Day 14: gathering at Idyllwild

Weds 5/2/12
Miles 177-178 (about 5 miles total including the connector trail)
Elevation: too lazy to look sorry :) I know at one point I was around 8,600ft, and dropped *way the heck* down to get into Idyllwild

Today was a relatively easy hiking day. I still had to navigate through snow tho, but it's easier in the morning cuz its denser and so my foot doesn't fall through. Thats when my toes get super cold, when I posthole (thats when your foot sinks into the snow) because the snow gets all over my feet. As long as I can stay on top and walk in other peoples footsteps, I'm fine. I took some pics of the trail. The cone shaped metal thing with the bag of instant potatoes next to it is my cook system. It's called the Caldera Cone made by Trail Designs. It's pretty awesome. The little soda can alcohol stove is inside, the cone is my windscreen, and my pot sits right inside and is held up by the windscreen. I love it. But I just gotta make sure I don't set myself on fire when lighting the stove.

The pic of my foot next to the pct trail marker is the pair of flip flops I've been hiking in for the last 100+ miles. I took a connector trail to get into Idyllwild called Devils Slide Trail. Yeah, it was slippery. Miraculously I did not fall! In fact I didn't fall at all til I got past Humber State Park (pic of sign below) and walked the road toward town. I slipped on the gravel on the side of the road and skinned my knee. Go figure. Lol. Luckily a lady drove by and picked me up to take me into town so I didn't have to walk. Her name is Mo, she is so awesome. She was actually driving the opposite way, turned around, picked me up, drove me into and around town to show me where everything is, and dropped me off at my lodging. She is amazing. Thank you Mo!! <3

That is a pretty accurate foretale of how my whole Idyllwild experience was. This town is amazing. They are *so* hiker friendly. There's a pic below of a sign in front of the place I was staying welcoming PCT hikers. This town seriously makes me feel like a rock star!!

I stayed at the Idyllwild Inn. I found a hiker on the trail earlier who wanted to split a room so that was cool. The pic below of the little cabin is where we stayed. It is soooo nice for the price! It's bigger than a lot of one bedroom apartments in Hawaii. Lol. My roommate for the day is Snapper, a dude from Germany. He's pretty cool. He's the guy in front of the fireplace in the pic. Oh, there's a fireplace here!! And they give u a free bundle of wood!! I slept on the sofabed in the living room which was in front of the fireplace. It was an epically warm night! :D

I walked around town and took some pics, it's a really cute town! Funny thing I saw: a sign that said "Hawaiian ice" lol. So I roam around and guess what a see? A wine tasting place!! Of course I go in. :D It's such an awesome wine shop called Idyll Awhile, and they have epic beers too!! The guy that did the tastings is Simon, he's the guy in the pic holding a wine bottle. He also is really into mountain biking, and works at the bike shop! I'm stopping by there tomorrow on my way out. :)

While I was drinking wine, Simon told me they had live music there that evening, so I went back for that with Bobcat (she's the gal in the pic with me, she is so awesome) and Kristo (he's the guy in the green shirt sitting on the bed). Siting across from us were a group of ladies and they were really stoked to hear about my hike. They ended up paying for my tab!! Rock star status!! :D The musician there that night was awesome!! Great way to spend the evening.

Oh, prior to the live music I had dinner at one of the other cabins where a group of hikers were staying. It was Kristo and Opus (light colored shirt and beard), we all started the same day and I haven't seen them since, til today. There were a couple other guys there, I don't remember their names, but they're in some pics below. Snapper and I were both there and Bobcat wandered in a little later. It was an awesome little dinner we had.

There's an great little outdoor outfitter shop here called Nomad Ventures, and they had climbing gear. I asked how the climbing in the area was and the lady said there are some great climbs in the area. On my way down Devils Slide Trail I took a pic of this humongous slab of rock, which I later find out is some great climbing!

CJ sent me a box of goodies with some Chacos with a heel strap. Yay! I'm gonna try them out for a few days, I hope they work. Hopefully I can go faster in them. I'm doing fine in flip flops, but it's hard to move fast because I have to constantly watch out where I step. She also sent me a treat for Butterstuff!! I took a pic of him eating it. He was so stoked! Lol. Butterstuff got a bath today, so he's not brown anymore. Lol.

Anyhow, tomorrow I'm gonna try to take a Pilates mat class before I leave. I'm also gonna stop by Nomad Ventures and see if they can help adjust my pack straps to make it more comfy. Then I'll cruise to the bike shop and talk story for a while and hope one of the guys will drive me to the trailhead. Lol :) Ugh I'm not looking forward to going *up* Devils Slide Trail with a pack full of food and water. Bleh. Lol.

Oh my gosh Idyllwild is such a cool place! Love it love it love it! :D Goodnight everyone!! <3

Day 13: beautiful morning, high places, and...SNOW?!? O.O

Tuesday 5/1/12
Miles 164.5-177 (12.5 miles)
Elevation 8151ft

I was woken up this morning in the most epic way possible, by a puppy!! :D. A wonderful way to wake up, following a crappy night. Lol. It was super windy and my tent blew out its stakes around 1:30am and collapsed (it's not a freestanding tent so unless it's held down by stakes it will fall over). I tried to look for my extra stakes, because when it's really windy I stake down the corners and usually it'll hold. My stakes were in a black bag that was the same color as my tent floor and I couldn't find them, for the life of me. Plus I was pretty pissed, which didn't help. So I spent the hours of 130am-245am staking my tent back down, having it collapse on me, trying to find my extra stakes, all to no avail. Mind you, its really cold and windy. Eventually, I just said, "screw it" and took my sleeping bag out and slept outside on top of my collapsed tent. It actually worked out pretty nice. I discovered that if I slide all the way to the bottom of the bag and cinch the head part closed, I am totally cocooned but with enough airflow it's comfortable to breathe. Stoked!! My sleeping bag is soooo warm!!! <3

So anyhow, Trigger wakes me up this morning, which is awesome because puppies always make me smile. :). Plus it was a beautiful morning and sunny so hey, what's not to love? I spent the whole morning chilling at the campsite with Disciple (Luc) and Trigger. They are section hiking, and going the opposite way as I, so I won't see them again, which is quite sad. :( I always seem to meet the coolest people either as they or I are leaving.

I made coffee! Ooo it was yummy :). There's a pic of Luc and I, and he is holding the cup of coffee. I also took a pic of Trigger who was napping. Trigger is an amazing hiking dog, but he sure is good at napping too! :)

Today was a pretty tough day. The trail dropped a lot in elevation and then there were a couple steep inclines. I tried going as fast as I could but much of the trail was loose rocks with a 1000' drop on one side, so it was sketchy. But oh my gosh the views were AMAZING!!! I am really high up right now, I feel like I'm on top of the world!! :D I can see forever out there, it's so crazy! Its really cool to look behind me and realize, "holy crap I just walked up that mountain!!" :D consequentially, it's gnarly to look ahead and realize, "holy crap i have to go up *that*?!?" haha :)

it's so cool how the trail winds around both sides of the mountain peaks, so sometimes you get a view of the desert (palm springs in the distance?), sometimes you get a view of the valley, and when you're on the saddle ridge you get a view of both. It is absolutely breathtaking. :). There were so many times today I came around a corner and said "WOW" out loud. And I'm by myself. Lol. Oh! Speaking of which, I ran into Maya (Focus?) today!! The gal I started at the border with, who is super cool! I'm so stoked to see her again! :) I also passed Little Feet and her hubby (I forget his name), and Brrritto (3 r's, no u, as she explained. Lol) and Some Guy.

It was sooooo windy and chilly today. Even if i am sheltered from the wind I can hear it. It's so cool. I love the sound of wind. The pic below of the hillside with the big boulder in the upper left corner, with the line across the hill, the line is the trail. That one particular section was *so windy* I felt like I was gonna blow away. I literally ran across that whole part because it was so cold.

So today I encountered... ...SNOW!!! Holy crap!!! And yes, I am still in flip flops. O.O So yeah, that kinda sucked. Lol. My poor toes and feet were sooooo cold. I just followed in the footsteps that were already in the snow, so it wasn't too bad. I slipped a lot, but nothing gnarly. This was all a bit unnerving for me, because I was completely by myself. Around 630pm I started thinking "crap, where am I gonna camp?" I round a corner, and I find Blacksnake putting his tent up! I was sooooo stoked to see another person!! Especially Blacksnake; we started on the same day and have been leapfrogging ever since. He's done this part of the trail before so he knows what he's doing. I was so relieved to see someone! Actually i think someone else walked up
about 1/2 hr ago at 8:30. Thats so nuts! He/she was hiking through that snow, wind, and cold, in the dark!! Whoever this person is I think setup their tent next to me. Yay, someone to block my wind! Lol. I wonder who it is, but its too cold outside, I'll find out in the morning. :) I setup camp in the same area as Blacksnake, there's a stream nearby (stoked!!), and the best thing is we're less than 2 miles from the trail into Idyllwild!! Yippee!!

Originally I was aiming to get into Idyllwild tonight, but I have to pick up a package that arrives tomorrow. So it's a good thing I ended up hanging with Luc and Trigger, and getting a late start this morning (I didn't get going til 1030 which is 4 hours later than when I normally start hiking).

My pack is feeling a lot more comfortable. It's also a lot lighter too, since I ate almost all my food. Lol. Stoked!

Tomorrow should be a relatively mellow day. I have a 500' climb and 500' descent. Ugh I hope the snow is super mellow. 2 miles to trail junction, 2.5 miles down toward Idyllwild, and hopefully a hitch into town, or a 2.5 mile walk to town. Yay! I really need to do laundry and clean all my stuff. Including myself. Lol.

Day 12: beautiful soul #2, and my trail name!!! :D

Monday 4/30/12
Miles 151.5-164.5 (13 miles)
Elevation 7060ft
Total # snake encounters: 8

Lizards are so cool. Lol! I got pics of 2 of them today. Gosh today was a beautiful hike! I went through lots of trees and boulder fields. I love trees, they make me happy :) As do rocks. I took a lot of pics of the scenery today. Too bad they don't really do it justice, but at least you kind of get an idea what I'm looking at. Saw 2 snakes today. That puts my total sightings at 8 in 12 days.

So I had kind of an easy day today, didn't get a lot of miles in. But that's ok, I ended up taking a 3 hr break this morning, like around 10. I ran into a guy named Luc (aka Disciple) who hiked the AT in 2010, and he had a suuuuper cute puppy with him: Trigger, a black lab. I have a pic of them below. So naturally I stopped to say hi and pet the puppy. Luc ended up being incredibly awesome too, hence the reason I ended up staying for 3 hours. Lol.

But it was awesome that I stayed as long as i did because I ran into Kombucha and Hawkeye again, and some other hikers too. One of them gave me my trail name: Dancing Feet. Lol that is so cool!!! And epically appropriate in so many ways. Funny thing is he didn't even know I was a dancer. But ya, I'm stoked, I like it :D

So that water trough I have a pic of (Eagle Spring) was the last place I got water from. Damn I wish I had a filter. Lol. I hope bleach was good enough. There were other water sources prior to this one, but this was the closest one to the trail, at 1/4 mile away. Hence I chose this location. It's what I get for being lazy huh? Lol :)

I took a pic of my camera and my gorilla pod; that's what ive been using to take all my self shots. I'll post those up when I get a chance. I love the gorillapod tho. It's so awesome!

The one pic I have of me, Luc took that, it's where we are camped out tonight, on top of the mountain. It's COLD. Lol. And its windy too, so hopefully that means there won't be any condensation. But the view is INCREDIBLE. Possibly the most amazing I've had thus far. And the sunset was unreal. Oh my god. It was so amazing I completely forgot to take a pic. Blah. Lol. I just couldn't stop watching it.

But anyhow, I ran into Luc and Trigger this afternoon. I was super stoked, because they are section hiking and going back the other way tomorrow so I wasn't sure if I was gonna see them again. It's pretty awesome to meet a person with a beautiful soul (who happens to have an epic dog too). You know how sometimes you come across someone with such a neat aura that they glow? It's a rare and special thing, to come across people like that. I'm so lucky to have met 2 already (Dazzle being the 1st), and it's only my 12th day on the trail. :)

Anyhow. Yeah, today was pretty amazing. I know I say that everyday. Lol. But today was definitely a special one in so many ways. And now I'm gonna go to sleep and hope I dont wake up an icicle. Lol!

Day 11: Holy Hamburgers batman!!

Sunday 4/29/12
Miles 134.5-151.5 (19 miles, including the 1 mi to and from Paradise Cafe)
Elevation 5,100ft

Is it lizard mating season or something? Lol! They're everywhere and acting kinda weird. B
Not that lizards aren't awesonely weird on a normal basis, but right now they seem extra quirky. Yesterday, this one lizard looked like it was doing a pushup dance or something. It was so funny-looking. Animals are cool :)

Today's hike seemed a lot more difficult than its been. I think it's cuz of all the elevation gain. If you're looking at my elevation report, even though the overall change isn't much, I gain/lose 1,000+ft several times thought the day. The trail isn't flat. Lol. Hence the name "Pacific Crest Trail". It follows the crest of the mountains all the way to Canada. :)

Sorry I didn't take many pics today. It was a tiring day. There was a huge water cache which was AWESOME. I took a pic of it. Sometimes people will randomly leave a water cache for hikers along the trail by road intersections. This particular one is huge. Usually it's several gallon jugs of water. But either way, we are oh so grateful. It's pretty hot out here and there is no shade. O.o

There is a legendary cafe on the road near the PCT called Paradise Valley Cafe. It's *very* popular among hikers and they supposedly have epic food, so naturally I had to stop by :). Oh, I leapfrogged with Alice and Steve the last 2 days. They're a really cool couple. Alice did the AT a while ago. She's also the first person I came across with a pack heavier than mine. Whew!! Glad im not the only one :). I told them about the Cafe so they went there too. I had a huge burger with feta and olives and jalapeños. It was amazing! Bummer I didn't get a pic of it. But it was really big. I managed to eat it all tho :). The beer was really good too. In the pic below Butterstuff is drinking a beer from the Czech Republic. I had a German beer after. Both very delicious.

I'm currently camped out not too far from the cafe. I was too tired to do more miles. Lol. Alice and Steve kept going. They are pretty hardcore. Anyhow, it's nap time! Sorry I don't have much interesting news to report. I have all these great thoughts throuout the day but by the time night rolls around and I blog, I forget everything! Lol. Maybe I'll try blogging throughout the day? :). Goodnight!!