Optiventure Journeys

This was the first cowboy camp I’ve done this trail, and my second ever despite having hiked over 4,500 miles the last few years. My fear of scorpions, snakes and bugs crawling on my face or near my quilt has always made me weary of camping without a tent. I was so glad to have done it though, sleeping under the stairs and waking to sunrise is about as good as it gets. Only having 13 miles to town the morning was smooth sailing. On the last downhill I twisted my ankle (no injury) and shortly after thought it felt like my shoe had expanded. It wasn’t until hours later that I noticed I had busted a two inch hole in the side of my shoe, thankfully I had a new pair waiting for me in town.

Wrightwood is the perfect trail town, small and compact so you can walk everywhere and nothing is far away. We had about 13 of us in the cutest air bnb where we could make group meals and rest. Leaving Wrightwood meant a soon summit of Baden Powell, a drastic difference to my 2023 experience. I don’t think I even knew there was a flag at the top of this peak because it had been covered in snow in 2023, whereas now it was minimal snow on the ascent and the peak completely snow free. We spent the day above the clouds as they were low set all around the mountain. Waking the next day to a chilly, misty, beautifully moody day. The section that followed was notorious for being along a closed highway, giving an apocalyptic sense amplified by the mist. It made a great day for photos though, probably my favourite day of photos yet.

That evening I was let in on a wonderful plot… a friends partner had messaged me on social media to let me know he was flying out from Australia to suprise her. Dreaming and scheming in my duplex tent I gave all of the info I could on possible roads to meet her at depending on when he got in. She is a very fast hiker though so on the day he arrived she had managed to get about 7 miles ahead of me so I hoped his plan still worked out. In the end it worked and although I was bummed to not see the suprise initially I was so happy to have helped.

So then began the week of being spoiled by support (in the best way possible) as now two hikers had their partners visiting with vehicles and they were generous in helping the rest of us. Fueling us with treats, fruits, and cold drinks as we made our way towards the infamous LA aqueduct.

The morning of the aqueduct I hiked 6 miles into Hiker town and spent the rest of the day in the shade hydrating my apparently dehydrated body and resting before the night hiking began. A 17 mile flat stretch with minimal water, traditionally hiked at night when the weather is hot, which is was extremely hot. I drenched my shirt with water multiple times and within 15 minutes even in the shade my shirt was already dry. At 5pm a few groups had blended together to start the hike and we happily took glow sticks from a hikers partner. 15 of us started, I assumed within a few miles we would split at different paces but to my suprise we all marched on. Banded together by a speaker playing music we all managed to hike 26 miles together fueled and suprised by not only one, but three separate gifts of trail magic. I couldn’t believe it. It was the most fun I think I’ve had out here yet.

We made it to camp by 3am just enough time to get a quick 2 hour nap. I feel like as I laid my head down I closed my eyes and the sun was up within minutes, two hours not quite long enough but the shining sun meant heat was coming and there was no time to waste if I wanted to get into town. So the final 17 miles began…. The final three miles into town finally caught up to me where I became tired and had sore feet, which was way better than I expected. I’ve done my fair share of overnight work and usually I feel quite gross the next day but somehow I felt okay. I think this is a new record, 42 miles in a 19 hour time period. A cold Gatorade in the parking lot before town revived my energy even more.

Ready for a day off, tehachapi was calling. It was here that unfortunately I got news I had hoped would come later but was sadly not surprising. My mom would finally be starting dialysis. Her kidney function has been close to this point for a while but it is finally time for this chapter. With emotions being a bit all over the place I’ve come to accept that maybe I won’t actually be able to finish this trail and I’ll have to head home early. Trails will remain to come back to, but loved ones and health will always be more important.

Idyllwild is hard to leave, it’s a cute mountain town with delicious food and is very hiker friendly. The trail was calling though so we left back up the 2.5 mile trail to get back onto the PCT. I decided I wanted to do a side quest and summit San Jacinto. It was a 3.2 mile trail to the summit. A lot of hikers do this trail up to the summit and follow a different route to connect with the PCT to avoiding back tracking. I decided I would leave my backpack at the junction and go up to summit and come back down the same route. Partly because I didn’t know how bad that descent would be on my knees with the weight of a backpack but also because I didn’t do the specific section I’d miss back in 2023. In 2023 this section had dangerous amounts of snow and many people did an alternate to avoid a notoriously sketchy area when snow covered. So I added 6.4 bonus miles to my day to summit the peak but I was happy I did it. 

Thankfully my backpack was still at the junction when I returned, not taken by
anyone or bitten through by squirrels trying to get my food. The section between that junction and where I got back on in 2023 was actually a beautiful stretch of trail and I was so happy to complete it this time. I did wonder whether there is a novelty aspect though, knowing something is new and not knowing exactly what it’ll be like does add a different element. I’ve thought about that a lot actually, how I am appreciative to not have the novelty aspect of trail this time around. I think there is something beautiful about returning and appreciating something just as it is even though it’s not new. Loving a trail so much that it doesn’t matter if every view is unexpected or unfamiliar. 

I was surprised at how good my body felt today. I ended up doing 23 miles that day, with 6,000ft of ascent and 4,100 of descent which is a huge elevation change for one day for me. I camped with a beautiful view of San Jacinto and enjoyed the sunset over the peak of the mountain with its snow covered gullies. The next day was basically all downhill, literally. Descending another 5,800 ft and making a pit stop to uber to the In and Out for a burger in the afternoon. 

I was really looking forward to the next section we would tackle tomorrow: Mission Creek. In late 2023 a hurricane had passed through this section and apparently destroyed quite a bit of trail so I was keen to do some hiking in the river as that’s what most do, just follow the river as there is no trail. Mission creek was 14 miles away, and we passed whitewater first. In 2023 the whitewater river was hip deep and swift flow, a bit of a shock to the system. This year, a log was across the trail and you could just walk across without even getting your feet wet. My brain could barely comprehend how it could be so drastically different. 

I made it to mission creek by lunchtime and after a quick break to eat I set out with another hiker to tackle to river. It was about 8 miles of crossing back and forth through the river and just following the riverbed. Not difficult but definitely a slower pace, plenty of rocks to roll an ankle if you’re not careful, which led to a long day. I generally am someone who just embraces the suck though, so I’m not suprised I ended up enjoying this section. Seeing the 10ft high riverbeds be completely washed out and knowing how much damage had been done was a beautiful reminder of how strong of a force nature is. There wasn’t many place to camp in the washed out area so we ended up hiking 24 miles and making it to camp by 6:15pm. 

Most of the washed out area was now complete! It was quite chilly overnight and the next morning, but we had 16 miles of no water so I was grateful for the cooler temperatures. I actually hiked that 16 miles only drinking about 1.5 litres of water because the terrain was relatively flat. I walked into camp at 4:30. I was eager to go on, knowing the next town was only 10 miles away… the weather however made me nervous. The forecast called for rain into snow, with wind gusts up to 80km per hour. The camp spot seemed well protected from wind and I was worried if I carried on I’d be stuck at a campsite completely exposed. So I setup camp and made sure I had plenty of rocks to keep my tent stakes from being ripped from the ground. It definitely was windy, I think I woke up every half hour to the rattling of the wind ripping through the campground and having fearful vision of my tent ripping. By some miracle the rocks did their job and my tent stayed up. 

It was snowing in the morning and another cold day lay ahead. Once I got hiking it was more comfortable temperature wise. The 10 miles into town were flat and came easy, I even sang a little while trotting along the trail. I remember thinking “oh my god how did Taylor swift do this??”.  I made it to the highway by 9:45am and within ten minutes had been picked up by a kind local who drove us into town. 

I was with four other hikers and they were all going a bit further into town. I didn’t want her to go out of her way so said I would get dropped off there as well. She dropped me and one other off before she continued across town to the hostel the others were staying at. I was going to just go grab a coffee and take the free tram to meet my friends on the other side of town. I had been walking for not even a minute when a Tesla pulled over and asked if I needed a ride anywhere in town! He was happy to drive me the five minutes in the other direction to the cafe where my friends were eating. Things like this happen more often than you’d think on trail, very different than regular life. 

We spent the day doing laundry, getting more food for our next stretch, and then resting in the hotel. Its still really cold and I will say, I don’t think I’ve ever felt sillier than wearing my purple wind pants, hot pink/green puffy jacket, and water shoes in the grocery store while my clothes were in the wash. Usually I don’t wander I just wait until the laundry is done but the laundromat was right beside the grocery store so it made sense to make use of the time. 

The next few days were forecasted to be cold as well but shouldn’t be too rainy. Back on trail the sky was blue and the temperature just warm enough to be comfortable hiking and not sweat. We hiked more miles than I expected leaving a town, making 19.5 miles by 4:30pm. That evening was the coldest we’ve had yet judging based off my water bottles freezing overnight. Thankfully I’ve made sleeping with my filter a habit so I never have to worry about leaving it out and accidentally freezing it and no longer working. The day came beautifully and the miles came oddly easily. I’ve been grateful for how different this thru hike compared to the aches and pains of my first. I made it to the hot springs and enjoyed a brief soak for my feet in both the hot springs and the icy cold creek. 

The next morning I had the realization that based off the day of the week I’d need to push a bit bigger miles than planned to make it to Wrightwood to get there before the post office closed at 5pm on the Friday evening. Thankfully the terrain was gradual, and not too hot and the distance between water was very manageable. Passing silverwood lake was incredible to see the damage from a fire. I was actually at that lake when the fire happened in 2023, getting evacuated and as we were walking out on the road passing a spot where we could see flames growing. Thankfully that fire was under control quickly and we were dropped back off by a local later that evening not much further up. Seeing first hand the destruction and change to the landscape always hits me in the forefront. We all are such small aspects of the world but yet can impact our planet greatly. The concern of plenty of wildfires being the result of human behaviour is never lost on me. 

Feeling good I pushed on and ended the day doing just shy of 28 miles. The iconic McDonald’s on trail was just 7 miles away for the morning. The morning had a beautiful glow and I enjoyed taking my time since I had woken at 5am I was in no rush. The plan was to get breakfast and wait for the switchover to lunch for a second meal before heading on. Hikers congregating at McDonald’s comes down to a corner filled with backpacks, odour, but all smiles as we all eat to our hearts desire. I did get a good laugh joking that the pct McDonald’s is like the scene in mean girls where they pretend it is a jungle. 

Hard to leave the comfort of air conditioning, social fun, and food, but I finally left at 1:30 going against my general rule to not hike in the heat of the day…. I hiked up the final climb of the day with a new group I’d just met that morning and we cowboy camped on a dirt road. Basically a slumber party of us sleeping side by side under the stairs, the Big Dipper well in view as we fell asleep under a bright full moon.

I woke up overnight to the odd sensation that my knees were not secure. Every turn on my sleeping pad felt like my kneecaps were going to give out and I had no idea what happened. I’ve done quite a bit of backpacking and have never had knee issues so this was alarming to come out of seemingly no where. Out of precaution I texted Blaze physio, who works along the trail out of her van doing physio for hikers, and I left to head into Warner Springs. This section has a meadow filled with wild oat grass that was a beautiful golden landscape of rolling hills. Surprisingly for the first 7 miles my knees felt better moving, the last two miles my left knee was quite painful right as I would lift my foot. Crap. I got into Warner springs and was able to quickly shower and wash my clothes in a bucket before chatting with Blaze. Thankfully it seems to be a minor inflammation issue and nothing major. The plan was to try taping, lower milage, and Advil if needed.

So I spent the rest of the afternoon at the community center and hiked out three miles to camp. Thankfully my knees didn’t bother me too much the next day, it was mostly climbing and the ascent didn’t seem to bother the inflamed areas. It’s always so interesting walking and being able to experience ecosystem changes at a 3 mile per hour pace. We walked out from the meadow, to the forrest, and through areas of sand with huge boulders that reminded me of Joshua tree all in less than a day.

The next morning we were only 4 miles away from a restaurant just one mile off trail down a road, so breakfast was a must. We chatted with a man at a table beside us who was out doing trail magic in various spots and was asking us about the section we had just completed. He left and I said thank you on behalf of all the hikers for what he was doing that was so incredibly kind. The waitress told us 15 minutes later he had paid for all of our meals. We were shocked, and wished we could have said thank you.

Hiking out from the restaurant I finally saw my first rattlesnake of the trail. I stepped over a rock and noticed the tail and rattle sticking out after I had already gone over. I walked back around the other side since it was a wide spot and sure enough the rattlesnake was curled up under the rock my foot had just been so close to as I stepped over it. Now I am not a snake person but I do find them very interesting and was glad this one seemed super unbothered by my presence. I took some photos and left, reminding myself this is why I don’t hike either headphones on when it’s hot.

Most of the water along this section was off trail unfortunately. The group I’ve been camping with lately was going to camp at a water source one mile down a steep trail to a spring. Because my knees had been bugging me at Warner springs I decided to leave my backpack at the trail junction and bring my bladder and bottle to grab water and carry it back up the mile long trail, hopefully saving some aches and pains by not carrying my 20 pound pack down and up. I ended up camping along a ridge with a beautiful sunset and sunrise. So beautiful I almost fell off a boulder while photographing the ridge line….. oops.

The next morning I almost stepped on a rattlesnake curled up on the side of a trail, and not even an hour later another rattlesnake was going across the trail into a bush. Ironically I think I have been more scared and jumpy from of the sounds of lizards dashing away into the bushes thinking it is a snake rattling than the actual snakes itself. Perhaps the exposure therapy is working…. So I continue on despite the volume of snakes, hoping I don’t come across one on the cliff edges where there is no where to go around.

I try not to compare this experience to my hike in 2023 but sometimes the lack of snow and water really becomes prominent. This section was one of those times. In 2023 I had to cross a few traverses of snow along a cliff side, and had about 6 miles of snow covered route finding to do into town. This year, no snow on the trail at all. What a difference it makes in pace. Although the 2.5 mile trail down into town definitely felt more like 5 miles.

A quick hitch hike from the car park at the trailhead led us into the town of Idyllwild. Idyllwild is probably one of the biggest vortexes along the trail. You can come into idyllwild from so many spots on trail so you see tons of hikers there. The first week I feel like I mostly jumped between bubbles of hikers, not seeing tons of people more than once. My pace is a bit faster than most typically start out at since my body is a bit more adjusted to this experience, or so I thought until the knee pain… Now its nice to be a bit more consistent in seeing people and knowing who is just ahead and slightly behind. The trail is starting to feel more like a home and I’m grateful. The routine of setting up and breaking down camp, and the sounds of feet crunchy along gravel as I walk all are a welcome familiarity. I had to remind myself that even in 2023 it took a while before I was consistently hiking with the same people, or a trail family as some call it.

Ending the week with a zero in town to wait out a storm that was passing through. We had five hikers into a small cabin in town and enjoyed the surplus of food options, clean clothes, and a bed to sleep on.

Total miles hiked by end of week 2: 179.

Number of cactuses that got stuck in me: just one, in my shin (surprisingly this never happened in 2023)

Happy trails!

It didn’t feel real that I was actually going back to the PCT. For the better part of two years I felt like all I wanted was to get back to the PCT and yet now here I am. I thought I would have this relief and sense of feeling this is where I’m supposed to be. Truthfully, I didn’t. I’ve come to realize that’s okay though. I think I’m just in a stage in my life where I’m not sure where I’m going to end up. I thought a lot about what trail I wanted to do next when I was given six months off work. I was close to going to hike the CDT but ultimately ended up back on the PCT. I hope to be able to thru hike after donating a kidney to my mom, if that happens, but incase this is my last big thru hike I decided the PCT was where I wanted to spend this time.

The community out here is something I don’t think people can quite fully grasp unless they’ve experienced it. I’ve been brought to tears by the kindness of strangers and in times where the world can feel scary it is a beautiful thing to be reminded that people truly can be so deeply kind.

So….. to start the PCT I told myself I would take it slow and aim to camp 16-18 miles in. That all changed when I met a father and son hiking at mile 14 and the dad started talking about milkshakes and burgers at the cafe 20 miles in. I made it to 18 miles by around 3:30pm and the thought of a cold milkshake was enough to tempt me to break my plans. My body aches reminded me the next day that I had intended to take it slow, but I think the milkshake was worth it.

Spending time at the cafe was a great evening meeting other hikers. I love the social aspect of trail and how people you just meet are so open in sharing their stories. You meet some of the most incredible people on long trails. I spent the next few days hiking around a man who spent most of his life as a paragliding instructor with a perfect record of no injuries while teaching, and he is officially six months in remission from cancer. One night he talked about how much some of the hormone therapy affected him and he shared how much more empathy he now has for women and a new found appreciation for what his daughter would have went through as a teenager. I can’t imagine what it’s like to have gone through cancer treatment that recently and then be out on a physically demanding long trail, but I loved hearing him say he felt like a kid in a candy store and just how grateful he was to be out hiking.

On my third night we camped at an established campground with water and washrooms, it was chilly when we arrived but not too windy. We all setup camp and just beat the start of the rain. I fell asleep by 8pm and woke up at 12:45 to half of my tent having collapsed. I cursed myself for not taking the time to find rocks to have nearby incase it got windy. So I re-staked out the side that had been pulled from the ground and contemplated my choices, I could either hope the wind died down, put my rain jacket on and go try and find some rocks, or…. Since I already had 5 hours of sleep and was now wide awake, I could just go hangout under the shelter of the washroom and watch a few shows and movies I had downloaded. I opted for taking refuge in the washroom. Now I’m sure most people would think that’s ridiculous, but I was too nervous that if both sides of the tent collapsed my sleeping bag would get pretty wet and my sleeping bag is my main way of staying warm so I wasn’t about to let that happen.

By 7am I got a weather report from my Garmin that said it was supposed to clear by 8:30, great! So by 8:30 I set out into a windy, misty, cold day. The clouds didn’t look great and by 1pm I was caught in freezing rain and what I would guess was 40mph winds. Not good. I didn’t have service so was unsure how long this weather would last since my Garmin was clearly way off with its forecast... I remember thinking this is weather you need to be out of, or walk nonstop to prevent getting too cold. I decided to take a 1/4 mile side trail to a trailhead where there was a washroom and I hoped service to see the radar for this storm. So here I was yet again taking shelter in a bathroom (pit toilet)…. Which lead to me being suggested to take the trail name “pit stop”. To be determined if I will accept.

Thankfully that weather cleared by 3pm and I was able to get to camp dry and significantly happier. I got hailed on a total of four times that day. The next morning I was only a few miles out of our first town, Julian. I haven’t hitch hiked in a while and was so excited to get a ride from a nice local in a truck so I got to ride in the truck bed with another hiker for the 12 miles into town. We spent most of the day in town before getting a ride out at 5pm to get a start on the climb.

The climb out of Julian is a beautiful and dry section filled with cacti and a lovely ridge walk. After getting out of that dry section and crossing the 100 mile mark I was lucky enough to come across two different groups of locals doing trail magic in the two days following. The happiness a peice of fresh fruit brings me when being days out from the next town is unbeatable. I was shocked by the amount of food these two groups managed to bring out to the trail. One couple came to the trail at 6:30am with coffee, hard boiled eggs, bacon, fruit and so many other snacks I couldn’t believe it. Their son had hiked the pct in 2017 and they said they just enjoy paying forward some of the kindness that their son received on trail and they’ve been doing trail magic every year since he hiked. I am always in awe of these people, the pay it forward and community aspect of this trail is enough to restore your faith in humanity.

I truly think thru hiking makes the world a better place, and look forward to all of the ways I can continue to pay it forward. Thank you to all of those I have crossed paths with so far. I am inspired by you all! Until next time!

Miles hiked by end of week one: 113

Total items lost in week one: one lens cap (accidentally left it on a rock at mile one, thankfully it was picked up and returned to me a day later)