3 weeks on the trail

- Mile 266 - May 31_st, 2010

Well, it's been about 3 weeks and 266 miles into the PCT, and so far it's been quite an adventure. I've experienced everything from dry deserts where I've had to carry all my water for 30 miles, to frigid and windy mountaintops to snowstorms. It's been hard to find time at a computer to compose emails or journal updates, and even harder to make time on the trail to keep a written journal, but I'm going to try to send an email every few weeks to share a few of the great experiences on the trail.

Most of the trail is stunningly beautiful everywhere I look. There's lots of cool wildlife too- all kinds of lizards, a few rattlesnakes(mostly harmless and timid but a few grumpy ones) as well as other snakes, lots of birds, and one day I woke up to a nearby pack of coyotes howling early in the morning. At one spot near the trail I saw a lion, tigers, and bears all at once! Seriously. There is sanctuary for retired animals that have been used(and abused) in Hollywood and the entertainment industry located right next to the trail.

Some things haven't gone exactly as planned. I started the first 2 weeks from Campo going solo, and several days later than planned, and met up with my friend Mark aka Flyboxer in Idyllwild(For detail as to why, check out his blog at marks-talesfromthetrails.blogspot.com, which will be mostly guest authored by his brother). After a 2-day detour to San Diego, we were back on the trail, but wound up in the middle of a snowstorm. This was my biggest challenge yet- the trail was buried in snow and ice, the water in our bottles was rapidly freezing, and even our own tracks were completely covered up with fresh snow within an hour or two. I had dealt with snow the day I met with Mark, and it was very challenging finding the trail, but it was nothign like this. After several hours of attempting to follow the trail, and constantly backtracking, with getting lost in the blizzard a very real possibility, we decided to head back down to Idyllwild. Once in town we learned that most PCT hikers were taking a detour around the snow, and we decided to do the same. Spending the night and morning in Idyllwild was neat. The people there are extremely friendly, even to dirty and smelly hikers like us, and people were offering us rides to and from the trail without us even asking.

Since then the trail has been great, except fro one night camped near a wind farm. The wind was so loud and unrelenting that I didn't get much sleep. Otherwise it has been warm and dry, a pleasant change from the snow. We're still near the back end of the back of hikers(I'm told close to 500 are attempting the PCT this year), so we haven't seen that many other hikers yet. So far every other hiker I've met on the trail or in resupply towns has been friendly and interesting, PCT hikers really do come from all walks of life but are all cool individuals. I look forward to meeting more hikers and catching up with some of the ones I've already met.