Day 9-10: today was my first official 0 day. I knew the trail fam would be coming in the afternoon so I worked my away around town to find us the best/ cheapest place to stay. I ended up getting us a really sick cabin. I literally did nothing while waiting for them. Just hung out at the coffee shop with Niko and Young Bacon icing my leg off and on. Once the crew came we all got cozy in the cabin. While waiting for my clothes to clean I just hung out and went around town in a towel like it was totally normal. We all went to $1.25 tacos at a near by place, after I took us the wrong way for a bit….they were literally the best vegetarian tacos I’ve ever eaten. Loaded with potAtoes and peppers. The next day we woke up and had a big fam bfast. Spinach and cheese omelette and pancakes 🤤🤤. I am falling more and more in ❤️ with these people every day. One of the group members ate a lot of edibles…and we all cracked up the whole time because he got too stressed out watching the movie Twister and asked if we would change it. I don’t remember much else from these days besides resupplying, eating tons of snacks, and relaxing. But I guess that’s just what I did.

Day 8: I had 15 miles to walk to get to Paradise Valley Cafe. A place rumored to have the best burgers on the trail….which I didn’t really care since I don’t eat meat. But I knew they’d have other delicious food. My leg was killing me. Walking normal was not possible, my gait was all funky. Every step was a limp and anything neutral or even remotely downhill was taking my soul. In the morning I came across a cache, where there was actually a trail register. A trail register is basically a log book. Write your name, date, and anything you want. It’s a great way to see who is in front of you and by how far. While there Megan came up, I didn’t stay long before setting back off. While on the way I ran into the Australians who told me I had to go down to the Trail Magic below, called Walden. Hating life I went down and found candy and soda, I wanted neither. But the best was there was a little book shelf with books and you could take one! It made me so happy. I saw Megan again there and she soon passed me after. I hobbled along…and along..and along. Longest 15 miles ever!! Finally I see the road and when I get there Meg and I start walking to PVV. Another long walk that was actually only like .5 miles. But I needed to sit. I have never been in so much pain. Finally we arrive, breakfast had just ended and lunch was about to be served. As we sat and waited more hikers came, Moritz, Lake, Niko, Simba, Etc. I chose to order probably the best salad I’ve ever eaten. Everyone around me was eating burgers, fries, and milkshakes. My hiker hunger had yet to hit me I guess. I was stressed all through lunch trying to figure out what to do with my leg. Idyllwild is about 15 miles away, not even all on the PCT. A fire closure had caused alternate routes to be taken and part was a big downhill. Slightly depressed I chose to skip the section and hitch to town with Scotty and Lake. Lake and I went to the campground. Showered and cleaned we walked to the movies to see the new Fast and Furious which was just as good/awful as all the others. Then we went to sleep in our homes, our tents ❤️

Day 7: woke up at our campsite and headed out for the day. Planned to hike and try to get lunch at the trail angel Mikes Place. Apparently, there were rumors of wood fired pizza ❤️❤️. I walked a bit of the morning with Moritz, on the trail we picked up a hat we found and carried it with the plan to ask anyone we passed if it was theirs. Not too much later we cross a creek and Ben was there. We just kept walking after saying hi. It was a short while after when we realized it was Bens hat. But we were too far ahead at this point to just turn around, and found out he back tracked to find his hat. We felt horrible! (After chatting with Ben awhile after this he had back tracked multiple miles and ended up buying a new hat). Later as I’m walking alone I get passed by Nick and Prince, they were literally like running. But walking and talking. I did not understand how they could move so quickly. At this point I was struggling. Every step hurt. I had to stop numerous times to try and stretch and take breaks for my shin. Getting closer to Mikes I run into Prince who is sitting in the shade on a rock. He apparently ran out of water. So I shared some then we headed to Mikes where no pizza was found. It’s a grungy place…but one good thing came from Mikes. My trail name EXPRESS❤️❤️, thanks to Z, Moritz, and Lake!! We decided to leave the possible meth lab property and hiked 10 more grueling miles uphill to our campsite near a stream. I was beat and the only thing that got me there was my friends. My trail fam was officially developing.

Day 6: I am going to back track to yesterday again because I forgot to mention some important things! At a water source, basically a trough of cold water and luckily lots of shade, I hung out for a couple hours to eat and cool down. While there I met some really awesome cool people, Scotty, I saw Moritz again, and Lake was also there. What stood out about this break was that Lake and I had a competition. Neither of us had poop shovels but someone had left theirs. So we decided to see which would dig a cat hole faster? The shovel or a rock. Step 1: find a rock, which he did in 2 seconds. Step 2: 3,2,1 go…..the rock was fated for sure. Good thing I didn’t bring one….what a waste of weight haha. Ok back to day 6. Woke up among many other hikers camped out on the lawn of the community center. I didn’t sleep great because it was so noisy with people being up all night. After sitting for a bit I ran into Moritz, Megan, Prince, Zephyr, and Calvin. We waited literally over an hour for our breakfast, but the waitress offered free beers as an apology so that was cool. Then we headed back to the community center for people to resupply and get their boxes. I cannot forget that Calvin had birthday cake Oreos! They were seriously heaven in my mouth. It was like funfetti cake! As a large group we decided to head out and just hike 3 miles to the creek past Warner Springs to get away from the madness. On the way we took a wrong turn, but it showed us a beautiful independent coyote in the middle of a field. If I remember right it was me, Megan, Moritz, Zephyr, Young Bacon, Niko, and Hummingbird. Hummingbird is this hysterically awesome girl who packed so much food. She “cooked” a mix for dinner but didn’t add enough water. It was so funny to watch her hate every bite or dry potatoes. But she wasn’t wanting to add more water because it’d increase the volume of the food! We hung at the creek for a bit soaking our feet, and me my shin which was killing me, in the cold water and chatting about life before heading back up to the campground and making a fire. I was already falling in love with the people I was meeting.

Day 5: started the day in kind of a shitty mood. Sometimes you don’t know or understand why, but I just was. Until I came across the most beautiful meadows, there was tons of greenery, trees, and flowing water! Today was the day my shin splints started to flare up. My left foot was in a lot of pain and swollen. But me being me I just kept going. I wanted to make it to Warner Springs so hiked 22 miles to get there. On the way I passed the 100 mile marker!!! I was stoked, I had never walked that many miles before. As I continued walking I knew there was another marker to look for. The popular Eagle Rock. It was really awesome! As soon as I got to WS there was a big circle of people. They asked if I was hiker trash and invited me over. It was 4/20 so they were having a ceremony, and all dressed in weird clothes. One guy was even in a suit. Apparently the community center had loaner clothes so everyone got to dress funny. I stayed just a couple minutes and couldn’t remember everyone’s name except Niko and Young Bacon because we became friends. At WS I enjoyed my first shower and laundry. Both done by buckets of water! But it was heavenly and so simple. I liked it. I headed to dinner with a man named Tom. He is 57, former military man, and has 3 kids. It was really cool to talk and hear why he was doing this. I still wonder what happened to him? That’s just a part of the trail. You never know when it will be the last time you see someone.

Day 4. My first official town on the trail, Julian! Alan and I hiked 6 miles to the road. It’s funny through the entire trail everyone says how easy it is to get a hitch if you’re a girl…..but I struggled numerous times. After standing out for a bit an older man who was hiking came and stood with us. As a Sheriff approaches he sticks his thumb out, and the rest of us were like NO it’s illegal. Then the Sheriff pulls over and bam offers us a ride to the town. It was the safest first hitch I could have ever imagined. Right when we got to town I went right to Mom’s Pies. They offer PCT hikers free pie, ice cream, and coffee. Freaking heaven! It was seriously the best apple pie I’ve ever eaten. While at the shop numerous other hikers came in. A couple of them were named Megan, from Bend and Moritz from Switzerland. These 2 ended up becoming my trail family! After Mom’s I headed to Carmen’s Place and got my first real dose of trail magic. She is a radical sweet woman who opens her restaurant for us hikers to hang in. I went in and was offered the most massive breakfast burrito! And a big hug! While there I met more hikers, the main one I remember in Bryden, who later became Simba. He too became a stand out person in my journey! After leaving for a bit I returned to Carmen’s and guess who was there?? Zephyr! I was so stoked to see him! I pretty much hung out in Julian a majority of the day before heading back out with Alan. In the heat of the afternoon we took off up onto a hot and heavily sun exposed ridge. I meant for today to be a near-0 but ended up doing 16 miles. I lost Alan along the hike and met Lake, from Israel. Super cool guy, who again I stayed in contact with throughout The hike. He ended up scooting on as well, being a fast hiker and I hiked alone to a campsite by myself. A nice place sitting between the hills. It was peaceful and perfect.

Day 3: I had a beautiful start to the morning, looking at the mountains for sunrise and during breakfast. I spent a majority of the day hiking solo, and I really liked it. It amazes me how much greenery there is in the desert. Yellow flowers and beautiful cacti with pink/ purple flowers peaking out. During an uphill I started hiking with my new friend Alan. He had previously hiked the AT and was crazy fast. We got along by learning we each love watching basketball, and he’s a Cavaliers fan 😡 so we talked a lot of crap to each other. He even wrote Lebron 2017 MVP in the dirt with his trekking pole. 😂. We decided to hike to mile 70, leaving just 7 miles the next day to my first town. The camp site was super rad. We were at the near top of a peak and the view was just wow 😍😍. And we met Calvin!!! Calvin is from Vancouver and a photographer, I think he was carrying like 10lbs of camera gear in his bag. He and Alan both ended up being good friends by the end of the trip. I’m so blessed to have built these random crazy beautiful bonds with people. And we ran into another rattlesnake, I am over it. 3 rattlesnakes in 2 days……uggghhhhhhh.

Day 2. It started with a hot cut of @foursigmatic mushroom coffee along with some coconut oil and ghee, and some instant oats….which if I can remember right this may have been one of the only mornings I ate it, so gross. Took off hiking with Zephyr for the day. We talked about his major, chemical engineering, and work. Rock climbing, music, etc just chatting. He is crazy fast uphill and so I lost him for a bit, but later caught back up and we ate lunch with a group of about 5 people near water and some of the only shade around. Today’s goal was to make it 21.5 miles to Mt. Laguna. I really didn’t want to go there, day 2 of the trail and both nights in just normal campgrounds?…. I wasn’t into it. So when we arrived at Mt. Laguna, since the store was closed, I got Zephyr to go another 4 miles with me to a campsite on the mountain. I took off ahead and once I got to the campsite it was the craziest wind I could have ever imagined! I stood there for a bit, then went to out my tent up but everything was just flying around. I knew if I stayed I wouldn’t have slept, after waiting a little longer and no sign of Zephyr I literally took off running down hill for another 1.5 miles or so….I did a 26.5 mile day on Day 2!! So crazy. My journal is quite funny, in it I say how I feel like such an asshole for bailing down the mountain. I was worried and nervous. I lost my friend and I’m now camping alone. I did end up in one of the most amazing campsites. I just nuzzled next to a tree and looked out into the desert watching the sunset as I cooked my dinner.

Day 1 of my Pacific Crest Trail journey. I decided I want to relive the trail, and so each day I’m going to post a photo along with a summary of my journal entry from that day. 155 day long journey that all started April 16 in Campo, CA. My good friend Sarah, was kind enough to drive me to the trailhead, and walk the first mile with me!! Although it was only for a brief time I was so happy she was there, I wasn’t too sure why I was doing what I was so having a friend was needed. At the 1 mile mark we said goodbye and not 30 seconds after that I got terrified! The largest rattle snake I could have ever imagined was half way on the trail rattling at me. It is the first rattler I’ve ever seen. My heart raced and I darted off the trail and ran for a bit before slowing down. It made me question really quickly “what the hell am I doing out here? Maybe that was a sign I should go home.?” Ended up hiking just over 20 miles to Lake Morena. In just 7 hours! I had a lot of adrenaline and didn’t really eat or drink anything I was just moving. I met Mike D, Emi, and Russ, and Zephyr. I knew right away Emi was going to be a good friend, she’s one of those people who lights up everything around her! I saw another rattler, some bunnies, butterflies, lizards, and Quartz crystals ❤️. Still not able to process the journey I was already in I finished the day with sore feet and hips, but ready and excited for Day 2!

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton