Susanne's Adventure Journal

13.9 PCT miles, plus 0.3 mile to campground When I woke up this morning, it was still cold and windy. The thermometer inside my tent was showing that the temperature was somewhere in the 40s and my tent was still being shaken by the large wind gusts. I procrastinated for a while in my warm sleeping bag, hoping the winds would die down before I had to pack up my tent. I remembered that I had signal there and checked the weather on my phone. The Weather Channel app gave me weather for the closest town, Acton, but it showed that it would be consistently windy all day. I had no more excuses, I had pack up in the cold wind. I started hiking in full cold weather gear, including my puffy jacket. That changed pretty quickly as I both started generating heat by hiking and started losing elevation. I really wanted to be warm, but since I could see the desert I was heading down into,  I knew at some point I would be wishing for the cold pine forest again. The view of So...

18.7 PCT miles It was cold in my tent this morning, and my sleeping bag was warm, so I took my sweet time packing up. When I finally headed out, I could see that I was above the cloud layer again. Good morning from mile 411.7. The PCT followed the ridge I had camped at for a little while, going through pretty pine forest area that was dotted with orange-yellow flowers. After that it started heading down the sides of the mountain, giving really nice views along the way. The PCT looking very pretty (and flat!). Flowers and pine trees. Views from the ridge. Along with the views there was plenty of poodle dog bush. I had a moment of panic when I almost brushed up against one as I groggily started my morning. I would have to be extra vigilant today because there were plenty of reports of the plant throughout the entire section I would be walking. Sure enough, I saw plenty of reminders early on that I was in poodle dog country. Hello, hiker. We just wa...

13.7 PCT miles I woke up fairly early this morning and grabbed my ride to the trail. Soon after leaving, my Trail Angel let me know he had a morning appointment back in the Orange County at 9 am. He would not have made it back in time after dropping me off at my trailhead,  so I had him turn around. I went back to bed and got a little more sleep. I didn't arrive at the trailhead until noon, but I wasn't planning on going too far today either. Hitting the trail again at the Highway 2 crossing. Walking that first section was so much more enjoyable than a couple days ago. I was above the cloud layer again so it was nice and sunny. The air was cool, but with the sunshine, it felt comfortably warm. I walked happily through the pine forest, and almost missed the 400 mile marker. I stopped briefly to take a quick picture with it. 400 miles! Then, as I was nearing the trailhead that, before my exhaustion breakdown, I had originally wanted to be picked up at the ot...

Oh, my. Where did the first two days go?  I was clearly at a pretty high exhaustion level after my mini breakdown coming off the trail.  I'm not even sure what I did during those first two zero days. I didn't even make it to the gym to use the hot tub. I'm assuming I slept, ate, and watched TV. I had a lot of mini gear repairs to do, which I took care of on the evening of my second zero day. I also resupplied my food bag and printed out the new Halfmile paper maps for the upcoming sections. Additionally, my upgraded sleeping bag had arrived. I now was the proud owner of an Enlightened Equipment 10 degree ultralight bag (or "quilt" as they call it), which was at least 17 degrees warmer than my Sierra Designs Backcountry Bed, and over a pound lighter in weight.  Because my new bag was warmer, I could also change my sleeping bag liner from a thermal liner to a silk liner. I think I may have shaved off 1.5-2 lbs of weight from my pack, which should make a huge dif...

13 miles of detour, plus 4.2 PCT miles I was a little apprehensive when I woke up this morning. I knew the morning would be nice. I would be heading past Devil’s Punchbowl where I expected the views to be awesome and the trail to be in good condition. It was the part that connected back to the PCT that worried me. I imagined the trail to be in the same condition as the one that connected me to the South Fork campground yesterday.  Except that it was about 2 miles longer than the other trail. And, it would be going back uphill, gaining about 3000 ft in elevation. I remembered how emotionally and physically drained I was yesterday, and recognized that today could be even harder. I slowly packed up camp and left the canyon and the pretty little creek,  starting the day with an uphill climb. I switchbacked up the trail for a while until I came to a junction for the Devil’s Chair Trail. This trail goes steeply down into Devil’s Punchbowl to an outcropping that overlooks t...