I first hiked the Pacific Crest Trail over the course of 1994 and 1996, then I hiked the whole thing in one go in 2013. During the latter hike I kept this website updated as I progressed up the trail. I still have about 45 hours of video to edit, but in the meantime there is a lot for you to look at here. Over the course of the 168 days I wrote 138,734 words and put 13,644 photos on this website.
Spent the day at the RV park doing laundry and limping around. Putting on the ace bandage helps a lot.
The woman who works here, Yolanda was saying how she quit smoking to improve her health, yet quitting smoking caused her to gain 60 pounds...so she didn't know which was worse.
Hung out with a few hikers. Slowly learning names. One goes by the name Spoonman, and I burst out laughing when he walked into the store and asked Yolanda if she had a spoon.
Met a couple of women from Scotland. One of them, Ingrid, joked at how they needed trails named so people wouldn't just refer to them as the two lesbians. Her suggestion for her partner Tracy was an Indian sounding name that fit Tracy's personality... "Running Conversation".
There is a big hot climb ahead without any water for 24 miles. There is a cache of water at the 13 mile mark but you cannot depend on them being there. Hence, a lot of people do this climb early in the morning or in the late evening.
Yolanda is taking folks out to the trail (4 miles away) at 5:15 tomorrow morning. I thought about going then but decided to rest my foot for the day and go out in the afternoon. This way I will get to climb the hill during a full moon and five my foot a longer chance to rest. I also realized it gives me the extra bonus in that I won't walk farther than about 10-13 miles. If I were to go in the morning I would be tempted to hike a lot further. (My ongoing issue with starting early is that I don't stop hiking)