peeps of the PCT: Benita, Idyllwild Innkeeper
![Bonita is the friendly innkeeper at the Silver Pines, a very accommodating hotel for backpackers.](https://blissfulhiker.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/img_5122.jpg)
Historic Silver Pines Lodge has seen its share of “Hiker Trash,” but the innkeeper says it’s enriching.
peeps of the PCT: Bob, Hiker Town
![Bob is the caretaker at one of the oddest places along the PCT.](https://blissfulhiker.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/img_3881.jpg)
It’s a long 18-mile stretch in desert to Hiker Town, one of the oddest places I slept along the PCT.
PCT Day 139, Lake Morena campground to Mexican border, 20 miles
![](https://blissfulhiker.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/img_5934.jpg)
You don’t choose the day you enter the world and you don’t chose the day you leave. It’s what you do in between that makes all the difference. – Anita Septimus I wake on my final day with the moon casting leaf shadows on our tent, Rich a giant breathing blue bag next to me. […]
PCT Day 135, water cache to Scissors Crossing (Julian), 14 miles
![Cactus nuzzle in looking down on Scissors Crossing near Julian.](https://blissfulhiker.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/img_5602.jpg)
If you have the courage to fail, then you have the courage to succeed. – Shalane Flanagan Desert sunrises are magnificent – orange light in the east as the full moon drops, deep pink on the other horizon. I sit up and make coffee noticing a tiny animal hole right next to my mat. OK, […]
PCT Day 134, Highway 79 to water cache, 19 miles
![A happy trail worker on the desert section of the PCT.](https://blissfulhiker.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/img_5520.jpg)
You never find yourself until you face the truth. – Pearl Bailey I have seen lots of animals on this hike including black bears and marmots, rattlesnakes and golden eagles, but nothing has gotten too cozy or threatened to steal my food until my stay at one of the Warner Springs Resort cabins. There’s a […]
PCT Day 132, Mikes’s Place to Highway 74 (Warner Springs) 17 miles
![It was usually long walk off-trail to get water in the desert.](https://blissfulhiker.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/img_5425-1024x874.jpg)
Sometimes your only available transportation is a leap of faith. – Margaret Shepherd No beings – animal or otherwise – came round last night. I slept soundly in our little piece of sand next to a shack, the moon’s reflection in the windows looking like eyes. Mike doesn’t show, but I am so grateful he […]
PCT Day 129, Saddle Junction via Devil’s Slide to Cedar Spring, 20 miles
![Terrible Ted negotiates the rock fall trying not to look down.](https://blissfulhiker.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/img_5217.jpg)
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 […]