Obstacle course

Daddie Gizmo crossing creek on log

We camped on sandy patch on left

Someone left a heart💜

Another GORGEOUS day of hiking. Not too hot and  bit of cloud cover. We seem to be in a logging area which is creating an obstacle course over the trail – climbing over fallen trees and getting a few scratches. We met a very long winded veteran of desert hiking who gave us more than 2 scoops of advice.  Nice hike and we ended up camping on some flat sand under the bridge over the river.  The sound of the water was nice for the second evening in a row.

Papa left a few goodies behind

Baldwin Lake, where we camped

Daddie Gizmo is happy to be back in the 4SR

Lunch with Papa

Lacy

We are back in the 4SR under the stars. All is good in the world. Last night, after our movie and dinner in the cabin, we met Canary, B and The Ghost at Chad’s Place in town for a pitcher of beer that led to drinks at their cabin. We stayed up late and the morning came a little faster than expected, but we still had plenty of time to pack up and meet Papa for lunch. It was a nice big group since Mellow, his stepmom and her friend joined as well as the rest of the trail family. Papa got to meet everyone and get a flavor for our trail life. We only hiked in on the trail a couple miles so we could set up camp, get a good nights sleep and start the 100 mile journey to Wrightwood tomorrow. We have less than 3 weeks before we take the coastal train up to Seattle for a little break and let the snow in the Sierras melt. That time will go by fast. Unfortunately, I left my pajama pants in the cabin which means I won’t have any clean pants to sleep in this week :(. Trail family is going to get them for me and carry them until we meet again sometime in the next week. Very helpful, but I’ll really miss my snuggly, warm, clean pants to sleep in. While laying in my sleeping bag I was looking up details on the Te Aroroa trail in New Zealand. It’s 1,864 miles and goes between the north and south islands. Supposedly, the best time to begin that trail is Sep – Dec which would give us time to rest after this trail before starting that one. It’s just one of many ideas we have for what to do when we finish here. The task at hand though is still another 2,400 miles 😉‼
Rob

2.5 something of a nearo (near zero)
Since we are growing up from being rookies hikers quickly, I wanted to give you a little insight on our gear and how we are evolving into a more efficient little team every day. We talk with locals, other rookies and veteran hikers to help adjust our gear constantly. We had a good idea of what we needed to begin with from previous long weekend trips but some doesn’t translate into long term thru hiking. Backpacks are today’s chat. Packs have a lot to do with personal preference but a few must haves, no matter the brand, is that they are ultralight with internal frames. Fit is a huge part too. The packs we are using come in 3 different torso lengths for the exact same size and model. Get the right fit so you can balance and rebalance the weight of the pack from your hips to your shoulders. I keep mine pretty light on my shoulders with most of the weight on my hips. One exception is when we have really long steep uphill sections, I’ll tighten the shoulder straps to pull some weight off my waist. It still carries the bulk of the mass but it lets my hips n butt muscles have a little more room to do the hard work of bigger climbs. Lacy is also a big proponent of balancing weight to the best spots in the pack for your style. She also learned to NOT roll up or compress our down sleeping bags anymore. They get shoved down to the bottom of our packs everyday to use every open space and air pocket that happens when you load your pack. Then heavier things like tent n gear next near the back of the pack. Then light again to top it off like extra clothes and our down jackets. Your bag is also so much fluffier when you pull it out at the end of the day. Another must have which is showing up on a lot of packs this year is a “trampoline” that separates the back of the pack to your own back. Mine let’s 2″ of air circulate where you would normally have sweaty full contact between you and your gear. It’s saving me in the desert sections so far. These are just some things we’ve found to be a big help for us. The less you are dealing with gear issues, the more you can enjoy your hike. You find yourself looking up at where you are going vs down at where you are walking.

Well….this is the first time in 3 weeks that I really needed a zero day.  When we took one in Julian, Rob really needed it for his ankle and in Idyllwild we needed a day to figure out how to pick up the trail. My body started to feel the 3 weeks of hiking right before we got here and as I write this, both our feet feel less sore. We had a really nice day in Big Bear grabbing some local organic coffee from this little coffee hut in town.

Rob says my hair is getting so long and beautiful..aw🤗

After some much desired caffeine (we both really enjoy coffee but rarely drink it anymore because it’s one more thing to carry and prepare on trail plus it dehydrates you. Just makes it better when you’re in town😊) we headed to Big 5 – sporting goods store- to look for a few things. They didn’t really have what we needed but picked up a few more dehydrated meals for this week. We are doing a mix of those and sausage, jerky, and other snacks. I’m eating for 5.  I swear, I’m so hungry all the time. Hiker hunger! We checked out the lake, hung out with the family and enjoyed a beautiful day here.  We also met backup with John here (aka The Ghost) who we had met back in Idyllwild. He is a nice guy and hope we have more time today with him tomorrow. He is writing a book and we would love to learn more about it.  Met a lot of really nice people we chatted with. Now we are sitting in our cabin, making dinner and watching a couple $3 dvds we got in town. A very nice evening. And we are excited to see Papa Romero tomorrow who is driving 2+ hours from LA to have brunch with us and take us back to trail. It’ll be great to be back in the 4SR and nature.

PS- I love having so few clothes and wearing the same thing all the time. It takes all the questioning out of getting dressed. We had our weekly shower and laundry and we are feeling fresh. Honestly, we don’t even crave anything more than that.

Rob

Woke up this am in not too much of a hurry since we were still recovering from the flash storm and trail demands of yesterday evening. We also knew we had a lighter day of only 10 miles. It wouldn’t have been a chore except that we were both fatigued and depleted today. The gain was was a gradual 3000 ft and the sun blazed again but the air n breeze were cooler because of the altitude gain. Camped at a nice shaded spot by the headwaters of the creek we’ve been following all day. Altitude was also fatiguing both of us a little after such a physical few days. We are entering previous fire zone in a mile but were already in an area with total burn scars everywhere away from the creek. 😦 Hope I don’t get too misty tomorrow when we are in the burn zone for the first time in 6 years after hikers started a fire. Don’t know the whole story.  Today was also a reminder that we are early on in this part of the trail as it was difficult to follow sometimes. Especially because the creek has gone through some swollen and then retraction times since last season that had wiped the trail clean or off the map in several places.

We cooked a hearty dinner tonight and are in our sleeping bags by 6. Tomorrow is a big day. 20-21 miles that we have to do in one shot. Water to water but also traveling through the fire zone where there is no camping allowed. Onyx Peak at 9100 ft is also on the aggenda tomorrow so time to rest up.

Rob making dinner 💞

The canyon we climbed out of first thing in the morning

Windmill farm we camped in.

White Water Preserve below

White Water Preserve below

Rob darn near saved my life this morning. I developed a monstrous blister yesterday on my right heel. Imagine a second heel growing out of the right side of my current heel at about the size of my thumb. Ugh. As he always lovingly tends to my blisters (seriously, he takes time to take care of my blisters EVERY DAY… sadly, that means that I need to have blisters looked at everyday 😦 ) he drained it for me and I was able to fit it in my shoe. Phew! Good thing, because our hike up this morning started with a 1,200 foot elevation gain over just 1.3 miles distance. Rob enjoyed watching the sunrise over the windmills this morning while laying in the tent. Now that same sun was scorching us at 9am as we made this intense climb first thing in the morning. On top of that, it was very windy. We both had close calls with the wind on the edge of the cliffs. We continued our windy 5 miles to White Water Preserve through large elevation gains and losses and were happy to hear and see the river running when we arrived.

The landscape changes in the Preserve to white sand and rock with a river submit through it. In the middle of the desert. It was a beautiful change in scenery and when we left that area about 4 after our siesta I commented that the Preserve, with the San Bernardino mountains in the background, look like a movie set they are so picturesque. Before that, at the Preserve, we spent about 3 1/2 hours eating lunch, and laying around in our sleeping bags on the grass to kill the hot part of the day.

On our way out about 4 we rain into Mellow. He was entering the Ranger Station on the property right as we went to walk out and finish another 8+ miles for the day before camping on Mission Creek. He said that Tasha and B were 30 minutes behind him and they were camping there that night.

We proceeded out of the Preserve and started to feel like we made the right decision leaving later because it was nice and cool out with the intensity of the midday sun. Our evening hike soon turned a bit dangerous. It became incredibly windy and as we were traversing the mountain sides we were soon battling the wind just to stay on the trail and not be blown down the cliff. We have encountered wind so far, but this was fierce wind. At several points, I was standing on the top of the mountain when a fierce wind pounded against me. I had to dig my trekking poles in deep, bend my knees and put my head down and brace myself so the wind wouldn’t knock me over. I stood there for a full minute at least waiting for it to die down before moving any further. I saw Rob being nearly blown back from the wind on the cliff. Mellow said it’s more windy these past couple weeks than he remembers it being when he did the PCT the first time. Our day of unexpected and varied hiking difficulties didn’t stop there. About 3 miles in it started raining. Just a drizzle at first and then constant. The sky was so dark and we were trying to outrun the rain, but still had 4 miles left to go. The path had us climbing a small mountain which was windy again – so it’s raining and windy – but at least it wasn’t too cold. I was hustling for those miles. I even ran some of them, which is hindsight was not a good idea. It’s way too hard on my feet with the pack on and adding to all those miles walked during the day. While my head was down to fight the wind, and I’m being rained on as daylight is fading, I saw something coming at me fast. I couldn’t tell what it was and screamed. Rob came over the ridge running and I yelled back, “Its only a bunny, but I couldn’t tell cause the darn thing was charging me so fast.” I scared that cute thing when I screamed!!
**Rob’s interjection: The mad rage of the Bunny was aimed right for Lace as they both crossed the ridge toward one another. The Bunny’s horns popped 3″ out of his head and drool ran down his fangs. On one little Bunny paw, a switchblade. In the other, a spiked iron ball on a chain. Strapped to his back was a crossbow, loaded and cocked with the curled metal Bunny tail right on the trigger. Blood curdling screams from both Lacy n the evil Bunny cried out in the twilight. Lacy’s pure size and vocal ability saved her life as the Bunny broke off his charge and went off in search of another target.**
After what felt like an endless 4 miles in the rain on a ridge top that seemed to go on for eternity, we descended and camped at the first decent looking spot and set up camp in the rain. First time we have had to do that. We moved fast and almost like clock work, as soon as we were all set up, the clouds parted and it was a beautiful night. We were too frazzled to cook so we ate a bunch of snacks for dinner – beef jerky (has fast become 1 of our favorite snacks), truffle almonds and coconut flakes (thanks again S&K!) topped off by Oreos. While we ate, we went back over the day and were laughing about the bunny “charging” me (I promise, this bunny was on a mission). We marveled at how this had been our most technically challenging day ever and that we got through it unscathed and even ending the day with laughs. After snuggling down in my sleeping bag and reading while eating jelly beans (it was heavenly!), I dozed off. Today was a rollercoaster!

We woke up to a really pleasant morning. Not cool at all, but naturally that just means it’s going to be warm early. My calves were sore this morning and Rob had his ills also, but once we got going everything loosened up. It was a hot one! We both ran out of water 2 miles before we made it to the next water location. Then we ran into the volunteer forest rangers who frisked us for our PCT permits. Naturally, I had them in the very bottom of my pack so while I’m parched and can feel an unpleasant new blister on my big toe, I have to pull everything out of my bag to get to these darn permits. This is the only time I can think of in 2 weeks that I was genuinely annoyed. After 8 miles this morning, we reached the freeway and hitched a ride 5 miles to an In and Out burger. Sometimes it’s the people you would never expect to stop to give you a ride that do. An older Chinese lady who only spoke enough English to say she is Chinese and doesn’t speak English took us to our location. The burgers were fantastic! And I probably ate mine in 90 seconds. I considered a second. On the time their I told Rob when we got to In and Out I was going to wash my hands, face and brush my teeth and that I would look like a homeless person. He said, “Baby, you are homeless.” Touché. We got another hitch back to the trail after buying some more food for our packs and started what became a very very hot walk. We stopped after 2 miles and found a sliver of shade where I fell asleep. The sun was taking everything out of me. An hour later we walked the 2 miles further where we camped in the

The mountains were colored in yellow flowers

windmill farm we saw yesterday as we came down the mountain. Early night since we think we may get up real early to beat the heat tomorrow.

I should have had 2!

Meet back up with Castiron