Day 94: holy sore feet batman!

Saturday 7/21/12
Miles 1100.5-1120.5 (20 miles)
Elevation 8,100'

Leaving Lake Aloha today, the first 10 miles or so was over rocks and stuff. Ugh. It kinda sucks when the trail is a bunch of rocks as opposed to dirt or gravel. It's tough to walk over that in regular shoes, much less barefoot runners. Lol. Kyle did the whole day in his 5 fingers. So proud of him :) For those of you who've never worn them before, it's not easy (unless you're used to regularly walking barefoot), much less wearing a backpack with weight. So yeah, it's a pretty big deal. Yay Kyle! Team K squared FTW! Lol. It's funny, day hikers and weekend backpackers (we call them "dockers") stop us all the time to inquire about our shoes. Vibram should send us free shoes for all the advertising we're doing for them. Lol! By the way, those shoes are epic in so many ways. It makes you so much more conscious of the way you walk, and of the entire act of walking in general. Kyle said it was mentally as well as physically tiring. It's really cool, I highly recommend them. :)

So, I am kind of obsessed with soft, fuzzy, and cute things. Like puppies. There have been a lot of people hikin with dogs wearing doggy backpacks. Sooo cute! Aaaaahhh!!! Lol. I took a pic of a couple dogs. I also saw a dog with a doggy backpack and doggy hiking boots. That's cool, first time I've actually seen those in use. Oh! The owner of one of these dogs had an awesome homemade wizard stick!!! I took a pic of him, he's the dude in the blue shirt. He carved the top and use a wood burner to put really really cool designs on it. Inspiration!!! :D

Anyhow, today's hiking was tough, even tho we only did 20 miles. That first 10 miles of rocky terrain was lame sauce. Bleh. Lol. Scenery was über pretty tho. Gosh it was epic. <3

Oh. So I ran outta water toward the end of the day. Kind of. It's funny, I never ran out of water while I was in the desert. Maybe because it was so scarce I was more aware of water, as opposed to out here it's usually so plentiful I don't even think about it. So I ran out 3 miles before the next creek, and when we got to that creek it was dry. Oops. Next water source was in 6 miles. Bleh. Although there was a pond before the water source, but it was stagnant and mosquito infested, and I was being a snob so I passed it up. Lol. Ah well. :)

The lake we camped next to was pretty cool. I took a pic of it. Damn bugs. Lol. It could be worse. It could be raining. Or snowing. Or even *more* buggy. Meh. Lol.

Day 93: Nero to epicness!! <3

Friday 7/20/12
Miles 1093.5-1100.5 (7 miles)
Elevation 8,310'

Last night I had reception, so I was looking up Donner Pass on Wikipedia, since I was going to go over that pass soon. I read about the Donner Party. Wow, that just about made me feel like a pansy. Lol. Many of you might know of them for their infamy of resorting to cannibalism to stay alive while they were trapped in the sierras for months. But the story is more detailed than that. Most of the pioneer party were women and children, and reading about what they had to endure just made me feel like such a sissy. Lol. Anyhow, read up on them, if you feel inclined, it's a fascinating/tragic story.

Yeah, I only did 7 miles. Don't judge me. :D Today was practically a zero; a "Nero" is basically short for near-zero, ie almost no miles hikes. Lol. We stopped at Echo lake and ran into about 8 other hikers just coming off trail and on their way to Tahoe. I got cell service there so I called Black Diamond because one of my poles fell apart the other day. They're sending me a replacement pair. Whoo hoo! I have the ultra distance z poles (same ones Kyle had), and getting another pair would have sucked because they're expensive. Thanks Black Diamond!! We also called Martin Guitar. Kyle has been wanting to get a travel guitar for a while. Two other guys I know on trail got sponsored by some other guitar companies so we hoped Martin Guitar would do the same. Denied. Bummer. Ah well, it was worth a shot. :)

The pic of Kyle standing on the trail next to the lake is Echo Lake. The other pic I have of the 2 lakes in the distance is also Echo and Upper Echo Lake. Both lakes are surrounded by cabins that are accessible only by foot or boat. Its a pretty popular vacation destination. The hike out of there was really mellow but TONS of people. It's ironic that the area we're in is called "desolation wilderness"; thus far it is anything but. O.o lol

Anyhow, there's a lake next to the trail called Lake Aloha. I saw it on the map and immediately thought, oooooo!! :). When we got there, it pretty much blew my mind. Oh my gosh it was soooooo epic!! Thus far it is my favorite lake on trail. Other than the name of the lake, the reason why I love it is because it is surrounded by rocks, and has tons of little rock islands in it. I took a pic of the lake. <3 usually lakes are surrounded by grass or other foilage. And that equals lots of mosquitos and bugs. Bleh. But this lake was just surrounded by rocks. It was amazing and beautiful. :) I went into lizard beach mode. Ooo the rocks were so warm. Kyle went swimming. It was cold so there was no way I was jumping in. Lol

Somehow I passed out on the rock for 2 hours. Lol. Oooo it was sooooo glorious!! :) by then it was around 4pm. Withing the next half hour we both decided to camp there cuz it was just so freaking epic. It wasn't really a hard decision. It's funny but Kyle and I think exactly the same, so it's not like I had to ask him what he wanted to do, I already knew. It was just a matter of which one of us said it aloud first. Lol.

Anyhow, it was a productive day regardless. I repaired Kyle's belt, fixed a hole in my shirt, and cut off all the margins on my maps. (saves weight). I was really stoked to camp here. The lake is soooo epic. And Kyle was kind of having an off day. I think getting used to those 5 finger shoes had something to do with it. And I was super tired myself. I dunno why. But oh well. It's so nice here :) I'll probably do a 25 mile day tomorrow, at least. Terrain for this section seems pretty mellow so it should be pretty easy to haul ass and make up miles.

Day 92: ok we're leaving...for reals!!

Thursday 7/19/12
Miles 0.5

Why is it always so difficult and time consuming to try and leave town?! Lol. We basically picked up today where we left off yesterday before the REI trip. I went to dry the sleeping bags and Kyle went to do grocery shopping, and then mailed all our boxes out.

We left our packs at the Lake of the Sky Outfitter store. Thanks guys!! Its so much easier to run around and do stuff without shlepping the pack around too. That shop is so awesome. Plus they have a super cute shop puppy named Bodey that hangs around the shop and licks all the PCT hiker's legs. Lol. I want a puppy!! :).

We didn't end up getting out of town til 7pm I think. Lol. Ugh. What the hell did we do all day?! A really cool guy picked us up when we were hitching out of town. He hiked the AT in 2008. Thanks dude!! I hope you do the PCT one day too! :)

We didn't get too far on the trail. Lol. Ah well. We'll make up the miles. I'm soooo stoked to have my 5 finger shoes again yaaaay! :)

Random thought I had today. I saw a sign in a bathroom somewhere that read, "Life is not about finding yourself, life is about creating yourself." I was thinking about that in context of the PCT. The Mojave desert section was kind of like a Phoenix experience. Going through the desert it just wears you out and burns you to the ground. Then you rise out of the ashes and are reborn again as you enter the Sierras. :D apparently there is another really dry stretch in northern California. Noooo! Lol. I thought the desert was over! Although I loved the desert. I really did, I thought it was beautiful. But damn those 18/19/25 miles of waterless stretches really wear you out. Plus I think the desert is way harder on your feet because it's so hot. People were getting blisters left and right.

Oh, funny thing that happened today. As we were hitching out, a mom and her kids asked to take a picture with us. Lol!! This was while we were standing in the road with my Hitchiking sign that says "hiker to trail". Haha, reminds me of the days when I surf sunset beach in Hawaii and the Japanese tourists would always ask to take pics of me as I'm walking to/from the water with my surfboard. Lol. I thought that was cool; some people go out of their way to avoid us when we're hitchiking. Oh no, hikertrash! Hahaha! :D

By the way, people in south lake Tahoe drive like maniacs. Geez. Kyle says he thought it was only in SoCal (and jersey) where people drive like a bat out of hell. I suggested that perhaps it was all the yahoo douchebag tourists from LA. :D by the way, I absolutely despise the general population and cities of southern California, incase you haven't guessed, from reading my blog. :). In all seriousness though, when I hitchike out of town I usually stand right on the road, in the shoulder, if it's a very large shoulder, because it's a lot more obvious to motorists. And I tend to try and be right in people's line of sight when I hitchike. Today was the first time I seriously wondered if a car was going to hit me. Yikes.

Ps. If any of Kyle's friends and family are reading this, he *loves* those Mountain House freeze dried backpacking meals. They are all amazing. Except the spaghetti and meatball one. Lol. So if anyone wants to send him a care package, that would be a great thing to mail him. He also likes the thick kine beef jerky too. :D i dont think kyle reads my blog, so shhhh, dont tell him im pimping him out. Haha :) He hasn't updated his blog because his phone is lame and Sprint has super crappy reception. Yeah, they will tempt you with their $30/month unlimited everything plan, but that won't do any good if you never get service :D I have AT&T and I'm still getting 4 bars of service and Internet, even tho I'm on the trail somewhere, 13 miles outside of Tahoe. Whee! :D

Day 91: leaving South Lake Tahoe...kinda

Wednesday 7/18/12
Miles 0

Ok today was an interesting day. Lol. The most random things always happen to us when we try and leave town. :)

There's an outfitter toward the Nevada side of town, we went there because Kyle wanted to get those 5 finger shoes. Yay! I'm stoked. Lol. I've been raving about them for the last several hundred miles. I've been wearing regular shoes since mile 700 at Kennedy meadows, and have been counting down the days til I can get rid of my bear can and go back to the 5 finger shoes! :). That's the main reason I really wanted to go to REI, actually. I needed to replace my old 5 finger shoes because they have holes in them and sand and dirt and pebbles get in which kinda sucks.

By the outfitter, there was an art gallery that was displaying the artwork of Dr.seuss. Naturally, I had to go in. It was awesome! At the entrance there was a metal sculpture of people that were wrapped around wine bottles. Most epic wine holder ever!! Lol :)

We bussed it to the other side of town where there was a front load washer in a laundromat as well as a grocery store. Kyle had to get food for his mail drops for the next 600 miles. At the laundromat I was hungry so I was cooking water in my alcohol stove and made mac n cheese outside the front door of the laundromat. Haha! :)

So in an epic turn of events, we were able to get a ride to the Reno REI and back from my resupply person's relative who lived in Carson city. THANK YOU LINDA!!!! I took a pic of her, she's do awesome! And she's from Oahu too!! :D. What an epic awesome lady!!! So, this all went down at about 5pm, so Kyle never got his resupply done, and I was halfway done with drying the sleeping bags. But oh man, we were sooooooo stoked to get to go to REI!

I replaced my 5 finger shoes YAAAAAYYYY!!! :D. I also replaced my broken gorilla pod (yay I can take self portraits again! Lol) and I swapped out my solar charger for a battery pack (it weighs less and holds more charge). Kyle returned his old broken hiking poles, and got some toe socks and a bunch of food bars.

Linda drove us through downtown Carson city on the way back. It was really cute, that little stretch of the downtown area where all the state government buildings are. Carson city seems a lot..."cleaner" than many of the Nevada towns I've been to. Lol.

Linda took us all the way back to south lake Tahoe. THANK YOU!!! Oh my gosh that was amazing. It is about an hour drive from Tahoe to Reno. And that doesn't include the 30 mins it took for her to go from Carson city (where she lives) to get us at Tahoe. Wow. That was just so absolutely amazing and unexpected!! <3

So yeah. I guess we're staying in Tahoe for another day since we still have to mail stuff out and the POs are closed.

Aaaah, the epic and random things that happen to us as we attempt to leave town. Lol.

Oh. There is an awesome Trappist style beer that Russian River brewing company makes, called Damnation and Redemption. They are both really, really yummy. :D

Day 90: south lake Tahoe = land of buffets!!

Tuesday 7/17/12
Miles 0

Other hikers weren't kidding when they said South lake Tahoe was full of good food. Geez. I dunno, this town trips me out. Lol. Anyhow, Minor was staying at this place up the road. He came and visited us around noon. Minor lives in San Diego (carlsbad) and the day I flew into San Diego, he went to Scout and Frodo's house (the trail angels that picked me up) because he wanted to meet me, but he missed me by about 4 hours because I didn't get to their house til after midnight that day. Funny that we run into each other, 1000 miles later. Lol. He got a watergun. I hope he packs that on the trail with him that would be awesome. Lol.

We all took the bus to the Lake of the Sky Outfitter which was at one end of town. While on the bus we encountered about 8 other pct hikers. Hikertrash takeover!! Lol. I got a pic of Pocahontas (formerly Cropduster) and Shep Dog (Brendan) who is behind her. Cowboy was there, as well as Chef, Funk, and a few others. It's always fun to see other thru-hikers in town.

The outfitter is so awesome. They have a little room in the back just for the PCT hikers, where they have fresh fruit, snacks, and coffee. Thanks guys! That's the most awesome outfitter I've been to. Me Kyle and Minor took a pic in front of the store. The owners thru-hiked the PCT in 1979, and they had a slide show of the photos they took, in the PCT room playing on the TV. It was so amazing to see what the trail was like in '79, it's been reroute a bunch, but a lot of it remained the same too. It was fun to see areas we recognized, an especially some of the same towns we stopped in, some of the towns looked so different in '79!

Other than that, today was somewhat uneventful. We just spent the day doing chores and random town errands. The three of us (Minor included) planned on playing miniature golf that night, while wearing our packs, but that didn't end up coming to be. Minor ended up going to the dinner buffet at Harrah's, Kyle took a nap, and I was running around town with a bucket of laundry and 2 sleeping bags, looking for a laundromat with a frontload washer (the laundromat listed on my map apparently doesn't exist anymore).

At some point at night, Kyle decided to draw on his bounce bucket. It was quite epic, his work of art. Lol. I took a pic of it. That's a self portrait of him and the wizard stick, and that's me next to him, wearing my Thinking Cap (the green beanie I made, with the ears on it).

Oh. I also found this book of kid's temporary tattoos. Kyle has been wanting to get a tattoo for a while but hasn't decided exactly what or where. So I took the liberty of tattooing him myself. It was rad, there were wizards and dragons and UFOs and rockets and pirate ships and all kine stuff. Hart and Huntington, eat your heart out! LOLOL

Day 89: hauling ass to hwy 50

Monday 7/17/12
Miles 1078.5-1093 (14.5 miles)
Elevation 7,261'

Ok I didn't really take many pics of the trail. I was absolutely focused on hauling ass to hwy 50 so we could hitch to south lake Tahoe and make it to the PO to pick up our stuff before they closed. Lol. And yes, we did indeed make it in time! :)

We were picked up on hwy 50 by an awesome couple from Utah who got engaged! Congrats guys, and thanks for the ride!! :) I was stoked we got a ride relatively quickly because other hikers in the past have been hassled by cops.

When we got to the PO, guess who we saw? Hee Haw!! :) He got new shows, I took a pic of that, they are neon blue cascadia shoes. Lol. Stylin!! His dad was in town for a week for Hee Haw's bday so they had a rental car. He drove us to Sushi Pier.

Ok, so pretty much since I started this hike, I've been craving sushi. So was Kyle. Especially coming from an island, it's like going from 60 to 0 as far as fresh seafood availability. Lol! A local told us of an all-you-can-eat sushi buffet called Sushi Pier which is AMAZING. And it was!!!! Oh my god it was so incredible. Now I'm good for another 1000 miles. Lol! Which is perfect because then we'll be in Washington an I LOVE salmon!! Lol.

Anyways, Sushi Pier was incredible. It's not just a typical AYCE sushi buffet, you have a menu of rolls and nigiri, and you order it and the chef makes it. Lather rinse repeat until you're so full you can't move. Which is exactly what we did. Lol. Dear god that place is amazing. Squizzle thought so too. I have a pic of him sniffing the wasabi.

South Lake Tahoe is a cool town. Its pretty much a 6 mile stretch of motels, ski shops, all you can eat buffets, and medical marijuana shops. lol! Then on the Nevada side there are the casinos. The town reminds me of a less ritzy version of Mammoth. I dig that. :)

Answer to Trivia #2: Gold Rush Edition

Bodie is indeed the answer!

This mining ghost town, in it's heyday, was once one of the largest and most lawless towns in the west! Today it is located south of Bridgeport Calfornia and is a State Historical Park.

When Kyle and I were in Bridgeport we thought about going to Bodie. A local was telling us about the place and how cool it is. But it's a 23 mile hitch one way and we needed to get back on the trail, so we didn't end up going. Bummer!

Lauko and Amelia, please email me your address if you'd like a postcard :) kealadancer@gmail.com. I got everyone else's address.

For more info check out www.bodie.com