Interim update

Nasty weather moved in fast after the Baden Powell climb. The wind was a constant 20 to 30 miles an hour with significantly higher gusts. The clouds whipped by on the ridge I was descending at 9000 ft. Rain and sleet started late in the afternoon and continued into the night. I awoke to a half inch of wintery mix with rain coming down in the morning. I met Alex's dad for a ride to the pct kick off had a great time there in much warmer weather. I'll leave with a few pictures and fill in the details when I get to a computer.

Baden Powell Climb

Steep snowy and very icy. Earning my climbing merit badge today! More pics and an update to come tonight if I have service.

Its coming...

So many of you may be wondering how the hell I got this far and what happened on the trail for the month that I have already been out here. The task of writing a month of blog posts with all that happens is a little daunting but not to worry I will be doing a series of flashbacks with details and stories from the first month.
For now I will provide a quick and dirty overview. I started from the border March 20th ran into serveal border patrol agents the first day and got my first dose of snow in Mount Laguna a few days later. Most of the next 100 miles were in the tiring desert. A high point was sleeping in a cave on a cold and rainy night, while the low was watching the Gators blow the final four in some random California barbeque joint.  From there I climbed San Jacinto and traversed a very snowy Fuller Ridge. I stayed with trail angels in windy Cabazon, CA. Got a delicious meal from Troop 315 after trapsing through wind farms and big horn sheep country all day. I was lured  into a week in Big Bear by a foot and a half of snow, free snowboarding, a super chill hostel, and incredible people. Messed up my foot trail running 14 miles of the trail around Big Bear and almost got hypothermia when my ride didnt show up till well after dark.
OK so that's the overview more to come.

Tough Days Part 2

The trail always crosses interstates at the most inconspicuous of places. Picture a wet and dirty underpass a hobo would think twice about sleeping in and you'll get the idea. I did not originally intend to stop at I-15 except for maybe some nasty McDonald's and a cold drink but I knew I might start thinking about quitting altogether if I kept pushing my foot.
I had been hiking off and on with two hikers Joe and Alex since Big Bear. Alex had told me earlier that he lived in the area and would be taking a few days off when he got to cajon pass. I gave him a call after wolfing down 20 chicken nuggets and for cups of HI-C, and the for the next day and half Alex and his family made the nicest gesture I have received on the the trail. His family welcomed me with a place to sleep, delicious burgers, and a bone chilling but healing ice bath.
To make sure nothing was seriously injured with my foot Alex graciously gave me a ride to a clinic. Limping into the clinic I drew plenty of stares with my trekking pole cane. Almost the instant the doctor saw my feet he said I would need to stay off my feet for at least two weeks. I told him that wouldn't be an option and he just kept giving me looks reserved only for the dumbest of dumb. He shuffled me over to the x-ray technician, who chewed my ear off about Tebow because of my Florida hat. I tried to carry on the conversation but I was more concerned with him making sure my foot would be okay than Tebow's wonder. My expression imeadiately eased into a big smile when the doc came back with good news, only a few bone bruises and severely sprained tendons. He tried to make it sound as grave as possible so I would heed his earlier two week advice but he could tell it was no use. As he wrote a script for antibiotics I tried to convince him I wasn't some crazy idiot, telling him that many have done this before, but my words fell on already decided ears.

I was able to rest my foot the next day at Alex's parents house. They are the kindest of people, my feet and I would like to thank all of the Zinda's for helping me out so much.

 Water Source?

San Gorgonio and Jacinto in the background

Birthday Supplies!

Tough days part 1

The last few days have been quite a roller coaster. I ran out of ibuprofen the morning after my last post. My feet began to feel as if I was a sumo wrestler practicing ballet on them. I could not make the 20 miles I had originally intented to Cajon Pass, stopping in a valley about four miles out. Being low on water I knew I must push out early the next morning and make the pass inspite of any painful plans my feet had in store for me.
The night was filled with constant waking from throbbing pain in my right foot. An owl also decided I was too close to his nest or hunting grounds because at some time during the night his screech and flapping wings not ten feet from my head awoke me. The owl began a series of several more warning swoops a few with his talons in full assault position. I grasped around for my knife as the owl stopped to watch my reaction from a nearby tree. As the owl took off again I realized how poor the choice of a knife as protection against a bird was. Discarding the knife for a trekking pole I flicked my headlamp to high, flashing direct hits in the owls eyes. The light frightened him enough to make him retreat to another tree a little further away. He kept a careful eye on me for about half an hour as I sporadically flashed the light on him to deter any thoughts of another attack.
The morning brought dread of the four mile hobble to the pass. I crawled around slowly breaking camp for two hours hoping for a miracle healing or at least a passerby with a truckload of ibuprofen or something stronger. With everything packed in place I stared at the the extra 30 pounds I needed to bring along wishing for a horse. I finally grit my teeth shimmied on the beast and tried my best to ignore the constant and miserable pain I was about to put myself through.
As painful steps began to add up I sat on a rock and thoughts like I can't do this started to win out in my brain. I watched the cars on the interstate in the distance and thought of how comfort each passenger enjoyed as they rolled along to their destinations. I did the math and figured it would take them 5 minutes to cover the distance my next two hours would be occupied with.
This pity party had to stop it was getting me nowhere. What self respecting thruhiker sits around and wishes they were in a car on i 15. I told myself I can a will do this. My adrenaline began flow as I filled with determination. Pushing through the pain, I battled myself several more times over the next 4 miles.  The power of the human mind is incredible. When the pain hit its worst if I kept the thoughts of stopping at bay I would be rewarded with a few tenths of a mile of pain free hobbling.

Typing on a phone is hard. The rest to be continued tonight.

Duck Walking

Hiking like a mad man since big bear, the past few days have been a completely different experience than my first three weeks. This is the first time I've been around other other thru hikers on the trail. I shared a frosty canp with Joe and alex twenty miles out of Big Bear and have been bumping into them ever since. Barring the third day hiking with another thru named Pat and some sectioners I could count on one hand the number of people I've seen on the trail and all were dayhikers. Having people around makes the hiking a little less of a slog by helping me pace and shoot for not too distant goals. What I am praying for is a cute girl doing 25 miles a day to follow. This tactic works great during tough runs or races by the way, just make sure you have enough in the tank to let loose and beat her on the last mile.
As for the title of the post, I have walked the last 60 miles since big bear on what feels like a broken foot. Not being able to put pressure on my heel gives me the gait of a wobbly duck. Vitamin I has been saving the day, but I don't know how much longer my liver can hold out. Fingers crossed, it is just a bone bruise or sore ligament and heals quickly.
I hobbled up to the amazing deep creek hot springs this morning. Barring a family across the river,which was too cold for them to cross, I had the place to myself. I had only budgeted an hour but ended up staying over two when a guy in his birthday suit and his girlfriend, who sadly wasn't, emerged from a tent I wasn't sure was inhabited.  The hot springs were clear and warmer than most hot tubs I've been in. You never know what the trail brings and that was bliss.

And So It Began...

It took a little while but I finally have a blog sort of up and running.  I'll be using this to chronicle my thoughts and life during a little journey on the Pacific Crest Trail walking from the Mexico to Canada.  The trail is just over 2600 miles long and mostly follows the Sierra mountain range ambling through the high Sierras and the scorching Mojave desert among many other places.  As of today I have officially been on the trail for three weeks, and the best way I can think to sum it up is the highs are incredibly high and the lows are depressingly low but all you can do is trudge on and hope it all comes out above average. Well I will add a few pics and hopefully update with stories and more photos in the near future.

 

 

Campsite first night

Cave to shelter from the rain in the desert of all places