100 Miles

I have been on the PCT for a week now, and what an adventure it has been so far. I am currently at Warner Springs ~ mile 109. I have done so many new things, met so many incredible people and seen so many wonderful views and sites- I don’t know where to start. I guess I will start with the weather (in true English style).

Me in front of some typical scenery near the beginning of the PCT

The sun I was enjoying so much at Coachella festival has become the bane of my day. It is hot. So hot. I naively expected it to be not that bad this time of year, but I was so very wrong. It is not humid at all, the sun bakes the surface of anything it touches- skin and all. I have taken to doing a large chunk of my hiking during the night just to avoid the heat. It is not completely unbearable, but the hotter it is, the more water you have to carry. So far, there have been several stretches of over 20 miles without any reliable water sources- one stretch was over 30, which means carrying a lot of water. If you hike during the heat of the day, you would do well to hike 2 miles for every litre of water. During the night on the other hand, you can get away with drinking very little, and the temperature is very comfortable. As long as you make sure you see the great views during the day, you can keep the monotonous stretches for the nighttime. It is also pretty fun to let everyone pass you during the daytime, looking at you as if you are being lazy and need to get more miles in, and then to see the look on their faces the next day when they pass you again 18 miles up the trail relaxing in some shade having passed them stealthily the night before.

Our campsite after night hiking (Burgundy and I)

Although it is scorching during the day, the lack of humidity means the nights can get very cold. A couple of nights I have woken up to my water bottles being frozen, and had to cope with a bran-flake slushie for breakfast. You have to sleep with your water filter, because if they get frozen, it can break the little tubes inside that take the nasty stuff out of the water. Getting sick on the trail is the last thing I want to happen.

We are all known by our real names until somebody gives you a “trail” name. Anybody can give you a trail name (or you can cheat and give yourself one), and is usually as a result of something you did or do. For example, most people suffer from blisters of some sort on the trail, but there was one guy who’s feet were absolutely covered in them after the first couple of days – so he is now known as “Blisters”. Another guy hikes at a decent pace, but takes lots of stops along the way, so he is known as “Breaks”. Most people get their trail name in the first few weeks, and you can choose to keep it or reject it. If enough people start calling you by that name however, no matter how much you dislike it, it will stick, and soon enough you will find yourself introducing yourself with that name. I am carrying a little travel guitar with me that sounds more like a banjo, so people have been calling me Banjo. I’m not a big fan, but it feels nice to have a trail name at least!

Me playing my guitar on top of a boulder- Photo courtesy of Burgundy

The first day I started at about 4:30pm to avoid the heat of the day. I hiked for 6 miles until I came across 3 Canadians camping by the side of the trail, so I decided to join them for the night- with a slight fear of camping alone. They were lovely and welcoming, and laughed at my attempts to set up the tent which I had not had time to set up before I started. I left the following morning at sunrise – the last time I saw those 3 Canadians. A few hours later, I was taking a short break, and this chap from Washington called Calvin walked up. We had a brief chat, and decided to hike together for a bit, and have pretty much stuck together since. It turns out he is carrying a Bolivian flute, so it makes a hilarious site the two of us walking down the trail playing our respective instruments. This is also the way he got his trail name “Burgundy”- after Ron Burgundy from the movie Anchorman who plays the jazz flute.

Burgundy taking the bottom of his trousers off

There is a general group who started around the same time as us, and who end up camping at similar miles. Some of them have fallen behind, dropped out already, or some have shot ahead, but they are all lovely people. One of us called Elizabeth was hiking with her friend called Skyler, and both were suffering from serious blisters. Skyler dropped out at mile 40 because of the blisters and also a twisted foot, but Elizabeth has been trooping on. We tried to give her the name “Camel” because she carried so much water, but she didn’t like it, saying that it was too close to “Camel-Toe”. Today however, she has been officially named “Grapefruit Succubus” since she seduced the “super hot” Sheriff at Warner Springs to give her some free grapefruit. Another girl we have been travelling with we called “Nails” because the boots she is wearing are too big, causing serious toe blisters, and her nails are almost falling off.

Nails and her nails- Photos courtesy of Burgundy

Everybody is so friendly and helpful out here. People seem so willing to help each other in any way they can. Since we are all on the same mission- to hike to Canada- there is such a strong sense of camaraderie. Some people dedicate their time to helping out PCT hikers, either because they respect the hikers, or because they are ex-thru-hikers themselves, and know how tough some days can be. These people are called “Trail Angels” and the things they do for hikers are called “Trail Magic” sometimes it can be as simple as leaving bottles of water along the dry stretches.

Yesterday, just after the mile 100 marker, I was pretty pissed off. We had been unusually hiking through the hot sun. There was no shade at all, and the trail seemed to be in a clover shape along the edge of these mountains. So although we had hiked about 5 or 6 miles, we were only about a mile from the point we started. We would normally have stopped for an afternoon break to avoid the sun, but we were so close to the 100 mile marker, we felt we should push on. There was also a water trough at mile 101 we could refill at. The marker just never seemed to come though. I was so frustrated I was shouting profanities across the landscape. We finally got to the marker, but I was so grouchy it didn’t feel like much of an accomplishment. I tried to force a smile for a photograph.

Me at Mile 100

Just as we were approaching the trough at mile 101, we came round a corner to a wonderful site. There were a couple of hikers sitting there with huge grins on their faces, sitting around one girl with 3 crates of cold beer, and a stove in front of her. As we approached, we were immediately offered a beer and a hot pancake. This wasn’t trail magic, this was a trail miracle. The trail angel was called Veggie, who had previously hiked the PCT, Appalachian Trail, and was planning on hiking the Continental Divide Trail this summer.

Veggie the Trail Angel- Photo Courtesy of Burgundy

The last thing I will mention in this post is people’s stench. Although it is only a week in, everybody stinks. Sweating all-day every-day for days on end really builds up a horrific odour. I have been lucky enough to shower twice up to this point, once at Lake Morena (mile 20) and once at an RV park that Nails, Burgundy and I hitched into at mile 77. Some people haven’t showered since they started, and smell like somebody that is unable to wash themselves and has been living alone for the last several years. I am sure it is only going to get worse as the smell becomes un-wash-out-able of clothes, but I will probably care less and less. Even right after a shower, you realise that it wont be long before you start to smell again, so there is little point in trying to maintain the cleanliness. “Embrace the dirt” is the saying out here.

Thanks for reading guys, and I’ll update again when I get to another computer!

~ Mile 103