Author: Courtney

Start: 2503

Stop: 2523.7

Today’s miles: 20.7

Total PCT miles: 2238.8

I didn’t sleep that great, but I feel like I expected that, so I wasn’t too upset when my alarm went off and I knew I had to get up. Marquis and I packed and left the campground early enough to be walking up to the Red Kettle Cafe just as they were opening at 7am.

We ordered breakfast (a breakfast quesadilla, another first for me) and a ton of coffee. Naturally it was wonderful. We organized our stuff outside, repacking to make our food from last night fit better, since we didn’t want to make that much racket at 6:15am at the campground.

We walked to the road the trail crosses and stuck our thumbs out, just before 8am.. and literally got a ride within 20 seconds. Ginger may have been the very first car to pass us, actually-it was that quick. She joked that she wanted to get her good deed of the day knocked out early! Ha! I really enjoyed the hell out of her. She made a pit stop by her house then drove us to a gas station to get fresh water.

Before we knew it, we were back at the trailhead and I was shoving my feet in my shoes wishing we were back in Idyllwild taking a zero with R&R. The views were pretty, and the overgrowth wasn’t horrible, but it got hot quick and the sun was blaring down on us. I ended up pulling out my umbrella to hide from the big ball in the sky. It was rough. But, Marquis kept me laughing-I’m not sure how this man does this.. he makes me actually laugh out loud with tears in my eyes when I am 100% miserable and ready to call the rest of this thing off. It’s impressive.

After 15 miles of baking in the sun-or hiking-whatever-we got to a cistern with our water in it. I feel bad normally, because these things are creepy as hell, and usually I can’t actually reach the water. This one, sadly for me, was actually high enough that I could reach the water. It was, however, covered with bees absolutely everywhere. Marquis is no more a fan of stinging things as I am.. so, I decided I’d take one for the team and show him that I can contribute to this duo Lolol

I filled us both a liter of water to filter, and we got the hell out of there before this situation turned into a “My Girl” situation. Marquis didn’t get my movie reference, and obviously my heart broke some. Especially since he wears glasses. Heartbreak hotel. Anyway-with water filtered and the bees at bay, we hiked on.

A few miles later, we got to the crossing with the next water source. We had to hike 1/4 of a mile DOWNHILL to get to it.. aka: we’d have to hike a 1/4 mile UPHILL with water to get back to the trail. Dammit. But, the good news was the water tasted fine and it came from a pipe from a cistern that required no reaching into a tank of water with crap floating around in it. Perfect.

While our water filtered, a mother and daughter showed up. We chatted them up, they’re section hiking and the daughter is hilarious.. she completely agreed with every complaint about this desert that I could come up with-so that was validating. We talked so long that when Marquis and I realized the sun was dropping a bit low in the sky, we had to dart out of there. We were planning to still hike up out of this valley to the top of the climb, and then down to a place called “Mike’s Place” that also had water, it was 10 more miles of hiking. Uh oh.

We accepted that we’d be night hiking. Marquis and I agreed we’d stop around 7-7:30 to eat dinner, then keep pushing. As night fell, we were enamored with the sunset. It quickly got pitch black.. and it’s one thing to have overgrown bushes scratch you during the day-it’s another completely for it to be in total darkness with nothing but your headlamp showing you the way. It’s creepy as hell! I was expecting a snake at every step, and completely wigging out.

We pushed until 8pm and stopped for dinner. Sitting on my ground sheet, we made our food and ate and laughed about the ridiculousness of this whole thing. Like how silly? We only sat long enough to make and eat our food, then we packed back up and kept moving. I almost peed myself when Marquis walked into a dangling bush thing that reminded me of a lamppost. Like he smacked right into it and my headlamp illuminated the whole thing. It was phenomenal. He’d probably disagree.

Meh-whatever-we kept going. The trail got more and more overgrown, until at one point I just knew we got off trail. We were literally climbing through branches. So, I pulled my phone out and we realized we were indeed off trail. We navigated through a bushwhack up and over a climb to get back to the actual trail. We followed my little blinky blue light back to the red line of the trail, and just kept hiking. We knew, soon enough, we’d be at the top of this stupid climb and make our way to Mike’s Place.

A bit later, Marquis almost whacked into another bush that looked like the lamppost he hit earlier. I laughed, he didn’t.. we kept hiking. Then, Marquis pulled out his phone and mentions that it’s not updating, because it’s still showing us where we ate dinner. I pull mine out-and it’s suddenly doing the same.. but my phone worked earlier when we were bushwhacking.. AFTER DINNER. Odd.. very odd..

OH MY GOD. Marquis realized that when we got back to the trail when we bushwhacked, we went the wrong way on the trail! We went BACKWARDS! Nooooooooo!! You have GOT to be kidding me! The lamppost I just cackled at like a hyena was actually the exact same one he actually DID walk into earlier! Shit.

As frustrating as it was, we turned around and started hiking in the correct direction. We passed the lamppost for the 3rd time, and I can promise you, neither one of us was amused now. When we hit the thick overgrowth that got us turned around in the first place, I stopped us, pulled out my phone with my GPS and we navigated back to the trail and we actually verified that we continued on in the right direction. Yikes.

We hiked on for maybe another mile before finding an “okay enough” place for us to set up camp. We didn’t want to commit to the rest of the climb uphill to Mike’s Place, since it was already 9:30 and we were beat. Between the overgrown bushes and the gnats and the heat: I’m completely over the desert. Like I say this whole heartedly-I hate this section and if I started with it I probably would have quit or skipped it because it’s beyond miserable. Throw in the possibility of a rattlesnake and I’m DONE. Ugh.

Anyway. We’re set up, we’re pissed. We’re going to sleep. Goodnight y’all. Please have a better day than we did.

Today ended up being an unplanned zero, but I think we needed it. My arm and shin are still super sore from my slide yesterday. Ibuprofen will hopefully do the trick! Once we were awake, Marquis and I took full advantage of the breakfast buffet downstairs, they even had a waffle maker.

After packing up and leaving our comfy room, we went by a gas station. I got new water bottles (that water yesterday was truly gross), and then we made our way down to the highway entrance ramp. We tried hitch hiking there for over an hour. Honestly, maybe longer, but anything more than 30 minutes and I’m ready to call it quits. It was hot and miserable out there!

When we finally decided to give up and started walking back towards the gas station to order an Uber, a man pulled up for us! He saw us and literally got on the highway, turned around at the next exit up, and came back for us! How sweet! He took us a good 30 minutes down the highway and dropped us off at the next road crossing we’d need to get back to the trail.

When we got out, believe it or not-Rudi and Rebecca were there! In the middle of absolutely no where, a couple I met back in Siead Valley were trying to hitch to the same place as us!! We hugged and chatted and all 4 of us kept our thumbs hiked out. Within 10 minutes, a couple pulled up. They had drove past R&R earlier and turned around for them. Marquis and I were going to let them take the hitch without us, it was for them anyway, and they’d been here much longer than we had-but they all agreed to figure out a way to shove all 4 of us in!

So, packs in the truck and in the passenger’s lap, Marquis, me, and Rudi in the backseat, with Rebecca in Rudi’s lap, we made it work! We all laughed the whole way to Idyllwild. I swear, the trail always provides and you never know when you’ll see a familiar face again.

We got dropped off at the post office. Marquis had ordered a new pack and some other things he needed, and with it being Friday, we had get it today, otherwise we’d end up staying in Idyllwild until Monday morning. No thank you. We have places to be! So, he got his stuff and sent old stuff home. We went to the campground and claimed our spots, then moseyed about town.

I’m in love with Idyllwild. It is adorable and right up my alley. We found an Italian restaurant and I really couldn’t help myself. I wanted a good meal, dang it. So, wine, caprese salad, and mushroom risotto it was, all while sitting outside on a patio in perfect weather! I loved every minute of it. They also had live music.. two older gentlemen playing jazz. My only wish was that we could have turned their volumes down, just a tiny tad, because they played the hell out of those instruments-they just played them really loud. Lol-tell me you’re getting old without telling me you’re getting old, am I right?

After dinner we wondered around some more, and I shopped a little in all the cutesy stores geared for people just like me. Their perfect, overspending consumer. No regrets! Ha. We also got ice cream and found R&R in the town center. We talked with them and a local for awhile before the 4 of us headed into the grocery store for a light resupply.

Back at the campground, the 4 of us celebrated the day with a few beers and some awesome stories. Tomorrow morning, Marquis and I will hitch back to the trail and R&R will zero. I’m not sure if we’ll get to see them again, but I’m sure happy we were able to spend some time catching up with them today. It’s just so funny how the trail works sometimes.

It’s loud at this campground, completely pitch black except for the car headlights that shine through the fence as they go down the road on the other side. There’s tons of regular campers here, some music playing and campfires burning. I hope I sleep ok. Time to give it a go either way, goodnight!

Start: 2399

Stop: 2427

Today’s miles: 28

Total PCT miles: 2143.6

What a crazy day. We plan, the trail laughs. Sheesh, ok.. so, I slept wonderful all bundled up in my quilt and struggled to get up since it was still so cold this morning. I wore my gloves for the first few hours after packing up, because my hands were numb.

The trail was a bit overgrown but not as bad as it could be, I guess.. although there were several huge downed trees to clamber over. Marquis and I both started out with layers on and eventually stopped to take them off on a climb. Once you get up and out of a valley and the sun starts to touch you, you get warm so fast! This morning, it felt so so nice!

By 11:30 we reached the Coon Creek Cabin camping area. It’s got three cabins, two small ones and one huge one, plus tons of picnic tables and bear boxes for your food. We were the only ones there, so after exploring all of the cabins and signing our names to one of the walls, we sat at a table and had lunch.

We started looking ahead at comments on our app, and several people said the trail was “impassable” and “severely damaged” even more so than it normally is in this area, because of the flooding from Hurricane Hilary over the summer. Typically, the area is hard to navigate anyway.. with erosion and washed out trail. One comment said there were several 20+ feet drops and you had to carefully scramble down those steep drops for 5 or more miles.

An hour later, we decided to follow the dirt road down to the main highway instead of getting stuck and having to camp in the middle of the erosion mess. How we, we quickly learned that the dirt road was also a colossal mess. It was washed out and eroded, too. To the point that it’s closed and they no longer have plans to reopen it because of the severity of the damage. At several places the road was just.. gone.. and we’d have to go down a loose embankment, get across the debris, then climb up the other side.

One spot required Marquis to basically hold me as I slid down the side on my butt-so I wouldn’t continue sliding to the actual bottom instead of stopping where he was on the little ledge. Then on the climb up the other side, the ground completely gave way and I quickly sank back down to the bottom-stopping only after my shin connected with a huge rock and my arm got sliced by a protruding branch. Marquis yelled, because when I came to a stop, my eye was extremely close to another protruding branch.. I was so close to ripping my face!

My scrapes and bashed shin hurt like hell and bled some.. the shin immediately starting to bruise and swell a bit. I limped the rest of the day and have a nice tear in my shirt. Marquis helped me out of the hole I was in and we continued down what used to be a road that held actual cars and was now struggling to hold two humans. Several times I wondered if the trail would have been better, or would it have been that much more dangerous since it’s smaller and steeper grade. I actually have no intentions of ever finding out.

We followed along a stream below the road, that you could easily tell was the remnants of the massive flooded river that tore through here. There was so much damage all around, tree debris and fencing gone.. there used to be plenty of campgrounds up here and now it’s all abandoned and it all appeared apocalyptic.

When we finally made it to the actual paved road, also by a campground, part of it was destroyed by the flood waters too. It was quite alarming to see how extensive the damage was even on things like pavement.. just chunks bigger than my body lying around beside a tiny trickle of a stream now.

Speaking of a stream, we stopped to filter water along this route. It looked clear and felt cold.. Marquis chugged half a liter so fast that I assumed it tasted just fine, until he asked if I had tried it yet. Uh oh. I take a small sip and it takes all of my willpower to swallow it.. sulfur tasting with a bitter aftertaste that stayed with me the rest of the day. Disgusting. Ugh. Me and this desert are just really not getting along. At. All.

So, the two of us and our nasty water are so thrilled to get to the main paved highway. We start walking and wondering where the hell all the cars are-then we got some service. I tried figuring out exactly where we were and how far we might be from civilization… I can’t even make this up: this. highway. is. closed. You have got to be kidding! We’re at least 15-20 miles from a small town with a restaurant and a fire station. No motels that we can see on our maps. Service is spotty. Jesus.

We start hoofing it down the asphalt. There are several more abandoned campgrounds along the way, so we’re certain if we had to, we could find somewhere to camp tonight and then start back at it in the morning. No hope for more water though, so that was concerning for sure. We passed more damage to the road, and then some work crews. A few trucks came through that were clearly workers.. none stopped for us.

By 6:30, we came to the end of the road closure. There was a cop sitting there blocking the road to through traffic. We asked him about motels, town, important things, hoping he’d feel bad and offer us a ride at the end of his day or something. He answered everything but no ride. We were 9 miles from town. Nine very hilly miles. Crap. So, I had a genius idea. I called the restaurant in town when I got service again at the top of one of the hills.

I told the person who answered that we’re PCT hikers and we had to get off the trail because of the water damage and we didn’t know the road was closed, so we’re hungry and wondering if someone from the restaurant would be willing to come get us. He asked where we were exactly, I told him I really wasn’t sure, but close to 9 miles away heading towards him but passed the officer blocking the road. He goes, “ok! I know right where you are! It’s a good thing I’m here today because I’ll come get you right now!” I got super giddy and before we hung up he says, “oh! And I’m Sam-so we aren’t strangers!” Haha

15 minutes later, Marquis and I were climbing into Sam’s pickup truck. He was so nice and drove like a bat out of hell on those windy roads! He told us all about how Hurricane Hillary destroyed a full town up here in these mountains, and how someone was still missing and presumed dead. We had seen a lot of the damage as we walked, it was extremely sad.. homes with half of the foundation under them missing, many crumbled to nothing.

Come to find out, Sam doesn’t just work for the restaurant. It’s a family business that his son owns! Sam’s wife was our waitress, and her sweet mom was working there, too. There was only one other table being served when we got there, and a few more locals came and went while we ate. It was such a warm and welcoming place! I’m absolutely in love with it and them.

We ordered Mexican food and inhaled it all. It’s probably the best Mexican I’ve had on trail, and I’ve been eating quite a bit of it lately. We chatted with Sam and his wife a bit, and then decided we’d hitch to a bigger town down this same highway to stay in a motel for the night. When they found this out, Sam’s wife, Theresa offered to drive us. She was going to that bigger town herself to get some stuff from the store.

If we thought Sam drove like a bat out of hell, Theresa was flat out wild. We were taking mountain turns at 55 miles per hour when the sign said 25.. ha. She told us she has been driving these roads for over twenty years, she knows the twists and turns like the back of her hand. As fast as she went, I never felt unsafe.

She dropped us off at the La Quinta Inn in town, right near a huge interstate. Marquis and I checked in and then he showered first. Once I got in the shower, he went to start our laundry.. he was asleep by the time I swapped everything into the dryer. We’re both pretty beat. And this motel is new, only 4 months old, so everything feels that much cushier. The pillows are plump perfection, the duvets are fluffy and fat.. and this mattress is just-chefs kiss.

So, tomorrow we’ll try hitching by the highway and attempt to get back to the trail. I have a feeling it might not be so easy, since this area probably doesn’t even know what the PCT is. Ha. Wish us luck! Ps: my shoulder from that limb slicing me is so tender-it’s actually a pretty deep cut. So, now I’m even more glad we got to a motel and I could shower and clean out my wounds. Gross, but an infection would be so much worse! Anyway-goodnight!