Thursday, May 28, 2009
Pictures (part 3)
Sorry these have taken so long to post... hopefully they are pretty self explanatory, but if you have any questions about them, just ask Amy - she knows where most of them are from (and some stories to go with them)
Pictures (part 1)
Watercache, pretty vista, rattlesnake,(see earlier blog for the full story!) and start of the hike.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Greetings punctual blog readers!
Today I am in the town of Mojave resting up for the last push before the Sierras. The last section was pretty rough with lots of sand travel and not much water, but it has been blissfully cool which has made it much easier. I'm not carrying a thermometer so I'm not exactly sure how hot it was, but I doubt that I hiked in anything over 95 degrees in the last 100 miles.
I'm still having fun, but I'm definitely ready to be done with the desert and excited about entering the Sierras at mile 702 (I'm at mile 566 right now).
A few highlights and/or interesting information: first, on Monday and Tuesday I hiked a total of 52 miles (that's a LONG WAY for those of you who have never tried it). I was sore but impressed that my body was able to carry me that far in such a short amount of time.
Second, I was pretty close to where the space shuttle landed and I heard the sonic boom. It sounded like God was using a 12 gauge, and the boom echoed for almost 20 seconds. I didn't know what it was at the time, and only later found out that it was the space shuttle coming back into the atmosphere. Apparently they try to land it in Florida but use the California desert as a backup when the weather in Florida isn't cooperating.
Third, my pants are now a good two inches too big. They still stay on, but if I lose any more weight I will probably have to buy new pants.
Fourth, I found that mixing Gatorade powder into my water bottle was kind of a pain so I've taken to just dumping the powder directly into my mouth. It's surprisingly good. Remember Pixie Stix? It's a lot like that.
That's all for now. The next few resupply locations don't have internet access, so if I don't post for a while that's why.
Thanks,
Joel
Today I am in the town of Mojave resting up for the last push before the Sierras. The last section was pretty rough with lots of sand travel and not much water, but it has been blissfully cool which has made it much easier. I'm not carrying a thermometer so I'm not exactly sure how hot it was, but I doubt that I hiked in anything over 95 degrees in the last 100 miles.
I'm still having fun, but I'm definitely ready to be done with the desert and excited about entering the Sierras at mile 702 (I'm at mile 566 right now).
A few highlights and/or interesting information: first, on Monday and Tuesday I hiked a total of 52 miles (that's a LONG WAY for those of you who have never tried it). I was sore but impressed that my body was able to carry me that far in such a short amount of time.
Second, I was pretty close to where the space shuttle landed and I heard the sonic boom. It sounded like God was using a 12 gauge, and the boom echoed for almost 20 seconds. I didn't know what it was at the time, and only later found out that it was the space shuttle coming back into the atmosphere. Apparently they try to land it in Florida but use the California desert as a backup when the weather in Florida isn't cooperating.
Third, my pants are now a good two inches too big. They still stay on, but if I lose any more weight I will probably have to buy new pants.
Fourth, I found that mixing Gatorade powder into my water bottle was kind of a pain so I've taken to just dumping the powder directly into my mouth. It's surprisingly good. Remember Pixie Stix? It's a lot like that.
That's all for now. The next few resupply locations don't have internet access, so if I don't post for a while that's why.
Thanks,
Joel
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Pizza & beer. 10:00. AM. Sunday.
Greetings good-lookin' blog readers!
I'm currently in Agua Dulce at Hiker Heaven (www.hikerheaven.com), which is the home of Donna and Jeff Saufley. Donna and Jeff are trail angels who let hikers stay with them - and by "hikers" I mean "all the hikers." There are about 30 people here right now, and pretty much every single PCT hiker stays here when they come through town.
There's another term I've learned: trail magic! Occasionally trail angels do something special for hikers to encourage them along the way. As you can imagine, this usually involves food. On Sunday morning I arrived at a highway crossing and met Flop and Connie who were there providing trail magic. They set up a camper and fed all the hikers who came through for two full days. On Saturday they ran out of burgers and french toast so on Saturday night they went a bought a bunch of pizzas for the Sunday hikers. Normally at 10:00 am on Sunday I'm at church, but instead I found myself eating pizza and drinking beer with a group of other hikers. Kind of strange, but fun!
I've had a few pretty tough days since then fighting mosquitos, biting ants, and orifice flies that swarm around your face and crawl into your eyes and nose. I do have a headnet but I discovered that when it's 95 degrees and you're breathing hard you just can't get enough air through it. My plan B for the headnet is to make my own out of bridal veil material that will keep out the mosquitos and flies but still let me breathe.
Lastly, a few people have asked about the Google map thingy on the blog and if I'm carrying a GPS. The gizmo I'm carrying is called a SPOT (www.findmespot.com), and was a gift from one of my long-term clients - Dan Harvey from PGC (www.precisiongasket.com). It doesn't tell me where I am, but I can push a button every night that transmits my location to my family to let them know I'm alright. It also has a 911 button that I can push which will summon a search and rescue team to my exact location of I get in a critical situation.
Thanks for all your support. I only have 250 more miles until the High Sierras!
Thanks,
Joel
I'm currently in Agua Dulce at Hiker Heaven (www.hikerheaven.com), which is the home of Donna and Jeff Saufley. Donna and Jeff are trail angels who let hikers stay with them - and by "hikers" I mean "all the hikers." There are about 30 people here right now, and pretty much every single PCT hiker stays here when they come through town.
There's another term I've learned: trail magic! Occasionally trail angels do something special for hikers to encourage them along the way. As you can imagine, this usually involves food. On Sunday morning I arrived at a highway crossing and met Flop and Connie who were there providing trail magic. They set up a camper and fed all the hikers who came through for two full days. On Saturday they ran out of burgers and french toast so on Saturday night they went a bought a bunch of pizzas for the Sunday hikers. Normally at 10:00 am on Sunday I'm at church, but instead I found myself eating pizza and drinking beer with a group of other hikers. Kind of strange, but fun!
I've had a few pretty tough days since then fighting mosquitos, biting ants, and orifice flies that swarm around your face and crawl into your eyes and nose. I do have a headnet but I discovered that when it's 95 degrees and you're breathing hard you just can't get enough air through it. My plan B for the headnet is to make my own out of bridal veil material that will keep out the mosquitos and flies but still let me breathe.
Lastly, a few people have asked about the Google map thingy on the blog and if I'm carrying a GPS. The gizmo I'm carrying is called a SPOT (www.findmespot.com), and was a gift from one of my long-term clients - Dan Harvey from PGC (www.precisiongasket.com). It doesn't tell me where I am, but I can push a button every night that transmits my location to my family to let them know I'm alright. It also has a 911 button that I can push which will summon a search and rescue team to my exact location of I get in a critical situation.
Thanks for all your support. I only have 250 more miles until the High Sierras!
Thanks,
Joel
Friday, May 15, 2009
Resting in Wrightwood
Greetings all ye encouraging blog readers!
I have now hiked about 370 miles and am in Wrightwood, CA, staying with Ray and Susan and their kids Noah and Logan. Ray and Susan are local "trail angels" - a term that denotes people who help out hikers. They're really friendly people, and welcomed in myself and a few other hikers like family.
Yesterday I got into town and shortly after I met Ray he got a call to come help pack lunches for firefighters who are working on putting out some fires north of here a couple hundred miles. I went down too to help out for the afternoon, and boy was I surprised. I was expecting a few people making a few lunches. What I found was about a dozen people working at the local grocery store packing 2000 lunches! I helped for about 3.5 hours and we got through about half of the lunches while I was there. It was a lot of work but I was happy to be able to help out in the community a little bit, especially since Ray, Susan, and the whole town in general is very friendly to hikers.
As I'm getting in better shape I'm being able to hike more miles with less effort, which is really nice. I've been doing close to 20 miles on most days, and it feels great to be capable of hiking uphill for several hours without needing to stop and rest.
Amy sent me some pictures of the flowers coming up at our house and of our dog Lami hunting squirrels in the back yard. Seeing the pictures made me miss being home, but overall I'm doing well. My body is holding up, which is great considering how many hikers are having significant problems with blisters, joints, and so forth. Some days are a lot of work and not much fun, but most days are good and some are wonderful.
Thanks a lot for your blog comments, prayers, and notes of encouragement. It's great knowing that so many people are cheering me on.
Joel
I have now hiked about 370 miles and am in Wrightwood, CA, staying with Ray and Susan and their kids Noah and Logan. Ray and Susan are local "trail angels" - a term that denotes people who help out hikers. They're really friendly people, and welcomed in myself and a few other hikers like family.
Yesterday I got into town and shortly after I met Ray he got a call to come help pack lunches for firefighters who are working on putting out some fires north of here a couple hundred miles. I went down too to help out for the afternoon, and boy was I surprised. I was expecting a few people making a few lunches. What I found was about a dozen people working at the local grocery store packing 2000 lunches! I helped for about 3.5 hours and we got through about half of the lunches while I was there. It was a lot of work but I was happy to be able to help out in the community a little bit, especially since Ray, Susan, and the whole town in general is very friendly to hikers.
As I'm getting in better shape I'm being able to hike more miles with less effort, which is really nice. I've been doing close to 20 miles on most days, and it feels great to be capable of hiking uphill for several hours without needing to stop and rest.
Amy sent me some pictures of the flowers coming up at our house and of our dog Lami hunting squirrels in the back yard. Seeing the pictures made me miss being home, but overall I'm doing well. My body is holding up, which is great considering how many hikers are having significant problems with blisters, joints, and so forth. Some days are a lot of work and not much fun, but most days are good and some are wonderful.
Thanks a lot for your blog comments, prayers, and notes of encouragement. It's great knowing that so many people are cheering me on.
Joel
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Understatement of the week: the desert is hot
Greeting faithful blog readers! Today I'm at a hostel in Big Bear Lake, and will leave for the trail again tomorrow morning.
All the scary stories about Fuller Ridge that I mentioned in my last post turned out to be just hype. There was a lot of snow and route finding was pretty tricky but I made it through just fine and there was really nothing dangerous at all. From Fuller Ridge it was a long, long, downhill hike to the desert floor: I was hiking in snow at 10:30 am and passing cacti by 4:30 pm. The desert was really hot, and I ended up getting sick from the heat despite being well hydrated. I was weak and nauseated and could hardly eat for fear of vomiting up all my water. During the worst two days I estimate that I hiked 35 miles and ate a total of 1500 calories. Not much fun. I tried just laying down in what little shade I could find but discovered that I felt like poo regardless of whether I was laying down or hiking, so I figured I might as well hike. When you're 50 miles from town and 15 miles from the next water you don't have a lot of options other than to keep moving. Fortunately I recovered and feel great now. For future desert travel I plan to hike until 11:30ish, lay around in the shade until 4:00 or so, and then hike into the night to get the miles in without having to hike through the heat.
Just a few days away is a hot spring! I really don't know what to expect, but it sounds like there are 5 or 6 different natural pools of hot water and a lot of people are planning on taking a rest day there. I'll definitely take pictures if it lives up to everyone's expectations!
Thanks,
Joel
All the scary stories about Fuller Ridge that I mentioned in my last post turned out to be just hype. There was a lot of snow and route finding was pretty tricky but I made it through just fine and there was really nothing dangerous at all. From Fuller Ridge it was a long, long, downhill hike to the desert floor: I was hiking in snow at 10:30 am and passing cacti by 4:30 pm. The desert was really hot, and I ended up getting sick from the heat despite being well hydrated. I was weak and nauseated and could hardly eat for fear of vomiting up all my water. During the worst two days I estimate that I hiked 35 miles and ate a total of 1500 calories. Not much fun. I tried just laying down in what little shade I could find but discovered that I felt like poo regardless of whether I was laying down or hiking, so I figured I might as well hike. When you're 50 miles from town and 15 miles from the next water you don't have a lot of options other than to keep moving. Fortunately I recovered and feel great now. For future desert travel I plan to hike until 11:30ish, lay around in the shade until 4:00 or so, and then hike into the night to get the miles in without having to hike through the heat.
Just a few days away is a hot spring! I really don't know what to expect, but it sounds like there are 5 or 6 different natural pools of hot water and a lot of people are planning on taking a rest day there. I'll definitely take pictures if it lives up to everyone's expectations!
Thanks,
Joel
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Still alive, still happy
Greetings loyal blog readers! I am currently in southern California in a town called Idyllwild taking a day off. My dad just left, so tomorrow the solo hiking starts.
The last few weeks have been great! It was a lot of fun to have my dad with me for the first 180 miles, we had great weather, met a lot of fun people, I have a grand total of zero blisters, and overall spirits are high. My hair is getting long enough so the wind can blow in it, which is something I haven't experienced in five years since the last time my dad and I hiked for two weeks. It's kind of odd. However, I've showered and am clean, so all is well.
The next section of trail goes up near the San Jacinto peak in a place called Fuller Pass. Apparently it's a still covered in snow, and some hikers are choosing to skip ahead. I'm going to go for it and see what happens. Fuller Pass is only about 8 miles out of town, so if I get there and decide I can't pass through safely I can turn around and come back to town pretty easily.
My dad is bringing back an SD card full of pictures, so hopefully within a week or so there will be some pictures up here.
Thanks for all your prayers and support!
Joel
The last few weeks have been great! It was a lot of fun to have my dad with me for the first 180 miles, we had great weather, met a lot of fun people, I have a grand total of zero blisters, and overall spirits are high. My hair is getting long enough so the wind can blow in it, which is something I haven't experienced in five years since the last time my dad and I hiked for two weeks. It's kind of odd. However, I've showered and am clean, so all is well.
The next section of trail goes up near the San Jacinto peak in a place called Fuller Pass. Apparently it's a still covered in snow, and some hikers are choosing to skip ahead. I'm going to go for it and see what happens. Fuller Pass is only about 8 miles out of town, so if I get there and decide I can't pass through safely I can turn around and come back to town pretty easily.
My dad is bringing back an SD card full of pictures, so hopefully within a week or so there will be some pictures up here.
Thanks for all your prayers and support!
Joel
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