Tag: PCTA

Julian To Warner Springs

Toby 3 Comments

32.5 miles 4/8/18 – 4/10/18

After some great sleep in the hotel I made my way down to Mom’s for the free slice of pie they give to PCT hikers. I got it to go because I had other plans for my hunger. At approximately 8:30am I destroyed the all you can eat buffet at the hotel, bacon, eggs, sausage, fruit, all went in my stomach. I then went back to my room so I could wash my clothes and soak in the tub. As I was leaving I ate the piece of pie from Mom’s.

On my way out of town I stopped by Carmen’s, a restaurant that let’s hikers sleep there after closing, but I just stopped by for the free hug and see some puppies. I also saw a few other hikers I started out with. I then hitchiked with much more success than the day before. A nice woman was shuttling hikers to and from scissors crossing, no sketchy pick-up truck today. At the water cache under the highway two former hikers we’re making quesadillas and handing out donuts. As good as that sounded my stomach was still full of breakfast and pie.

The trail started with a bunch of fully exposed switchbacks up the side of a hill. While sleeping in was nice starting to hike around 1:30pm wasn’t. I was able to use my slightly broken umbrella but the wind kept catching it. The plan was to only go 9 miles before setting up camp. Something that seemed so easy ended up being strenuous because of the heat and elevation gain.

I drank through most of my water and wasn’t feeling that great. The rested feeling had gone away comep at about 4pm realized that I hadn’t eaten anything for breakfast. After a Snickers bar and a couple spoonfuls of Nutella I started to feel better. I set up camp and talked to a hiker from San Diego named Steve (not to be confused with Steve the unicorn) over my dinner of tuna in a tortilla and called it a night.

The next morning I started hiking at 5:30am headed to a water cache 5 miles ahead, which I arrived at just as I ran out of water. Luckily there was more than enough.

I took a short break and then continued down the trail which seemed to snake through the hills forever. Just as I thought I was going to go over the top it would just go around another hill that was hiding behind the first. While it was still warm it wasn’t as bad as it had been. I put on podcast and powered on, remembering to eat snacks along the way.

I was so focused I missed the 100 mile marker on my way into camp at Barrel Spring as the trail dropped into a lush green valley. I thought about pushing the extra 8 miles into Warner Springs but decided to take it easy for the night instead, my feet were a little sore.

I set up my tent and relaxed, grazing on all the extra food I had as I’d be picking up a resupply box the next day in Warner Springs. A number of hikers that I had met previously made their way in camp and we all ended up eating together. As I crawled into my tent I started hearing a bunch of frogs being extra loud. I still managed to pass out right away.

It was difficult to get out of my tent the next morning even though I slept in an hour. The trail entered a pasture full of cows that didn’t want anything to do with me, I just wanted to pet one. Feeling rejected I moved on through the green pasture and gentle hills, a very welcomed change. I moved through flat open meadows with fantastic views. A little while later I made my way to Eagle Rock, which I think looks more like a dragon.

The trail then dropped down next to a creek with plenty of shade from the surrounding trees. I saw a couple rabbits run across the trail in front of me. A short while later I made it to my destination, Warner Springs. The Warner Springs Resource Center was set up for hikers, you could take a bucket shower, charge anything that needed to be charged or just sit in air conditioning.

As soon as I got inside someone was getting a group together to go to the Post Office so I jumped on the opportunity and went with. I picked up my resupply box which somehow ended covered in stickers and quickly realized I had too much food. So what did I do? I ignored the problem and went to have pizza and beer at the restaurant next door. When I made it back to the resource center I set up my tent and sorted through all my food. I put a good amount in the hiker box but still ended up with a lot of food too carry. How could I part with my gummy bears and Cheetos?

I took the coldest bucket shower ever (on purpose), charged up my electronics and visited with other hikers, some of which I hadn’t seen since the day I started. Still full from lunch I made myself eat some of the heavier items in my food bag for dinner. I was still left with too much food. Luckily I only have to carry two liters of water for the next stretch, which should help with weight.

Reviewed and Approved

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Back on November 1st the Pacific Crest Trail Association began accepting applications for 2018 Pacific Crest Tail permits. I was anxiously sat in front of my computer with multiple browsers open along with one on my phone.  I watch the timer tick down towards 10AM when the permits would go live. I read comments on Facebook where others talked of server crashes as everyone floods the site, which apparently happened last year. I began to have flashbacks to trying to snag concert tickets as soon as they went on sale knowing they would sell out  almost immediately.

When the timer hit 0 I refreshed everything and began filling out the same information in multiple windows as quickly as possible.  Even though I was just attempting to submit an application it was first come first serve and they only accepted  35 applications per day, matching the number of permits made available. However, it wasn’t a complete dash for the finish line as once you selected your start date you had 13 minutes to complete your application.  This seemed like plenty of time to fill things out, until I hit “Next” to move to the next page and  nothing happened.  After 2 minutes of waiting I got to the next screen and once again quickly filled out the required information in each browser before clicking “Next”… and waited. This happened on each page, with the little clock ticking down before my selected date would be released and I would have to start all over again.  “Are you Traveling by foot or by Horse, mule or other equine animal?” Foot but a mule might come in handy. Next. “Do you have a child under the age of 18 joining you?” no.. no man. Next.”Do you want to purchase the extra permit to camp on Mt. Whitney?” Yes, but ain’t nobody got time for that, I guess I’m day hiking it. Next.  This continued until I made my way to the final screen with 2 minutes left, the same amount time it had been taking to move from one page to the next.  I clicked submit and anxiously waited to see if I made it through in time. After what seemed like an eternity the confirmation page loaded, I made it.  I took a deep breath and thought “If just applying for a permit is this nerve wracking I’m going to be a mess when I’m about to start”

After a few weeks of obsessively checking the status of my permit application I received an email stating that my application had been reviewed and approved. I will be starting my journey on April 3rd 2018. With my start date finalized I submitted for my sabbatical from work, finalized my travel plans and began to second guess my start date.  I wanted to start a bit earlier than the ideal mid to late April start date to avoid a large rush of hikers but after seeing how quickly permits were taken realized that with as popular as the trail is, and a limited number of permits, it’s going to be the same amount of people regardless of when I start.  With starting early I run the risk of facing less than ideal snow conditions in the mountains, mainly the Sierra and the San Jacinto, here’s hoping it’s a mild winter in southern California.

PCT Resources

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I am finally moving past drooling over new backpacking gear and starting to dig into the actual planning of my trip on the Pacific Crest Trail.  There are a lot of things to take into account such has how much you can hike in the day, resupplying, rest days  and making sure you know where you’re going.  Luckily there are a lot of resources out there to help you plan your trip and help you while you’re out on the trail.  While I still haven’t read that book I mentioned in my first post I have found a lot useful sites online, here are a few of my favorites:

Pacific Crest Trail Association – The obvious place to start, the groups that preserves and promotes the PCT,.. and issues your permit. Tons of information about the trail, it’s history an the volunteers that support it.  Throw a few bucks their way if you can.

Halfmile’s PCT Maps – The name says it all, maps. Not just any maps but  the most current and accurate PCT maps available. They have maps that you can print (which would take a ton of  paper), GPS downloads, apps for Android and iOS, and  my favorite, a Google Earth map (really, take the time to load it up and check it out, it’s pretty awesome).

Craig’s PCT Planner – A really cool tool that lets you plan out your hike section by section. By just picking your start date, entering your pace and set the hours you want to hike in a day it will generate an itinerary for your journey. It accounts for increased travel time due to elevation gain and allows you to insert rest days into your schedule.

LighterPack –  A nice little tool that lets you track what you will carry with you and manage weight.  It also allows to share your list with others, once I get my list a little more flushed out I’ll be sure to post it here.

Yogi’s PCT Handbook – Not exactly an online resource but still very important. Yogi’s handbook is probably the only PCT planning book you’ll need. It includes tons of tips and advice from people that have hiked the PCT as was  information about the trail itself and the towns it passes through.

PCT Class of 2018 Facebook Group – A great way to connect with others planning on hiking the PCT in 2018, ask questions and help others.

I’m sure there are many more great resources out there that I’ve yet to come across, I’ll be sure to update this post when I find them. I’ll also be adding a dedicated list of resources to the sidebar in the near future.