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 […]
PCT Day 109, San Francisquito Road to Darling Road (Hiker Heaven) 24 miles
I think that passion is the secret ingredient that drives hard work and excellence. – Kelly Ayotte Terrie warned me and they came. Tree rats exploring the manzanita in the moonlight. I’m up before sunrise, pack up and head inside where Terrie offers coffee – and another fantastic hug. She is such a generous soul, […]
PCT Day 108, Maxwell Road to San Francisquito Road (Casa de Luna) 15 miles
Success, they taught me, is built on the foundation of courage, hard-work and individual responsibility. Despite what some would have us believe, success is not built on resentment and fears. – Susana Martinez My bashful bear – or at least somewhat easily controlled bear – never returned. The food bag acted as a head rest […]
PCT Day 107, Hiker Town to Maxwell Road, 25 miles
I have learned that as long as I hold fast to my beliefs and values – and follow my own moral compass – then the only expectations I need to live up to are my own. – Michelle Obama No spiders last night at least that I was aware of. I slept well even with […]
