We had a couple of calls from Sye recently, so a quick update. They spent a second night in Wrightwood, hosted in the home of another trail angel and enjoyed a birthday dinner for Alex that Jon had arranged.
This morning Sye called while they were waiting for a ride back to the trail, allowing a moment to sing a birthday song to Alex. So yes, happy birthday to Alex and congratulations on turning a quarter century while on such an amazing journey! They hope to hike far enough today to descend out of the snow and are on their way to the next resupply point, Agua Dulce.
Tuesday, May 27
Say ... Happy Birthday!
Today, May 27, is Alex's birthday. How about saying happy birthday to her via the "comments" button with this post?
I believe Sye birthday is July 15. Maybe by then we'll figure out how to can add balloons and ribbons to the blog site.
I believe Sye birthday is July 15. Maybe by then we'll figure out how to can add balloons and ribbons to the blog site.
Monday, May 26
People are AMAZING
So we made it, crawling, stumbling, and squinting into Wrightwood. Crawling, because I scraped all the skin off the bottom of my right foot. Stumbling, because we spent twenty miles climbing to approximately 8,500 feet. Squinting, because there was a snowstorm up here last Friday, and though we were not caught in it (we were, however, caught in pouring rain at a lower elevation and ended up taking refuge in the overhang to a pit toilet. We were there for hours, but that's another story), it has been soggy and completely socked in ever since, and we lost the trail twenty million times.
When we finally fumbled our way onto the highway we were miraculously scooped by a wonderful couple, Dolores and Harry. They took us back to thier house and proceeded to drape our soggy selves in silly robes and fluffy slippers while we did our laundry, tossed us into deliciously hot showers, and gave us each our own room to sleep in, both equipped with beds and blankets and real pillows. And they fed us dinner and desert and hot tea and breakfast and bacon and drove us back into Wrightwood the next day. They were amazing. Dolores even stuck our nasty, soggy shoes into the dryer and then put foot powder in them afterwards. Utterly amazing. I think I'd like to own a house sometime in the future for the sole purpose of scooping beleaguered soles and doing for them what Dolores and Harry did for us. They even had a bird book, and I found out that the beautiful orange and black birds we've been seeing are black headed grosbeaks.
This last stint from Big Bear City to Wrightwood has been a bit crazy. We were hit by crazy weather, spent half a day basking in hot springs (unfortunately this did not coincide with the rain and cold), passed not one, but two ridiculous dams, ate dinner inside some massive pipes (Sye kept calling it the Tube Farm), ate skittles and played poker with Duck the Do-Badder (he's one of our favorite trail mates), gorged ourselves at a McDonalds, and hopefully dodged shitloads of poison oak.
Thursday, May 22
WHEN YOU'RE OUT THERE WALKIN by Piper McKenzie
WHEN YOU'RE OUT THERE WALKIN'
for Sye and Alex, written and sung by Piper McKenzie,
on the day of their departure from Seattle for PCT, 2008
When you're out there walkin'
One foot in front of the next,
You better remember to stop and give
those city feet a rest.
When you're out there bakin' in the hot
summer sun, you better drink lots of water
cause passing out just ain't no fun.
When the quiet of the night leaves you
longing for home. Just remember we carry
you with us everywhere we go.
And your heart is a kingdom, big enough
to hold all the stars, yeah it's the biggest
place I've even been by far. So wherever
you roam, well there we are.
When you're out there walkin' getting new
names and blistered feet, you better have
this song stuck in your head upon repeat.
You'd better not forget to keep your socks dry.
You better remember we share one ceiling
of a sky. And don't forget to write.
When you're out there walkin' and the dark is
just too dark, light your little stove
with a little spark. Think about all the
people that hold you oh so dear, and how before
you know it they'll be screaming in
your ear.
Cause your heart is a kingdom
big enough to hold all the stars. Yeah it's
the biggest place I've ever been by far,
so wherever you roam, well there we are.
for Sye and Alex, written and sung by Piper McKenzie,
on the day of their departure from Seattle for PCT, 2008
When you're out there walkin'
One foot in front of the next,
You better remember to stop and give
those city feet a rest.
When you're out there bakin' in the hot
summer sun, you better drink lots of water
cause passing out just ain't no fun.
When the quiet of the night leaves you
longing for home. Just remember we carry
you with us everywhere we go.
And your heart is a kingdom, big enough
to hold all the stars, yeah it's the biggest
place I've even been by far. So wherever
you roam, well there we are.
When you're out there walkin' getting new
names and blistered feet, you better have
this song stuck in your head upon repeat.
You'd better not forget to keep your socks dry.
You better remember we share one ceiling
of a sky. And don't forget to write.
When you're out there walkin' and the dark is
just too dark, light your little stove
with a little spark. Think about all the
people that hold you oh so dear, and how before
you know it they'll be screaming in
your ear.
Cause your heart is a kingdom
big enough to hold all the stars. Yeah it's
the biggest place I've ever been by far,
so wherever you roam, well there we are.
Wednesday, May 21
More letters from the trail
Space Man Spiff writes:
5-7-08 Barrel Springs mi. 101
Haven't written for a few days, because man I've been tired! We reached the 100 mile mark and did 2 consecutive 25 mi days. Let me tell you how I felt today: like a lead puppet that had been thrown against a wall, stepped on, intoxicated and operated with rusty strings. Yup, I hurt! But now that I'm lying down under our tarp, in the wind, to the sound of incredibly small and loud frogs, I feel great. A few blisters, achy knees and feet, but we made it. Several times today I found myself in a laughing fit unable to walk because I was practically falling over...and you know what? My legs felt better. Laughing really does help out here.
So let me back track a minute: 2 days ago we were in Mt. Laguna waiting for the post office to open so we could pick up our package. A word of advice: The people at the store are very nice, but the P.O. is only open half days so I wouldn't send a package there if I'd known. We had a very short day of hiking that day and slept at a picnic area. Everyone we talked to the next day had experienced rain, even the ones camped at the same picnic area, but not us! Don't know if it was the tree above us, or our Seattle-ified perception of rain, but we slept out that night!
Yesterday, hiked 25+ miles from the picnic area to Scissors Crossing, a road intersection at the desert we hiked into last night. LONG day. Hot and steep hills, and long switchbacks. Hiked from 6am-8pm. A bunch of other folks welcomed us to camp, as it was dark. (It gets dark in just a few short minutes, at 8 pm every night.)
Today, another long day from 6am-7pm, but felt a little more manageable. Perhaps just getting used to it. In the middle of out hot day, came across a water cache that was full with water I relying upon, as I only wanted to carry 2 liters up the mountain on my sore knees. Sure am thankful for those Trail Angels who hike gallons + gallons of water up to the caches, or drop it off at the roads.
Apparently, we're known on the trail already. A couple introduced themselves to us when we arrived at Barrel Springs, saying they'd heard all about " you gals who can't be stopped once you get started." Hard to tell them that I don't like being called a gal or that people are probably just surprised we hike as far as some of the typical trail dudes. But we do start earlier than anyone else, it seems.
Speaking of which, here's a sample schedule of our day.
5:00 am-Wake up, or try to. We keep setting our watch alarms but can't hear them because they're lost somewhere in our sleeping bags. But we definitely wake up by 5:30 with the light.
5:30-6 am-Do many things at once: Pack up camp, tape blisters, brush teeth, eat a bar...
6 am-On the trail.
9 ish-Eat breakfast
1 ish-Eat lunch, hopefully at water
All day-Take breaks often to drink, eat, pee, tape feet, laugh at ourselves.
7 ish-Find camp, make food, try to write to you all.
8 or 9-Sleep!
Last night I think I saw a comet! And tonight, we're sleeping next to Brigit the horse, whose hooves we follow on the trail when she's ahead of us.
5-7-08 Barrel Springs mi. 101
Haven't written for a few days, because man I've been tired! We reached the 100 mile mark and did 2 consecutive 25 mi days. Let me tell you how I felt today: like a lead puppet that had been thrown against a wall, stepped on, intoxicated and operated with rusty strings. Yup, I hurt! But now that I'm lying down under our tarp, in the wind, to the sound of incredibly small and loud frogs, I feel great. A few blisters, achy knees and feet, but we made it. Several times today I found myself in a laughing fit unable to walk because I was practically falling over...and you know what? My legs felt better. Laughing really does help out here.
So let me back track a minute: 2 days ago we were in Mt. Laguna waiting for the post office to open so we could pick up our package. A word of advice: The people at the store are very nice, but the P.O. is only open half days so I wouldn't send a package there if I'd known. We had a very short day of hiking that day and slept at a picnic area. Everyone we talked to the next day had experienced rain, even the ones camped at the same picnic area, but not us! Don't know if it was the tree above us, or our Seattle-ified perception of rain, but we slept out that night!
Yesterday, hiked 25+ miles from the picnic area to Scissors Crossing, a road intersection at the desert we hiked into last night. LONG day. Hot and steep hills, and long switchbacks. Hiked from 6am-8pm. A bunch of other folks welcomed us to camp, as it was dark. (It gets dark in just a few short minutes, at 8 pm every night.)
Today, another long day from 6am-7pm, but felt a little more manageable. Perhaps just getting used to it. In the middle of out hot day, came across a water cache that was full with water I relying upon, as I only wanted to carry 2 liters up the mountain on my sore knees. Sure am thankful for those Trail Angels who hike gallons + gallons of water up to the caches, or drop it off at the roads.
Apparently, we're known on the trail already. A couple introduced themselves to us when we arrived at Barrel Springs, saying they'd heard all about " you gals who can't be stopped once you get started." Hard to tell them that I don't like being called a gal or that people are probably just surprised we hike as far as some of the typical trail dudes. But we do start earlier than anyone else, it seems.
Speaking of which, here's a sample schedule of our day.
5:00 am-Wake up, or try to. We keep setting our watch alarms but can't hear them because they're lost somewhere in our sleeping bags. But we definitely wake up by 5:30 with the light.
5:30-6 am-Do many things at once: Pack up camp, tape blisters, brush teeth, eat a bar...
6 am-On the trail.
9 ish-Eat breakfast
1 ish-Eat lunch, hopefully at water
All day-Take breaks often to drink, eat, pee, tape feet, laugh at ourselves.
7 ish-Find camp, make food, try to write to you all.
8 or 9-Sleep!
Last night I think I saw a comet! And tonight, we're sleeping next to Brigit the horse, whose hooves we follow on the trail when she's ahead of us.
Continuation of First Letter (Finally!)
[apologies to our little hikers and all their readers--we had a major computer crash, but here's the rest of their letter...]
May 4, 2008
Burnt Rancheria Campground
mi 42.3 8:47pm
Southern California, contrary to all guidebooks , weather reports, and old wives tales, is NOT warm.
Sye and I are huddled in our net tent with all our clothes and in our sleeping bags, and hats and gloves and sox and soxs on and it is WINDY and cold out there.
Today was another lazy day, because it was Sunday, and we went to church.
No, not really.
We're trying to pick up a resupply package in Mt. Laguna, which is 0.7mi away, and somehow we managed to time it so we'd arrive on a Sunday and the Post Office doesn't open 'till noon tomorrow.
So we're taking it slow tonight and tomorrow morning.
Today we met Darren, a bike messenger from San Fransisco, and Robin and her horse Bridget from Northern California, w all congregated at a "ford"--or rather a 12" wide ditch with running H20 in it. The water was exciting because it was the first in 12 mi or so.
I was thrilled to see a horse on the trail. We had seen Robin and Bridget at the Southern terminus in Campo, and had been following Bridget's tracks for the last 38 miles.
Robin had Bridget all loaded up with gear and was merrily following behind her steed, as she walked the trail in Keens with no backpack or water bottles or nothing.
It was when they stopped to drink that I was able to develop a special relationship with Bridget.
Bridget, after a little H20, and a little grazing did not want to cross that 12" stream. Robin was doing every thing in her power, clucking, tugging @ the lead rope, coming at the stream from different directions. But to no avail. What she needed was someone to "encourage" Bridget from behind, while she led her across. Enter ME. With a whip. I got to play the big bad boogie monster that's going to get you if you don't cross the stream.
I was thrilled. After 20 or 30 minutes Bridget finally gave up, and leaped across the creeklet. But only after I'd wholloped her rump a few times and chased her around the field more than a few times.
Aah, horses. They're so wonderful yet so stubborn.
Maybe I'll stick to Syes.
~Alex
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Things Alex really likes:
- the feeling when your nose is clogged, and then it clears
- hummingbirds
- A sign: unlawful to throw snowballs at vehicles or occupants
- cookies
__________
5/5
I know the physical hardship of this walk will come, but right now we're happily chugging along. I think the most distressing part was the border -- seeing the huge black metal wall, the metal plaques with anti-Mexican immigrant sentiments, and signs leading up(?) in spanish warning folks of the dangers of the element. as if they didn't already know the dangers ahead. talked to another hiker who met a couple sitting at the border with binoculars, ready to turn folks in. and later at night, he heard people passing his tent. expected hikers, but looked out and saw a group practically running, nothing on them, no water, booking it through the night. seems ironic that we have friends in seattle at an immigrant's rights rally, and here we are faced with a completely different sentiment.
~Sye
May 4, 2008
Burnt Rancheria Campground
mi 42.3 8:47pm
Southern California, contrary to all guidebooks , weather reports, and old wives tales, is NOT warm.
Sye and I are huddled in our net tent with all our clothes and in our sleeping bags, and hats and gloves and sox and soxs on and it is WINDY and cold out there.
Today was another lazy day, because it was Sunday, and we went to church.
No, not really.
We're trying to pick up a resupply package in Mt. Laguna, which is 0.7mi away, and somehow we managed to time it so we'd arrive on a Sunday and the Post Office doesn't open 'till noon tomorrow.
So we're taking it slow tonight and tomorrow morning.
Today we met Darren, a bike messenger from San Fransisco, and Robin and her horse Bridget from Northern California, w all congregated at a "ford"--or rather a 12" wide ditch with running H20 in it. The water was exciting because it was the first in 12 mi or so.
I was thrilled to see a horse on the trail. We had seen Robin and Bridget at the Southern terminus in Campo, and had been following Bridget's tracks for the last 38 miles.
Robin had Bridget all loaded up with gear and was merrily following behind her steed, as she walked the trail in Keens with no backpack or water bottles or nothing.
It was when they stopped to drink that I was able to develop a special relationship with Bridget.
Bridget, after a little H20, and a little grazing did not want to cross that 12" stream. Robin was doing every thing in her power, clucking, tugging @ the lead rope, coming at the stream from different directions. But to no avail. What she needed was someone to "encourage" Bridget from behind, while she led her across. Enter ME. With a whip. I got to play the big bad boogie monster that's going to get you if you don't cross the stream.
I was thrilled. After 20 or 30 minutes Bridget finally gave up, and leaped across the creeklet. But only after I'd wholloped her rump a few times and chased her around the field more than a few times.
Aah, horses. They're so wonderful yet so stubborn.
Maybe I'll stick to Syes.
~Alex
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Things Alex really likes:
- the feeling when your nose is clogged, and then it clears
- hummingbirds
- A sign: unlawful to throw snowballs at vehicles or occupants
- cookies
__________
5/5
I know the physical hardship of this walk will come, but right now we're happily chugging along. I think the most distressing part was the border -- seeing the huge black metal wall, the metal plaques with anti-Mexican immigrant sentiments, and signs leading up(?) in spanish warning folks of the dangers of the element. as if they didn't already know the dangers ahead. talked to another hiker who met a couple sitting at the border with binoculars, ready to turn folks in. and later at night, he heard people passing his tent. expected hikers, but looked out and saw a group practically running, nothing on them, no water, booking it through the night. seems ironic that we have friends in seattle at an immigrant's rights rally, and here we are faced with a completely different sentiment.
~Sye
Tuesday, May 20
Letters From the Trail
Alex Writes:
May 10, 2008
Somewhere after Lost Valley Spring
mi. 121.5 8:29 pm
I've been motherfuckin sick. And not just some sore throat cold business, I'm talking, fever, chills, NO energy, sleep-all-day sick. That's what I did all day yesterday. Sleep. But I seem to be over the worst of it. I woke up this morning @ 8 and was rarin' to go. We hiked out of Warner Springs at 10 am and covered approximately 13 miles. Not too bad.
There's a lot I haven't written about. Like the blooming cacti we've been seeing for the past 60 miles, bright pink, yellow and green. Or the amazing grasslands we wandered through right before Warner Springs. They made me want to gallop a horse endlessly across them. The ever present equine excrement along the trail made me smile in particular, because it seems likely that someone has done just that.
We also discovered that the furry red ants we've been seeing aren't actually ants. They're wasps, and apparently these wasps have one of the most painful venoms. Good thing we didn't feel the need to pet them.
At Barrel Springs, our camping spot the day before we got into Warner Springs, we met Karen and Tex. I like them alot. They were camping nearby and came over to introduce themselves, claiming they'd heard of us, that we were the ones with small packs and speedy legs. I don't know who they were talking to, because our packs seem sorta heavy, and our pace is not really fast.But anyhow, Tex is real into stars, he's got a telescope at home that he sets up every night, says Karen, and he's got a starchart he's packing and he wants to show me some constellations.
I'm also not talking alot about Warner Springs. Mostly because I spent most of our 48 hr stay there in a bed, sweating every ounce of water out of me while shivering uncontrollably. Not Fun. Glad I was in a bed. The hot spring pool was incredible, though and it was fun to use the internet. Folks were real nice. I'd never been in a resort before, and it was a bit extravagant? Crazy? I don't know what word to use. I'm going to sleep now. The Moon is waxing and looks real pretty.
Alex
May 11, 2008
Somewhere off of a dirt road
"Sandy Deep Road" says the data book.
Mile 142.7 8:32 pm
The last couple days have been HOT. I can't tell how hot because I don't have a thermometer but my internal organs say motherfuckinHot. So hot that my standard liter/5 miles was nowhere near enough, and I was really thirsty by the time we made it to the spring about 2:30 pm. We camped out there for a couple hours, talked with other hikers, made some food, I mended a shirt, and rehydrated. We did 20 miles today, and I'm tired. We'll hit Palms to Pines highway tomorrow , and the Paradise Cafe for some grub, and hopefully find out if the remaining 30 + miles to Idyllwild is closed because of a recent fire, or if they've opened it.
The backs of my hands are burnt and now their sense of temp. is messed up. They feel icy right now.
Alex
Transcriber's Note: There was a squished tick indicated at the bottom of the page.
May 10, 2008
Somewhere after Lost Valley Spring
mi. 121.5 8:29 pm
I've been motherfuckin sick. And not just some sore throat cold business, I'm talking, fever, chills, NO energy, sleep-all-day sick. That's what I did all day yesterday. Sleep. But I seem to be over the worst of it. I woke up this morning @ 8 and was rarin' to go. We hiked out of Warner Springs at 10 am and covered approximately 13 miles. Not too bad.
There's a lot I haven't written about. Like the blooming cacti we've been seeing for the past 60 miles, bright pink, yellow and green. Or the amazing grasslands we wandered through right before Warner Springs. They made me want to gallop a horse endlessly across them. The ever present equine excrement along the trail made me smile in particular, because it seems likely that someone has done just that.
We also discovered that the furry red ants we've been seeing aren't actually ants. They're wasps, and apparently these wasps have one of the most painful venoms. Good thing we didn't feel the need to pet them.
At Barrel Springs, our camping spot the day before we got into Warner Springs, we met Karen and Tex. I like them alot. They were camping nearby and came over to introduce themselves, claiming they'd heard of us, that we were the ones with small packs and speedy legs. I don't know who they were talking to, because our packs seem sorta heavy, and our pace is not really fast.But anyhow, Tex is real into stars, he's got a telescope at home that he sets up every night, says Karen, and he's got a starchart he's packing and he wants to show me some constellations.
I'm also not talking alot about Warner Springs. Mostly because I spent most of our 48 hr stay there in a bed, sweating every ounce of water out of me while shivering uncontrollably. Not Fun. Glad I was in a bed. The hot spring pool was incredible, though and it was fun to use the internet. Folks were real nice. I'd never been in a resort before, and it was a bit extravagant? Crazy? I don't know what word to use. I'm going to sleep now. The Moon is waxing and looks real pretty.
Alex
May 11, 2008
Somewhere off of a dirt road
"Sandy Deep Road" says the data book.
Mile 142.7 8:32 pm
The last couple days have been HOT. I can't tell how hot because I don't have a thermometer but my internal organs say motherfuckinHot. So hot that my standard liter/5 miles was nowhere near enough, and I was really thirsty by the time we made it to the spring about 2:30 pm. We camped out there for a couple hours, talked with other hikers, made some food, I mended a shirt, and rehydrated. We did 20 miles today, and I'm tired. We'll hit Palms to Pines highway tomorrow , and the Paradise Cafe for some grub, and hopefully find out if the remaining 30 + miles to Idyllwild is closed because of a recent fire, or if they've opened it.
The backs of my hands are burnt and now their sense of temp. is messed up. They feel icy right now.
Alex
Transcriber's Note: There was a squished tick indicated at the bottom of the page.
Monday, May 19
Sye and Alex in Big Bear, CA
Got a call from Alex today! They are in Big Bear, CA a place that apparently is not as intimidating as it sounds. They are doing well. Alex is over her strep-like symptoms, although Sye’s knee is protesting a bit.
Taking the trip through their stories, I am amazed by the vastness of the land outside of California’s cities. Here they are walking through whole mountain ranges: the Santa Rosas, San Jacintos, San Bernadinos…a lot of saints. Alex liked particularly a 30-mile stretch in the San Jacintos that was supposed to be closed due to a recent fire. They went anyway, walking one 10-mile stretch along a ridge top that must have felt like dancing along the sky.
When I get into the mountains, even for a day, everything seems profound yet giddy and wonderful. I can only imagine what being on the trail for three weeks is like. I could hear Alex’s deep satisfaction with it all. Already they have walked about 10% of the PCT.
Taking the trip through their stories, I am amazed by the vastness of the land outside of California’s cities. Here they are walking through whole mountain ranges: the Santa Rosas, San Jacintos, San Bernadinos…a lot of saints. Alex liked particularly a 30-mile stretch in the San Jacintos that was supposed to be closed due to a recent fire. They went anyway, walking one 10-mile stretch along a ridge top that must have felt like dancing along the sky.
When I get into the mountains, even for a day, everything seems profound yet giddy and wonderful. I can only imagine what being on the trail for three weeks is like. I could hear Alex’s deep satisfaction with it all. Already they have walked about 10% of the PCT.
Wednesday, May 14
Sye was dubbed "Spaceman Spiff" this morning. Check out his helmet and cape. If we get moving before 6 am we get to see the sunrise. And hike in the cool.
This water from Tule Spring was disgusting. Tasted like old moldy pipes. This is a pretty typical "spring" in the desert. We had to loose about 100 ft of eleveation and walk half a mile to get to this big cement tank of water. We ended up spending 3 hours here, waiting out the heat of the day, before hiking another 7 miles before camping.
San Jacinto Mountains at dawn. They're not the Cascades, but they're stunning.
idyllwild!
i love campsites in towns that have the $3 hiker biker sites. all the pct hikers have been hanging out in one of the sites, and it's been nice to compare info. there are at least three hiker boxes in town that alex and i raided for more supplies, although we seem to always have too much food. at least we can trade some of our food in for other more appetizing ones.
alex and i have had an adventurous past few days, hiking through some tough areas. we'll write more about it later. but let me just say that this stretch of the San Jacinto Mountain range is beautiful!!! reminds me of north cascades a bit, but real hot. and i we were hiking in maybe 60-100 mile/hour winds a few nights ago. a bit tricky on cliffs! don't worry though, we are being careful.
back up the trail, up devil's slide to the PCT, then up to San Jacinto peak, almost 11,000 feet!
alex and i have had an adventurous past few days, hiking through some tough areas. we'll write more about it later. but let me just say that this stretch of the San Jacinto Mountain range is beautiful!!! reminds me of north cascades a bit, but real hot. and i we were hiking in maybe 60-100 mile/hour winds a few nights ago. a bit tricky on cliffs! don't worry though, we are being careful.
back up the trail, up devil's slide to the PCT, then up to San Jacinto peak, almost 11,000 feet!
Tuesday, May 13
1st Letter From the Trail!
Yay! We have just been welcomed home from a 5 day camping trip by the most splendid little packet of trail letters! How lucky are we?! We love you two SO MUCH and can’t wait to swap desert stories!
Love, Car & Bridget
5/2/08 10pm Mexico Border to Hauser Creek ~16mi
1st night on the trail! We are camping 16 mi in from the border, in a little valley near a dry creek bed (as in, no water), waiting to hike up to the campground we stayed in last night until morning. long day in the sun, but not as hot as I expected, and the umbrella worked great! felt silly with a parasol and puffy light pink wind/sun protection pants, but we’re not out here to look stylish, are we? Alex is already asleep next to me, but she did say several times today how excited she was that we’re on the trail. Here we are! Critters make lots of noise in this dry brush, and I’m glad I’m not alone here. I think my favorite critters are the big black beetles. they’re awful cute crawling across the path. kind of turtle-like. Comic-book animated-like. extra-special shiny and perfect angles. They don't quite look real, just like ayla's stuffed animal face. Alex's favorites are hummingbirds, next to the orange sherbet flowers, next to a push-up lizard. they really do pushups, but not like we do. they push up instantaneously, sporadically, in jolty movements and apparently because we're in their territory. which we are.
5/3/08 Hauser Creek to Kettle Creek, ~12.5mi
Rattlesnake rattled loud before we passed, a big thick one. ground bee hive right on trail, but we didn't get stung. we're doing ok here in the desert, finding water, keeping covered, making shade with umbrellas. we're not to the mohave yet, though.
5/4/08 Kettle Creek to Burnt Rancheria Campground, ~14mi
A few easy days because we're waiting to get to laguna until the post office opens. this campground is nice--not open so no toilets, but who needs those really? Running water & benches that I stretched on, and fire rings. Cooked dinner over a nice fire in the windy pines. There are pines in s. cali, and cold winds! Desert-dwellers warned us of the cold…
Alex & I may not be completely food compatible. which is why we have 2 pots! Alex liked our goopy pasta & veggies last night, I liked our soupy beans & rice & veggies tonight (which al calls moth balls & beans, because it was from my mother’s ancient cache of hiking food, and one of the packages did show remnants of moths.)
~Sye
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 1, 2008
Lake Morena- we’re staying out of phone contact tonight. I’d meant to call a couple different folks. My mom, because even before we’ve stepped a foot onto the trail, we need something from our piles of stuff residing at her house. Specifically, we need the instructions for pitching our tent.
Somehow I managed to pitch the pages into a box of miscellaneous junk. I even looked at the pages and thought; “now I put up the tent that one time a month or two ago. I know exactly how to do it.” And then we pitched the tent tonight-Sye’s first time ever, and the night before we actually and irrevocably begin trekking to Canada, I remembered, oh, half a knot. Sye’s pissed at me. And we need those instructions.
Poor Sye. This is not the first he’s had to put up with consequences of my blaze attitude. Sometimes I think I really lucked out, having him as a hiking companion, and he got the short end of the stick. He is so meticulously organized- I don’t know if this planning process would have happened at all without him.
I, on the other hand, seem to think all will be well and things will go as planned, even if I do no planning. Most of the time my method doesn’t work. Like we don’t know how to pitch our tent.
I also meant to call Lucy. She left me a voice mail the other night in a panic. We haven’t been separated for more then a couple weeks for the last 5 years. That’s as long as we’ve known each other. And now we have no phone reception and I can’t let her know all is well, that we found cinnamon rolls the size of your head-a whole pile of them-sitting next to a bookshelf featuring the book “20 Minutes in Hell: What one man heard and felt in the place of Torment”. Or that we ate Mission burritos and hung at the Lex in San Francisco the other night, and then saw millions of Elephant Seals cuddling like yams on the beach.
But we’re out of cell phone range-another eventuality I didn’t really plan for our last night in “civilization”-and I’ve stood Lucy up. More bad planning on my part. And I don’t just sometimes think I lucked out to have Sye as a hiking companion-I always think that. I’m excited to start the trail with him tomorrow.
And I really wish I could hear Lucy’s voice.
May 3, 2008
Day 2 on the trail:
Lessons we learned today
Hiking early in the morning is invigorating.
Taking a 3hr break at Lk Morena @9am is not the best time for breaks, because
by the time you start hiking @12pm it is HOT.
Don’t listen to what any of the guide books say about H20. It is nowhere. Except
unexpectedly and unpredictably cached under trees or rocks.
Carry lots of H20 (5L) all the time. Unless you are Sye, in which case carry 20L
@ all times (seriously, he drinks as much H20 as a horse, and pees that much too).
Beetles are cool. But why are the big black ones black? In this HOT climate
where everything is sandy grey black seems distinctively disadvantageous.
Apparently, when I wear my button-up white shirt to protect me from becoming a
lobster, I look butch (I started wearing my hair in pigtails as soon as Sye told me this).
Sye looks like a space cadet all the time.
We like H20. Not just drinking H20. We like to be in it, near it, to sleep by it.
Kettle Crk is gurgling nearby as I write this. We were going to keep hiking for a couple more hours, but we came across this place and it’s the first real stream (not just a trickle of H20 ?curtained ?contained with algae) we’ve seen. And it has picturesque pools and waterfalls and it called to us and we’re camping here. And of course, we splashed around in it.
Doing 10 miles/day is supposed to feel like a lazy day. It doesn’t. I’m beat. Sye
might be beat, though he seems pretty chipper right now. We camped @ Hoaser Crk (no creek actually) last night, next to some poison oak, climbed 1000ft before 9am. We did another 6 from Lk Morena to our current camp by Kettle Crk. Ray Jardine says we should be averaging 18 mi per day. I say phooey.
My feet are sore and I like backpacking so far.
~Alex
[...there's a bit more of this letter soon to come, but it's late here on the islands and bedtime for now.....]
Love, Car & Bridget
5/2/08 10pm Mexico Border to Hauser Creek ~16mi
1st night on the trail! We are camping 16 mi in from the border, in a little valley near a dry creek bed (as in, no water), waiting to hike up to the campground we stayed in last night until morning. long day in the sun, but not as hot as I expected, and the umbrella worked great! felt silly with a parasol and puffy light pink wind/sun protection pants, but we’re not out here to look stylish, are we? Alex is already asleep next to me, but she did say several times today how excited she was that we’re on the trail. Here we are! Critters make lots of noise in this dry brush, and I’m glad I’m not alone here. I think my favorite critters are the big black beetles. they’re awful cute crawling across the path. kind of turtle-like. Comic-book animated-like. extra-special shiny and perfect angles. They don't quite look real, just like ayla's stuffed animal face. Alex's favorites are hummingbirds, next to the orange sherbet flowers, next to a push-up lizard. they really do pushups, but not like we do. they push up instantaneously, sporadically, in jolty movements and apparently because we're in their territory. which we are.
5/3/08 Hauser Creek to Kettle Creek, ~12.5mi
Rattlesnake rattled loud before we passed, a big thick one. ground bee hive right on trail, but we didn't get stung. we're doing ok here in the desert, finding water, keeping covered, making shade with umbrellas. we're not to the mohave yet, though.
5/4/08 Kettle Creek to Burnt Rancheria Campground, ~14mi
A few easy days because we're waiting to get to laguna until the post office opens. this campground is nice--not open so no toilets, but who needs those really? Running water & benches that I stretched on, and fire rings. Cooked dinner over a nice fire in the windy pines. There are pines in s. cali, and cold winds! Desert-dwellers warned us of the cold…
Alex & I may not be completely food compatible. which is why we have 2 pots! Alex liked our goopy pasta & veggies last night, I liked our soupy beans & rice & veggies tonight (which al calls moth balls & beans, because it was from my mother’s ancient cache of hiking food, and one of the packages did show remnants of moths.)
~Sye
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 1, 2008
Lake Morena- we’re staying out of phone contact tonight. I’d meant to call a couple different folks. My mom, because even before we’ve stepped a foot onto the trail, we need something from our piles of stuff residing at her house. Specifically, we need the instructions for pitching our tent.
Somehow I managed to pitch the pages into a box of miscellaneous junk. I even looked at the pages and thought; “now I put up the tent that one time a month or two ago. I know exactly how to do it.” And then we pitched the tent tonight-Sye’s first time ever, and the night before we actually and irrevocably begin trekking to Canada, I remembered, oh, half a knot. Sye’s pissed at me. And we need those instructions.
Poor Sye. This is not the first he’s had to put up with consequences of my blaze attitude. Sometimes I think I really lucked out, having him as a hiking companion, and he got the short end of the stick. He is so meticulously organized- I don’t know if this planning process would have happened at all without him.
I, on the other hand, seem to think all will be well and things will go as planned, even if I do no planning. Most of the time my method doesn’t work. Like we don’t know how to pitch our tent.
I also meant to call Lucy. She left me a voice mail the other night in a panic. We haven’t been separated for more then a couple weeks for the last 5 years. That’s as long as we’ve known each other. And now we have no phone reception and I can’t let her know all is well, that we found cinnamon rolls the size of your head-a whole pile of them-sitting next to a bookshelf featuring the book “20 Minutes in Hell: What one man heard and felt in the place of Torment”. Or that we ate Mission burritos and hung at the Lex in San Francisco the other night, and then saw millions of Elephant Seals cuddling like yams on the beach.
But we’re out of cell phone range-another eventuality I didn’t really plan for our last night in “civilization”-and I’ve stood Lucy up. More bad planning on my part. And I don’t just sometimes think I lucked out to have Sye as a hiking companion-I always think that. I’m excited to start the trail with him tomorrow.
And I really wish I could hear Lucy’s voice.
May 3, 2008
Day 2 on the trail:
Lessons we learned today
Hiking early in the morning is invigorating.
Taking a 3hr break at Lk Morena @9am is not the best time for breaks, because
by the time you start hiking @12pm it is HOT.
Don’t listen to what any of the guide books say about H20. It is nowhere. Except
unexpectedly and unpredictably cached under trees or rocks.
Carry lots of H20 (5L) all the time. Unless you are Sye, in which case carry 20L
@ all times (seriously, he drinks as much H20 as a horse, and pees that much too).
Beetles are cool. But why are the big black ones black? In this HOT climate
where everything is sandy grey black seems distinctively disadvantageous.
Apparently, when I wear my button-up white shirt to protect me from becoming a
lobster, I look butch (I started wearing my hair in pigtails as soon as Sye told me this).
Sye looks like a space cadet all the time.
We like H20. Not just drinking H20. We like to be in it, near it, to sleep by it.
Kettle Crk is gurgling nearby as I write this. We were going to keep hiking for a couple more hours, but we came across this place and it’s the first real stream (not just a trickle of H20 ?curtained ?contained with algae) we’ve seen. And it has picturesque pools and waterfalls and it called to us and we’re camping here. And of course, we splashed around in it.
Doing 10 miles/day is supposed to feel like a lazy day. It doesn’t. I’m beat. Sye
might be beat, though he seems pretty chipper right now. We camped @ Hoaser Crk (no creek actually) last night, next to some poison oak, climbed 1000ft before 9am. We did another 6 from Lk Morena to our current camp by Kettle Crk. Ray Jardine says we should be averaging 18 mi per day. I say phooey.
My feet are sore and I like backpacking so far.
~Alex
[...there's a bit more of this letter soon to come, but it's late here on the islands and bedtime for now.....]
Friday, May 9
Warner Springs
We've been staying here at warner springs for a night, which is really a full-fledged resort. Luckily, they have a hiker rate and we packed 5 people into one room. The last few days have been real long: long stretches with little water, hot sun, lack of appetite from the heat, and sore joints and blistered feet. But we are here voluntarily! And we have a chance to rest here today and have been helped by so many trail angels who have dropped water off at different points. Our shoes are already feeling too small, so at the next town we'll have some sent our buy new ones. And last night and today, Alex hasn't been feeling well so we're trying to make a plan to rest up, maybe stay at a campground nearby, and stay hydrated and get more rest off our legs! But all in all, hiking is going well, and i'm really enjoying desert hiking even when you do have to plan for your next not-quite-certain water source. and although we are behind the big pack of thru-hikers that started all together at the kick-off (i'm glad we're not in that pack!), we've seemed to form our own little pack with a small crew of folks. Funny how you feel like you know people real well after only a few days.
Sent out our first package of writing from the trail, so that should come up on the blog in a bit. been slacking a little on our daily writing, but we'll try to keep it coming. thanks to all you folks looking out for our gear and food needs!!
love sye
Sent out our first package of writing from the trail, so that should come up on the blog in a bit. been slacking a little on our daily writing, but we'll try to keep it coming. thanks to all you folks looking out for our gear and food needs!!
love sye
Sye & Alex in Warner Springs May 8
Sye and Alex reached Warner Springs May 8, a full 2 days ahead of their original schedule!
- Judy & Charles. In an e-mail to us, Sye wrote:
"i'm in warner springs, got in this morning after 2 25 mile days! feet are sore...
i'll try to post on the blog with more of an update. but all is well. we're at a hot spring resort after all! 5 of us crammed in a room, but pools and hot springs and internet and showers at our fingertips! love you all"
- Judy & Charles. In an e-mail to us, Sye wrote:
"i'm in warner springs, got in this morning after 2 25 mile days! feet are sore...
i'll try to post on the blog with more of an update. but all is well. we're at a hot spring resort after all! 5 of us crammed in a room, but pools and hot springs and internet and showers at our fingertips! love you all"
Saturday, May 3
Starting on the trail!
Shoe, Alex and Sye's friend and wonderful chauffeur, called 5/2/08 to say that Alex and Sye had reached Campo, CA and were hiking the PCT. Congratulations to Alex and Sye on an auspicious start - embarking on your planned leave date - and thank you to Shoe for the safe and timely transport!
Today Sye called from a campground pay phone to ask that packages not be sent to either destination called "Kennedy meadows" until they are sure of the proper address. They hiked 16 miles yesterday, feel good, have had a real shower and are taking breaks during the middle of the day to avoid the heat. Fortunately, the heat wave that struck the San Diego area last week has abated somewhat, so all is well.
Today Sye called from a campground pay phone to ask that packages not be sent to either destination called "Kennedy meadows" until they are sure of the proper address. They hiked 16 miles yesterday, feel good, have had a real shower and are taking breaks during the middle of the day to avoid the heat. Fortunately, the heat wave that struck the San Diego area last week has abated somewhat, so all is well.
Thursday, May 1
Alex and Sye visit Watsonville, CA (posted by Sye's brother)
I had the very distinct pleasure of spending a much-too-brief 90 minutes with Alex, Sye, and Shoe yesterday as they drove down the central California coast in the Purple Camaro. What a perfect car to start out such an amazing adventure. They had enjoyed a late breakfast in San Francisco, so we went for only a small bite of lunch. Our plan was to get some tacos at a taco stand and then get some Miso soup for Sye, who was feeling a bit under the weather as all three were recovering from colds obtained in the big city. With tacos and horchata in our bellies, we drove the 3 blocks to the Japanese restaurant, only to find they had closed 1/2 hour earlier. No (miso) soup for you!!!
This photo looks like it should be an album cover
This photo looks like it should be an album cover for a mid-90's alternative band
Saying goodbye to Sye, I felt like what I can only imagine a loving parent feels when sending their child off to college--they can't bear to let them go, but know they must to let the wonderful adventure begin.
Loving goodbye or product placement ad??
Good luck Sye and Alex--I can't wait to see you in 10 weeks in Soda Springs or Sierra City!!!
This post was sponsored by FOX Racing Shox.
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