PCT Day 129, Saddle Junction via Devil’s Slide to Cedar Spring, 20 miles

I am glad that I paid so little attention to good advice; had I abided by it I might have been saved from some of my most valuable mistakes. – Edna St. Vincent Millay I set my alarm a bit too early this morning thinking I’d need more time to organize since going back after […]
PCT Day 128, zero, Idyllwild

The minute you settle for less than you deserve, you get even less than you settled for. – Maureen Dowd I’m amazed at how exhausted I am. Another zero seems to do the trick and I have just enough time to enjoy it in this lovely village tucked into the mountains. I should finish walking […]
PCT Day 127, San Jacinto River to Saddle Junction (Idyllwild via Devil’s Slide) 10 miles

You have to allow for the impossible to be possible. – Lupita Nyong’o I’m pleased we found a site to cowgirl camp at the bend in the switchback, but it’s not completely flat and we wake up cranky and sore. The three sets of night hikers park themselves close by also on sketchy terrain. We […]
PCT Day 126, water faucet to North Fork San Jacinto River, 20 miles

The road to success is always under construction. Lily Tomlin It was a night of dueling owls and a morning of dueling doves. A falling star flew through the sky just as Ted informs me it‘s 5:00. I guess manually changing your iPhone clock ahead of daylight savings doesn’t work since my clock reads 4:00. […]
PCT Day 125, Tamarack Road to water faucet, 4 miles

Dreams are illustrations from the book your soul is writing about you. – Marsha Norman It’s a sleeping in kind of day, the walk coming up only about positioning for a big climb and water carry tomorrow. I dream about boyfriends-of-the-past, mostly conjuring them back into my subconscious so I can shake my head ‘no’ […]
PCT Day 124, zero, Palm Springs

What I learned crashing in Palm Springs for a ‘zero’ on Halloween and Pride weekend: desert weather is better than the upper great lakes …in November, anyway snag the motel next to the action try on a costume/disguise/different personality/gender – sometimes it’s all you need people love having their picture taken –> [see day 123] […]
PCT Day 123, Whitewater River to Tamarack Road (Palm Springs), 11 miles

If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought. – Peace Pilgrim I know I repeat myself, but it’s cold. The water bottles are chunky and, unfortunately, I left the Sawyer Squeeze outside Big Greenie and it freezes solid, no flow at all. My emergency purifying pills to the […]
PCT Day 122, ridge above Mission Creek to Whitewater River, 18 miles

Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Remember, you have within you the strength, the patience and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world. – Harriet Tubman It’s cold. But that’s a good thing, right? Because we’re in the desert still and it makes for deep sleeping cuddled in Big Greenie […]
PCT Day 121, Arrastre Trail Camp to ridge above Mission Creek, 18 miles

Sometimes questions are more important than answers. – Nancy Willard Because it was so cold down in the creek canyon, I shared Ted’s tent, a tiny two-man tent, the one he uses with his son every year on an overland marathon in Scotland. It felt like an animal’s underground lair, tight and warm in a […]
Day 120, Van Dusen Road to Arrastre Trail Camp, 19 miles

A man told me that for a woman, I was very opinionated. I said, ‘For a man, you’re kind of ignorant.’ – Anne Hathaway A bed, a shower, loads of coffee and a comfy chair are all taken advantage of before trail angel ‘Papa Smurf’ comes to pick us up to return to the trail […]