​After the crappy night I woke up amazingly refreshed.   Had my bucket shower and I feel sparkling clean.   Close got washed and dried instantly in the sun.   The school across the street is slinging some kind of soft tostada thing, so that went down the hatch.

  
It is hiker mania at Warner.   Must have been 30 tents pitched last night in the wind tunnel.  Got a mid-morning pic below. 
Folks in the area are really supportive of the thru-hikers.   Folks at the community center next to the camp ground are constantly driving folks to/from the post office and general store.   A local turned up with a box of oranges early.  I saw 2 groups of hikers step out to the highway and get a ride within 5 minutes of sticking their thumbs out.  
Chatting with a lot of interesting folks.   Really not that hard to join a conversation.   Just walk up to a cluster and sit down.  I’m lounging around today updating my site and trying to get pics up.   Lots of talk about blisters, plantar facitus (sp?), and sprains.   Don’t like to stick around for those conversations 🙁  

It is easy to get stuck here. 
Plan to head out sometime after 2.   Hopefully the dot watchers will be satisfied.   

Last night was windy pretty much all night long.    Tent and stakes held up well, just hard to get the deep zz’s.     Got up, watered, packed, turned on the inreach, trail by 8.  

 

It was also around 8 was when I discovered the problem with carrying a satellite pinger.   I was getting spotty cell service and Alice is frantically texting me that I’m off the trail.   Here is the exchange: 

 Apparently I was about 30 minutes behind the rest of the folks.   Didn’t catch up to many of them either until Barrel Springs.   Hung out with a bunch of folks there. Made some lunch, charged up bats, drinking a ton of water.   

Got back on the trail around 2:30 with a couple of brothers and their Canadian buddy Josh.   We kept lapping each other during the hike, eventually rolling into Warner together.   Interesting guys.   I wish I had a picture of Chris.   That guy was unbelievably dirty.   Picture a good looking, lean, fit, 45 year old sweaty guy who rolled around in the dirt for a couple hours.   That’s him.

Did a bunch of miles through meadows like this.  

Got to Warner and my first priority was finding a beer.   The gal at the community center offered to take us over to the cafe at 6.   The guys drifted off, so I went alone.  Chatted with a hikers there while sucking down two awesome IPA’s + salad, grilled chicken, and fries.  

 
Met this interesting Indian guy at the cafe.    I had actually ran into him laying beside the trail while night hiking, but now we got to know each other.   He is a software guy who talked his boss into giving him 5 months off to do this hike.   The funny thing about him is his attitude.   He just fills up and goes.   No resupply, time table, not worried about the snow, etc.   Every future trail event we talk about, he is like “we’ll see”.   Great attitude.    His trail name is “Wing It” haha. 
Had a 1 mile hike back to the camp site.  Got lost and wondered around the golf course for a while then finally made it.    Tent went up late and because it was so calm, I didn’t stake it properly.   At 12:30 I paid for that omission when the wind went from 0 to 40 mile/hr gusts.  I was frantically staking the thing while keeping it on the ground.   The rest of the night was worry about the stakes, resetting a couple, and getting blown.  

 
Did ~22 trail miles today.  Tomorrow is a bucket shower, laundry, and goofing around.   I’ll hit the trail in the afternoon. 

Steve and Juan dropped me off at Scissors around 3.   The guys had a six pack of some good beer chilling in the back as a send off.   394 or something.   Really good amber.    
While we were sucking it down by the road a couple of hikers turned up.   John and Alex(?).   Most folks pop out here and want to thumb a ride for a zero in Julian.

 It was interesting watching the guys practicing their Yogi skillz.    They sort of slid up to us with that thirsty look on their face and struck up a conversation.   After a few minutes Steve offered them a couple beers, but I knew the ride was the prize.    So I asked Steve which way he was taking back to San Diego.   “Through Julian?   Oh I bet these boys could use a lift.”   And there you have it.   Steve became a Trail Angel.   Not sure how he felt about a couple sweaty, dirty hikers in his Mercedes.  Suck it up, Stevie!

Took off and started making miles.   Ran into this dude.   Told him he was my first North bounder on the trail.   He was from Northridge, section hiking.   Forgot his name. 

 
After 4 miles, started hitting my groove.   Good music, nobody around until….

I must have been 1 foot away from him when he snapped up in a coil and started rattling.    I jumped back, landed off the trail, started sliding down the hill, and stumbled to a stop.   Got a little video of the thing.
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After that, not .5 mile later another one was sitting on the trail.    I’d had enough of this, I threw rocks at this one.   Everyone I show the video to compliment me on seeing one that big.    Yeah, lucky me. 
I had planned to just do a few miles, but got motivated last night.   About 8 miles in a chatted with some folks at a nice campsite.    They were surprised I as pushing on that late.  Felt like I need to shake out all the demons that had been building the past 2 weeks.   Told them i had not earned the stop yet.  Forgot all their names too.    Seems to be a trend.

Rolled into 3 gate water cache around 9:30.   Did 14 miles.    Campsite was good, food was good, not too sore.   Living the dream. 

Alice dropped me off at the Oxnard Amtrak this morning at 7:30.   Boarded train and headed South to San Diego.     I’m writing this bit while on the train.  

Last night there was a little send-off at the Castorena’s.   Lots of “good lucks” and “I know you can do its”.   Got a load of blessings as well.   Suppose I can use them.  Fortunately, not too many tears from all the sisters.   The message sunk in that I’ll be an hour’s drive away for the next 5 weeks 🙂    Mia, the nurse, gave me a bunch of skin weld and needles from the hospital.   After 20 minutes of conversation about the importance of having a sterile needle on the trail I remain…uh..skeptical.  

Big Joe did a last minute pack breakdown with me.    He managed to pull a few more ounces out.   Dropped a pair of socks and bunch of first aid stuff.   Got plenty of duct tape substitute.  His daughter Sophia offered negligible value-add, but the entertainment is always welcome.  

Joe gave me “the look” regarding my solar panel/battery combo I put together.  It is soo heavy (1lb + 10oz bats).   I’m just having a hard time parting with it.   The last 6 months I have devoted so much energy into measuring its output at varying sun levels, the charge times of the batteries I strapped to it, charging times on my devices, etc.   I’ve worked out a pretty good system of lightweight devices but I need reliable power to pull this off.    I’ll describe it in more detail sometime later if it works out. 

On a positive note, he fell in love with my zpacks sleeping bag.   I know the feeling….the thing feels like it is made of helium.    If I have a positive report, Joe’s card will have an extra $500 on the balance. 
So, my thoughts about getting started.   

The last two months have been very busy packing, selling, moving, transitions at work, etc.   In the middle of this chaos my Dad suddenly passed away.  Heart attack.  I think about him a lot but I avoid going too deep.   It will hit me pretty hard at some point on the trail that I won’t be able to share the stories.   Dad always had a uniquely cynical yet good natured opinion on my adventures.    I’ll miss that….nobody I’ve every known had the same mix of intelligence and humor.   I’m already getting sad, so on to other things.

The final 2 weeks simply sucked.    All the prep had lined up.  Alice and I were settled into our temporary lodging, folks at work had taken over all my stuff, all my gear was dialed in, resupply planned, and…. I was bored.  Then the anxiety set in.   Would I get injured?   Snow in the Sierra.   Blisters.  Sunburn.  Poodle Dog bush (look that one up sometime).  

My cousin JD hit the trail on the 13th and is carrying a tracker.   I’m checking the thing every couple hours.   He is making good time.   He has powered through the blisters and foot problems.   I’m worried about the first week and he is already at mile 200.   Every time I check, his dot is further North.   

I’m the leap-before-looking guy and I’ve had 2 uninterrupted weeks to do the opposite.   No, this has been going on for 2 years.   California had a record snow year and for the first time in 2 decades I DID NOT SKI.  Not once.  Afraid I’d blow out my knee.  Now I get to worry about walking through all that snow in a couple months.   

Motorcycle rides offered an  outlet for a while, but recently I’ve been riding like a pussy.  Off-road I barely keep enough speed to hit second gear.   On-road, I’m get beat (well almost) by a Darrell’s shitty 650 KLR because I’m afraid to drop deep into turns.   On a mountain bike last week I hesitated to  ride down some wide gradual stairs to the beach.   

A typical multi-day outing starts with circling a place on the map and trying to get there.  The planning phase involves getting dressed.   Now the only map I look at is the one with JD’s stupid DOT on it.   

There is a John Muir quote that says “Sometimes a man just needs to  jump over the back fence and go walking” or something like that.   This would be much easier if it was a decision made and executed in a couple weeks.  Or even better in a day.    2 years of preparation is just too much misery. 
Thankfully all this crap is now over.   I can start walking and see what happens.    

11 days left!

The last 2 months have been a whirlwind.   FInishing all the repairs on the house, lining up a management company for the property, selling my dirt bike, dumping all our crap, storing what we plan to keep, moving into in-laws place, and finishing prep for the hike.

Held a blowout garage sale a couple weeks ago.   Everything not boxed was dumped on the ground outside of the house, then the vultures started circling.   I learned a few things about being a good buyer….they show up before we start with a wad of cash.   Folks were hovering outside our house before 6am to get the first crack.   

One dude in particular was clearly the alpha.   He picked up my Denon stereo and 5:1 speaker setup, couple of my older Shoe helmets, and other electronics.  I liked watching him.   He zeroed in on most the high-value stuff.   We got into a long negotiation over the old gas grill for $10.   He just wanted the propane bottle, but I wouldn’t let that go unless he took the grill with it (heh).   That was pretty much the theme for the day, reverse bundling.   I’d give folks a price for something and require they take something else with it.  EVERYTHING MUST GO !!!

Alice did pretty well jettisoning our clothes, appliances, and furniture.   It was hard keeping the scavangers in check.   Since the kitchen/dining room was open, folks would drift in there and start picking through the boxes we had tagged for storage.   Even had a gal offer $3 for a half-empty bottle of chile pepper flakes (SOLD!).   Man what an experience.  

After that it was a trip to the goodwill and a couple to the dump.  Purge complete. 

My buddy Darrell and I did a little final ride before I put my GS in storage.   We got into some dirt roads he found out by Lake Hughes.   Crossed the PCT at mile 471.   I’ll be walking through there in a month or so.    Darrell asked after the ride if he was getting better or if I’m getting more cautious.   It’s mostly me I think.  Don’t want another injury before starting.   Sucks…feels like I’m losing my edge.   Have to reclaim my mojo during the hike.

Here’s a pic of Darrell digging through the trash.   

His bike key was on the tray…we never found it.   Probably submerged in a pool of ketchup and syrup at the bottom of the bag. 

On Thursday I loaded up the cable boxes, filled up the sunroom fridge with beer for the new tenants, and cleared out of the house.    We are now officially homeless.   

We have moved into a room with Alice’s parents.   I spend the weekend finishing the resupply boxes, addressing, and numbering them.  Ready to go. 

Here is the resupply plan. 

My cousin JD started the trail on April 13th.   As of today he has hit the point I pre-hiked over Thanksgiving last year (Scissors Crossing, Mile 77).  He’s a bunch of foot blisters, but is keeping a good pace.   Starting tomorrow he will be ahead of me.     Next update will be from the trail !