Started: Mount Laguna (42.0)
Ended: Penny Pines (48.7)
Total: 6.7 + 5 bonus miles

Today was going to be a lazy day. Fishtank had a box at the Mount Laguna Post Office, and that did not open until noon. A bunch of us met at the Pine House Cafe and Tavern. The breakfast was excellent. It was good to get something not freeze dried in my stomach.

It was good to see some of the faces we have come to know there. It is a good resting spot to recharge and resupply for the next portion.

Yuri, the hiker I met at the train station in San Diego and the person who made some rude comments about my ability to hike and my gear choices, was kicked out of the restaurant. There was a sign there that clearly said, “Do not charge your phone with this outlet.” Needless to say, he pulled it down and did it anyways. The rest of the hiker community gave him the stink eye. No one wishes to hike with anyone like that.

At noon, Fishtank received his box and he has more food than he needs. I didn’t need to resupply yet, but I took his leftovers. He is very generous.

I prayed for someone I could hike with. God gave me someone who is in the exact same situation as me, except he is conservative and I’m liberal, because God has a wonderful sense of humor. Still, we get along well that when we hike, I just need to look at him to know when to go faster or to rest.

The hike was short. We started in the afternoon, and we returned to where we left off. Many people just went through the town. They missed some amazing views. Despite a short day, some of the photos I took were the best ever. I’ll resolve that when I can.

Tomorrow is going to be difficult. We have 25 miles of no water we must get through. It is going to be a tough slog.

Here are some other photos I took:

Started; Boulder Oaks Camp Ground (26.0)
Ended: Mount Laguna (42.0)
Total: 16.0 Miles

We didn’t sleep well last night. There were some campers talking and drinking until 1 am. Jason yelled at them, but even that didn’t work.

When I first got out of my tent, everything was moist. I was glad that I didn’t cowboy camp! A fog came in during the middle of the night.

Jason and I have started to break down duties. I plan the day, mostly because I struggle the most with water. Jason is from an arid state and I am not. I just need more water than he does. He has a box in Mount Laguna, so that was our goal for the day.

I had a good internet connection and the weather report said a high of 67, so I was comfortable making a big push. That meant we would hike at night with our head lamps if we needed to. Postholer rates this section a difficulty of 8.7 out of ten. It has multiple climbs of 2000 feet, including a brutal climb out of Fred’s Canyon.

The initial hike went very well. Although it was difficult, along the way there was many trail angels offering oranges, Snickers, and cold drinks.

We hiked until lunch and laid out our wet gear to dry as we rested. It may have been 67 degrees in Mount Laguna, but it certainly wasn’t 67 degrees where we were.

At the base of Fred’s Canyon, there is a cool spot. Most of the hikers were congregating down there. We committed a tactical error and muddled past.

We ended up hiking for seven miles in the heat of the day uphill the whole way. It was brutal. We stopped a number of times. Eventually we reached our water source. A cool spring is an amazing reward. Jason and I rested and pounded down a liter.

Refreshed, we had a choice. It was 4 p.m. It was cooling off. We had 4 miles and 1,500 feet to go. It would be painful, but the reward would be a hot meal in a restaurant.

I yelled, “Tonight. We dine in Mount Laguna!”

I am happy to say that it was some of the sloppiest, profanity filled hiking ever done. Two old fat men digging into their “Old Man Strength”, passing younger stronger hikers in our wake.

We knew once we made it to the pine trees it was all down hill. We reached Mount Laguna at 7 p.m. We sprinted to the local restaurant. Okay, we didn’t sprint. We waddled. No good deed goes unpunished. The restaurant was closed. Dejected, we returned to camp and I ate bacon and mashed potatoes.

Jason needs to pick up a resupply box at the post office. I need to resupply breakfasts, lunches and snacks until we get to Julian in two days. After three days, I’m happy to say that other that general muscle soreness, I’m hiking at 100% health. We will hike a shorter day tomorrow.

Started: Hauser Canyon (15.4)
Ended: Boulder Oaks Camp Ground (26.0)
Total: 10.6 miles.

We woke up as the sun rose at five and were ready in about thirty minutes. Our immediate goal was to climb out of Hauser Canyon. It is three miles and 3,000 feet up. Yesterday, my thighs we’re killing me for half of the day.

To be honest, if I had any doubts whether I can finish this endeavor, it could be answer in the next couple of hours. Back home as I trained, I mastered straight ahead. I crush flat ground. However, there were things I could not train for and climbs in the heat were one of them. So, with a Cliff Bar, a large cup of coffee and 600 mg of Vitamin-I, Fishtank and I started the approach out of the canyon. I gave a liter of water to Fishtank, so I did it with just one liter.

Just before we left, Candice gave me another tablet of electrolytes. She is an angel.

F’Tank and I raced up trying to beat the sun before it started to bake the canyon floor. Understand that raced means about two miles per hour with rest stops every 15 minutes. We leap frogged with Candice and Jamie from Wisconsin. At about nine o’clock we heard cheering from the top. They made it. Not long after we did as well. With that, we made a proper breakfast.

Yes, I was exhausted and it was only nine in the morning!

We hiked to Lake Morena. I ordered a bacon cheeseburger and a double order of extra salty french fries. We then rested, quite jubilant at the campground. The combination of the climb and the heat sucked all the energy out of us and we took our time. Candice and I enjoyed some instant cafe mocha I brought.

There were rumors of trail magic ahead in nine miles. Spaghetti! However, we were sapped of all our energy and we were only able to do five miles. Jamie and Candice decided to climb additional mountains.

We rested a bit, but rumors of spaghetti in nine miles, but we were only able to do five. We still finished 1% of the trail, so we got that going for us.

We made camp at a dedicated camp site. There was plenty of water and toilets. It was also a nice place to put up my tent for the first time.

So tomorrow we’ll hike four miles to a 2000 foot climb. We’ll see where we go from there. Health wise, I’m at 100%. No pain. No blisters. My thighs were fine after I warmed up.

While I was hoping to do 20 miles a day out of the gate, finishing only ten is rather weak, but this is harder than I expected. A lower mileage day is good, especially after a big climb. Eventually, I will be in true hiker shape. In the meantime, I need to take it day by day.

Started: Southern Terminus (0.0)
Ended: Hauser Creek (15.4)
Total: 15.4 miles

I was right. I barely slept at all. It was mostly nerves, but lying next to me was Yuriel. As we were getting ready to go to sleep he said to me “You are too fat and your pack is too heavy.” I told him that those who underestimate me are sorely disappointed in the end. Still, I stewed on that all night. Fortunately, he will be way too fast for me, so I will never see him again. He’ll probably get hurt after 200 miles after wearing himself out.

If that wasn’t bad enough, we woke up in the middle of the night and was adjusting his lightweight pad. He was terribly uncomfortable. I guess he didn’t try and sleep with his ultralight kit and we are AstroTurf. He is going to have a wonderful time sleeping when the ground is not completely even. At least I was comfortable while I lay awake!

If you want to see a well oiled machine, Scout and Frodo woke up 25 hikers, fed them, loaded them up on time. We were scheduled to leave at 0600 and we left at 0659.

Thirty minutes later, I was at the Southern Terminus.

The kids from Wisconsin posed together as well!

I touched Mexico.

It took a while for Jason to get all his video work done. With that, we took our first steps on the PCT. It was very warm and dry.

Our initial strategy for the day can be defined with a single sign:

We did pretty well at the start. I left with six liters of water. My pack was heavy but bearable. We found a heavenly water source at 4.4. We soaked our feet. The air was dry and I was drinking faster than expected. I drank to liters and refilled them.

Jason had a critical issue soon after. We stopped to rest at mile 6, because he he was complaining his butt was wet with sweat. When he reached behind, his hand was wet. It wasn’t sweat. His water bladders were leaking. He lost two liters of water and we still had 14 miles to go out of the canyon.

As we sat there an experienced hiker named Turbo came by. Jason explained way all his gear was out. With that Jason was baptized with his hiker name — Fishtank. Not even ten miles in, he earned his name and it was given by a veteran hiker.

What we should have done is go back to mile 4.1 and refill, but he decided to go forward. We talked about training for the hike. He barely did any.

With two longer rests, as I was climbing up a ridge I started to cramp up. My calves were great. My thighs were not. We found Candice and Jamie in a shady spot. Candice gave me some electrolyte tablets. She then lectured me on making sure I am supplementing my water. Candice was amazing. I hope to run into her again.

Then it was downhill into Hauser Canyon. My quads didn’t like the downhill and Jason was struggling as well. As we reached the bottom, I realized how brutal the climb will be out of here.

We kept it slow, and made it to camp by 1830. We camped with Jamie and Candice. I didn’t bother with my tent and just cowboy camped. I fell asleep in less than ten minutes.

Here are other photos I took:

I woke up at five in the morning and took a quick shower and put on deodorant for the last time. I enjoyed one last meal on the train and returned to my roomette to change into my hiking clothes. Everything in my is condensed into two bags. I have a backpack which is all I need and want, and a plastic garbage bag with two days of dirty clothes, my toiletries and any other trash. My backpack is my monkey on my back. The trash bag will be disposed at the first opportunity.

I arrived 30 minutes late to LA Union station to switch trains, but I still had plenty of time. As I tossed my trash in a bin, I came to the realization that at this point I am essentially homeless.

I sat quietly on the train ride to San Diego. Looking out the window brought back memories of when my wife and I lived in Southern California. It has been 21 years since we agreed that I would have a grand adventure, and sure enough that promise had come true.

When I got off the train in San Diego, it wasn’t difficult to figure out where I needed to go. I expected the station to be much bigger, but it was not. I looked around for people with backpacks. Waiting for the van already were Yuriel from Israel and Quinn from Ireland.

We waited for the yellow feather duster, and we weren’t disappointed!

When I arrived at Scout and Frodo’s, it was a mass of people mostly sitting around. Some were eating. Some were going through their packs dumping excess weight.

When we arrived at Scout and Frodo’s I looked for Jason from Utah. He was easy to find. He is as much of an extrovert as I am! I also met Jamie from Wisconsin and her friend Candace.

Jason is as extroverted as I am and will be videoing his hike. He’ll send memory sticks to his wife in Utah and she will turn them into videos on YouTube. I found an available space to put my stuff down. Then we just relaxed and talked until dinner.

I found a spot with someone from Chicago.

For dinner we had a taco salad. They were strict on how it was served. It wasn’t enough for me, so I ate a little bit from my pack. The beef sticks are heavy, so now I no longer have to carry them!

When dinner was over, Scout and Frodo gathered us around and began to teach us all the things they felt we needed to know. For the most part, I already knew what they taught. They really emphasized the proper treatment of water.

What I didn’t know is the proper way of hitchhiking. Of all the stuff I had to do on this hike that I should be scared about, it is hitchhiking that scares me the most. Not that someone is going to harm or steal from me. No, it is the rejection. I’m a middle aged man, and I suspect that it will be difficult for me because the drivers are scared of me!

As we listened, they passed around Scout’s medal for completing the PCT. Will I have one with my name in six months?

It is an early morning, so we all went to bed early. I suspect I will not sleep.

I woke up to the announcement that the dining car was open for breakfast. I checked my email, and I finally had one. I had not received an email for three days. Everyone is honoring my sabbatical.

The email was my expected notice from Scout and Frodo telling me when I will be picked up. There will be twenty hikers staying there with me.

When I get there, I will need to find a car with a yellow pompom in the window. This is the picture they sent me.

Admittedly, I must be clinically insane. Who gets into a complete stranger’s car just because it has a yellow pompom in the window?

I’m looking forward to meeting some of the people I have talked with the past couple of months.

Jason, from Utah is a retired police officer. He is my age, and I promised him the first round. As we are the same age and point in our lives, I suspect we will hike together a bit.

Jamie is from Wisconsin. We talked briefly because she was looking for some help storing equipment near Seattle. I thought I had a solution but it did not work out.

There were other names I recognized, but I did not know them.

The goal today is to continue to relax and detox from too much information. No news. No email. No social media. I was correct that the train ride was going to help increase my patience.

For dinner, my guest was Gayle, an African American grandmother who is taking the train to Los Angeles to bury her sister and to help her niece grieve. She is a real life angel who has spent 40 years as a teacher for kids with autism. I could read that she was a bit nervous sitting with me at first, but it quickly became the best conversation I’ve had since I’ve been on this train.

The dining car only has so much room, so you have to sit with people you don’t know. You have to make conversation, and I love to do that.

She has a special job to do, but she is already prepared.

With that, I will call it a night. Tomorrow I will wake up early, shower, switch into my hiking clothes and toss all the rest of the stuff I don’t need. The trail calls.

When I successfully signed up for a permit, I hoped that I would be able to take the train instead of flying to San Diego. My wife and I took a train when we visited Egypt. Unfortunately, I was ill and I stayed in my room the whole trip. By taking the train I hope to mentally slow down. I need to turn up my patience. I need turn off the internet.

The train is lovely. My room is tiny, but there is plenty of room for my gear.

I spent some time in the observation car. It has been a long time since i sat looking out of the window of a moving vehicle. I’m always the driver. I relaxed. I read. I wrote.

For dinner, I was seated at a table with a retired married couple from New Mexico and a film-maker from Wisconsin. We sat there talking for two hours. For once, I wasn’t doing all the talking.

It was dark by eight, so I converted my room to the sleeping configuration and called it a night.

The first phase of this journey is now complete.  I have spend countless hours researching, learning and relearning, training and hiking.  This is everything I’m taking.

1. A ULA Catalyst backpack with my kit, 2.5 days of food, and a water carrying capacity of eight liters.
2. A bag for the train.  It has my hiking clothes, snacks, and toiletries.   I will dispose of it in San Diego when I change into my hiking clothes.
3. A box with five days of food that I’m sending to Warner Springs.  I’ll mail it once I’m done writing this.
4. One pair of Altra Lone Peak 3.5 shoes with Green Superfeet insoles.  They have eighteen miles on them to break them in.
5. My Ghost Whisper jacket, because it will be cold tomorrow.
6. A one-way Amtrak ticket from Milwaukee to San Diego.

That is it.  These are my needs.  No more and no less.  I am so ready to go!