Category: On the move

I fell asleep instantly last night, I jerk awake at 2:30AM and hear Wolf rummaging. Rummaging is my job. They’re already getting ready. “Wolf what time are we leaving I yell over?” 3:30 is the response. “Happy 2 weeks” I’ve officially been living in the woods for two weeks now.

Comfortable yet? Nah. Adapting to this new life? Absolutely.

Now, I’ll admit this one. For the first time in my life people were waiting for me. I took forever to get ready. I didn’t want to untuck. I put on again frozen wet socks into soaked boots. My feet look awful and I look forward to drying them out. Before I can do that though there’s like 40 more miles before I take a zero day.

Last things I do is break down my tent and stuff it in the stuff sack. From sleeping on the snow and melting it with my body heat the bottoms soaked. Now my hands are soaked also. I convince myself it’s ok I’m just going to get sweaty in a minute anyways. Next I wrap up my tyvek and then put on my micro spikes. Can’t go anywhere without them today. I start off cold in just my raincoat. Runners tip. My arm pit zippers let me dump heat out during the climbs and then zip them tight on the down hills to stay warm. I even ripped it this morning, 270$ raincoat ripped my finger right through it pulling it down. Sheesh

3:45AM we’re on the move, right from the start it’s looking like 14 miles of snow. Again I want it frozen but it’s not. It’s softened Italian ice in late June. So it’ll be 14 hours of postholing. Last night was actually a comfortable sleeping night. The temperature was not too cold and the wind was non existent. Perfect sleeping, but not ideal for the hard snow pack I desired.

As I started off up the trail, it’s exactly what you expect, up and down along tree lines through knee deep snow. I imagine what it’s like in April. But I chose a March date and there for in here killing it I tell my self.

About 3 miles in Wolf takes a step and the ground gives out underneath them and they slip into a small crevasse and twist hard tumbling down. I immediately run over and jumped down 4-5 feet to grab their arm. As Wolfs franticly try to reach up for anything I can’t reach them. I fling my trekking pole down with my left hand and pull as hard as I can to jerk them forward and grab Wolf’s hand with my right hand.

Shout out to black diamond equipment. I absolutely love my carbon trekking poles.

We’re not out of the woods yet, their heavy bag my heavy bag, slope, fighting gravity… It quickly turns to arm day, I pull as hard as possible and struggle. One more screaming pull and we both get stable footing. Ok, let’s get you out of this hole. Maybe 5 minutes later we both get up right, take a deep breath and say holy fuck. I was in the right place at the right time. We both sit down and assess any injuries and let’s take a minute to think the next section through.

After this incident it’s buddy system and keep moving, we still have a long day today to get to a camp on the other side of the mountain. If we don’t keep pace it’ll get dark before we get there. We want to hit mile 191 today and get below 7,700 feet. Back into pine forests with hopefully no snow.

Today’s also a day I didn’t really take many photos. I had no time, we walked from sunrise to almost sunset. I saved my battery knowing I’ll need it for the map to navigate. Some of the trails just gone, we have to work around things, climb over downed trees and basically figure it out as we go. FarOut app and my compass come in handy.

Even with that it’s still just so beautiful my heads always on a swivel. The last half mile to camp was downhill, to me it wasn’t risky downhill but downhill where your knees and feet are bearing all your weight.

I arrive at camp and start to stomp out a sleeping area. Seven walks in and says “how bad was today? That sucked!” All three of us agree on that. Although it was beautiful it was just physically hard, a great workout. My watch and ring said I burned 5930 calories.

I stomp down as much snow as I can but I still pitch my tent again on top of it. I climb into my tent to get warm and then begin dinner and melting snow to have some water.

I’m completely out of water and snows my only option. Melt first, filter after. My cook pot cooked rice, ramen, and pasta the last three days, now I have burnt rice flavored water. Gross I didn’t think that one through, it’s hard to drink.

As I lay in my tent I listen to the sounds outside. I hear chirps and some sound I don’t recognize. I think it’s a cougar making their yelp/chirp sounds. I’m too tired to care, tomorrow is another long day. I pull my quilt nice and tight after putting on my sleeping clothes (everything that’s not wet) and say goodnight to the other two. I think they thought it was kindve weird, but I also told them both I was proud of them.

We kicked ass today and covered some miserable terrain together. The last 50 miles were easy in comparison. As I take out my headphone to put in ear plugs for the night I hear Wolf talking on the phone. Shocked they have full cell service, I haven’t had a bar of service in two days.

Off to bed, looking to push on past the snow tomorrow. I heard a rumor that the snow ends after mile 195. That means only five more miles of post holing.

After that amazing sunset I fell asleep really fast, but it feels like I didn’t sleep at all. I’m not tired, in fact I feel great. But it’s one of those nights I feel like I fell asleep and woke up in 1 minute later. Like the night before a big game. I flick on my headlamp and go pee (in a bottle so I don’t have to put shoes on)… After, I tuck back into my sleeping bag and start packing up my stuff. It’s actually the perfect temperature out. I just wanted another minute to snuggle before changing clothes.

Okay enough is enough, time to get up. First I tape up my toe, I’m still nursing that blister and with wet feet forecasted for the next four days it’s going to be a challenge. My dad would say, his dad would say “you gotta keep your feet dry, wipe and dry between your toes.” Him and Lt Dan. That guy spent years in the Philippines during WWII. I imagine those guys had no idea what dry feet were back then. I’ve seen the Pacific. You could have endless sock and not be dry. Oooof no complaints here sir.

Next I change back into my hiking clothes from yesterday. Smartwool shin high socks, one injini liner on the right foot, OD green short shorts, and my pink uv sun shirt, all still nice and wet from the snow and sweat yesterday. I grab my shoes, even better, not only cold. But cold and wet. It reminds me of high school AM hockey practices. Except I actually smell less now and no gloves. Let’s go!

It’s 4:30 AM and the three of us are awake and ready now. Someone’s alarm went off at 4:15AM. It wasn’t me, I don’t need an alarm clock. I take a moment to enjoy the view of Palm Springs with Wolf and wait for Seven to dig himself a cat hole and do his business. I decide to wait, I have a rule no catholes 1/4 mile from camp.

We get moving in the dark, three headlamps guiding the way up trail. Seven on point, Wolf in the middle me running tail end Charlie. It’s a day of almost all uphill again, the only downhill is the PUDS. Pointless ups and downs, and there a lot of them. After the first mile Seven yells back to spike up.

It’s time to readjust my gear, even out the weight of my pack, tighten up my straps and throw on the microspikes and get out the ice axe. Time to focus. Oop but before the spikes go on time for me to dig a cat hole, I almost waited too long.

We chose to leave this early in the morning so the snow would still be frozen. By mid day it’ll be a slushy mess and more difficult to navigate. Microspikes IMO are almost worthless on slush. Sure my footings good but the entire layer of snow under it is not. For that reason I’ll always take a nice ice layer to dig spikes into versus variable snow and question sub surface.

As we approach Apache Peak and start crossing the snowy ridge line Wolf yells out “I don’t like this.” Seven “me either!”

It’s the first I’ve heard or seen Wolf and Seven scared. It’s reasonable, understandable and completely normal. A couple people have died at this very spot. And now that I’m facing it, I can 100% see why. In 2020 a hiker shipped his ice axe and micro spikes to the town just after this section. He tried to summit and cross with two trail buddies when he slipped. He fell 600+ feet to his death.

His parents now partner with a foundation and Nomad Adventures for microspikes and ice axes for PCT nobos and if you’re hard up for cash they even offer a discount. Nomad Adventures is where we got good intel about what, where and when to go through. The Laher’s don’t want any other parents to feel what they did or go through what they had to again. There’s zero reason to go up without the proper gear. We took a Nero day in Idylwild to wait for UPS to deliver our gear. Annoying meeh but safety in the backcountry always always takes precedent.

Go check out the Trevor Spikes Program:

https://www.trekfortrevor.org/news/trevor-spikes-program-to-ship-discounted-microspikes-to-pct-hikers-in-memory-of-trevor-laher

I look at Wolf with a confident face and a big smile and say “Hey Wolf you got this, easy peazy. Just don’t look down.” I don’t know if they did look or not. I did, and fuck every bit of that look if you don’t like heights. I honestly spent a lot of time looking down. The view was absolutely amazing, sunrise felt like forever and I have no problem with heights. I was once an iron worker, dangling off buildings in the wind.

As far as how I feel mountaineering like this? I feel comfortable in the snow, maybe it’s the near decade I lived in New Hampshire chasing summits with my buddy Andy. I personally always thought he was a beast on trail, I could never keep up with him. Now I’m glad I tagged along, he subliminally schooled me up and got me some good experience.

Between him dragging me out, hiking Mt Washington, the NH48, the amount of time I spent skinning back country ski runs. I also can’t forget my work friends taking me deer hunting after snowstorms and teaching me to track game. I use to thrive in the snow I just never “loved” or hated it. Just not my cup of tea. But that’s also why I’m out here, to get out of my comfort zone. I also need to learn to love it I guess, because for 39+ days I’ll be in the Sierras and there will be a lot more of this type of thrill.

Anyways as we navigate over what feels like 5 miles of ridge line it was only really 2 so far of that terrain according to my Garmin. Damn we all say out loud there is no way we’d be out here without spikes and an ice axe. Even with those it’s still sketchy, one wrong move and yikes. I don’t think I could self arrest on this snow and this angle.

I expect the trail to be like this for a while, knowing weather, and the diurnal angles of the sun for this time of year I expect we will be in the shady side all morning then slushy side in the afternoon. When we poke around the other side briefly the snow is gone. Never buy a north facing house in Colorado they say.

In the distance I see SAR helicopters. I’m hoping they’re doing training or just flying the area for the fun today. In bad weather I cant see how they would be able to get up here.

After a quick cliff side break it’s a few more miles of the same. This time I’m running point, at the last peak I didn’t feel 100%. Dehydrated from having no water left, waiting for my snowbag slung over my shoulder to melt and just burned out from the first few miles I tell Seven let me get up front. In my head, I want to set the pace if I’m hurting, I don’t want to rush to catch up. I fear rushing at the end of a day to catch up to my group is how you make mistakes. And mistakes in this section are fatal.

Slow is smooth, smooth is fast I remind myself.

Finally we find a break in the snow, we hit a beautiful camping section and sit down for lunch. That spot had some of the biggest pine cones I’ve ever seen. I tossed a few like footballs to keep my mind busy as my lunch heated. In my head I know my buddy Pat would fumble that pine cone. Kid has cymbals for hands.

Second benefit of the hot lunch was thinking I would use the heat to melt the snow for water. It didn’t work. Looking at my food bag, I don’t think I brought enough for how many calories I’m burning. After finishing my hot lunch and housing a bag of gummy worms it’s game on to the next six hours of snow.

Overall, today doesn’t seem like the other days to me. We covered roughly twelve miles over 14 hours but it was brutally slow. Every step was lifting your leg knee high. I postholed all day and with post holing cut up my legs even more than they already were. Someone joked must have item is now mini soccer shin guards.

As I take off my bag it’s what I imagine is like taking off a bra at the end of a long day. I prepare to camp in the snow tonight, something I’m semi afraid of. My tent, my sleeping pad and my quilt are not rated for “snow” season, but I remember Blueprint giving me four hand warmers in Idyllwild and me saying if I don’t need them I’ll give them back when we see ya again in Banning… Chances are he’s getting Venmoed a huge thank you and not physically getting them back.

We arrive at a trail junction, I don’t even remember which one and the three of us are smoked. We grab water from an underground spring. I had to have Seven get a bag for me. My arms were too short to reach it. After filling up we take a quick group poll of is this camp? Seven and Wolf both say yes we’ve had enough for today. And just like that we’re home for the night.

I stomp around a flat spot on the ground to lay my tent under a pine tree. I look above for widow makers, any branches that look dead and will fall over night. I can’t see any it looks like a healthy 200’ tall tree. Fingers crossed. Wolf pitches their tent right next to me and Seven a little bit away. Really on the only “flat” spots.

I’m not social tonight, really none of us are. I skip group dinner and eat in my tent. Once my shoes come off I’m not leaving the tent till morning. Feet go into the sleeping bag to dry. I have Ramen noodles, Knorr Rice Medley, 2 rice krispy treats, a slim Jim a bag of peach rings and a donut. I pop my multi vitamins a vitamin D and a Tylenol with a blue cotton candy flavored liquid IV. Healthy living, even eating like trash 24/7 now, in the two weeks I’ve been out here walking every single day…. I have six pack abs again! Granted, looks wise I was in pretty good shape before coming out from lifting, yoga, running etc, but after this next few months watch out Brad Pitt from fight club.

After dinner like a Mouse I rummage around my bag of goodies looking for some pot. I plan on rolling a doobie, putting in my headphones and watching a movie. One of my favorites too, take a guess what one. In the 90 seconds it takes me to roll one up Wolf appears, I guess they do have good noses.

I offer Wolf some. There’s no time to be selfish out here. There’s something about going through some sketchy shit together that brings you closer to someone. I’m hoping we wake up and tomorrow’s conditions are a little more firm so we can get back to laying down fat milage in the snow while we make jokes and small talk.

I climbed into my tent around 5PM, the earliest night yet but for good reason. We ride again at 3AM this time so I need to get a jump start on my sleep. I take a look at the weather and it says tonight’s going to be 34° F at this elevation.

I shall prepare for a cold one ugh.

I wake up curled into a ball on the couch later than normal in a cozy cabin in Idyllwild. Temperature a perfect 65 degrees, Wolf booked the cabin so they got the bedroom, Seven took the floor. Today my package says delivery is guaranteed between 11:00AM- 2PM. I leave the cabin promptly at 10:30AM to get to Paradise Valley Cafe again to get my package. Today I remain positive for UPS.

We get to Paradise Valley Cafe, sit in the exact same seats as we did a few days before and Seven orders a milk shake to start. I say that would wreck my stomach before the 12 miles of uphill to Cedar Spring and Saddle Junction. But hey more power to ya. Hydrate!

After hanging for a little bit UPS arrives and we walk towards the entrance to start checking to see if our packages were already there. They weren’t, then we metaphorically jump the UPS guy at the door and he hits us with “there’s only 1 package on the truck today” line. I follow him out and ask him to check his truck again and surprise surprise there was two MORE packages on the truck. Those packages were Wolfs and mine. Nice!

I immediately ripped open that box and got my new shoes, ice axe, microspikes a new hat and a bunch of random snacks that my dad decided to throw in at the last minute. Also a dozen candles? Why dad?

This is always a blessing and a curse because yes you have new and more stuff, new food you miss, but now you’re carrying more weight. A lot more weight.

After Wolf and I get our new gear situated, we jump in the car and go head to the trailhead, I got shotgun today. As we exit civilization and get back into the woods we start to climb exactly what we came down yesterday. it’s brutally up, as we get to the junction we split at yesterday the real trail miles begin, we are back on the PCT. Seven leading the pack, he says “I’m stopping every hour for a break, and in 6 miles a good lunch.” Sure bud I’m not fighting that.

As we get above 7,000 feet the snows back, this is the first section that is actually a little sketchy. Definitely no fall zones and we’re still climbing. A few points we hit sections we don’t even see a trail, Seven swaps and takes second position and Wolf takes lead.

Another miles or so and I’m sucking wind. The altitude, the uphill and the heavy bag. Heart rate 144BPM. My feet now feel wet, my blisters don’t hurt, but I know they’ll be cold in a few hours. As I continue hiking, in my head I say to stay focused on each step and keep moving forward.

Another mile goes by, and then two, and then three of just relentless post holeing and back and forth climbs. Wolf decides to jump into third slot, they don’t want us behind them pressuring their pace. I fully get that, we’re in a no fuck up zone and no one needs any added stress. I turn my headphones off and toss on airplane mode. Sorry sis I can’t text right now.

I tell Wolf since my feet are bigger than theirs, let me get lead spot and they can jump into my post holes,

I’ll boot pack it for ya bud. I got you.

Finally we pass the snow fields and get back on a ridge line. Couple more miles of smooth sailing up and down along that ridge and we see a nice few spots to pitch our tents. We pitch and then gather around for dinner, I hang my socks up to hopefully dry out, and dig some snow to melt for water. I took 2.5 liters with me and have none left after dinner. Over night I hope to melt some snow in my CNOC bag and I’ll filter it in the AM. Tonight I’ll literally cuddle a bag of snow.

Before heading to bed Wolf and I sit on some rocks and talk. Wolf asks me what’s on my mind? I tell Wolf secrets about how I never really felt fulfilled being an engineer, manager, director, corporate sell out etc, and how leaving that bullshit behind and the big money behind with it people thought I was fucking crazy. But money didn’t make me happy, pretending I was someone else every day didn’t do it for me either, and the past few weeks being houseless, with people totally different than I, but in other ways totally the same, it’s weirdly the happiest I’ve ever been.

Wolf slips a 5th of Whiskey out of their pocket and offers some my way while we enjoy some cali green I rolled up while talking. We call for Seven to join and he says “no, F off.” He’s watching Peeky Blinders in this tent. More sunset for us. I’m more of a sunrise guy but I never miss a sunset.

After one of the best sunsets of the trail so far I retire to my tent for the night. I stretch, put on fresh socks, brush my teeth and put on my sleep clothes. In typical Mouse fashion I rustle around for about an hour patching holes in my gear. Tonight’s it’s my Patagonia jacket, and tonight’s also a short night, tomorrow we will wake up at 4AM sharp to beat the sun rising and melting the snow.

We hear tomorrow’s sections worse than today and we want to make sure our microspikes have traction on the hard snow. If im honest, I am nervous about these next two days but I also feel good going at it early so we are fresh in the day to see it through. With good firm underneath I’m confident in my ability to get through.

Nestled in the San Jacinto Mountains, Idyllwild is a small town where Pacific Crest Trail hikers like my self stop to resupply around mile 170. Idyllwild is a beautiful town surrounded by towering pine trees and granite peaks. It also has great food, friendly locals, a laid back atmosphere and an awesome golden retriever Mayor.

People like me roll into town either by hiking the Devils Slide Trail or getting a hitch in from the highway. I caught a hitch in from the highway by Blueprint, once I got into town my first stop was the outfitters. I needed to get a new water filter after I suspect mine has frozen. Rule of thumb, frozen filters are compromised. You’ll get sick using a compromised filter.

After talking with the people in the shop we got good intel about Mt San Jacinto. We will have to game plan tonight at dinner. Although we’ve mostly been hiking alone and then camping near each other at night, Mt San Jacinto is a team sport. A section where you really can mess up quickly and die. But before we plan, let’s enjoy the day in Idyllwild.

Idyllwild is a great spot to rest up, I’m staying at the beautiful Idyllwild inn in a cabin with Seven and we hope to meet the iconic Mayor Max. 

Lisa at the front desk offered to do a load of laundry for us, she could def smell us as we walked in. It feels good to have clean clothes again after I don’t know 70 miles?

Once we get the call from Lisa that our clothes are done in the laundry we get dressed and go exploring. I hit the post office to mail some post cards and then grab some food from the market. Prices in California still shock me. I’m honestly not a cheap person at all, especially being from Boston but I’ve been blown away so far.

We have no set plans in town besides for errands, resting and fueling back up. Seven and I find some cool sites as we walk through the small town and tonight we get to pick what’s for dinner.

Pizza it is!

Right outside the hotel are some cool shops and an arcade. We walk the small town and see what the place has to offer, as we walk further we see more hikers hobble in. It’s a few familiar faces, we see Craig and Renaissance from the night before a few hours later, glad y’all made it!

We meet a few more hikers at the Idyllwild Pizza place and grab a pitcher of beer and some grub. Seven sees a vintage Pac-Man machine in the corner and decides to make a run for the high score. Me fully encouraging it giggles and says “man it’s a Tuesday and instead of work I’m sitting here watching my buddy play Pac-Man as we drink beer and eat pizza” life is good.

As we swap stories we talk about the night priors weather. The hiker at the bar said he was heading up the mountain at 4PM and got blown off by high winds and ran down at night. Search and rescue had to save three other hikers from hypothermia in the middle of the night. it’s honestly much colder than I expected out here. Especially at high elevation.

We start to brainstorm a game plan for tomorrow, Wolf’s phone goes off and they get a message that their resupply box and ice axe is now delayed also. We both got screwed by UPS on this one. Our plans now change again.

UPS you are straight up rubbish.

I toss the idea out that we can get dropped off back at trail and then slack pack the 13 miles up trail just before San Jacinto and get our packages afterwards. It’s not ideal as we wanted to summit a day sooner, but it maintains our continuous northbound thru hike, lets us get mileage in tomorrow and even lets us have to do less mileage per day over the next week. We settle on that plan and line up our ride to the trail head.

After a few hours of sleep and hanging around all morning we head for the trail head at 11AM, we’re heading up the ridge up to 7,000’ and then hanging a left down Cedar Springs back down to a different parking lot. 3,300’ elevation gain over 14.5 miles.

Starting mid day I am behind the curve, but I also know my legs will crush the mileage once I start going, as I get the first few miles under my belt I go from desert into pine forest again.

Wow these pine trees are gorgeous, as I continue to climb I can see Palm Springs in the distance beneath us. I’ve never been to Palm Springs but Seven and I discuss maybe going and playing a round of golf there.

After turning back towards the left I notice the ridge looks familiar to me. it reminds me of Franconia Ridge, not as beautiful or green in my opinion but still pretty! A little reminder of home and where I usually hike puts a smile on my face. It also reminds me I plan to get my annual Pemi loop done in September when I get home.

After summiting the ridge line and making it to the trail junction I hang a left, it’s two and a half miles down windy switch backs to the road way where our hitch is heading. I text him as we make the left turn and tell him 4PM arrival…. So we are really pushing it. On the way down Seven and I stop for a quick break, we chat, make jokes, and sing songs. He tells me he woke up with the US National Anthem stuck in his head.

I clown him and tell him there’s still hope for him as a Canadian. The longer he’s in America I’ll rub off on him, but only the good American traits though not the bad.

As I continue to crush the down hill it’s a full jog at this point. I pick my head up and see three deer staring at me from trail. I tell them they’re alright mate and they don’t need to move. I for some reason become Australian when I speak to wild animals. They quietly jumped over the fence and hid in the land that says “Posted- No Hunting.” Those were the first deer I’ve seen since I’ve been on trail. I love seeing animals out here.

I make it to road side first and see our ride. Exchange hellos and wait for the others, after the others arrive it’s a twenty minute ride back to town and I’m thinking about crushing another pizza this time BBQ chicken.

I let Seven get shotgun, I want to see if I get car sick today, I have a theory that after I’m tired and hiked all day I just dgaf. In the car ride back I assess my body, today’s the first day I feel a little off. Besides for rolling my ankle today, my body’s finally sore from my cactus fall the other day and on top of that my Oura ring is telling me my body temp, my heart rate and my breathing are all abnormal from my baseline. The last two I contribute to the altitude otherwise🤞🏼 I’m not getting sick!

Vitamins vitamins vitamins!

We get to town and hit the brew pub as a foursome. A round of beers and some championship winning fries, the pubs an awesome spot with great decor. The service tonight however is lacking, Wolf orders their last drink and it never arrives, bummer, we pay our bill and head out. The waitress didn’t charge me for my Sprite. Gracias

After dinner we head back to our cabin number 15 and chill for the night around the fire place. After Seven fails to light a good fire we swap stories and plan out our ascent for tomorrow, rough plan, breakfast at the diner at 8:15AM, head to Paradise Valley Cafe at 11AM to get our delayed packages then get dropped off at the trail head we got picked up at yesterday. This section starts our first real climb and I think the other two are more excited for it than I am.

I wake up to the birds chirping before sunrise. It’s a quiet morning otherwise. I slept well, feet feel like nothing, legs feel good and my minds clear. It’s a short day today only 15ish miles. The weather forecast is calling for rain and 45MPH wind gusts tonight and after the other night I want a little more sheltered camp site tonight.

I start walking before the others and want to beat the sun. I started with virtually no water after drinking it all last night and there isn’t any planned for 11 miles. A little sunburnt from yesterday, this week’s forecast is clear sky’s during the day. The scenery changes so much here, desert, mountains, desert, ridges, switchbacks. It keeps the uphill slogs interesting and fun.

I pass by some trail gates that keep me motivated. My goal is Canada and I’m done talking about it.

I’m doing it.

The trail gets harder after I see this. With my mind on the end of the day goal and me just zoned out I miss the side trail to Thule Spring, by the time I check my map I’ve gone too far to double back, screw it I push on I make it to the underground water cistern and it’s grotesque. I see a few dead snakes in there and decide I am definitely not drinking from it.

On to the next water source which was at a persons house a mile up a dirt road.

I get to the house and there’s no one there but barking dogs. I say at least there’s a fence and just like that the dog jumps the 5 foot fence clean and I stand face to face with it as it barks at me. “You’re alright buddy, I’m a friend” I tell it. I wait a few minutes like a western stand off am I going to get bit or nah, luckily it’s bark was worse than its bite and someone appears from the backyard.

“Hi there how’s it going?”

It was the owners son.

I say hello and tell him I needed some water if he could spare it. He shows me where the hose was. After I thanked him we talked for 10 minutes about how he ended up living there, how the area was with hikers and that the dogs are indeed friendly. As we talk and I filter my water Wolf walks up.

“Mouse did you get my Garmin message?”

BING- just did. An hour too late.

It says I’m heading to a house .7 miles up the road for water. We both had the same idea. 7 skipped it, kid just doesn’t drink water. It’s actually impressive his ability to camel up at night and hike all day. Canadian must have Labatt Blue in his blood.

The home owners let us fill up all our bottles as he tells us this was the last water source for the next 15 mile. Wolf crushes a frozen but now thawed out burrito they had bought at the gas station 20+ miles earlier in Warner Springs. What a power move that was.

After thanking the owner for the water and leaving I went another few miles and I make my first real mistake of this thru hike. I took a wrong turn, went up a couple hundred feet and actually slipped and fell.

I fell backwards, rolled over a rock and fell into a cactus. It stuck me good in my ass and leg. As I roll out of it onto my stomach and look up, Wolf’s standing there staring. “What the fuck are you doing? You okay?”

Luckily I was ok. But that could’ve been worse. I learned a lesson today. Slow down, slow is smooth and smooth is fast. Wolf gave me a quick look over to make sure nothing was in my back and we walked on. We get a mile behind us and I say ugh shit I think I lost my AirPods. They fell out of my bag somewhere during that tumble. I look at Wolf completely defeated and say I don’t care. Wolf looks me square in the face and sternly says “no, go find them buddy, I’ll see ya later.”

I drop my backpack right on trail, swear 6 loud F words and actually trail run back to get them. I search and search and search and can’t find them. 4 more F words. “Find my headphones” doesn’t work with out cell service apparently. 1 more F word directed towards Apple.

About to give up I finally get on my hands and knees and look under a bush for one last try and find them. Ahah! There they are. Huge win after a small loss and minor injury.

From here on it was a battle up hill. My tailbone now bruised, dehydrated, sunburnt, and foot is on fire but my legs still feel good. My legs feel great even. Even with that I’m planning on stopping at Little Bears house tonight. I heard Little Bear will let us crash on his property and feed us some real food. He is a triple crowner who hiked the trail years ago and now lives here a mile off trail while he works as a SeaBee in San Diego.

I walk the mile road walk to his house and meet his wife Joanna, their 3 kids, their dog Lady the two cats Iris and Socks. Seven was already there when I arrived, luckily I saw him or I would’ve kept walking. Wolf arrives a few hours after and then two other hikers Craig and Renaissance a few hours later. They asked us if there’s room and with us dirty thru hikers there is always room for one more.

Craig retired in September after 39 years as a letter carrier. Even in his 60s he’s fit and ready for this, he said he made sure to make his backpacking pack the same weight as his mail bag for the memories.

Renaissance was from Mississippi, he hiked the trail last year, he found him self in San Diego initially while enlisted in the Navy and learned of the trail. When he got out he hiked it once, now he is hiking it a second time and has a lot of info to share. I didn’t get to talk to him much because he got there late but we’ll catch up again in the future.

Little Bear and Joanna have an awesome set up, I offer to help Little Bear with his chickens as he gets home from work. We gather eggs for the house and laugh about egg prices with Seven because he says they are still cheap in Canada.

For dinner I think I had four or five hot dogs and some chips, two Gatorade’s and a Coke. That’s a good dinner, I’ll burn that off by 9AM. I’ll also have to get up to pee tonight. Since we’re all crammed together in this shed tonight I think it’s going to bother everyone!

After dinner I head to Little Bears shed/chicken coup where the five of us will be cowboy camping tonight. Tonight it’s raining with sustained 45 mph winds, I’m so thankful to be inside.

We all set up our pads on the floor, talk about a game plane for tomorrow and grab each others phone numbers just in case. My plan tomorrow just changed, I check my package delivery date and it’s delayed. Paradise Valley Cafe is in 7 miles and my box will be there three days late.

Overall, subpar performance from UPS, my dad was stuck at work and couldn’t ship my box on its intended day. Instead in an emergency he paid for three day shipping over a week ago. I’ll let ya guess how much that cost?

Plan now is to hike the short day to PVC seven miles and then jump a hitch to Idylwild to resupply. Spend a night in Idylwild and then hitch back to PVC to grab my box of shoes and ice axe and then get moving north again. I need the ice axe and microspikes for San Jacinto. The mountain just got a foot of snow and I’m excited to get over it.

One thing that’s certain, I need to be flexible out here. Plan and then adapt to it, roll with the punches and just smile. Worst case I crush 2 days worth of burgers in town and hang around to meet the mayor Max. I heard the mayors a good boy. In my normal life this uncertainty would stress me hell out, out here I am as cool as a cucumber. What’s my rush? I have 288 more days off this year. I am going to enjoy every one of them.

I arrive at the trailhead with Wolf and Seven and get a ride the mile up the road to Paradise Valley Cafe by a hiker Blueprint. I met Blueprint back in Julian through Wolf. Wolf and Blueprint met on another long trail and kept in touch.

Blueprints burning the next few weeks preparing for his AZT thru hike. He hiked the PCT in 2022 and has been giving us his experiences as well. Blueprint was a pilot, he retired and then became a college professor teaching. He fully retired and said I’m going to spend the next ten years hiking. He’s currently in year 8, Blueprints an awesome guy to talk to and a wealth of knowledge.

We get to Paradise Valley Cafe at 10:30AM and order breakfast, a round of breakfast burritos and a Banana bread beer for the lads, the waitress says in 30 minutes we can order lunch.

After finishing up breakfast, myself and Seven order bacon cheese burgers for lunch. I skipped the veggies portion of the burger but viciously ate it while on the phone with UPS. UPS didn’t have anything good to say.

After our food we take the half hour drive to Idyllwild to resupply, pick up packages for Seven and Wolf and enjoy some cold drinks somewhere.

Today it’s considered a Nero day. Nearly zero miles covered, we’ve been doing 15 mile days no sweat so today feels like cheating with less than 10. But deep down it’s fine with me, it’s not a sprint but a marathon. Many people who have finished the PCT say he who finishes last wins.

I like that….

Well, last night was quite frankly was the second longest night since we have been out here. The 35 mph winds just completely battered me all night long. 7 laughed multiple times as his freestanding Durston tent ate it like a champ.

The combination of wet ground, small stakes and just relentless winds all night long I think I re pitched my tent three times. One thing that’s become clear my sleep on this trail is going to suffer. At least initially.

A positive though throughout the night each time I would get out of my tent I would look at the moon, although we missed the lunar eclipse due to the bad weather the night before. The moon tonight is still super bright. It’s felt like a full moon for 10 days now.

I wake up at 6:30 before the sunrise and start my day with a scenic breakfast. 7 hears me rummaging around like a Mouse and decides to join me. It’s F’n go time.

Today’s plan is to camp a little past Warner Springs. I have about 17 miles to get there and it’s looking good. A steep climb to start the day and then all down hill through Warner Springs Meadow. I pass by the 100 mile marker and get even more stoked. It only took 98 miles to get my first blister! And it’s a doozy.

So far, this has been the prettiest section I have seen. Rolling hills, cows and turkeys everywhere. At one point they were actually in the way. Will they move? Do I move?

Before I make it to Warner Springs, after Warner Springs Meadow I pass by a famous rock formation Eagle Rock. My dad’s always talking about rocks or trees. He would absolutely love this spot. “hey Chris look at that erratic” is all I kept hearing in my head. And wow was that truly awesome. I sat with tears in my eyes completely alone for miles. He doesn’t know it but it was a moment for him. A happy moment, a moment of complete inner peace.

I decided to yard sale my gear and let it all dry out while I was there to take in some extra time. I fear walking too fast and missing the small details like this. Life is short, and I took the entire year off. While I’m relaxing there 7 and Wolf both arrive and I was able to get a picture.

After packing back up its three or four more miles of absolutely gorgeous rolling fields and next thing you know I’m in the Warner Springs community center charging up my phone. The community is putting on an event for PCT Hikers. I run into Legend again as he’s following the bubble north. It’s always appreciated to feel the love from the community.

While checking in at the community center the gentleman notices my accent. He points me to the wall, I get to stick the pin in the map for Boston. 2025s first Massachusetts hiker to come through this town on the PCT. I’ll take it! And then I’ll take a nice cold can of Sprite too sir.

After I finished my Sprite I tossed it in recycling and asked some random guy if he’d give us a hitch up the road to the gas station. Almost 6$ gas prices. Thank goodness I run on gummy worms, snickers bars and ramen noodles.

Resupply was for roughly for six days. It was honestly scarce inside the store, I expect to be really hungry in 4 days before we get to Paradise Valley Cafe. While at PVC I’m also going to be picking up a new pair of shoes, micro spikes and my ice axe for climbing Mt San Jacinto that my dad mailed me last week. After Paradise Valley Cafe it’s then 2 more days before I get to the town of Idylwild.

I think I’m going to take a zero in Idylwild. A zero is a day off. I need to rest my feet, pick up some green, and take a good long shower. I also just hear it’s a pretty cool town that takes care of its hikers. If it’s like Julian I’m sure I’ll enjoy it but we will see how I feel when I get there though. Everyone knows I can’t sit still. I like to rummage.

After I say goodbye to beautiful people of Warner Springs, it was 6 1/2 more miles to my babbling Aqua Caliente creekside tent site. The winds tonight are calm. That’s a win. I heat up my dinner and eat it quickly, tonight I need to look at my foot before it’s dark. Is it getting better? No. But does it hurt? Also no. Ok you’re fine.

Quick J for the bones after dinner with 7 and Wolf and I slide into my tent for the night. The temps drop quickly and I bundle up inside my quilt. Time to drift off into dream land.

I plan to wake up before the other two to get a head start. They don’t know it, but with my feet broken I have to walk slower but longer. It’s roughly 17 miles to Mikes place and 3,200’ vertical up. Mikes place is a trail angels place where hikers can go and hang out, refresh, and kill some time before moving on. I read on Facebook that Mike’s place was having water issues a few weeks ago, but I’m hoping that is cleared up by now. Tomorrow will be a long day and I’m mentally ready for it.

After a couple nights in Julian to wait out the snow storm we decided we couldn’t wait anymore. The people of Julian have been absolutely amazing. From giving us free food and drinks to even discounting our hotel room, the hospitality definitely earns good reviews and it’s super appreciated. I was lucky to even drop my laundry off after 10 days in the same clothes and they took care of it for me.

Wolf knows a guy Professor from the last time they hiked the Tahoe Rim Trail who lives local. He said he would give us a hitch back to scissors crossing in the morning to get back on trail from Julian. The weather forecast for tomorrow AM (Friday) looks promising so we are definitely going to be motivated to move fast.

Weather forecasts like this I would honestly rather be blind to. But, this couple day section is definitely one where I’ll have to embrace the suck.

I wake up around 6 and take a last shower and get ready. Seven wants to hit the Miners Diner at 8 when it opens because our hitch gets here at 9. Big breakfast guy that guy. The trail angel who’s giving us the ride goes by the name Professor. He pulled up at 8:45 in a blue Subaru.

There’s 5 of us today. Myself Wolf, Seven, and we picked up Anita and Dirk from Germany. They are not “together” but when they arrived in the US they had obviously a lot in common both being from Germany, so they started hiking together.

We cram into professors Impreza like it’s a clown car and take the 25 minute ride to the trail. 15 minutes in Wolf asks if I’m going to need a Zofran haha. Long windy roads, snow on the ground, a guy called Professor driving, 5 speed Subaru! Nah I’m good today. Honestly why I skipped breakfast.

We get to the trail head and the sun is thinking about shining. The Professor tells us it’s about a 3 mile up and then smooth sailing to the water cache 14 miles in. I take 2.5 liters of water with me thinking it’s raining. I won’t drink as much with my rain cover on. It’s a hassle to get in and out of my bag in the rain.

2.5 miles in I turn and look at the switchbacks I just crushed, absolutely beautiful. Single track the whole way up, nice and windy. I make it to the water cache and meet another hiker Juan from Mexico. He said he started March 1st but was really taking his time. He had been at the cache for 2 days waiting out the weather.

I grab 2 liters for the next bunch of miles while I make some ramen noodles to mentally warm up. As soon as I finished my noodles Seven walks up for his water and then I’m back walking again. The cache is about a mile down a small hill off trail. The way back up that hill felt very heavy.

I get to the cross roads of the trail and there’s a trail log. I sign in “Mouse” and remember the vape pen I found 5 miles back in my pocket. Randomly I hear someone yelling did anyone find a red vape pen! Yes I yell back! I dropped it in the hiker box. I couldn’t believe I even found the owner and could drop that weight while here. That was nice too, I didn’t want to carry the trash. Nicotine? No thank you.

With the rain picking up Seven and I really start to get moving, we are looking to go another six more miles before we set up camp. We’re expecting it to be an early night with the weather. I don’t think I stopped over the next six miles and next thing you know I’m pitching my tent on the wet ground.

I spent 10 minutes finding rocks, I suspect I will need them tonight to secure my stakes in the soft sand. With winds whipping in my Duplex tent is going to get battered all night. It’s an ear plugs night.

After pitching my tent I decide to do something I NEVER do back home. I make my dinner inside knowing there is no bears in So Cal. Tonight I finished off the noodles I started for lunch, little margarita pepperoni tossed in for kicks and then it’s off to bed.

As I lay in my tent listening to the wind pick up. Seven and I talk about the pros and cons of his tent vs mine. Both work well, both well made. But tonight I think I’ll find out why a free standing tent may have been easier on the PCT. Night night folks

Chilly but much warmer than last night. 4:45AM, I am startled by the sound of something shhhhhzzzzip.  7’s tent zipper opening as he goes pee. I wake up with the feeling I over slept. What time is it? Searching for my watch in the dark. Feeling like I had somewhere to be, today is day 75 that “I’m unemployed and selectively homeless”. I have nowhere to be, this is exactly what I want and need right now.

Today’s goal, a short day, I’m not sure if Wolf was right on the day light savings thing, but between 6-7AM sunrises and being in a canyon it would be a while before it was truly light out.  Heading north the sun will be in my face the entire climb to Lake Morena. I suspect that will be a trend for the entire trail. It makes me wonder about getting darker sunglasses.

I slowly and methodically pack up my camp, sleeping quilt/bag on bottom, various soft things in the middle, and my food on very top. Since my tents still wet, that goes on the outside of my pack today. I segregate things I’ll need access to and bury the things I won’t need till tonight. It’s only 5 short miles to Lake Morena.  I pack 2.5ish liters of water knowing I’ll be in the sun on the ascent. I shoot for 1 liter for every 4 miles, but today I carry a little extra to try and catch up for yesterday. 

The long windy switchbacks were relentless. Coming from hiking mainly NH, switchbacks suck.  I think they kind’ve make me dizzy. I get my first glimpse of the Lake and next think you know I’m settling into the campground mid day to dry my stuff out.

After setting up my stuff next to the trail angel Legend and his crew. I hang out for a bit and meet the folks who set up to help and guide new hikers. They ask me my plans and where I’m from, we exchange info and my stuff dries out nice. They laugh when I tell them my story, my career, family, etc. A few of them being retired from engineering tell me “kid you don’t know it yet but you’re life just changed”…

In the last 18 months, they truly have no idea just much that was already true.

I get a text from Wolf, they were about an hour behind me the whole time. Wolf decided to skip the dry out and head straight to town for a burger at the Malt Shop. I should’ve did the same but hey, being dry was more exciting than fed to me. I packed back up, said thanks and goodbye to the Lake Morena crew and walked the half mile road walk to the malt shop, 7 was there also.

A quick cheese burger and fries, I initially said it was terrible. But I rethought about that on the walk back. I rethought hard about my negativity. I said to my self that burger was terrible in comparison to the 5 star burgers I’ve had in my life, but that burger was 5 stars in comparison to the burgers I have in my food bag now.

Wolf says to keep it up and they’ll call me half empty instead of Mouse. This trip for me, outside of the physical struggle will also be a mental one. A fight to flip negativity away, another mile in that burger was no longer terrible.

That burger hit the spot.

A few more miles behind me I start to become bored. The terrain hasn’t changed much and it’s been single track trail along windy slopes. As I speed walk to save time on the flats, I notice some trail love. I commend the folks stopping long enough to put this shape together. In the sun I won’t stop long enough to pee. I’ve perfected walking and peeing at the same time now.

A little further and we walk through an established campground. There’s some people there with fruit, beer, ice cream, and things like cleaning towels, they are planning on hiking the trail in 2026. They’re paying it forward now for good future karma. I appreciate it. I think when I’m done I’ll probably spend a week wherever my favorite section was to give back.

I crush a halo orange and took a gala apple for the road walk. It’s roughly six more miles past Kitchen Creek till our next tent site. I worry about the time it’ll get dark and start moving! 7 and Wolf stop at kitchen creek for water, I pushed on thinking I don’t need it or want to make the .8 mile detour.

I decide to call it quits early about 3.5 miles before I planned to. I set up my tent and call it a night alone. A quick mental battle of did I make the right decision ensues. Could I keep pushing? I accept my decision and own it. In the game of thru hiking you win some and you lose some. I expect to lose many. And I’m fine with that as long as I’m safe to play again. HYOH (Hike Your Own Hike)

The next morning I rise early and push forward through a mist. I’ve become separated from 7 and Wolf. I couldn’t keep up with their pace yesterday. We intend on meeting back up in Julian for a zero day. So my plan is to put my head down, my phone away and get my legs moving. Main motivation over the next two or three days? To get out of this weather pattern and to my next purchase, a new raincoat.

OR Helium- ya let me down. 👎🏼👎🏼

As I climb up to 6,000’ elevation Mt Laguna is absolutely beautiful. Of course it’s colder at higher elevation and it reminds me of back home, tall pine trees fill the view and the air smells crystal clean. My dad would be here saying ‘these trees wait hundreds of years for a chance to sprout up and finally grow. They wait for the tallest tree to fall for their shot at seeing some sky. And then it’s their chance to shine!’ Most of these trees are probably hundred of years old.

As I continue on for some reason I want Mt Laguna to be near Laguna Beach. Or somehow related. Newsflash, it’s not. As I stare at the blank tree before me I sing the Laguna Beach song by Natasha Bedingfield and think back to 2017. The last time I was in Laguna Beach. My X and I spent Valentine’s Day weekend at Surf N Sands after a week road tripping So Cal. We had dinner, watched sunset, listened to the waves crash all night with the balcony door open and then had breakfast at the Orange inn the next morning. Ahhhh to think we were just kids.

I would crush that breakfast right now.

Quick resupply in Laguna and roughly 35 miles till Scissors crossing. The trail starts to descend from the mountains back into the desert. I start to mentally prepare to much longer water carries as the desert will be just as I expect.

I hitch hike from Scissors crossing into Julian. I plan to take my first few days off in Julian. I check into the Julian Lodge which is a PCT hiker friendly spot and I swing by Two Foot Adventures to buy a rain coat. Talking with Mary the owner we have a lot in common. She was an aerospace engineer who one day said F this and quit. Never looked back.

While in town I grab some resupply snacks, rehydrate my kidneys and meet back up with 7 and Wolf. We plan to grab a free piece of PCT Pie at Moms pie and take much needed showers before getting back on trail in a day or two.

My plans for town stays is really fluid right now. Initially going into my hike I said I wanted to experience the small communities as much as I could. Knowing I will be getting to the Sierras really early I have time to burn. Also knowing a lot of the communities I probably won’t come back to again unless I hike the PCT a second time. The trail community so far is really re establishing my faith in people and I think I needed that. Being from Boston it’s rare people are friendly, willing to help, and it’s extremely rare I get to see a town with no one in it. It makes me miss living in Sanbornton where I lived a slower lifestyle pace, and helped out any neighbor who asked.

In MA big fences make great neighbors.

Julian at 7PM tonight is a ghost town but my second burger of this trail was absolutely delicious.

After our food Seven and Wolf say they want to do some drinking tonight. Off to the VFW we go, we heard the VFW is the only place in town we can get a mean Margarita.

Sitting inside and looking at all the WWII and Vietnam memorabilia makes me say damn these guys had it much worse than I do right now. Little rain is nothing to complain about.