Category: Pacific Crest Trail 2023

Start: 2595.5

Stop: 2619.1

Today’s miles: 23.6

Total PCT miles: 2333.8

I kid you not, somehow we woke up laughing. I have never once been a morning person, not even a little bit-but somehow Marquis had me cackling at 6:30 in the morning as I packed. We left camp at 6:45 and started our day with laughs and a stunning sunrise.

When I got service, I had a message from my guide in Egypt asking me to call him. With everything happening in Isreal, I had reached out to him to see what he thought about the situation and if he thought it was safe to still come. Andrea has been very worried and keeping me in the loop since I come in and out of service and often can’t get videos to play or websites to download.

According to him, Egypt is as safe as its ever been. I realize he’d have a solid reason for saying this, regardless, because of the money lost if we didn’t come. But also, for what it’s worth, I trust him and I truly don’t believe he’d put us at risk-as he’d be putting himself at risk, too, by being with us. So, after talking with him, I’m very comfortable still going on our trip.

I also know that if anything at all changes between now and us leaving, I’d cancel if I thought I’d be putting my mom in harms way. The trip will be Andrea and I, plus both of our moms.. and we’re both very close with our moms. I may feel at ease now with the choice to still go, but it’s still a worry in the back of my mind-if anything were to happen to any of us, it would be me taking the blame.

I called and talked with Andrea and my mom. We’re currently all in agreement, but Andrea will keep on it and let me know if any new issues with Egypt and Jordan specifically arise. Anyway-the morning was still gorgeous, cool and windy. We passed the side of a mountain with tons of memorials and a monument-pictures and trinkets all over the place. It made me wonder if these people were paragliders, because of the space to jump out into the valley.

We stopped at a little picnic area to sit a bit while Marquis ordered his cold weather gear and got his bus tickets all figured out. Once I finish the trail, I’ll be going to my sister’s wedding.. Marquis will be meeting friends at Disneyland and then going back to South Lake Tahoe to hike north to Ashland to fill in his missing gap.

While he handled his business and our water filtered, I accidentally ate the rest of my pizza I was supposed to be saving for lunch. FOUR slices of pizza. How these things happen are beyond me, one second I’m taking my first bite, then next I’m reaching my hand in the ziplock looking for my next slice and the whole ziplock is empty. Strange, I tell ya.

The trail from there was nice and easy, even though it was more uphill than not. After a few hours, we made it to a road crossing that had picnic tables on the other side with a water spigot. We got more water and had our lunch at a table-and yes, I ate lunch even though I just shoveled half a pizza in my mouth not too long ago.

We decided to take the road to walk into Mount Laguna. We’re single-handedly supporting every local business we can apparently. If they have a soda, I will buy one! Lol-I got chips and salsa and a drink, while Marquis got ice cream. We found yet another picnic table to eat at-after putting our stuff on charging cords in the bathroom. We hung around until our batteries were full and our bellies weren’t empty (I never really feel full these days, just typing this out now is making my stomach rumble and I already ate my dinner!).

We set off down the paved road, to a dirt road, and eventually got back on the trail.. after almost getting sideswiped by some mountain bikers that appeared out of thin air. The trail was real bushy, but none really scraped by legs-so I was a happy camper. At sunset we got to our campsite. It’s official, the NOBOs that wrote the comments we were reading about how “great” these sites are, are completely nuts. Every single area is sloped and lumpy-I’m sure they were just still excited to be starting and living in that “I love everything” moment at the beginning of their hike! Haha

Our tents are slightly sloped, and the wind is starting to pick up more and more as I write this. Marquis and I ate dinner sitting outside in the “light breeze” a little bit ago, and now it’s pitch black and a heavy wind is blowing through.. and I have a feeling my tent will be collapsing. Ha. Either way, today was great day and falling tents is a later me problem. Goodnight!

Start: 2639.9

Stop: 2654.5

Today’s miles: 14.6

Total PCT miles: 2369.6

I could hear animals crunching around on the leaves last night-making me so thankful for my earplugs. I swear I’d never sleep if I didn’t have them. I did sleep well, and no limbs fell on me throughout the night.

It was a bright and pretty morning and the trail was kind to us. No scrapes or stabs from all of the prickly things. At some point I realized I must have dropped my phone, because when I reached for it to take a picture, it was gone! I had to backtrack for about 10-15 minutes before I found it, face down, right in the middle of the trail! Whew! Could I have gotten any more lucky?

It got hot, fast. We made it to Campo by 11am, and with nothing to really do, we walked down the road to a taco stand and got some early lunch. I demolished some enchiladas, rice, and beans! My goodness it was fantastic. We also went into a gas station for some non-water drinks, and then made our way to the library to hang out for a while. We had a lot of time to kill.

Around 2pm, we made it back to the town center and got some stuff for tonight and tomorrow: two bottles of wine, some cheese and crackers, cups, and some ice cream for now. I actually got an ice cream, too! We hung out at a picnic table outside the little grocery store. Two older gentlemen came up to chit chat with us and we told them all about trail life and how we were “almost done.” Sometimes explaining the filling in of gaps gets too confusing.

We walked to the post office, Marquis sent the hiker their spoon back, and while there, he saw a flyer for a fundraiser dinner at the local Veterans of Foreign War Post in town. We decided to go! We hung out outside until it was time to go in.. then got a beer and fried chicken. Well, chicken, baked beans, and coleslaw. I don’t really like meat on bones, so I picked off what I would eat and Marquis ate the rest.. he let me have the skin off of his chicken too, since I wasn’t really eating much of mine anyway. I wasn’t that impressed, but liked the baked beans though!

We hung out and listened to the lively bunch enjoying the fundraiser-telling some of them about trail life too, and then before sunset we left and walked to CLEEF, an equestrian camp that lets PCT hikers camp. We had our own little pavilion with power all to ourselves! And we decided to cowboy camp for the first time on this trail! It really stresses me out, but we were under the pavilion roof, and Marquis was there-so hopefully if anymore tarantulas showed up to snuggle, they’d pick him!

We ate our cheese and crackers and celebrated with a bottle of wine. Our phones charged, and before we knew it, it was dark. The caretaker drove by to say hi, and we met his dog, Lucy. They were both very sweet.. he unlocked the bathroom for us. Now we’re tucked in and I’m feeling a bit exposed. We’re only a quarter mile from the border, so we keep seeing trucks drive by. I have a feeling it will be an all night kind of thing. But y’all: we’re here! We touch the border in the morning! I can’t believe it!! Goodnight 🙂

Start: 2654.5

Stop: 2655.2

Today’s miles: 0.7

Total PCT miles: 2370.3

WE DID IT!! We touched the Mexican Border!! I want to yell “WE FINISHED” but that isn’t exactly true. Marquis is going to fill in his gap, so he will be completely finished this year. I’m as finished as I’m going to be for this year, now, too! I’ll just have to fill in my couple of gaps next year sometime.. there just isn’t enough time to get them done before I leave for Egypt. So.. what the hell.. IM FINISHED!! Haha

We didn’t sleep that great, because border patrol trucks drove through every hour or so all night. Around 5-6am, huge concrete trucks and the like were also driving though, to get to their construction site nearby. Since we cowboy camped, packing up was a breeze. We packed and walked that mile so quick! I kept my crocs on instead of switching to my real shoes, because why not?

We took a trillion pictures, I’m sure I’ll post most of them to my Facebook, but the two of us posed and laughed like lunatics, and drank our celebratory wine at 7:30 in the morning. I call it a success! While we were there, two men came up in their Tesla. One guy was going out for a shakedown hike to check out his gear. So, we all four stood around chatting and talking all things gear and base weight. He was really nice and so excited about his trip!

We finally walked back to CLEEF, the feeling of being done not really setting in yet for me. We hung around and ate breakfast while we waited for a trail angel, Kathy, to come pick us up. She took us to her house, we showered, did laundry, and drank coffee. She’s incredibly kind for allowing us into her home, smelly and beat up.

Around 1 or so, she drove us to the transit center and we took a bus to San Diego. We were going to eat a quick lunch, but I think they assumed we were homeless at the one restaurant we went to, because no one would come to serve us. Rude. So, Marquis and I left, then said our goodbyes on the street corner. I already miss him.

I took an Uber to the airport and I’m sitting in the Delta SkyLounge waiting for my flight to LAX. My plan is to fly to LA, then to Orlando. I arrive in Orlando tomorrow morning and will get my rental car-then spend the weekend in a cute town nearby for my sister Michele’s wedding-which is Sunday. On Monday morning I’ll drive back to Orlando, fly back to LAX-since I had already purchased the flight forever ago.

I’ll spend 2 days in LA exploring, then 2 days with Andrea in Reno. I’ll get my stuff I’ve left and I’ve sent to her house, she and I will get all of our Egypt stuff worked out: clothes and flight details and all that-and then I’ll fly home on Friday, 10/20 and show up at my mom’s birthday dinner! She doesn’t realize that I just finished the trail today, and I’m going to hide that fact from her until next Friday when I can surprise her on her big day.

Her actual birthday is Saturday, 10/21-and now that I’m coming in on Friday, I can go with her to the birthday party my grandma is having for her and several of my aunts (they have 4-5 birthdays really close together). I’m super excited to see everyone, it’s been entirely too long since I’ve seen so many of them! I don’t even know who all is coming-but I can’t ask or I’ll risk tipping her off.

Anyway. This is probably my last post until we start our Egypt trip. We leave 10/31-so, it won’t be that long of a gap.. and I’m still super behind on uploading these posts-so it might not be long at all before I get the Egypt ones up! Ha! Let’s pray their WiFi is better than some of the towns on the PCT!

Once I’m back home after the 6 week trip (so December) I’ll go through my PCT budget and give out those details. I’m almost certain I spent more money than I did on the Appalachian Trail. I quit paying attention somewhere in Northern California! But, I’ll get that worked out and let y’all know 😉 For now, the plan is to fill in the gaps I skipped next august-ish, and Andrea might do the Dunsmuir to Etna chunk with me!

Ok. I love y’all. Thanks for following along! I’m sorry if these posts have been simple and straightforward, boring even.. I know they’re not very deep or profound, but sometimes it’s too much to get everything I’m feeling out on “paper” ya know? Please know I appreciate each of you and cannot thank you enough for your support and words of encouragement. It means the absolute world to me and I don’t know that I’d be able to push myself to finish these difficult trips if I didn’t have you to write for-because then I’d feel like I’d be letting y’all down if I let myself quit. So. Sincerely, thank you.

See y’all in Egypt!