Pacific Crest Trail Thru Hike: The Range of Light

100 million years ago, immeasurable power changed the face of the earth. This cataclysmic event left an immense deposit of light-colored granite, which was in turn carved with the artistic, albeit clumsy hands of shifting glaciers.

Today the glaciers are mostly gone and the earth is no longer erupting, but what remains is no less awesome and immeasurable, no less beautiful. It is a hard and blazing place, wild and untamed, and buzzing with an energy that seems to seep out of the rock and flow in the rivers.

Up and over Cottonwood Pass, sits the first real view of the High Sierra. Chicken Spring Lake is a bit of a misnomer. Despite its slack jaw connotation, it is subtly elegant. Two bald, granite peaks frown into a saddle and loom over the still and clear water.

Within the white glow of the stone, and the reflection of trees in the lake water, was the confirmation that we were doing the right thing, and that everything would be ok. It was a defining moment in the hike.

The twilight air was cool but not unpleasant, and the red setting sun glinted through gaps in the tall pines, dappling the trail with a radiant glow. We stopped several miles later and camped near a rushing creek. Continue reading “Pacific Crest Trail Thru Hike: The Range of Light”

Pacific Crest Trail, Thru Hiking

Pacific Crest Trail Thru Hike: Kennedy Meadows to Lone Pine

Seven hundred miles has a nice ring to it. Even spelling it out suggests a lovely sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. Gongratulations, you have walked a far way good sir and madam. More at least than a paltry 500 or 600. But at mile 702 festers the stinking ‘zero vortex,’ and wallet sucking monopoly that is the Kennedy Meadows General Store.

Kennedy Meadows is the JFK Airport of the PCT. It’s a hub, and you will see many hikers there. I’m not quite sure if it’s actually a special place or if everyone has just read it’s name a thousand times and thinks it this magical portal out of the desert, but there was certainly a buzz in the air that hadn’t been felt since Campo. We’ve made some noticeable prog ress and us hikers love to give credit where credit is due, so upon arriving, I was greeted with a lovely smattering of applause. Then a very ‘nice’ lady behind the counter helpfully took all my money, most likely to keep it safe while I ate and drank my body weight in overpriced beer and ice cream.

Needless to say, KM is a zoo. No. Actually, it’s more like a bankrupt zoo met an electronic music festival and had a love child- then left that child in a trailer park to be raised by Coyotes. So it’s also needless to say that you will have a good time there, unless you need to use one of the porta-potties, which is akin to walking into a leaky nuclear reactor with only a Tyvek jumpsuit to protect you. Continue reading “Pacific Crest Trail Thru Hike: Kennedy Meadows to Lone Pine”

Pacific Crest Trail, Thru Hiking

Pacific Crest Trail Thru Hike: Tehachapi to Kennedy Meadows – Why I hate the desert and will venture there no more.

I try to add something extra to my blog posts. Instead of just a slide show of my actions over a period of time, I like to describe the trail, and any experiences that transcend the individual and illustrates what makes walking such an immense distance so worthwhile and beneficial to mind, body, and spirit. However, if Bob Dylan, John Lennon, and Charles Dickens decided to have a child together, that baby would fail if asked to write a kind word about the trail betwixt (OK there is one nice word) Tehachapi and Kennedy Meadows. So instead, for the sake of future hikers, I will give a brief account of this section and maybe brag a bit about a special day I spent hiking…for 43 miles.

After leaving Tehachapi, all your guide books will lie to you and tell you that you are in the Sierra Nevada. You are not. You are in a hellish landscape of fire and brimstone, where water does not exist and the earth has decided that the bottoms of your shoes should melt if you stand still long enough.

I wanted no part of it. And thus, my hiking style changed to a ‘hike the hell out of here’ technique. I left Tehachapi late, because my ride decided to check three different hotels for other hikers, and then wait for said hikers to finish eating breakfast, despite the fact that they had just sat down to start eating. So instead of a 10 minute drive to the trailhead at 7am, it was a 2.5 hour drive to the trailhead at 9:30. No big deal-except for the fact that it would be over 100 degrees for the next 5 days. Continue reading “Pacific Crest Trail Thru Hike: Tehachapi to Kennedy Meadows – Why I hate the desert and will venture there no more.”

Pacific Crest Trail, Thru Hiking

Pacific Crest Trail Thru Hike: Aqua Dulce to Tehachapi

After hiking so many miles, living on the trail becomes second nature. The towns become harsher and more abrasives to the senses, and the speed of conventional travel, culture, and all around general activity seems to teem around you, pushing you back into the calm embrace of nature. In the dust and the rock of the desert, you move not as a human, but as a mammal. You eat for calories sake and you lumber from water source to water source. You become the purest form of human.

This section of trail is nothing like that. In fact, if you can manage the miles, you could walk from house to house, or more accurately, party to party. I have spoken about Hiker Heaven and the Saufleys, a cool place to stay and get down, but still a place that asks for a modicum of decency and responsibility. 28 miles layer, sits Casa De Luna, or the Anderson’s. This hiker haven demands respect and deserves it by all means, but it is safe to say that Terri Anderson is into a little more, dirty fun. Hikers sit around on ratty couches the whole day. I did not move from my seat for 8th hours. All around, hikers laze about in one state of intoxication or another, wearing the trademark uniform of the Casa, an Hawaiian shirt. It is a rougher kind of place than Hiker Heaven, like a biker bar is rougher than just a regular pub. There is the hint of debauchery and danger in the air, held aloft by the rumors, both fantastical and realistic, spread between hikers about this place. And boy, does the Casa De Luna deliver. It is well worth the stop, and we’ll worth the zero you will most likely need the next day. I can best describe it as the Hotel California. You van check out, but you can never leave. Continue reading “Pacific Crest Trail Thru Hike: Aqua Dulce to Tehachapi”

Pacific Crest Trail, Thru Hiking

Pacific Crest Trail Thru Hike: 370 Miles North – Trail Magic

On day 17, it was decided that waking up at 4:30am and hitting the trail at 5:15 was the best option. The early breakfast was inspired by a 20 mile waterless stretch that lay ahead. Knocking out 10 miles before the heat of the day allowed me to carry only 2 liters during the waterless stretch.

When it was all said and done, I arrived at the next water source at 2pm. I wasn’t dehydrated, I still had half a liter of water left. But, I was mentally and physically drained from the morning and afternoon hiking.
Of course, that’s when the trail provided something to uplift my spirits. A trail supporter must know of the difficult waterless stretch, so he/she setup a nice spot to relax and enjoy yourself.
Next to the water cache, this trail angel provided a couch and a garbage dumpster filled with some PCT Magic. Inside the dumpster was 8 different kinds of soda, various cookies, water, fruits, first aid supplies, and a trail log for thru hikers to sign. Continue reading “Pacific Crest Trail Thru Hike: 370 Miles North – Trail Magic”

Pacific Crest Trail, Thru Hiking

Pacific Crest Trail Thru Hike: San Jacinto Wilderness

Snow at 9,000 ft in SoCal

Continue reading “Pacific Crest Trail Thru Hike: San Jacinto Wilderness”

Pacific Crest Trail, Thru Hiking

Pacific Crest Trail Thru Hike: Bridge People

He sat in the dirt resting his back against a graffiti covered wall. Cleanliness had long since become a secondary thought, and a little dust would not make a difference anyway. Grime is caked upon his legs and face, and found comingling with the dried sweat on his shirt. Someone hands him a small plastic bottle of cheap tequila. He takes a swig without much thought and passes it on in a fog. Next to him, two bearded me in cotton sweat suites eat cold beans out of ziploc bags- with their hands.

It was about this time I contemplated if I was a hiker, or a homeless man lurking under a bridge in the desert. Choice- It is the only difference between a hiker and a bum, and maybe a $200 down jacket. Continue reading “Pacific Crest Trail Thru Hike: Bridge People”

Pacific Crest Trail, Thru Hiking

Pacific Crest Trail Thru Hike: A Beginning to a Long Walk

Mileage completed: 179 miles
Miles per day: 17.9 miles

The journey began on April 17th, 2014. Finna, my hiking comrade, and I found ourselves in the shadow of the southern monument, buzzing with anticipation and excitement. I wanted to cry- or whoop for joy, but I couldn’t decide, so I just stood and smiled. My hand touched the cracked wood of the monument with the inscription “Pacific Crest Trail, Mexico to Canada” and it was finally real. After years of wanderlust and planning, I am where I should be. Its been said that passionate people give all of themselves to their dreams, so i started my 6 million step journey by jumping two feet in. I was all in, literally and metaphorically. So I began to walk and soon realized that the green tunnels of the east were gone and a new challenge lay ahead. The trail is serpentine and it winds it’s way along the outside of most peaks like a constrictor suffocating it’s next victim. It is gently graded and is certainly lacking in any real uphill climbs found every few miles on the AT. But, it has not been easy. The desert sun and heat are a formidable duo and I’m pretty sure they killed Shade, because it is not to be found for long tracts of trail. Water must be in the witness protection program because you can only find it in shady places or from a hose behind a general store. Continue reading “Pacific Crest Trail Thru Hike: A Beginning to a Long Walk”

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