Day 8: Welcome, Music!

View from our cabin.

Today was an 18-miler.  We're feeling a little better after a day of rest.  And we're *trying* to get to Warner Springs before the post office closes tomorrow.  This part IS a race! 

We also busted out the mp3 players for the first time today.  It was a long, hot hike in the San Felipe Hills, and we got quiet.  Really quiet.  Like maybe grumpy, let's check our moods with music quiet.  And it was great!  It's truly amazing what a few tunes can do.  Yes, you miss a bit of the natural splendor, but it is a good release for the brain. 

12 military helicopters. We checked Facebook; the world is not ending!

So today while silently walking, I found myself bouncing between missing my mate and comparing who I am beginning this trip to who I was 12 years ago when I took my 77 day Outward Bound trip.  (Was it really that long ago?!)  That trip changed my life (at a time when I really needed it) and made me a better person.  I did that one knowing I needed to, but not knowing why.  This time around, I don't really need the trip so much as want it.  So where will it leave me this time?  I have a few things that I set out to work on ... today was sort of checking in to remind myself of those and see if I am starting any of them.  (This is probably why I was really quiet.)  And see, my mate was the one to ask me before the trip what I want to get from it, so round and round I go.

Our first water cache! Thank you trail angels.

No conclusions or confessions yet!  It's too early in the hike and too late at night!  Here's hoping for another strong hike tomorrow.  Night!

Day 7: Pool Anyone?

Sunrise on Granite Mt.

After a short 3.5 miles, we caught our first hitch of the hike to the Stagecoach Campground, where we found Brit and David (hikers we've kept up with the last two days) and showers and laundry!  The shower itself was worth the $8 it cost to stay.  And now we've found the pool!  Oh, yes, I said pool.  And it is freezing.  Which is exactly what we need.  We're alternating between icing our legs and laying out -- one of my favorite childhood pastimes. 

Pool time! Or an icy cold soak...

Today is a "near-o" -- a nearly zero mile day.  After 6 days of backpacking -- Melissa's *first* 6 days of backpacking -- we figured a day of rest was in order.  I have to remind myself that days off are good and necessary.  For both the body and the soul.  We're a couple of days out of Warner Springs, our first resupply.  (Fortunately, we were way over packed for food!)  It's a challenge to know when to rest and when to push a little.  You don't want to injure yourself, but you want to keep moving forward.  It's a bit of a dance.  So far, we seem to be moving with the music.  As a driver by nature, this has been good for me.  (And, yes, I try to lead even in dancing.  I know I'm not supposed to.  But someone has to.)

Flowering cholla.

Free cabin upgrade! With BEDS!

The day has ended with us in a cabin!  The manager not only offered us a ride in the morning, but he swung by and offered us a little cabin upgrade.  We are indoors with lights, beds, and a place to charge our electronics.  This has been the perfect rest day.  I even rounded up some visiting campground hosts from where else but Iowa!  They prayed for us in the laundry room.  Oh, and the camp store has an owl box with a nesting pair of barn owls!  (Sounds like they're out hunting.)  And what looks like a nest of flycatchers.  Sigh.  Looks like we made the right decision. 

Tomorrow starts us up the Grapevine Mts.  And 14 waterless miles.  We're ready.

Day 6: The Early Slow Birds ... Get the Best Site

Campsite with a view on Granite Mt.

Today was a long, hot day.  A number of us ended up nestled in that draw last night, and Melissa and I were the first up and out.  Oh, not because we're crazy and fast, but because we knew we'd need to break often to stay well and get the miles in.  And miles we got.  15 of 'em.  Nothing remarkable by PCT standards, but great for us considering the nagging aches and pains.  We stopped on one of the few flat spots coming off a ridge, and our site has been the envy of everyone who had not already passed us during the day.  A Wet-Wipe bath, spaghetti dinner, and incredible view -- better than a Hilton!

With the heat, it was a quiet, tiring day.  Flowering cacti were the highlight of the hike.  I'd never seen them flower before.  Just stunning.  We moved into a drier ecology throughout the day -- prickly pear and agave replacing wildflowers and yucca.  And I continue to take great pleasure in the birds.  I don't know them down here, but I can pick out flycatchers, sparrows, robins, meadowlarks, towhees, hummers, and the nightly calls of the owls.  There is something grounding and familiar about spotting and acknowledging a bird.  It makes everything a bit lighter, brings just enough joy to put a smile on your face and a bound in your step.  At least if you talk to them.  Which I, of course, do.

Who would have thought that such a mean plant produced such a gorgeous flower!

Tomorrow, we head to a campground for a real shower, a rest, and a few odds and ends from the camp store.  (We're a few days behind.)  Hopefully, with a little rest, we'll start to move from early slow birds to the wicked fast cheetahs we always wanted to be as kids.

Day 5: What a Belly Ache

Moonrise over Ruby, my sleeping bag. Night!

We're nestled in a meadow near a trailhead tonight.  Cowboy camping in the wind under a nearly full moon.  It turned out to be a pretty great day considering the beginnings.

So the stomach problem I had yesterday was debilitating today.  I grunted through five miles and made Melissa tell me stories to keep my mind off it.  I only cried once then, but three more times once we made it to our water stop.  (Sorry, Dylan and Bill!)  There may be no whining on the PCT, but there is crying.  Eventually, I took two Imodium, and  that made me hikable.  Thanks to Yogi for suggesting it in a first aid kit -- never used it before, but would still be on mile 5 without it.  Instead, we made about 12 today!  We're taking long breaks to massage and stretch the IT bands, and have been able to avoid major pain.  Of course, one of these breaks was forced by a young rattler who wouldn't let us pass.  I threw a rock and then thought better of it.  Neither of us screamed, Mom!

The best part of the day has been the end -- meeting a few fellow hikers at the watering trough (literally, it's for horses ... and needy hikers), and then camping with one.  Adam from North Carolina.  He joined us for dinner with a view ... alongside a pit toilet between a barbed wire fence and the highway.  We are this classy.  But we were at least out of the wind for once today!

Taking tomorrow as it comes.  We'll see how the belly feels in the morning and how the knees are doing.  Think of us at 5 am!

Day 4: The Kwaiser Gals Are Not Alone!

Today was a good day.  Perhaps because we "slept in" since the Mt. Laguna post office didn't open until noon.  Or perhaps because we ate a hot breakfast and my stove did not catch fire.  Or perhaps because we actually passed a couple of hikers today!  Whatever the reason, it was a good day.

Highlights for me started right away in the morning -- like a good ranger, I went to pay for our site, and on my way I found my first acorn woodpecker holes!  If you've never seen them it's pretty astonishing.  Thousands of holes stuffed with just the right acorn.  Trust me, it will blow your mind.  And then I found the guided nature trail ... I was one happy interpreter.

Our first trail town was a wonderful experience.  Melissa got her stove fixed at the local outfitter, and we downsized a few items.  We sent home a total of 3 lbs 10 oz!  Heck, yes!  We also ran into a number if other PCT hikers!  We hadn't really seen anyone since Lake Morena ... it was nice to feel a part of the community.

And then we had pain-free hiking most of the day.  And we chatted and laughed the day away.  Turns out that Melissa and I are a lot alike.  And in all of the weird OC Kwaiser ways.  It has been years since we were close, and today we had a chance to catch up ... and find out just how much Kwaiser we both have in us.  We're shy, but we flirts just like Grandpa Kwaiser.  We have the work-before-play, workaholic Kwaiser gene.  We're neat-nics and routine-makers.  We're self-driven and perfectionist pleasers.  We've come a ways since our My Little Pony and Nadia and Bela (Romanian gymnastics!) obsession days, but we seem to have grown in similar directions.  It's been fun, remeeting my cousin.  And tonight, we were super social, and camped with two other hikers -- Soren and Justin.  Impressive, eh?  We were pretty proud. 

Tomorrow, we try to make up a few miles.  Melissa's knee is touchy and my stomach is ticked about something.  So it goes the first week of a long expedition -- at least when we got lost today leaving town, we only added a mile!

Day 3: This Is Not a Race

A desert violet -- for you, Guy, Earl, Bill, and Dylan!

Nestled in my TarpTent at Burnt Rancheria Campground tonight.  We arrived a little before 3, and, since we were going to miss the post office hours in town, decided to call it a day.  I forget what a luxury it is to get into camp early!  It is one of my favorite things ... to have all of this extra unplanned time to lounge and housekeep.  We dried out our sopping wet gear (it's surprisingly damp for being dry), did some sink and oak sapling laundry, took Ziploc sponge baths, decided what we're ditching in Mt. Laguna, caught up on social media, I brushed my hair ... it was a fantastic afternoon.  I really do love these kinds of days.  They make me feel totally spoiled.  Who needs massages, fancy chocolates, and new clothes when you can have an open air sponge bath, jerky, and clean undies?!  Ah, it's the little things.

Melissa rolling out her IT band.  Massage hurts.

And so this early day was much needed.  We're both a little battered and bruised -- ironically, in the same places.  The aches and pains sparked a good conversation about what to do about it.  We'll slow the pace, lighten our loads by shipping things home tomorrow, stretch and massage more, focus on the positive, and take it a day at a time.  Sounds simple, eh?  Not for two competitive drivers!  We're working hard to look at the big 5-month picture, and not see this as a race.  It doesn't come easily for either of us.  But it is a great challenge.  We try to convince each other, which helps to convince ourselves.  I might say it is more effective than just working on yourself. 

So tonight we rest!  And dream wild dreams in our dry bags and tents and trail-clean clothes.  Tomorrow will bring what it brings.  More views, wildflowers, lizards, and funky tan lines guaranteed.

Finally, a lizard stayed put long enough for a photo!

Day 2: Gettin' the Rhythm

Metamorphic rock formation. Check out the moon!

Whereas yesterday was so new and exciting that my brain couldn't ever quite settle in, today I experienced a few hours if the "rhythm."  Colin Fletcher says something about it in The Complete Walker, he says it takes 2 or 3 weeks to shakedown, to settle into the rhythm of the hike and shake of the pace of civilization.   I am not yet there, of course, but I did have a glimpse of it in our last 4 miles.  (We're at Cibbets Flat Campground tonight ... arrived a little after 7.  No major mishaps except Melissa's stove is not working, and I almost caught the picnic table on fire with mine.  Fortunately, I packed enough dinner for two, and my fire went out before I accidentally doused it with fuel.)

How do you know you're in the rhythm?  I'm sure it's different for everyone, but for me it's enjoying the birds and the wildflowers and the geology and the views so much, that you find yourself just cruising along, thinking of everything and nothing.  It was wonderful.  See, yesterday was a hard day and left the two of us pretty beat up.  Today was a little rocky, and those last 4 miles, feeling the rhythm, was very reassuring.  That there will be an end to the nagging, distracting aches and pains.

A wild peony. One of my favorites.

And from my constantly worrying mind -- which I realized today that this trip is going to force me to work on.  I tend to worry about all details and scenarios when it comes to new things, and now I have that and the perceived responsibility for my cousin -- who is relatively new to the PCT and brand new to backpacking.  I found myself all tense today and then realized that having Melissa along is going to make me work on this part of me.  Hooray!  (I might have gotten away without it otherwise...or it at least would not have come out so soon!)

All in all, a good day.  Not as exciting as yesterday, but maybe better because of it.

Yucca flowers. One of my new favorites!

Day 1: We Can Walk 20 Miles!

After a short night at the Naval base in San Diego (thanks, Bri!), we arrived at the Southern terminus of the PCT just as the sun was rising over a ridge.  After, of course, being stopped by the border patrol ... who asked us where we were headed and looked at us blankly when I said Canada.  And proceeded to check the tread on our shoes -- as if he'd recognize ours among the hundreds of other tracks.  Once he left we walked up to the monument, took our backpack photos, our handstand photos, and our Faygo pop photos (we'll do it again in Canada!) and were off!

It was a long and wonderful day.  The first half of the day flew by -- everything was so new and unbelievable.  It's hard, after so many years of wanting and then planning, to believe something like the PCT is actually happening.  I mostly felt like I was just on a hike with my cousin.  Until around mile 10, that is.  And then the day got harder, and it felt like I was on a week long backpacking trip with my cousin.

We wound up doing 20 miles on our first day.  A bit far but water and will dictated it.  We had an opportunity to stop at 16, but Lake Morena (and a hot shower) was right over the hill.  And wouldn't it be great to get 20 in?  The hill was more like a mountain, and we didn't roll in until 9 PM.  It was a little brutal.  Fortunately, trail magic was awaiting us!  Terry Anderson (trail angel of Casa de Luna -- known for it's chocolate syrup wrestling) had stayed at Lake Morena an extra day and had hot dinner for us!  We were met with cheers, offers for beers, and hugs.  It was a great end to a great but challenging day.