Mile 77 - 83

Chris from the Julian Chamber of Commerce fixed my phone for me. I was ready to throw it away. I decided to ask in the Chamber of Commerce where I could buy a new phone and Chris was able to re-boot it and get it working again. I was never so happy. Chris saved me a lot of time and money.

After a tough 12 mile hitch into Julian, we made it to thru hikers Mom's cafe. All thru hikers get a free sandwich, slice of pie, and a drink. Awesome, and worth the hitch.

Balance hitching out of Julian. It took about 15 minutes to catch a ride.

Y-Knot climbing out of Scissors Crossing to find a camp spot.

Our Phone Is Broken

   We still have a broken Iphone. We just updated our blog using the Julian Library. We are working on a way to get a new phone. If you are reading this blog, please email me your phone number to mjmworldbike@hotmail.com. We are not happy to be in the desert without a phone. All of our maps were downloaded to my phone. Which means we have no way of following the trail. Not the smartest of moves and regret it now. We hope to get another phone as soon as possible. I will then download the maps again. The problem is finding a town large enough to buy a phone. I really hope all of my contact will be saved on the sim card when I transfer it. Not sure how that works, so please email me your phone number. Even if you think I know it.

   On to explore this tiny town of Julian and then hitch a 12 mile ride back to the trail.

Mile 20 to mile 77.5

 

                                       Overlooking Hwy 8 with our hiking friend Grommet

 

 

                                             Tiny unknown flower blooming in the desert.

 

                                                             Early morning views

 

                             Taking a break by a Cottonwood creek -also our first water filter

 

                                                   Burned area heading out of Laguna.

 

                                                 Beaver tail cactus (?) blooming in desert

 

                                 Heading to Scissors crossing, junction of 84 hitch to Julien

ADZPCTKO 2014 Hiker Party

   What a difference a day makes. Yesterday was a picture perfect day for hiking, maybe a little to warm. Well, a cold front came in last night and brought major storm with it. This storm brought lots of heavy rain, high winds, and cold temperatures. Not what I thought this section would bring us. It was so bad that many hikers had their tents blow down and hid in the bathroom all night. All those hikers had the ultra light tents. I give Balance credit for talking some sense into me because I too wanted to be an ultra lighter. Not anymore after seeing that. Pretty scary seeing that starting tomorrow we will not have a safe heaven like we did last night at the campground. We held up good in the storm and everything stayed dry. Thanks Balance.

   This kickoff party is incredible. 600-700 hikers and volunteers are here. All kinds of trail and gear talks all day long. They have feed us 2 breakfasts and 2 dinners. How do you thank such a group. We have made many new hiking friends and have even met a few AT friends from 2011. Onward we go tomorrow and can't wait.

Our AT hiking friend "Snakefarm". We started together on the AT in 2011 on March 30th.

We finished the AT in 2011 with Goldilocks on August 30th.

The gear contest at ADZPCTKO. Where hikers make up their own piece of gear and show it off to the crowd.

Relaxing after dinner with our new hiker friends.  Hikers all very interesting people and all have their own stories..

Mile 0 - 20

   Mile 0 with the Mexican border fence just feet behind the trail marker. Balance & Y-Knots first of many steps started here the morning. Believe it or not, the temperature was a cool 40 degrees at 7am. Yes, it warmed up quickly but not to what we thought it might. We got lucky on our first day with sunshine and highs around 75.

   The sun is going to be our toughest obstacle. Of course the terrain may be tough also. We already had a few long steep climbs on very sandy soil.

   We hiked most of today with a girl named Grommet, who is from NC. We finally made it to Lake Morena, for the kick off party at 5pm. A long first day hike. They had dinner for us which we barely made. Then a presentation on bears and how to safeguard your food.

Time to sleep and it rain hard over night. A very rare rain, but they need it here.

Scout & Frodo's ( PCT trail angels )

On the eve of our hike we stayed with Scout & Frodo just outside San Diego. They are PCT trail angels. They picked us up at our motel in downtown and bought us back to their home where another 20-25 hikers were also staying. Once there and shown around we walked to the market for 6 days of food. They feed us dinner and breakfast. We even got to sleep in a bed because we were the only couple. Everyone else tented out in the backyard. To top it off, they drove us over an hour to the start of the trail on the Mexican border the next morning. Amazing trail angels. Thank you Scout & Frodo.

The Journey Begins

Balance is packed up and ready to begin another adventure.

 

Y-Knot's one last look around.

Goodbye house, hello tent.

Balance waiting for the Plymouth & Brockton bus just outside our house in Marshfield to take us to South Station. From there we took the subway to Logan Airport.

The Grand Canyon from 35,000 feet.

We arrived in beautiful sunny San Diego. After sitting on 2 planes for hours across the country, we decided to walk the 45 minutes from the airport to our hotel.

We were very happy to meet up with Kevin ( Balance's cousin ) for and Mexician dinner in downtown. Ann ( Kevin's wife ) join us after her evening class she is taking. Thanks Kevin & Ann, great seeing you both.

Balance & Y-Knot

   What are trail names and why have them?

   Trail names are either given to you by another hiker or made up yourself. We both gave ourselves trail names at the start of our Appalachian Trail hike in 2011.

   Trail names have been around for many years in the thru-hiking community. They are made up names so that you leave behind your real life and the real world. A place that no one knows who you are and what you do. No one calls you by your real name on the trail. You are called by your trail name.

   Bonnie's trail name is: "Balance". An accountant and the balance of life.

   Mike's trail name is: "Y-Knot". Life is short and you only live once. So why not.

Tale of the tape

   Today is April 22nd 2014, and the eve of departing for the west coast to begin hiking the PCT.

   I weighed in at 174.6 pounds. Should be interesting to see my finishing weight if I'm fortunate enough to complete this trail.

PCT Gear List

The most common question we get when we tell someone that we are going to be hiking the Pacific Crest Trail is: What do you take with you and what does it weigh?

We each carry this unless I write in ( share ).

Our gear list for the PCT 2014:

- Tent ( Share ) 

- Backpack

- Sleeping bag

- Sleeping pad

- Hiking poles

- Trail running shoes

- Gaitors

- Rain gear

- Hiking pants

- Hiking shirt ( short & long sleeve )

- Camp shirt ( short & long sleeve )

- Socks ( 2 hiking, 1 camp )

- Winter hat & gloves 

- Cooking stove ( share )

- Cooking pot ( share )

- Camp stove fuel

- Bic lighter & safety matches

- Spoon

- Collaspable water bags ( 2 - 2 litter )

- Water bottle 1 litter

- Water filter

- Pack towel mini

- Bandana

- Sunscreen

- Sunhat

- Sunglasses

- Headlamp

- Watch

- 50 feet of cord ( bear bagging )

- Pocket knife

- IPhone & charger ( maps downloaded )

- Camera & charger

- First-aid kit

- Sil nylon dry bags

- Bug head net 

- Duct tape

- Toilet paper

- Toothbrush & paste

- Floss

- Chapstick

- Money, Bank card, & ID

- Food & water

Total weight is about 30 pounds 

Before Photo

   We wanted to do a 'before and after' photo. This is our 'before the hike' photo, and if we are lucky we will post an 'after the hike' photo. I'm guessing I will age about 10 years going through the 700 miles of desert to begin the hike. We will be weather-worn, but in much better shape!

   Lots of last minute items to take care of before we fly out on Wednesday morning. My niece Andrea has the biggest and most important job. She is watering our plants while we are away. We have a vast array of plants and appreciate her doing this for us.

   We had a nice Easter gathering at my Dad's this morning. Hope everyone enjoyed their day. 

Great Barrington, MA

   We met up with Bonnie's parents (Linda & Stef) and Nana today in Great Barrington. It's almost an exact halfway point between our homes. This meet-up was part business, part pleasure.

   Bonnie's car is now with them for the summer, so it can be driven once in awhile. The other business was our food boxes that Linda & Stef are going to send us at locations along the trail that have limited or no resupply services. This way we can hitchhike into town, find the post office and get our package. We then will fill our packs with food and hitch another ride back to the trail where we go for another 5-7 days before we need to do it all over again. Some towns will have plenty of services for re-supply; others have very limited selection. Towns along the PCT can be 1-25 miles off the trail, making it difficult to re-supply. Thank you Linda & Stef for all your help.

   The pleasure part of our gathering was a nice lunch at the 528 cafe in downtown Great Barrington. After lunch with full bellies, Bonnie, Stef, and I hiked up Monument Mountain at 1,642 feet. Monument Mountain offers greats views for little effort. A good thing, because we all admitted to not being in hiking shape. A little alarming seeing we are going to be hiking for the next six months. Linda and Nana explored the area lower down and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

Hungry Hikers

With just over two weeks until we begin the PCT. It's time to get our food drops together. Food drops are USPS boxes that we prepare with as much food as we can squeeze into them and shipped to towns along the trail that don't have food services that we can resupply at. We are grateful to have Bonnie's parents to send these to us.