kind of a chill on the air. We had a pretty big climb a head of us. We are starting at about 7000 ft climbing to 9245ft.



They like to keep reminding us of how far we still have to go.


This is my new Hair cut.


Yeah IDK just taking pictures of myself.


9000 ft.
Tink and Drew got a head of me. I had to dig a hole... They actually went up to the peak of Mt. Baden Powell. I did not. The clouds started rolling in and it was getting cold. So I didn't want to repeat Mt. San Jacinto. So I just kept on the trail instead of the 2/10 trail to the top and back.



some hikers getting water and the Little Jimmy Spring. It was really nice down here.

We got to the Little Jimmy Spring trail and ran into Foxy! he was just doing a couple more days on the trail and looping back to Wrightwood. He was getting off the trail. (he only planned on hiking to Wrightwood this season) He is from Durango CO so I look forward to Seeing him again after the trail. So when we left it wasn't good bye it was see ya later...

We got to the parking lot by a road where you can either take a detour and walk like 20ish miles around or hitch to this camp ground... We decided to Hitch to the camp ground. We got really lucky a day hiker came walking from the trail and was going to her car. We greeted her and Drew quickly asked if she could give us a ride down the road 7 miles. She was very nice she said yes!

It was a very easy day, we got to camp early. It felt so good to set up our tents, eat dinner by the fire and relax. This is awesome, Tink and Drew agree.



LaZboy!!!



Off to dream land.

- Posted from my iPhone

Day 29, zero in Wrightwood

Unintentional zero in Wrightwood.

Zero Miles Hiked

I woke up this morning to Chuck Wagon packing up all his stuff and getting ready to hit the trail. I'm planning to stay in town till the about noon. I had to wait for the post office to open. But I picked up my bounce box from the Hardware store and my resupply box at the Post Office. I needed to shave my head. Got back to the room and discovered that the shaver had switched it's self on and was dead. So to make a long story short I decided to just stay another night. It was already 3 by the time I got to shave my head and sent out my bounce box to Tehachapi. Drew was looking for someone to share the room with so that worked out fine. I went to the Yoddler and tried to eat a large pizza but it way to big. I have breakfast...

Drew, Tink, Little Spoon and I am heading out on the 6:30am shuttle tomorrow.






- Posted from my iPhone

Day 28, Cajon to Wrightwood

Cajon Pass 342 to Wrightwood 363.5 (acorn trail 3.72)
Hiked 25.2 miles

I slept in my hiking clothes last night so I can make a quick escape from the vortex of this hotel.

Breakfast was ready at 5:30ish so I grabed a couple things and headed to Mcdonalds I wanted an iced coffee and apple pies.

Headed down to the trail and ran into Jeff and Meg. We walked together for a while. They are a really nice older couple that I met back at kick off.






There was an under pass we had to go through it reminded me of a scene from the movie 28 Days Later. Creepy couldn't see through the other side.






Just another little tunnel.





YSBH!!!

I walked on for hours and hours. I kept leap frogging with a group of people pretty much the whole day. I have 22 miles to do today. So I just pretty much just put my head down and kept on marching. I came to an area that they warned us that there is a lot of poodle dog brush. Which is poisonous to touch like poison oak but worse.

The leaves of the poodle dog brush are hairy. Nasty stuff, I guess it grows in areas where there has been a fire.






The view for the day.






Here is the group of people that I kept leap frogging with.






Another view. I was almost to the camp ground Guffy. Where I was going to camp and then hike 5 ish more miles then hitch into Wrightwood. But I came to the Acorn trail which pretty much takes you right into town. Halfmile's notes warns that the trail is 3.7 miles into town and it's steep. Just as I was going by soft walker came up the trail. I had met him the day I walked to Cajon pass. I asked him how hard the trail was. He said It wasn't bad at all... I'm gong to for it. I will be eating town food and drinking an IPA in less than hour and half.

I Basically went into the first bar i saw. It was the Raccoon Saloon. Drew, Chuck Wagon, and Will where there. So I joined them. Chuck Wagon had a spare bed in his room so I split the room with him at the Pines Lodge, it worked out so well I couldn't have planed it this good if I tried. Off the Dream land.



- Posted from my iPhone

Day 27, Zero at Cajon PAss

Zero miles hiked

Fell asleep last night to Ridiculousness woke up to Buck Wild. Got to love sleeping with the tv on. This is such and nice place. The remote was placed inside a bag that said the remote was fresh and clean lol. packed up my stuff and went to Del Taco for breakfast. Went by the lobby saw other hikers in there. So I went in and discovered they had a pretty good breakfast here so sat down ate my burritos and grabbed and bunch of stuff for the road, and drank OJ.
I found myself just sitting down there typing up my blog post and drinking OJ for about 3 hours. I had to check out, brought my stuff down to the lobby. Continued to type away. My plan was to wait till 3 or so then get out of town and do like 10 miles or so. I met a girl named Caroline I had never seen before. Found out she had just gotten on trail and was zeroing here then going to hitch up to Wrightwood and catch up to her hiking friends. Turns out one in her group is Heather(who I called Steady and met right before Warner Springs.) she also knew Goldmine who I hadn't seen since kickoff. Crazy they where all just at Cajon pass while I was here at McDonalds.

I hope to catch them sometime soon. I'm starting to get hungry, guess I go get some subway. I hobbled down the street. I was about to cross the road and realized how freaking crazy the traffic is here... Yeah no, I'm not limping across the street risking my life for a subway sandwich. No way. Looks like it's Del Taco Again... Back to the lobby. I realized I'm still in pretty bad shape. Screw it I'm staying another night. I got checked back into a room. I thought I may this time actually find someone to share the room with me.







I was already to go.

Back to the hot tube and pool!!! (I need a hair cut)

Got back to the room, going to take a shower and actually saw myself in he mirror. Dang, I realized I'm lookin pretty rock solid Haha





This is how I spent the rest of the evening and night once again. Loving it!

Tomorrow I'm leaving at 5am I've got to get out of here or I'll never leave. I'm going to go 22 miles to the next water source and camp. Guffy spring campground.

I made a video for all my gear but apparently it's to long for this app to handle. So I will post it to you tube and put a link on my gear page.

 
- Posted from my iPhone

Day 26, McDonalds!!

I don't even like McDonalds, But I'm so excited

Cleghorn Picnic area 328.5 to Canjon Pass 342
13.5 miles

This morning is pretty much like every other morning. Got going late today. Which I didn't know this at the time, but It was a big mistake. I was thinking I only had 13 miles I could do really easy. whats the rush...








Some of the views along the way.








Yeah I am thinking today is the hottest day I have ever hiked in. I have the umbrella up and I am hiking away. I just feel kind of light headed and weak. I'm moving pretty slow. I could almost feel myself slipping away. I don't know whats going on with me. I feel like I drank a lot of water this morning before I left camp I dank over a liter of water and had Electrolytes. I felt pretty comfortable temperature wise under the umbrella even though it was really hot. I needed to stop. If I could only find shade... Finally the trail provided. I stopped in the shade for almost a hour. Which is exactly what I needed.








Look how dirty I am after only 5 miles.



















At this point in the day. It's past 1pm and it's super hot. The energy has just been zapped out of me. It seems like there is a lot of down hill my knee is hurting pretty bad so it's slowing me down even more. This is really hard right now. One foot in front of the other... I ate all my snacks for the day and I'm still hungry. I keep thinking of McDonalds. Hmm what should I get? a nice salad minus the chicken. I could maybe eat an apple pie too. what else can a non-meat eater eat there... Hours pasted by I am so hungry I can't stand it and all I can think about is getting to McDonalds and eating a chicken bacon ranch salad, french fries, and a extra large carmel iced coffee. yeah... thats whats on my mind right about now.

















Trail passes right under the powerlines.








Yeah thanks for the reminder...

OMG I can't believe I actually made it. Just another really hard day. Pushing though a tough day for food. I spent almost $13 I sat there for almost 2 hours trying to get my strength back. I still wanted to hike another 6-10 miles. Happy Man was going to leave at 6 it was 5:45 I wasn't quite ready yet. Leaving here is a 22 mile dry stretch (no water) I was Talking to some people who where going to stay at the Best Western... Hmm, I kind of want to stay. I walked down the street to go to Del Taco an 8 layer veggie burrito sounds great. Foxy (Chris who I shared a room with in Idyllwild) Text me and asked if I was staying. I was already by the hotel I walked over. If you could see how funny I am walking, There is no way I can walk out of town. I'm a wreck it's time to take sometime off.


















This is the scene outside. Tons of other hikers everywhere. Yeah I am in the middle of the herd for sure.








So I checked into the Best Western. I took a picture of the form she had me sign. I thought it was funny where is says the vehicle information it says "hiker". lol what a way to get around. If you would have told me 13 months ago that I was going to be walking 2600+ miles, there is no way I would have believed it.








These rooms are actually really nice, and clean too. I ended up with the room to myself I was going to see if anyone wanted to split the cost with me. It was just to nice to have it all to myself.

Time for the town chores. Shower, Laundry Eat, and eat some more...

I ate 4 burritos from from Del Taco! Sat in the hot tub and jumped into the freezing pool a couple times. This is awesome. So Glad I stayed.

I exploded my pack all over the room and wanted to kind of take inventory. I thought this would also be a good time to do a video of all my gear.

Click here to see YouTube video of my gear






- Posted from my iPhone

Day 24, 22 miles to hot springs

Motivation, lack there of

Little bear spring camp 285 to hot springs 307...

Hike 22 miles, Yeah right.

Woke up this morning at 5 decided to just lay here a while. I'm still wondering why all the sudden my knee was
Hurting last night. How far am I going to get today before that shit happens again.

It's now almost 7. Made the oatmeal and used the pee bottle. (empty Gatorade bottle I carry just to use in the morning to pee in so I don't have to leave the warmth of my sleeping bag. brilliant! lol)



Here's breakfast!

It was 7:48 by the time I started walking. Knee feels so so, kind of sore. I'm going to take lots of breaks today and see how far I can get today. I would like to get to the hot springs 22 miles. We shall see.

First snack of the day.



Yeah love it. Tortilla with peanut butter and trail mix.

haha you can tell I had just gotten off the phone. I felt like the video I was making was like leaving a message. I rested here for about 30 minutes. I also ate an avocado and red pepper that I bought in Big Bear.

I hiked on for 13 miles. I ran into Vegenaise (another vegan on the trail) I met him at Ziggy and the Bear's. He had taken like a week off, he was having some really bad knee problems as well. He got a ride up to Big Bear from Z&B's. We both where going slow. We got to the next water source Deep creek. It was awesome lots of shade and water deep enough to swim in. It was cold but felt amazing.





Vegenaise decided he was going to camp here. He couldn't go on any further. He had already gone 18 or so miles today. I couldn't stop now I had only 13 miles. DayGlow, Paul Bunion and TopShelf had already left about 30 min ago to make the last 9 miles to the hotsprings. It was 5:45pm and it takes about 5 hours to do 10 miles with breaks. I not going to get to the hot springs till after 10 which really sucks. So I took an anti-inflammatory, It's time to go fast. My knee was sore all day, but not bad. I filtered 4 liters of water and hit the trail.


Yea, 300 miles down.


I was able to catch the sunset. Pictures never seem to do it justice. It was a pretty good one.

I kept moving along and my knee was feeling great. The grade was pretty flat so I think that helped a lot. I caught up to DayGlow It was pitch dark she wasn't using her headlamp. She said she likes to not use it, I tried it out it was a little freaky lol. The moon wasn't out yet. I slowed down and we hiked together it was nice to have the company as we walked through the darkness.

We finally arrived and I wish I would have taken some pictures cause someone had set up lights all around the springs it was really cool. I was just so exhausted and my feet where done walking. I basically through down my tent footprint and cowboy camped right there on the sand by the springs. I should have made myself get in the hotsprings. oh well.

I was surprised my how many people that was here. There was quite a few hikes, but also some locals that have hiked up to springs. I guess there was some kind of Mushroom party going on... I don't think these are the mushrooms you by in the Grocery store haha. I was so exhausted I didn't even eat my dinner.

The moon was bright, spotlighting me in the face as I slept.

- Posted from my iPhone