After paying a man $55 to drive me up the mountain to the trailhead, a storm took over the mountains. Cold rain fell as soon as he let me out of the car and I had to unpack everything to dig out my raingear. I started the climb as day hikers were headed down. “Heading right into it, huh?”.
“Yup”.
I stopped underneath a tree to put my camera and phone in a ziplock bag and make sure things weren’t falling out my pack that was too full to close. My hands were so cold!!
I continued on and began wondering if this was such a good idea. I was climbing up to 12,000 feet and already it was turning to snow and hail. I looked back down and saw an RV below. Maybe they would let me sit in there until the storm passed? Or at least I could hunker down in the outhouse. I turned around and headed back down. When I got to the outhouse, 2 other hikers were there. After a little while, 2 more thruhikers came down the mountain. One of them was Otherworld, a nice girl who I had met at kick-off and who I next saw at Kennedy Meadows.
“Is that Wendy?”.
The rain did not appear to be letting up. I wondered if I should go back to town with them to get warm and sheltered.
A ride appeared from the nicest people who live 70 miles from Death Valley and who spend their anniversary up here every here, shuttling hikers around! Amazing!
Otherworld had her heart set on going into Bishop- a town 50 miles away. I had already been there 2 days ago and wanted to be closer to the trail to get an earlier start, but she asked the couple if they would drive us to Bishop. They said they would!
So here I am, in the same motel in Bishop where I spent the night 2 nights ago. Tomorrow, I will once again have to figure out how to get back to the Onion Valley trailhead and hope that it is a storm- free day!

(The antibiotics are starting to get the giardia under control, but are doing a number on my stomach themselves!! And, they made me lactose intolerant! I can’t eat ice cream! It hurts so much!
)

I finally got ahold of some antibiotics after 2 weeks of bad stomach pain! This afternoon, I head back to the trail for my longest stretch ever- 8 days! At the moment, I can’t even fit everything into my pack!!! I’ve got some big passes to climb these next days. I hurt my calf muscle climbing Whitney last Thursday. I’m hoping it can bear all of this weight!
I’m still really happy out here and grateful for this experience. So many things are happening!

I met back up with Muk Muk and UB in Lone Pine yesterday afternoon after spending hours trying to hitch from Bishop in the hot sun. It had been well over 100 degrees down in the valley over the past week!

Today, I will have to pay a lot of money to be driven back up to the high mountain trailhead to start again.

The mosquitoes are already out in full force in the sierras- even at 12,000 ft!

I’m still loving this trail and this experience, despite the many trials. My spirit feels strong!

(I started writing this a long time ago, but didn’t have time to finish…
In the past 11 days, I have been suffering from really bad stomach pain from giardia! Started the Sierras, now stuck until the post office opens on Monday in Lone Pine! It is 106 degrees down in the valley! Yuck! Will write something this weekend).

Salty’s Dad is coming to Lake Isabella today to pick Salty up and bring him home for 2 weeks (at which point, he will return to the trail and hike with his mom for 2 months). Two other hikers and I will get a ride back to the trail with him today.
I met Salty at the beginning of this last section. Most of the hikers re-supplied in Tehachapi, but Weeds, Ice Bucket, and I all decided (before we started) to stay in Mojave instead. (For one thing, it was cheaper!).
Weeds, Ice Bucket, and I all got a ride from the trail angel, Ted (who also gave me his sleeping pad that he said he no longer used after hearing that mine blew away! Amazing!!).
Salty’s Dad took Sundog and Giggles (along with Salty) back to the trail from Techapi, so we all started the section very close to each other.
Ice Bucket very quickly gets into his own head while hiking, so much so that he becomes completely unaware of his surroundings. Twice, I sat down beside the trail and he approached. He didn’t seem to see me, so I said “hi!”. Then he would gasp and put his hand over his heart and tell me how much that shocked him! (Really? How could you not see me?). He said it happens with everyone. ( I wonder how he doesn’t get lost if he is so unaware of his surroundings!).
Weeds and Ice Bucket decided to camp after 19 miles at a nice camping area. I wanted to do a little more. Weeds was not happy that I wasn’t staying. She told me they were “a hoot” and that they wanted me to stay. I told them I’m stopping in Lake Isabella (they weren’t) and wanted to get a couple more miles in.
Oh, my back started chafing painfully that day. By the time I got to the camp spot where Weeds and Ice bucket were staying with Ice Bucket just behind me, it was stinging! What should I do? Put a blister patch on it or some gold bond powder? Ice Bucket said he had the perfect solution- Vagisil! He dug into his first aid bag and brought out the purple tube. I lifted up my shirt, he exclaimed over the “rash” and then rubbed some cream in, instructed me to stay for 10 minutes until my shirt dried and the cream could soak in. It stung for quite some time.
He told me he thought it would be much better in the morning, but if it wasn’t, I could wait for him to put on more cream.

I left them to find their “perfect” camp spots and their perfect place to watch the sunset and continued on for 5 more miles. I came upon even more windmills! ( we aren’t done with them yet!) and as dusk was approaching, saw three deer that surprised me and took my breath away! I felt so happy to see them!
And then, the most gorgeous moon came up just over the mountains! It was an unbelievable sight!

Of course, as darkness fell, I found myself on a series of switchbacks (nowhere to camp!). Finally, I found a semi-flat space to lay down.
I got cleaned up as best I could and settled down by about 9:15.
And then, the wind started picking up! It was unrelenting all night long! I couldn’t sleep at all because of the sound and feel of it!
And it never let up. There was no way I was going to get up at 5:30 in those conditions! I stayed in my sleeping bag until 7! When I emerged and sat up and tried to put my contacts in (an impossible task in such wind!), Sundog and Giggles walked by and said hi. “I thought you guys were down there! (by the water)”.
“Nope. We were about 50 yards behind you.”
I had no idea! I didn’t see or him them when I walked by. (They were camped away from the trail and were already asleep by then). I ate some breakfast, abandoned the idea of trying to put my contacts in, and packed up.
It turns out that Joe and Salty were camped less than half a mile ahead of me and we all were getting a late start!
We arrived at the water trough, filled up on water for the next 19 miles, and then Chip and Mark rolled in. I set off at 9:05. (I couldn’t believe how late of a start that was!!). The day was tough for me without any sleep. We walked through yet another burn area (there have been far too many of these on this trail, and this one made me upset).
I also started having additional chafing problems and some painful callouses had developed on the outside of my right big toe, which were causing me discomfort.

… to be continued!

I am currently in the town of Lake Isabella, 35 miles away from the trail. I couldn’t decide whether or not to send a resupply box here or not because I heard that hitching here (and getting a ride back to the trail) was incredibly difficult! But this town supposedly has the best milkshakes on the trail!
It was decided for me, however, when my sleeping pad blew away from underneath me while I was camped on a sloped ridge on an extremely windy night with four miles to hike to get to a road to hitch into the town of Mojave.
That was my worst night on the trail!
The winds have been unbelievable! Extremely high and constant. There are windmills everywhere in this section!
(And that was, by far, my toughest hitch yet! I stood out in the wind and cold for over an hour and no one picked me up until the only trail angel in town came by to deliver another hiker to the trail).
Anyway, luckily my sleeping pad was the only thing the wind stole. I had been using my down jacket as a pillow and when I lifted my head up to see why my hip was hurting so much, it flew away as well! I quickly struck out my arm to grab it! And I saw that not only did I roll off my pad, but there was no pad there at all! I switched on my headlamp to try to see if it was anywhere nearby, but you can only see, at best, a foot around you.
So, with freezing cold hands, I texted the people who are sending my resupply boxes to ask them to send one of my replacement pads to Lake Isabella- 94 miles away. The winds never died down!
I decided to take a zero day here after hiking 27.5 miles yesterday (and an additional mile and a half to get from the diner to my motel room afterwards!). I hiked the 94 miles in 4 days.
Tomorrow, I will get a late start, but a guaranteed ride back to the trail with Salty’s Dad. Then, I have 51 miles until I reach Kennedy Meadows- the gateway to the Sierras! A whole different hiking experience to get prepared for! I personally can’t wait to be reunited with my regular hiking outfit. This desert get-up is not working for me! The skirt is altogether too big and the button down, stained brown shirt is not doing anything for me. And my hat is way too floppy!
Muk Muk and UB are days behind. I will hang out in Kennedy Meadows on the 1st so I can see Dr. Sole (he will arrive that afternoon). And then we will see who else is there and whether I can wait for Muk Muk and UB or not!
I’ve been hiking consistently and like to stay ahead of the “herd” so I can occasionally have my own space. That is when I feel happiest- just me and the mountains. But sometimes, it’s nice to hike with people who are funny or have good stories.
I have a couple of stories from each section, but they take so long to type out, and it is past my bedtime already!
I did start having some painful problems this last section- chafing and painful callouses on 2 of my toes. And one night, I did not get any sleep at all because of the high winds, which made the next day quite miserable. Wind is my least favorite element. There is nothing you can do to escape it.
Some days are challenging out here, but other times, I feel incredibly happy and filled with gratitude for being able to be here. I am so happy I made the decision to do this.

I’ve hiked 652 official trail miles and still have well over 2,000 more to hike before I get to Canada! Sometimes, it boggles my mind!

Some of the men out here are amazed at me because the weight of my pack is twice the weight of theirs, and yet I continue to hike strong and consistently. One guy said, “I’m doing all I can with a pack that weighs 20 pounds. Yours weighs twice as much and yet you hike faster and farther. I don’t know how you are doing it!”

I met a nice man, originally from Romania, who was hiking southbound for the Memorial Day weekend. He said to me, “You’re a strong girl!”.

Thank you, sir. That I am.

A lot of people have been saying that they are “finished with the desert” for quite some time now, but I am happy that I have been content to be where I am and not wanting to be anywhere else.

I have no idea what the conditions are like in the Sierras now- how much snow and ice, what equipment is needed, or how dangerous the creek crossings are going to be.
I’ll just take it as it comes and see when I get there!

(We have entered more remote areas with no cell reception and this will continue throughout the sierras, so I am not sure when I will be able to update this again…)

Thanks for reading and thank you for your patience!

So much is happening to me so fast out here! I wish I had a bit of time to process it each day, but it is too much… And we need to keep moving!
In the last couple of days, I’ve been doing some math. There’s no time to mess around on this trail! I still have more than the entire length of the Appalachian Trail to hike and 2 months less time to do it in! That’s A LOT of miles to hike each and every day!
So far, my body is holding up well. My calf muscle was hurting quite badly a couple of days ago, but before bed that night, I rubbed a little arnica on it, lied down for 9 hours, and in the morning it felt much better! It is amazing to me how quickly things change and move out of you out here- colds clear up faster, injuries heal more quickly, and there is no time to dwell in emotions or get depressed. We just keep moving and I love it! I feel happy!

I wanted to take a moment to thank all of the people I have met on my journey so far who have given me a boost. A simple hello and smile are enough, but anyone who shows interest in what I am doing really helps pick up my energy levels and get me further down the trail. Several people have taken my picture and a few have even shared some of their food with me! I have already received much more on this hike than I did on the entire AT, and I know that this is partly due to me being more open and ready to receive, and partly due to the more relaxed and friendly attitude of people on the west coast. (Coming out of Big Bear, I started crying when the thought of returning to Boston came into my mind. I live unseen and unnoticed in Boston and my spirit suffocates). So far out here, I have been given a kiwi and a package of sliced salami and cheese from Trader Joe’s (thanks Sam!) on Mt. Jacinto, two avocados, a half gallon of ice cream, a banana from a trunk (!) of trail magic on a tough day for me, and a slice of cheese pizza, a banana, some orange juice, and a donut from JT’s mom (best break ever!). And Mike, who offered me a ride back to the trail from Wrightwood, gave me $10! All of these gifts, I accept humbly and gratefully and I hope everyone knows how much they mean to me.

I also so greatly appreciate all of the trail angels along the trail who go out of their way and donate their own time and money to help us achieve our dream of walking from Mexico to Canada. Many of them stock water caches for us in otherwise very long shadeless, waterless sections. Sometimes, thinking about what these people do for us brings tears to my eyes. All we are doing is walking…

Right now, I am at the home of the Saufley’s (famous trail angels on the PCT, who do our laundry, let us shower, and have tents set up with cots inside them for us to sleep on). I have hiked 454 miles, with 27 being my biggest day so far. I am getting to the point where 23-25 miles is an average day for me. Surprisingly, I managed to pass everyone I know on the trail coming into Agua Dolce! Several guys seem to be taking a day or two to visit their girlfriends in LA (we are the closest to LA that we will ever be on the trail right now). Drama is one of those people. He will be behind me when he gets back on the trail! Sprinkles and Spoonman came in this morning, UB came in early afternoon, and Muk Muk will arrive tonight. I love UB and Muk Muk. Even though we only see each other in town, they are my trail family. They love me for who I am without me having to do anything. I can just be and laugh, and they give me hugs and say loving things to me. I appreciate this so incredibly much because I have had so very little of this in my life. I didn’t have loving parents and I lived a very isolated life with no people in it. And everyone I have opened my heart up to and given my love to shuts down and treats me badly. That is what I need to turn around. I need to learn not to open my heart to people who don’t have open hearts themselves and who in turn criticize me and don’t treat me nicely.
Muk Muk told me that I have the biggest heart of anyone on the trail and that I am also the strongest. She said that sometimes, I am too strong for my own good. I agree with her.

I received a piece of news on the evening of the 13th, towards the end of my 27 mile day from the McDonalds to Wrightwood. My sister called and left a voicemail. It was the first time I had heard from her since I had been on the trail. She said she had some news she thought I would like to hear, but didn’t say what it was. I stopped and called her back with the wind blowing strongly, dusk approaching, and several more miles to hike. She lingered a bit and I hoped it was not something that I needed to leave the trail for. Was it Dad or our older sister…? Was someone sick or did someone die? She finally said that our mother passed away on the 7th. Our older sister waited almost a week to tell our father the news. He, in turn, told my younger sister, and she informed me.
For years, I had thought about what my reaction to this news would be. I always thought I would feel happy, and that was indeed the case in reality. It was simply a piece of news, and the only feeling associated with it was one of peace.
I know this is hard for anyone who did not grow up with an abusive mother to understand, but this is and has been my reality. I never had a mother. I never had anyone to listen to me or wrap their arms around me. I was never given love or acceptance. Instead, I was surrounded by hate and isolated from anything loving. I was criticized for every move I made and every word I spoke. I was born to someone that only wanted to control me.
My mother suffocated herself with hate. My last interaction with her was in 2002 when my sister and I called a family meeting to deal with my brother’s possessions years after his death. My mother had been using them as a final means to control us by locking up and keeping away from us my brother’s belongings- his remaining earthly connection. At the “meeting”, she threatened to call the police if we ever came near her house.
She since went to live with my older sister, and thereafter began to lose her mental capacities. With no connection to anyone or anything in life, this wasn’t hard for me to understand. Apparently, she had been recently living in a nursing home, knowing not much more than her own name. Now, her soul can finally rest in peace, and those of us who were abused and held down by her can finally begin to breathe a bit more freely. She no longer has any control over me.

The real question to me is whether these four individual pillars left of this nuclear family will ever be able to connect with each other again.
(I asked my sister if my father knew I was hiking the PCT. She said yes, and I asked what his reaction was. She didn’t say anything. When I pressed her, she said he just thinks you are living an independent life. (That’s his only reaction???). The tremendous disconnection greatly saddens me.

For someone who was never given love, I am so, so thankful for my heart and all of the love I have inside of me. I can’t wait for the day to finally give it to someone who will return it back to me. I can’t wait to finally be nurtured.

The day I left Idyllwild was my most fun and social day on the trail! I became a mini-celebrity at the local breakfast place, Dr. Sole came to visit Muk Muk and we had a happy reunion with lots of hugs and kisses, a nice local woman named Maeux offered to drive me to the trail, I met some nice day hikers on my way up to San Jacinto peak, and then I became the center of attention for the next hour on top of the peak, posing for an audience of men. It was so much fun!! Give me a stage…

I ended up hiking until 11pm that night thanks to my new headlight. I could see the lights of Cabazon below, which was pretty. We had a very hot 23 mile downhill stretch ahead of us, and a few of us wanted to knock off a few of these miles in the cool night air.
I got too tired to hike any longer and found a nice flat spot to cowboy camp.
I woke up to an amazing sunset!

The two girls and guy from Redding passed by me while I was still in my sleeping bag and for the rest of the day, a bunch of hikers passed me. It was hot early on, there was no shade, and sharp, strong prickly bushes overtook the trail and bruised and bled me. Today was a day of choosing the lesser of discomforts. Keep my rain pants on and scorch or take them off and get scratched and scraped?
I had 16 more miles to get to a trail angel’s house. I was tired. Should I find a rock to nap under or should I keep pushing on and wait to rest there?
The sun kept growing hotter. I finally reached the water fountain, filled up, and then had to figure out where the trail picked up.

A vehicle that was parked nearby drove toward me. “Are you confused?”
I got a mini- geology lesson, as well as some directions, and advice on kicking sand into a sidewinder’s eyes if one gets in my way. “Sidewinder? What’s that? A snake?”
“Don’t they tell you about those in your book?”
“Nope…”
I still had to make it across five more miles of scorching desert and it only got worse. The wind picked up and was knocking me sideways and the sand was loose and 2-3 inches deep. I could hardly move forward.
Finally, in mid-afternoon, I reached the trail angel’s house to find a gaggle of lounging hikers.

I was given a questionere to fill out, told I would be brought a foot bath, and that salad would be served at 6 and ice cream at 7:30! Caroline (from Scout and Frodo’s) was there, as well as the boys from Sweden. I took a shower, and was so happy to find conditioner in there! I had walked in hot, tired, and in a bad mood, but within an hour, everything was just fine!
A lot of hikers left that afternoon, but I stayed the night. I was wiped. All I wanted to do was lie down and sleep. Unfortunately, the strong winds whipped the tarp all night long and I couldn’t sleep at all. Another group of hikers came in around 8 or 9 at night.

After some cereal, a banana, and a coffee, I packed up and headed out. Rain was forecasted (apparently, it rains only once a year there and when it does, about 4 inches falls!). I was happy for the cooler weather that this weather pattern was bringing. A bunch of hikers left around the same time and I was wishing for my own space. I hiked 22 miles that day and found a make-shift camping spot in a sandy gully. Caroline was further ahead.

The next morning, after my latest start to date (7:00), I passed by two hikers who still had their tent up around 9 or 10am. I found a stream to collect water and then heard voices.

4 men in orange jackets were headed down the trail to the creek. They asked me if I had seen 3 men in their 40s in t-shirts and shorts. They were unprepared to be out here and were reported missing yesterday morning.
I hiked on and saw the Search and Rescue vehicle ahead. I stopped to take a picture and then saw a search and rescue man on a horse! He came over and asked me if I was hiking the PCT.
“Really?”, he responded with a proud smile. He chatted with me for awhile and then was joined by three others on horses.
“This girl is from Boston. She’s hiking the PCT!”
They told me what route the missing hikers took. They wanted to climb San Gorgino, which is an 18 mile round trip. The smoker in the group was struggling and turned around and went back. When the others hasn’t returned by Saturday morning, he reported them missing.
“That’s off the PCT.”
“Yes.”
I knew they were somewhere around that peak…

The two hikers who had slept-in, passed by. I didn’t see anyone else all day! It remained very cold and clouds obscured any views. It started to sleet, the temperature dropped even more, and then it started to hail. I put on all if my layers, including my hat, 2 hoods, and gloves.

I got an eerie feeling right before I came to the animal cages (“predators in action”)- Hollywood show animals that were wasting their lives away in tiny, bare cages. It was a sad sight. I gave myself a treat and listened to some Serena Ryder and Ray LaMontagne (knowing no rattlesnakes would be out because it was so cold).
I met back up with the 2 guys from Redding at the water cache.
“Do they use the word ‘bubble’ to describe a mass of hikers in one area?”, I asked them.
“Yeah, I’ve heard that word used a couple of times before,” one of them said.
“What’s the opposite of a bubble?” I asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Well, we’re in it because you 2 are the only ones I’ve seen all day!”
I cooked my pasta, ate, then packed up and moved on. I passed by some nice camping spots, but it was a bit too early to stop. Of course, when it was starting to get dark, I didn’t see anything. Then I reached a forest service dirt road with a flat spot next to it. Good enough! I figured no one would be driving on it. I set up my tent (bending and breaking several of my stakes!), and dozed off to sleep after 8. The temperature had rapidly dropped and it was now in the low 40s. I needed to put my sleeping bag liner over my whole head to start to warm up. I wondered how the hikers in their t-shirts and shorts were getting through this.
A couple of hours of later in the pitch dark, a vehicle came up the road. It stopped across from my tent and a headlight started towards me! It was all happening so fast and I was just coming out of sleep. “Hi there,” a man called out.
“Hi.”
“Have you seen…?”
“Three men in their 40′s? No.”
“Oh, they already asked you.”
I told him they probably got cold and took a different route off the mountain- quite aways from where I was now!
“Oh, that’s over by…”
“Yes.”
He turned around and called back, “thanks, guys!”
Thanks, girl, you mean… I’m a girl, all by myself, camping by a road…
It was freezing cold all night long. I heard helicopters flying overhead most of the night.
At 5:30 in the morning, it was 32.7 degrees- too cold to get up. I fell asleep and woke up abruptly at 6:30, feeling I had really overslept! It was still only 33 degrees. My poptarts that I had planned on eating were missing!
I bit into a frozen bar, packed up, put on all of my clothes, broke down my tent, and moved on. I had 11 miles to reach the highway to hitch into Big Bear. I got warm during the climbs, but became very cold on the flats and descents. My nose kept running. And it started to hail again.
It hailed on me while I was waiting for a hitch (something I’m not good at!). A lot of cars passed by and didn’t care. Then one turned around to pick me up. He said he felt bad for me, which doesn’t happen often. “You have to listen when it comes up.”
I was delivered to Nature’s Inn, went to find food while they got my room ready (a much longer walk in the freezing cold then I had anticipated), and was happy to see that I could still order breakfast at 1pm! I chatted with a local and then walked back to my room. I couldn’t get my body temperature to regulate for the rest of the day and my nose wouldn’t stop running! The freezing cold weather had made me sick!
I had a barbecue chicken sandwich and tea for dinner, chatted with more locals, did my laundry, then got in the hot tub!

I hoped a night of sleep would help my body recover.
After I went to sleep, Muk Muk and UB came in after hiking 31 miles yesterday! Crazy people!
I got some nice hugs this morning and awesome breakfast company with those two this morning. I love them and I hope we can actually hike together sometime soon! (They hike together now).

Oh, they found the missing hikers yesterday morning. And they appear to be just fine! They don’t even have colds!!
And they were where I suspected they would be! Partially down on a different path off the peak they climbed!

If you would like a real taste of the trail, check out my fellow hiker’s incredible videos. He is hiking over 20 miles a day, shooting video, and editing them in as close to real time as possible. He is staying with me tonight and I got to view a couple of them. So sweet. So beautiful. His story represents all of our stories, I believe. Incredibly inspirational and touching. And he had never backpacked before he started the PCT!

Enjoy!

ubserious.com

ps. The videos, nor the pictures, nor the words that any of us express capture the amount of work, discomfort, or effort that it takes to do this. Most of it is not pleasant, but as one hiker said, the small percentage of great moments makes it all worth it.