The Desert Trial Run (266.1 mi, -48.9)

Tracker Photos

I did a podcast! Before I left, actually, but it's live now. Go listen to me chat with my aunt and cousin on http://sylvaniagals.podbean.com/.  Some things I said there about the PCT were inaccurate, most notably: Bear spray is not allowed in Yosemite. So I'll just be making noise with trekking poles.

Pro tip: I haven't enabled email subscriptions to this blog, and can't from mobile, AFAICT. But you can add yourself to the Google Photos album above to get notified when I add a bunch more photos. Which I always do right after adding a blog post.

The rest was appreciated, though I kinda used it to go hiking instead. My first day out of Idyllwild was only 8 trail miles, but it was closer to a 16 mile day, as I climbed the side trail from Idyllwild to get back to trail, and round tripped the summit to San Jacinto, which was well worth the extra miles. It was a 5000 foot day of climbing again.

At least the next day was downhill. Way downhill. A 20 mile water carry while descending from 8900 feet to 1700 feet downhill. If we count from the summit of San Jacinto to the low point of the day, it was from 10834 feet to 1191 feet in about 28 hours. Not that anyone was keeping track too carefully.

And that put me firmly out of "mountains that are dry" and into "actually the desert". I was in the low-lying area around I-10 between LA and Palm Springs. More specifically, between Cabazon and Whitewater. One of the nights I actually camped under I-10 with a big group: Peter and Mike (who I just met that night), then a bunch of people who have been hiking about my speed for a while: Baloo (formerly Joe), Sunshine, Rudolf, Lieutenant Dan, Cowbell, Tidbits. Baloo's older brother stopped by with pizza and beer, and we really made a hobo night out of it. (There were some jokes passed around about hopping on one of the passing freight trains and really becoming a hobo instead of a thru-hiker. It's a blurry line.)

The desert was hot and dry. Water carries have been above 15 miles except for a 12 mile section where the trail followed a small creek uphill. It has definitely required some aggressive siestas (including a 1:30 to 4:30 siesta that included a 90 minute nap).

In Idyllwild I bought a used Gossamer Gear umbrella off of another thru-hiker who wasn't using it (thanks Papa!), and that may be the only reason I'm still alive today. Or at least, the only reason I haven't gone fully nocturnal. There are plenty of pictures of me with the sunbrella attached to my pack, and it's a pretty solid fixture from 10 am until I end the siesta.

It turns out that the sun is pretty hot in the desert.

Huh, I haven't really talked gear much yet. If you're interested, check out my out-of-date https://lighterpack.com/r/cfn34d. It's mostly accurate still. I think the only changes are me trading the poncho for an umbrella, losing the Swiss Army knife, and buying nail clippers to replace them. And making the long-sleeved hiking shirt my base layer, and sending the short-sleeved base layer home. (Well, I'm gonna send it home tomorrow morning. I'm wearing it now to eat dinner in town.)

After my 40 miles or so of low-lying desert training, I ascended back up into the mountains, where the sun is hot but the air is cool. I've been in pine forests the past few days, which makes the views less consistent, but it feels like home to be back in a forest again. Even if it is a sparse and dry forest.

Next the trail goes west for the next 200 miles. This is bad, because summer will catch me while I'm not moving north. I expect the hottest part of trail to be between miles 500 and 700. Wish me luck!

I'm in Big Bear Lake now after an easy 10 miles (hiked from 7:45 to 11 this morning). Tomorrow morning I get to see what surprises I have in the mail, and then get back on trail for a full day. I don't have my next resupply option yet, because my next stop is a weekend in LA with Chris, and it may get a little weird with trail closures just after that.

Happy Meal

Schedule-Enforced and Needed Rest (179.4 mi, -9.6)

But actually 30.6 miles behind schedule, because I'm taking a zero in Idyllwild.

Trail angels are awesome. Shout out to the group of day hikers who drove me to the post office in Warner Springs (and commented on my previous post!), Grumpy for the ride to Paradise Valley Cafe, and Devona and Bill for last night's rest.

Tracker: https://maps.findmespot.com/s/50QM#history/assets

Photos: https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOMRl_ptZVdBu5cBVIFAmePKoLLZqUHBu0ygnDbYPqBekrkCZ4uSw4G60hU23xq9g?pli=1&key=WVhtdG1LLWhGTGhqYzlvN2ZPMC1DSGV6dTBOcWZR

I'm in town for another rest day today, but it's encouraging that all of my pain and soreness is in my muscles and not my joints now. Mostly quads and shoulders, though my calves aren't having a great time either. The right knee still isn't 100%, but it's worlds better than it was last post.

My pace the past couple of days has been... unwise. Leaving Warner Springs from my zero, I climbed 18 miles by 1:30 pm to take a long lunch at Mike's Place, an (in)famous place to stop and rest. My quads have more or less been hurting since, which hasn't made the past two days any easier.

Getting a burger and taking a siesta at Paradise Valley Cafe on Monday was wonderful. There was a big group that decided to hitch into Idyllwild from there, but me, Lieutenant Dan, Rudolf, and Rambo decided to go the more traditional route, which is a steep 2.5 mile side trail from mile 179.4 at Saddle Junction. So we've been hiking together since. Though we split from Rambo Tuesday afternoon, and he'll be descending into Idyllwild Wednesday morning instead of last night.

I got named on Monday night. "Happy Meal", since I mentioned it in response to Rambo saying "I'm loving it", about the trail. Rudolf thought it fit well, since I've been staying optimistic, am often talking about my next town meal, and drop little bits of wisdom from my AT thru as if they're the toy that comes with the meal.

Rambo's decision was the right one. Doing a 21 mile day over the San Jacinto ridge (which we haven't summited yet, that's for tomorrow) was extremely hard. It was about 5000 feet of climbing across those miles, including the one side trail for water. Only a mile or so was White Mountains steep, but the long climb is hard even when it's not steep.

And then there was the rock slide. It was navigable with care and without packs, but getting packs across was a bit of a challenge. Having a group helped. Lieutenant Dan went over first, then we passed packs, losing one of Rudolf's water bottles with attached Sawyer filter in the process. After everyone got across, I hung back another 10 minutes to help Rambo's pack across, then he hung out a bit longer, as there were some other solo hikers coming up trail.

By this point it was getting late in the afternoon. I pressed on, getting to the bottom of the side trail "into" Idyllwild right at dark, 8:00 pm on the dot. But, uh, the trail dropped me off at Humber Park Trailhead, and not near anything in Idyllwild. And with no service. In the dark.

So, 3ish road miles from downtown, I put on my headlamp and started walking. Along the way I passed some people hanging out on their balcony. "Any chance I could get a ride to downtown Idyllwild? I'm going thru on the PCT." "Sorry man, we've both been drinking. Good luck on your trek." "These feet have managed 20-odd miles today, they can take a few more."

Then I saw someone pull into a house, and started the same conversation, with less enthusiasm. "Hello, could you give me a ride to downtown Idyllwild?" "No, sorry ... Wait, are you a thru-hiker?" "Yeah, I am." "Y'know what, I can give you a ride."

Then I talked with Devona on the way in. She and her husband Bill have been married over 25 years, and they used to do a bunch of weekend-to-2-week long backpacking trips. In downtown Idyllwild, places were already closed, so Devona, angel that she is, offered me her spare bedroom.

I was naturally a little floored by both the generosity and the trust, but, running low on options, I accepted the offer. I got dinner, a shower, laundry, and a place to stay. Along with the opportunity to hang out overnight with Devona and Bill, who were happy to talk about the multitude of trails nearby. Bill in particular knew much more about my PCT hike than I did. I got dropped off in Idyllwild this morning by Bill. He almost forgot and drove off with my pack in the trunk, but I figure a 100 meter sprint to catch a truck is probably good cross training on my off day.

So that brings us to the reason for the title. I'm pretty beat, so I'm definitely not making Big Bear Lake by 5/29. Then the 30th is a Sunday, and the 31st is Memorial Day. So the earliest I can pick up my packages is the morning of 6/1. Which gives me plenty of time to relax. I'm thinking a full day off here, a half day getting back on trail, 3 days at normal pace, then a half day on Memorial Day getting into town. (I'm hoping I can find a room the night of Memorial Day, as the holiday weekend will be over at that point.)

This means I'm going to end up very far behind pace rather quickly here, especially considering that I'm planning to spend a bit of time with Chris in LA when I get there next weekend. I definitely started the PCT knowing that I may not finish it this year due to scheduling constraints. I expect to speed up as my body continues to get stronger, but it's definitely disheartening to see the numbers slip for now. When I first made my schedule I knew that I'd be within a week or so of pace, but seeing the miles gradually fall off is different from knowing that it might happen.

Enjoying Idyllwild,

Happy Meal

Birthday Zero (110 mi, +5)

But actually 16 miles behind pace, since I'm not hiking any miles today.

My tracker now has real progress! https://maps.findmespot.com/s/50QM#history/assets

And more photos now that I'm in town: https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOMRl_ptZVdBu5cBVIFAmePKoLLZqUHBu0ygnDbYPqBekrkCZ4uSw4G60hU23xq9g?pli=1&key=WVhtdG1LLWhGTGhqYzlvN2ZPMC1DSGV6dTBOcWZR

It's been a relatively easy couple of days, but my body is definitely falling apart a bit. You can train for an 9 hour day of hiking, but it's hard to train for 5 9 hour hiking days in a row and keep a day job. So, a day off. In approximate order of decreasing severity, my left ankle, right knee, chafing, left knee, right hip need to heal up today. None of them are severe enough to really slow me down yet, but I'd rather them feel normal, too. (Okay, the right knee did require slowing down on some of the steeper downhills yesterday.) I'm also hoping to stretch out some tight muscles, which includes, well, all of the lower body ones.

I met up with a big group of hikers yesterday. Let's see if I can name them all: Sunshine (and her boyfriend Noah here for the weekend), Rudolf, Joe, Rambo, Papa, Peach, Skyler, Cowbell, Tidbits. They all night-hiked on 5/20, and I leapfrogged them a couple of times before I made camp and they went another 5 miles. I caught up to them over the course of 5/21. They don't hike together, so I caught some of them while moving, and others I didn't see till we stopped for the day. Then last night we all cooked and ate together.

And Rudolf's uncle is delivering In-N-Out at noon, so that's gonna be great. I need to figure out what else to do in the thriving metropolis of Warner Springs, where the one restaurant is still closed due to COVID. The gas station and post office are open, though, so I got some snacks and ice cream.

My next PO check-in will be in Big Bear Lake, at mile 266. I should get there between 5/29 and 5/31.

Hold for PCT Hiker ETA 5/30

Matt Wismer

General Delivery

Big Bear Lake, CA 92315

In case you need the address of the post office itself, it's 472 Pine Knot Ave, Big Bear Lake.

Missing an important check-in (42.5, +0.5)

My Spot now has a night and a morning's worth of data, but I forgot to do a check-in at the Southern Terminus. Idiot. Here's photo evidence I was there.

The first day was a 20 mile water carry. Heavy. The second day had 19.5 miles before 4 pm, because Post Office hours.

As I hike in the sun, various small lizards and snakes scatter before me as I go. Except the rattlesnake. He just rattled, and I backed up until he was done sunning himself.

I'm planning to not really hike much between noon and 4 pm if I can avoid it, so expect to see early starts and late finishes most days. The sun is a deadly laser, and I intend to avoid it.

I took a bunch of photos near the start, because everything down here looks cool when you have fresh eyes. Here's the album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/jucko3ePtA5dmBVc9

I need to go find a campsite for the night. More to come later.

Matt

The Next One Will Have Pictures (+0 mi)

It's been a long three months since my last post, but I'm finally less than two weeks out from starting my PCT thru-hike! Some minor changes: My trip is now planned to be from May 17th until September 20th, which puts me at an average of 21 miles a day.

Tracker

My Spot tracker is live! Currently you can only see the half-Pemi loop I did last year with my little brother Robbie, as well as some tests from near my apartment. Soon you'll be able to track my movement along the PCT. https://maps.findmespot.com/s/50QM

Meetup

If you want to meet up, here's how to figure out when I'll be where. I intend to visit major cities along the trail when possible.

Pick a location, and find which mile marker of the PCT I'll be near with this map. (Click on the gear icon and select "Location Type -> Waypoint". Zoom in until there's a waypoint close to where you want.) Divide the mile marker by 21 miles, and add that number of days to May 16th to have a good guess as to when I'll arrive. Some examples:

5/17 - 21 miles - First night out after the southern terminus
6/1 - 337 miles - Crossing I-15 north of LA
6/30 - 944 miles - Tuolumne Meadows Campground on Hwy 120
7/27 - 1507 miles - Crossing I-5 near Dunsmuir
8/27 - 2160 miles - The Bridge of the Gods on I-84 outside of Portland
9/20 - 2653 miles - Canadian Border

I do not intend to follow this schedule exactly, but I should be within a week of it. I won't be able to commit to exact dates now, but I can follow a rigid schedule for about 2 weeks at a time.

Care Packages

I like getting mail, especially when I get to pick it up from a post office in the middle of nowhere. I especially like getting baked goods and letters in the mail. Everything you send will be consumed and disposed of pretty much immediately. (Including letters, but I will make sure to take good photos to preserve them digitally.)

I will update this blog with locations where I intend to be in the next couple of weeks. Let's try an example. On May 18th, I'm going to do a resupply in Mount Laguna. (Might as well carry less food when I'm gonna pass a town.) If you wanted to send something to me, you would address it:

Hold for PCT Hiker Matt Wismer ETA 5/18
General Delivery
Mount Laguna, CA 91948

That would let me pick it up at Mount Laguna's post office with my ID. But don't actually send anything there. The second day of my trip is a ridiculous time to get a care package. (General Delivery is a really neat USPS feature.)

Future Posts

As the title promises, the next post will have pictures of my hike. I'll keep this blog updated at least every few weeks while I'm hiking. You'll get a lot of photos, some stories about the trail and people I meet on it, and some fantasy book reviews. On the AT I read through the Wheel of Time. On the PCT I'm going for Malazan Book of the Fallen.