Day 14: Mile 218 to 232   (14 miles)

Woke up early this morning to some nice colors in the sky. Quickly rolled up my sleeping bag and sleeping pad and I was off on the trail. Today was the start of walking up inside a long canyon.

It was the same hike winding through the canyons and every time I finished one section, a new one would begin and after 10 miles, each one looked the same. It was nice to have actual running water flowing through the canyon which keeps everything green. Everything away from the water was the same desert brown with not much plant life.

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Day 12: Mile 193 to 210   (17 miles)

I had 17 miles to go in order to get to Ziggy and the Bear which are two trail angels who have been in the area for the past four years helping hikers. My destination only looked five miles away and felt like it could be a easy not counting the heat. I proceeded downhill as the sun rose and the teampature continued to rise rapidly. All of the hikers knew and were expecting temps into the triple digits for the next couple of days and there would be almost no shade the whole way down. I managed to climb under a huge boulder around 1:00pm and hide from the sun for an hour or so.

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Day 11: Mile 181 to 193   (12 miles)

Woke up this morning at 6:00am to a beautiful sunrise. I just sat inside my tent eating breakfast while enjoying the view.

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Day 9: Mile 140 to 162   (22 miles)

Woke up to blue skies. Rain is done for what appears to be a long time. Which also means we will be back to temps in the 90’s. Hiked up until myself and couple others reached Hwy 74 and headed one mile in to Paradise Cafe. I sat with both of the Koreans who saw me earlier and saved me a seat along with one other guy from Washington. The hiker hunger is real! I shared nachos with everyone and then ate a Route 66 burger which is pretty much a BBQ bacon burger, plate of fries and pie with ice cream. I did good and stuck with water to keep hydrated.   Continue reading →

Day 7: Mile 109 to 119   (10 miles)

Woke up to the sound of rain hitting my tent. When I checked the time and saw it was only 5:30am, I was happy to go back to sleep till 7:00am. Woke up and packed up along with everyone else and headed into town. Right before 8:00am, a deputy sheriff pulled in and asked who wanted a ride to the post office 1.2 miles down the road. Myself, Stonefoot and two others gladly accepted the ride. He took us down to pick up our resupplies and brought us back to the community center for breakfast. Eggs, sausage and pancakes… Yum!    Continue reading →

Day 5: Mile 70 to 89    (19 miles)

It was a warm night last night! Hiked with Jpeg to Scissors Crossing where we met a trail angel who was going to Kickoff at Lake Morena. Jpeg actually had been wanting to go to that and the trail angel (Joe) was willing to give him a ride there and bring him back on Friday. I continued into the heat where I watched couple fighter jets roar through the valley chasing each other on some sort of training mission.I passed a couple people who have been on the trail since last Tuesday. It made me question myself if I am pushing myself to hard early on since I’m passing people who started four days before I did and I’m only on day 5. Either way I think I will keep the same pace going.    Continue reading →