Day 38, Best Siesta ever

PCT mile 527 to mile 549
Hiked 22 miles

Alarm was set at 3:30am, however I couldn't do it. I slept till 4. Drew and I got going at 4:30am.



Love the wind farms in the morning.



Creek bed where the water cache is that is maintained by Hiker Town.



I think these are Joshua trees. IDK






We arrived to the Tyler house cayon. There was shade and water. Perfect to get out of this heat.



Found a good spot to have a siesta. I filtered water, and ate snacks and cooked a dinner. Put in some ear plugs and slept...



our siesta friends. Gauage, BallHawk, Shady, StiffWillie, Worm and Squeaker.







So excited to get to Tehachapi. I have new shoes waiting for me that I ordered a few days ago.

Good Times...
Drew gave me coffee. It was great. I was running down the trail at times. lol


Night Hike time.
There was a tree that was standing upside down on the trail.







Found a nice place to camp.

Tomorrow Tehachapi.


- Posted from my iPhone

Day 37. The Aqua Duct

Casa de Luna mile 478 to PCT mile 527

Hiked 9 miles ??(that doesn't add up)



Waking up was exciting knowing that there is pancakes to be had.



As promised here is the video of the Forest behind the Anderson's place. (Casa de Luna)







That is only the half of it. It goes back farther in the trees. It's like the coolest thing ever. Such a perfect place to camp with a bunch of friends.



So if your wondering how I got ahead almost 50 PCT miles but only hiked 9 well thats because there was another closure and detour. Some people did the road walk for the detour. Most hitch hiked around the detour. I chose to hitch. I'm just not into dangerous road walks. Or any kind of road walk for that matter. I'm happy for those that did the road walk. But I'm even happier I didn't ;)









Here is the map that someone drew for us so we could decided what we wanted to do.



Below is Britany and Toms van. They shipped it from Hawaii they have it all decked out with a bed and what not it's what they call home. It's pretty awesome I guess there is a bunch of people that live in vans in Hawaii it's like a pretty cool and different lifestyle. They live in the van cause they chose to not because they had to. Tom is on the trail and Britany is following and giving rides here and there. She gave a few of us a ride up to the Rock Inn which was almost half way to Hiker Town.















Pockets, Shady, Stiff Willie, Hugs and me. haha a stiff willie in the middle of a pile of girls. ;)







I tried to take a photo of Britany and tom but I didn't realize the photo didn't come out.



We got to the Rock Inn and it was past lunch time so I'm super hungry. I ate a salad, veggie burger, fried green bean fries, a piece of pecon pie with ice cream, and two beers. Living the dream... More Hikers showed up. Drew was among them. His Head Lamp did show up. Amazon's one day delivery came through. That's impressive.



It was a hitch hiking mob scene after we all paid our bills. There was at least 10 of us. Some started walking towards hiker town. I walked up the road to the gas station I was going to to try and solicit a ride from someone there that I could talk to. 2 people I talked to where going the way I was going and said they would take me, but they only lived a block or a couple miles away. A truck showed up and took a whole pile of hikers. So I thought it was a better idea to just stick out my thumb with the rest of them.



We got Picked up by this chic going the opposite direction. She asked us first if we had gas money we could give her. Heck yeah!





Needless to say we got to Hiker Town Quickly.







Hiker Town is a little different.







Steel Toe, Good Cheese and Indy.



Drew and I took off. It was time to hit the trail.







Here is the an Aqua Duct that we walked for a little while. it turned into a much larger one that was open. (More like a cement ditch) then the ditch was covered. and we walked on top of it for hours.



We stopped to make a hot drink.









The glow of my jetboil in the dark.



We walked for a little bit longer till about 10:30pm and called it a night. I cowboy camped on top of the Aqua Duct inspection cover.



Stars are bright tonight.



I lay here in my sleeping bag so warm, so cozy. Just looking at the starts... So happy to be here. How did I get so lucky to be able to live this dream? I am so Lucky to have all the people who have supported me. I have to say thanks to my parents who have always supported and believed in everything I have done in my life. My friends who have been there for the encouragement. (Your reading this so you know who you are. Gabe and Candice) But I really owe a lot to my Jordan... Thank you Jordan for the love and support you have given me through this whole thing. I know this has been the hardest on you with me gone. You do so much for me. Thank you and I love you.



...oh yeah and thanks for sending me my boxes of food. lol







- Posted from my iPhone

Day 36, Casa De Luna!

Oasis Cache mile 471 to Casa De Luna mile 478

Hiked 9 Miles + 2 off trail miles to there house.

I woke at 4:30 and I was on the trail at 5:30am I had to step over the others that where also sleeping inside the Oasis cache lol.

The Hike this morning was an easy short hike to the road where the ranger station is and it says in Yogis notes that there is directions to the Anderson's house there...

I didnt see anything there. So I just started walking towards town. I tried to hitch for a little bit but no one was stopping instead of waiting a hour for a ride it only takes 40 minutes to walk 2 miles so off I went.




I saw this alone the way! I want one of these in my front yard.

alone the way I saw a note on a tree that said
"Hikers you are almost to Case de Luna. Take a left after the coffee shop"

wait, there is a coffee shop ahead! Looks like I'm getting a Latte.

It was a small little coffee shop and the open sign was off. I tried the door anyways and it was open. I walked in the lady said she closes at 9 it was like 9:05. She said she can still make me a drink if I want. yup LaZboy want a latte haha.

This nice Older Bearded man gave me directions.

I have arrived... I walked up to the sound of someone saying "HIKER!" and there was a start of a slow clap. It was pretty cool to be brought in to the sound of everyone clapping for you when you arrive :)






I was instructed to put my pack down and put on a Hawaiian shirt, like right now right now. lol Alright so it's that kind of party. I was then lead to the back yard where the forest is. This place is awesome! I will post a video of the forest on tomorrows post. I set up my tent and took an awesome shower in the outdoor shower. It was amzing I needed that for sure. (even though it had only been a day since my last shower)

We all sat around in the shade eating things and drinking beers and sodas. Bullshitting and playing card games. This Place is super relaxing. I was iced my achilles again. later I joined a small group of people and we walked down the street to the gas station where they actually had a huge selection or hikers foods. Which is not mentioned in Yogis book. (someone should tell her. you could almost resupply here...almost)

I am ready for some junk food. This is what I ended up with.




Two bags of chips, bean dip, salsa, ect... I ate myself silly. I had to go take a nap in the forest I was so full.



Here is home.



LaZboy casa from the Inside.


I pretty much slept until it was time to eat again haha.







It's the Anderson's famous Taco salad.

There is so many people here it's crazy. some people have been there for 3 days already. Most people keep getting sucked in the vortex and end up staying for a few days. I really like it here but I need to make up for lost time. ( all the other zero's I've already took) I have been feeling really good. The body is finally working the way I want it to. Drew had arrived as well. He forgot his headlamp at the Saufley's and had ordered one from Amazon to arrive in one day to the Anderson's tomorrow. That would be crazy if it shows up tomorrow.

I'm in a food coma so it's off to sleep for me.

- Posted from my iPhone

Day 35, Trail toCasa De Luna!

May 26
Saufley's mile 454 to Oasis Water Cache mile 471 (Andersen's stocked cache)
Hike 17 miles

Ok so getting up this morning at 5am was really rough considering the night I just had...

I had planned on sleeping on a cot outside under the stars. Then I decided to sleep in the trailer on the couch since no else was there. I had my backpack all packed up and ready to go. Some other hikers said they where waking up and there sleeping bags where wet from condensation. So I gathered my stuff off the cot and brought it inside.

So here is what happened. I was watching Fight Club sitting on the couch and icing my achilles. It was dark outside almost everyone was a sleep there was a small group outside around the camp fire drinking beers and what not. A few of them have been drinking all day.

A hiker came in someone who I will leave un-named came in and sat next to me on the couch. I could smell alcohol big time, he was pretty wasted. Within a few minutes he is pasted out... Of course on the couch where I intend to sleep. So I was like hell no. I started shaking him to wake him up. I was saying hey man where is your sleeping bag man? You should go where your sleeping bag is. (Then I remembered from earlier he got here late and wasn't even supposed to be staying anyways) I tried to wake him but he was just mumbling and wasn't waking up. Pasted out drunk. Great. So I just kept watching the movie then I fell asleep. But I was awaken by this asshole trying to put his feet on me! (I actually really liked this guy, prior haha) Dude what the heck are doing? I pushed them off but he proceeded to keep putting them on me. Finally I threw his feet off and He stopped. I tried to sleep again sitting up on the couch and it wasn't happening and he wasn't waking up. He kept talking and mumbling things that weren't even words... great so i went outside to go sleep on my cot and someone had taken it. grrr. So I managed to be the first one here yesterday morning and be the one without a good place to sleep WTF. I slept on the dirty ass floor in the trailer. 3 good hours of sleep and Backroads came in the and woke me up. It's time for breakfast at the restaurant. At least I have that to look forward to.

We walked the 1 mile to town where the cafe was and I had french toast. Which was good, not great. We filled our water bladders and walked through town on the trail for like a mile or so then it was up into the hills. The walk was hot and there was tons of those dam bugs that keep trying to land in your eyes.

So this is me.



Umbrella and brand new head net in action. Love this thing already.

I was getting low on water but I was close to the Oasis cache. I was pretty confident it would be stocked, Since it was maintained by the Anderson's.

Yea the Oasis cache. You can see the Anderson's flare.



And sense of Humor.



I'm pretty exhausted. Here are the feet. I was planning on going all the way to the Anderson's but due to my lack of sleep and the hot weather I'm not going anywhere. I set my tent up right inside the cache. Ate dinner and I was in my bag ready to pass out.

I don't know what I was trying to show with this picture but it's the view when I look up in my tent.



At about 9 or 10 Leonidas and Tom came into the cache head lights a blazing. I welcomed them. They said sorry for waking me up but I wasn't sleeping, either way setting up my tent in the cache I expected people to be coming in. I told them it was totally fine not to worry I was awake.

I was going to waking up really early and pry waking them up so we would be even lol.

Tomorrow, Pancakes at the Anderson's.


- Posted from my iPhone

Day 34, The Saufley's

It's a race!

May 25
KOA mile 444 to Saufley's mile 454
Hiked 10 miles

For whatever reason I woke up and saw the red glow of head lamps. Checked the time and it was 3:24am. What the heck? Why is everyone up? I looked over and saw Drew and Tink where awake and packing up. I sat up and let he air from my Thermarest and proceeded to pack up in a frantic kind of way. It's a race now. Everyone says that this hike isn't a race. Right now it is. Get to the Saufleys house don't be the 51st person and ended being turned away. 3 or 4 others had left already. Plus I knew there was at least 5 people hiked out last night and where going to go half way. We have 10 miles plus 1 mile off trail through town. This could take 4-5 hours if I hustle. Alright let's go!

There was a golden spike monument right after the KOA. Its where the trail was finally completed north met south.


















Picture of the darkness we are hiking in this is the brightest start out this morning.

I started out towards the back and fell behind a little bit. I always start slow and end up stopping a lot to stretch.

Eventually I caught up to Drew and Tink and pasted them. The other group was pretty far ahead. But I saw there head lights in the distance coming towards us. That's weird. The trail crosses a dirt road and they didn't see the trail and continued to walk the road so they had to turn around (which sucks when that happens) I saw the trail down a ways. So now I was a head of them, but only by a little. So I put my head down and picked up the pace. I was going to beat them this was a race now for sure lol. (At least in my mind) I kept on going and going I was even running down the hills at times. It felt easier than walking, my pack was light. Very little water and practically no food. I had pasted OG, Mung and gang still in there sleeping bags. So that was good. It's funny we thought about hiking out last night too. But why? Why sleep out in the dirt when we can sleep at the KOA with bathrooms and running water. Wake up early and get to Saufley's before them anyways.

I could see the Vazquez Rocks picnic area ahead. I really needed to hurry cause I had an angry caller on line 2 haha. Luckily they had a porta-potty there. Since I have my pack off I used this time to take my pants and long sleeve shirt off since it was getting hot. I wasn't taking any breaks. I finally got into town and passes by the store, pizza shop and other reaturants this was a nice little town. The mile off trail to the Saufley's seems more like 3 miles. I left the KOA at 4:20am and walked into the Saufley's backyard at 8:12am. I was greeted by and dog and there was a couple RV's and horses as well. A huge rack of bikes.







These are the loaner bikes for us hikers to us to go to the store and what not.

Right away I am greeted by this guy. He offered to give me the tour and the run down of everything here.





He looked really familiar I even knew his voice. So I had to ask. "Hey you look really familiar, where do I know you from?" It's Tequila Jack! He made a YouTube video called what's in my pack. He hiked the PCT in 2011. I watched his video several times. So it was really cool to actually meet him.

Here is his video.

Click here for TequilaJacks YouTube video

He finishes showing me around and I drop off the clothes I wore this morning to get washed. Put my name on the list to take a shower and to go to REI. They have this trailer in there back yard for us hikers. It's pretty sweet. Has a shower, kitchen and living room where we can watch movies. There is a lot of people here laying about in the shade and some are soaking there feet. Backroads and Happy Man are here also.

Here's some pictures of their set up.
























Computers for us to use to get on the Internet.





I went to REI and I wanted to buy a sleeping bag, shoes, silk bag liner, head net, and a slightly warmer shirt that what I have to hike in.

I had to order the shoes and sleeping bag. Shoes have been set to Tehachapi. I bought Altra lone peak and Altra Olympus. I am pretty excited can't wait to try them on. I also sent a few things ahead like my rain pants some protein powder, honey and some other things I don't remember what what else was all in there.

I also have a resupply box here. I am all town clean and resupplied and ready to go so at 5 am I'm out of here. Backroads and I plan to go to the restaurant down the street for breakfast in the morning. Drew wasn't quite ready to leave so he is going to head out later in the day. Tink has to wait a few days cause her resupply person failed to send her box... Super shitty.

Off to dream about hiking haha or whatever my subconscious is thinking about.

Thank you Donna Saufley, you are amazing. Your place is super sweet I don't think anyone has a set up like you do. Thank you for everything you have done for me/us. Thank you to all your friends that dropped off food and snacks. (COOKIES! :) I speak for all us hikers we love you all for taking such good care of us!

Next stop the Anderson's!
(sorry it's been so long between post I haven't had good internet.)

- Posted from my iPhone