PCT Day 119, zero, Big Bear Lake

If I had to live my life again, I’d make the same mistakes, only sooner. – Tallulah Bankhead
PCT Day 118, Holcomb Creek to Van Dusen Road (Big Bear Lake) 18 miles

I don’t think life is about the I-could-have-beens. Life is only about the I-tried-to-do. I don’t mind the failure but I can’t imagine I’d forgive myself if I didn’t try. – Nikki Giovanni Another glorious night solo by a stream for a change, the sound so relaxing until an acorn bomb crashes on the alicoop. […]
PCT Day 117, ridge above highway 173 to Holcomb Creek, 26 miles

The thing that is really hard and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and starting the work of being yourself. – Anna Quindlen My cowgirl night is heavenly. It got absolute silent except for an owl, “Hoo’hool hoooool hoo,” and a snake’s rattle twitching a few times, though I can’t be sure that’s […]
PCT Day 116, dry river bed near Cajon Pass to ridge above highway 173, 24 miles

I was built this way for a reason, so I’m going to use it. – Simone Biles I adore my camp spot just over the hill from the trains chugging up Cajon Pass. I hear their horns through the night – some long and steady, some short and sassy – but it calms me, somehow. […]
PCT Day 115, Inspiration Point to dry river bed near Cajon Pass, 26 miles

You’ve just got to follow your own path. You have to trust your heart and you have to listen to the warnings. – Chaka Khan I hit my alarm after its first semi-quaver. Jeremy pokes his head in to tell me he’s awake. He grind beans in a vitamixer and uses the jumbo size coffee […]
PCT Day 114, ridge below Mount Hawkins to Inspiration Point (Wrightwood) 14 miles

I can’t imagine people telling me what to do – I just can’t imagine it. – Jane Campion This night turns out to be one of my favorite of the hike. I’m snug as a bug in Big Greenie, thermarest on a tent footprint held down by a row of rocks on all sides. The […]
PCT Day 113, Highway 2 and Three Points to ridge below Mount Hawkins, 20 miles

It’s very important to take risks. I think that research is very important, but in the end you have to work from your instinct and feeling and take those risks and be fearless. – Anna Wintour Again, it’s dreams all night of walking, then waking and seeing I haven’t gotten anywhere. Ruth and Dave and […]
PCT Day 112, zero, Montrose

I like to be a free spirit. Some don’t like that, but that’s the way I am. – Princess Diana Things I learned hanging with my friends Dave and Ruth and their family – 1. All you need in life are three things: someone to love, something to do and things to hope for. 2. […]
PCT Day 111, Messenger Flat Campground to Highway 2 and Three Points (Montrose) 27 miles

There are hazards in anything one does but there are greater hazards in doing nothing. –Shirley Williams Argh! Just as I drift off, loud voices and bright headlamps arrive pointed at my tent. I ask for them to use red lights, finding out it’s Brass, apologetic and quiet after that. He and ‘Slow Burn’ cowboy […]
PCT Day 110, Hiker Heaven to Messenger Flat Campground, 25 miles

Everyone is a complicated human being, and everyone is strong and weak and funny and scared. – Laverne Cox Cowboy camping amongst the cactus and waning gibbous moon is splendid. I can see my friends curled up nearby and we all seem to readjust in sequence like The Three Stooges. The horses are quiet in […]