Week 3: To Big Bear We GOOOO!

Day 15

Today was another great day – but this time it was ALLLLL downhill. We slept in with no alarm, waking up around 7 but not getting up til 8. Noah and I decided to try and hit 15 miles today, so we slowly packed up while everyone else was getting up. I knew we were saying bye for now to the Atlanta crew and I was so sad!!!

We left around 930 and hiked down from Jacinto. We had views of her the whole way, and I told Noah a few miles in that this was my favorite part of the PCT so far. We were hiking through forests with beautiful views of Jacinto and the valley- it almost felt like the sierras!

We stopped and filled up some water by the creek, and at this point it was starting to get hot. The water felt so cold and nice:) We also ate an orange there! I have orange all over my sun hoodie.

We pushed on, leaving the pine trees and heading down into what feels more like SoCal. The sun beat down on us, so we took some much needed breaks in the shade to avoid me overheating. My head gets so darn hot!

We also met a couple we leapfrogged with all day  They were so cool, we all hopped over a rattlesnake and hit the 200 mile marker together! 

To avoid the headache coming on, I decided to start an audiobook (thank you for the bday gift Mel!) for the last 9ish miles. Boy did they FLY! The book is called Red Rising – Noah has read it and pushed me towards it and I can see why! 10 chapters and a few breaks later, we made it to our site which has a faucet with water. We set up, filtered some water, stretched, made dinner and got ready for bed. Our site has beautiful views of Jacinto, I’m so glad we’re sleeping here 🙂

Till tomorrow!

Songs at the forefront of my mind: “All Too Well (Ten Minute Version)(Taylor’s Version)”-Taylor Swift and honestly that’s it!

Day 16

Lucky number 16 for me didn’t necessarily disappoint but it did put me on my ass. Don’t know how much I’ll write because I’ve had a throbbing headache since 11:30 this morning (it’s 6:18) but I want to emphasize how beautiful today was, even if it was hot.

I had the best sleep of the PCT so far last night. We snoozed a bit and it was the first day that I actually didn’t want to get up. Should’ve known then!

We did 17.7 miles today. The first 4+ brought us to I10 where some incredible trail magic was waiting. Soda, candy, SUNSCREEN and water. We fueled up and applied sunscreen (first day in shorts!) and moved on. We headed to our next stop, the Wind Farm Offices. This was beautiful as well, walking through the wind turbines and turning around to glance at San Jacinto.

There were lots of wildflowers of all different colors – purples, blues, yellows, and my favorite – the California poppy. We hit the wind farm office and I charged my phone (WOO), had a body armor (WOOO) and got some water. It was here that we hit the heat of the day. The next 6 miles were to the best part of the day – the river. But getting there was ass. It’s hot out here man!

Once we hit the river I dunked my head in, as it was on fire and ready to explode. We soaked our sun hoodies and filtered water, hanging out with Surf n Turf, a guy we met a few miles back and kept leap frogging with. He’s super cool- just doing this section to Big Bear but he did the whole thing last year!! Badass.

From the river we did the last 3.4 to our campsite. My head was on fire. Stopping to take breaks did nothing, only made me realize how bad it was. Continuing on also sucked – what a predicament. 1.4 miles out I was crying a bit and Noah told me I’ve conquered worse, to which I replied “the heat is making everything worse”. He said back, “you’re making everything worse”. Didn’t feel good, but it’s all I repeated to myself for that last 1.4 miles and I made it so he must have done something right in saying it.

I also listened to more of Red Rising today. It’s great!

Today’s highlights: two trail magics, the wildflowers, the poppies, the river, and sitting here right now with an incredible view. I want to stop feeling weak but hopefully it’ll come with time. 

Songs at the forefront of my mind: “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)”-Duke Ellington, “Blue Skies”-Ella Fitzgerald, “Build Me Up Buttercup”-The Foundations, “Cocaine Jesus”-RKS, “Brutal”-Olivia Rodrigo, “Stick Season”-Noah Kahan

Day 17

WHAT A DAY! Today was better than yesterday but that’s because we hiked through a river for most of it, meaning my feet were nice and cool.

We got up around 620 and were moving by 650. The sunrise was beautiful. My fav campsite so far!

We did 3ish miles to Mission Creek, then another 7ish through the river bed. It was so stinking beautiful! The views dropping down were incredible, even if it was hard on my knees.

The riverbed itself reminded me of hiking through The Narrows. When we dropped down into cool shade, the flowers smelled SO incredible I never want to forget it.

About a mile out from where the trail reconnects, we took a long break under a beautiful tree. We had lunch, filtered water and took an hour long nap.

Waking up and starting the next 8.4 miles was hard. It was hot out, and reconnecting to the trail meant lots of uphill. There were lots of sections washed out and super sketchy to hike, and I was not doing my best. I got down on myself (girllll stop it!) and felt like the slowest hiker known to mankind.

We stopped and filtered water at our last part of Mission Creek alongside another couple. We still had 2.8 to go. Talking to them revived me a bit, and soon enough I was back to myself. We didn’t make it the rest of the way. We only did .8 up and found a beautiful spot on a bed of pine needles. Trekking up from Mission Creek was some hard work, and involved both of us getting seriously stuck in some mud.

I wouldn’t want to do this with anyone else by my side. Noah is my greatest motivator and always in my corner, fighting to show me how strong I am. I gotta listen to him more!

Songs at the forefront of my mind: “London Bridge”-Fergie, “Dora The Explorer Theme Song”-??? and “Anti-Hero”-Taylor Swift

Day 18

Another 20 mile day in the books! Our second, to be exact.

This morning we hit snooze so hard we didn’t get up till 7. Yesterday knocked us OUT! We packed up, filtered water, ate breakfast and hit the trail.

You know how two days ago I was saying this was my favorite part of the PCT? I take it back! Today was my favorite day so far, even if I’m exhausted, have new blisters, knees hurt and I have constant muscle pain in my neck and shoulders.

We hiked up the rest of the valley and into the forest. God, I. LOVE. THE. FOREST. I felt right at home, surrounded by the trees, birds flitting about, the smell of pine and cedar, and of course, the temperature. Nothing beats a chilly morning.

We hiked up and over 3 passes today. It really felt much easier than yesterday’s excursion. During the first incline, I threw on my girl Taylor Swift and I rocked that shit. I quickly realized how much music HELPS LOL. I listened to Taylor all day, she rules. If you’re reading this Tay, thank you forreal.

My favorite view of today was looking back into the valley we hiked through. We saw Mission Creek AND views of Jacinto! Really crazy to stand there and say just 4 days ago we were all the way over there. My favorite view so far.

We ate lunch at the top of the second summit. I pounded a snickers. Then I wasn’t super hungry but forced a PB tortilla down, and when we set off on the downhill (11ish miles to go), I was EXHAUSTED. I wanted to lay down and nap right there, the food made me feel so lethargic. Noah and I decided to try and make it to the top of the final summit and then nap. Again, I threw my girl Taylor on and suddenly I was WIDE AWAKE. There we were, 6 miles out and I didn’t need a nap anymore!

As always, the last 6 were long and tough. Our bodies were aching pretty bad, but we stayed strong and made it to our water source for the day. .8 miles left (the longest of my life) and we made it! 730am to 545pm with breaks, not too bad!

Dinner was ramen with instant mashed potatoes on tortillas with beef jerky. Tomorrow is an easy one INTO BIG BEAR!!! I cannot wait to resupply.

Oh, and our campsite is beautiful. Here’s a pic 🙂

Songs at the forefront of my head today: “So High School” and “The Alchemy” -Taylor Swift and then I just listened to TTPD and Midnights lol

Day 19 AND 20!!!

These past two days I’ve decided to jumble together, as we’ve arrived to BIG BEAR!!! Big Bear is one of our favorite spots, as we took a trip there on our drive across the country a few years back and still talk about the magic it provided us.

We woke up to the sun and slept in a bit because check in wasn’t until 3 and we only had 6.7 miles to go. After a bit we got up, packed and ate, and headed out. The 6.7 miles were easy! We did them in around 2 hours, we were so excited to get to town.

Upon arriving to the trailhead, a woman gave us clementines, there was a cooler fu of NA Heineken (???), and a guy pulled up in a jeep asking if we needed a ride. Thank god for Gary!!

He drove us into town and dropped us off at the hotel 4 hours early. It was so nice hearing about his life- he was a firefighter in Big Bear and has lived here for over 50 years!

Lucky us, the hotel had our room ready! We got in, took super long showers, soaked our clothes in the tub then headed out to lunch based on the recommendation of the girl at the front desk. THAI FOOD. The Royal Thai was INCREDIBLE! As well as affordable! We got large beers, an appetizer and I had Pad See Ewe. We were in heaven!

We got Ben and Jerry’s after (free scoop for PCT hikers!) and then took the bus (also free!!!!) over to Grocery Outlet for our resupply.

We came back and hung out in bed the rest of the night. It felt like a really nice reset, and we haven’t even taken our zero yet!

Which leads us to Day 20!! We slept in, I did some laundry and cleaned up a bit, and then we headed out to Amangelas, a sandwich shop. It was delicious. We got so much to eat – and it was all eaten. Hiker hunger is real!!

We walked through town a bit, did some errands and also ran into our friends! We planned to do something later in the evening as they had just gotten into town.

Noah and I headed back and laid in bed all day again, leaving around 730 to meet our friends and some hikers.   

We walked into Whiskey Dave’s and saw everyone in the back! It was Stealth’s birthday(he’s a hiker we summited Jacinto with) and he is an actual character so we had some fun chatting with him. I hung out with Vivi at the bar and we had some girl time, then we all went to Ben and Jerry’s for a nightcap ice cream.

It was nice because everyone was hitting the trail tomorrow so by 930 we were all spent lol. Noah and I made it back to our cozy bed and decided to sleep in. After all, all we have to do is walk tomorrow!

No songs in town, just good vibes and lots of food 🙂

Day 21

Today was a nice easy day. We woke up in Big Bear and laid in bed until we had to get out in time for check out. I showered and packed and we went across the street to this amazing crepe spot. Again, we ordered way too much but finished it all like it was nothing.

We got a guy to drive us over and on the way someone had blew out a tire! We helped push the car off the road and continued on.

At the trailhead we ran into Josh and Laura waiting for a ride. How fun seeing people like this! It was goodbye for a bit as Josh is headed off trail and bringing his rig back down in a few weeks but I hope we get to see them again.

We only did 10 miles today and they flew by. My feet feel good and my body was happy to be back on the trail.
We stopped at our site and set up, then stretched for a long time, got our food ready and ate dinner. 

17+ miles tomorrow! Can’t wait 🙂

Songs – I actually listened to Selena and Benny’s new album – gooooood one, I really like Bluest Flame, Sunset Blvd and How Does It Feel To Be Forgotten 

Week 3 was a good one! I can feel my body adjusting to the hard work I’m putting in, and I’m starting to realize that I’m the only one getting down on myself. Why am I doing that?! Because I was a professional dancer and I’m so competitive and expect to be perfect all the time – what a silly little thing. It’s just walking girl, you might as well enjoy it and stop setting the stakes so high. Looking forward to my next blog post! Coming up…HOT SPRING WEEK!!! 

If anyone has any questions about anything let me know! I’d love to get to know some of my readers (you guys rule thanks for following along!)