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PCT 2023

May - October 2023
"Tell me, what else should I have done? Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" - Mary Oliver Read more
  • 140footprints
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  • TravelerPCT 2023
    132

    Day 31

    May 31, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 52 °F

    Miles hiked: 26.3
    Campsite location: messenger flats campground
    Weather: 70s and sunny
    One word to describe the day: marathon

    Today I've been thinking a lot about mindset. As I get further in on this hike, my body feels tired some days but strong other days. Today I'm feeling strong and it's exciting! I'm excited to push myself, 5 to 10% more each week. And see how my body and mind respond! When I feel tired at the end of the day, hike two more miles because I know I can. This hike is going to expand what I'm capable of. And I'm really excited to see myself do that! Today for the first time I thought "I'm going to do the 24-hour challenge!" Not yet, but maybe in a month or two. As I give my body time to slowly adjust and get stronger. The 24-hour challenge is to see how many miles you can hike in one 24 hour period. How often in my life will my body be so ready to take on that challenge safely?

    I did an unplanned marathon today! The campsite locations made me go further than I really wanted too. But I feel pretty darn good. Time to stretch!    Read more

  • TravelerPCT 2023
    11

    Day 32 - action koa

    June 1, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 55 °F

    Miles hiked: 14
    Campsite location: Acton koa
    Weather: 70s and sunny
    One word to describe the day: mosey

    Today was an easy day after yesterday. It was alot of downhill into Acton, where I picked up a box with way too much food in it. Todays hike was lovely. We started above the clouds and ended below. The temps are still really low for the average desert temperatures.

    When I got to the trailhead there was a couple seeking mango sticky rice. I got some and it was so damn good 🤤

    I'm staying at the koa tonight. Nothing special but I did get a shower. A guy named Jim, who lives at the rv park gave me and Mel a ride into town where I shipped some stuff home and got dinner at the 49er saloon. It was quite tasty!

    Caroline is starting to hike much faster then me so she decided to keep going. Not sure if we will hook back up or not. 🥲 But, its part of the trail and it was going to happen soon anyway. "hike your own hike", as they say! I feel like I'm in a bubble right now, there are a lot of hikers around me. Mel and I are hiking at similar speeds right now!    Read more

  • TravelerPCT 2023

    Day 33 - Agua dulce

    June 2, 2023 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 57 °F

    Miles hiked: 19.7
    Campsite location: m 464
    Weather: 70s and sunny
    One word to describe the day: trekkie

    Today I left the koa around 7am. Mel was still sleeping so I didn't want to wake her. I started the day with a climb out of Acton that led to a fun tunnel under pass. Directly on the other side of the underpass the scenery changed drastically to cool rock formations. That area is called Vasquez rocks. Many films have been shot there, including star wars. At the visitor center I finally got my pct hang tag! You can normally get them at the southern terminus but the rangers take one day off per week and that day is Tuesday. Which happened to be the day I started.

    After Vasquez rocks the PCT literally walks through a town, agua dulce. I stopped and got a taco because, why not. And then I met back up with Caroline who patiently waited for me. And then about 30 minutes later Mel showed up!

    We all left town and hiked another 8 miles to the next water, all uphill! I'm tired! We walked a little more after filling up to the next campsite we could find. It was getting pretty late so we quickly set up camp, had a lovely dinner (my favorite peak refuel chicken coconut curry) and promptly went to bed. Good night!    Read more

  • TravelerPCT 2023

    Day 34

    June 3, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 79 °F

    Miles hiked: 21.8
    Campsite location: m485.8
    Weather: 80s and sunny
    One word to describe the day: magical

    Today I got up around 4:45 and was on trail hiking by 5:30. We had a high of 85 today and wanted to try and beat the heat. We got 14 miles in by noon and was pleasantly surprised at a trailhead with some lovely trail magic by a father and his cute son who is in kindergarten and just became a tiger scout. They were grilling burgers and had snacks and cold drinks. It was amazing! They were so kind and made my day!

    We then hiked another 8 miles to camp. After our long climb, the terrain became flat and leisurely and had beautiful views all the way down to the campsite. Definitely some of my favorite terrain on trail yet.    Read more

  • TravelerPCT 2023
    22

    Day 35 - poodle dog dogde

    June 4, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 88 °F

    Today we woke up early again. Was hiking by 5:30 to beat the heat and take a long siesta miss day.

    Last night's camp site was a good one. We started the day with a climb, of course. Followed by miles and miles of serious poodle dog bush. It was everywhere so I made sure not to touch any of it but it was quite hard in spots. Fingers crossed!

    We took a siesta in a lovely shaded campground at the top of what we had just climbed up. After that we took a fire road that paralleled the trail to avoid any more poodle dog. We hit 500 miles!! Eventually we hoped back on the trail after the burn area was over. Tomorrow we have 10 miles to get into hikertown which marks the start of the infamous aqueduct!    Read more

  • TravelerPCT 2023

    Day 36 - hikertown & aquaduct

    June 5, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 70 °F

    Miles hiked: 20
    Weather: 70s and partly cloudy
    One word to describe the day: hikertown!

    Today we 'slept' in and got on the trail at 7:30. Walked 10 miles into hikertown. Hikertown is a strange place. It's made up from old movie sets. They have bucket laundry, outdoor showers, camping, rooms in the movie set looking houses. All the amenities a hiker would need. I sent a box here too! They even made us food, delicious tamales! Did the normal chores. Shower, laundry, charging, resupply.

    Mel, Caroline, Tarzan, Ian, bailey and a few others left late in the afternoon and started the infamous aqueduct, glow sticks in hand for the night portion of our hike. The aqueduct supplies all of Los Angeles's water. And we walk along it for 30 mi. Tonight we hiked 10 more miles. As the sunset we watched lightning off in the distance, it was pretty cool! My feet were absolutely killing me towards the end that I was so ready set up camp.    Read more

  • TravelerPCT 2023
    2

    Day 37

    June 6, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 61 °F

    Today we were on trail around 7:30. Usually people night hike this section because it's extremely exposed and hot. We are officially in the Mojave. But today was overcast, had a high of 75 and a cool breeze. We are lucky!!!

    We walked our last bit of the aquaduct, through wind farms and back up into the mountains. Once we got into the mountains Mel and I stopped at a stream and took a 3 hour nap . It was amazing. I felt exhausted today. We then walked three more miles and set up camp.

    We had a 'short' 17 mile day today and then 13 tomorrow into tehachapi for a zero!    Read more

  • TravelerPCT 2023
    11

    Day 38 - tehachapi

    June 7, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 46 °F

    Today we walked 13 miles to the road to hitch into tehachapi. There was a well stocked water cache halfway through which made my water carry much easier! The morning was gorgeous with clouds keeping me cool and giving off pretty lighting.

    Once we got to the road, I attempted my first real hitch with Mel. Pretty quickly a guy named Mark pulled over and took us right into town. Gave us some food suggestions. He was very nice!

    As soon as I got into town we stopped into the 4 seasons cafe and got a big ole salad. We then went to our Airbnb and showered, walked to Walmart to resupply and get groceries for our day off tomorrow! We are going to try and do the next stretch all the way to Kennedy Meadows South, so that's a 7 day food carry, our longest yet!    Read more

  • TravelerPCT 2023

    Day 39 - zero in tehachapi

    June 8, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 61 °F

    Miles hiked: 0
    Campsite location: Airbnb in tehachapi with Mel, Caroline, Ian and Bailey
    Weather: 70 and sunny
    One word to describe the day: restful

    Our Airbnb is cute and very close to downtown. It has the nicest grass I've ever seen 😂 We had a lazy morning organizing our food for the next stretch, watched Holes the movie and ate breakfast. Blaze physio, the on trail physiotherapist stopped by because she was in town and I wanted to try some insoles she had. But also, I really was excited to meet her adorable dog, honey. She was a ham. Loved all the belly rubs.

    We went to the farmers market, cooked pasta at the rental then went to the movies and saw the little mermaid. It was pretty good, better than I thought it would be! We have a ride to the trail tomorrow at 7am from a trail angel. Back to the trail we go!    Read more

  • TravelerPCT 2023

    Day 40

    June 9, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 59 °F

    Miles hiked: 19.5
    Campsite location: m578.1
    Weather: 70s and partly could
    One word to describe the day: heavy

    We got a ride back to the trailhead from Ali, a super nice taxi driver who had flyers at the trailhead with his number. Our packs are insanely heavy feeling. 7 days of food to get us to Kennedy Meadows. We also have long water carries today and tomorrow so that also adds a ton of weight. Today was hard but I made it and hiked further than originally planned. The pack will only get lighter from here. I'm still in a bit of shock that we are days away from completing the desert section of the PCT!Read more

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