Twig Adventures

October 21st, 2018 Whitewater Preserve mm 218.5 to Fuller Ridge mm 189 Distance: 29.5 miles plus .5 mile from preserve. 0630 – 1820 First, if my memory serves me right, I wanted to point out that I finished the Te Araroa in 108 days and today is my 108th day on the PCT. It would have been cool if I finished both trails in the same time but I will be within a week. Not bad for a trail that is nearly 800 miles longer. Secondly, today was like clearing a huge hurdle, perhaps the last big challenge. I was a bit intimidated by the massive climb and lack of water to end the day, but it wasn’t so bad.[…]

October 20th, 2018 Mm 253 to Whitewater Preserve mm 218.5 Distance: 34.5 miles plus .5 mile to preserve. 0630 – 1800 I set a new record for distance hiked in one day, but only by half a mile. I have done several 34 and 34.5 mile days but today I finally got to 35. I pushed hard to make it to a conservation preserve and it was worth it…more about that later. It was cold, as usual, in the morning. I could feel that the ground was frozen in places. Mt Gorgonio caught the morning sun and showed off its snow cap beautifully. I got nice views looking back at the Angeles forest and mountains and forward to the desert[…]

October 19th, 2018 Mm 278.5 to mm 253 Distance: 25.5 miles 0630 – 1900 For once, I resisted the pull of town today. I went into Big Bear, got my business done, and got back on the trail to get the miles in. After 3 days, I am just 1 mile shy of my 30 mile a day average. Now I have just 9 more days to keep up this pace. Besides my flight home, I am also motivated by an upcoming trip to Spain. I leave for that shortly after I get back. It feels weird to be planning for anything beyond the PCT but it’s time. There is life after the trail…though I’m a bit leery of it.[…]

October 18th, 2018 Deep Creek bridge mm 310 to mm 278.5 Distance: 31.5 miles 0630 – 1830 Today was all about going uphill…but gradually. We gained more than 7000′ over 29 miles, going from about 3000′ in elevation up to just shy of 8000′. Consequently, we didn’t do as many miles as hoped for but that’s ok. I think this was the longest continuous stretch going uphill so far. We continued up the canyon and shortly came to some hot springs. We found Kuba packing up there. I tried some of the pools but they were way too tepid for my taste. I need my hot springs to be “mother of dragons” hot. Perhaps in the middle of the day[…]

October 17th, 2018 Cajon Pass Interstate 15 mm 342 to Deep Creek bridge mm 310 Distance: 32 miles 0800 – 1830 Overnight, I bought a one-way ticket from Phoenix to Miami for the 31st. So now I have a deadline. If I average 30 miles a day, I will make it to the border by the 28th…just 12 more days, including this one. It’s probably not realistic to do this, since I also have to factor in town stops. But we’ll see. The hotel had a good continental breakfast, so we were able to stuff ourselves before resuming the trail. I was glad to get away from all the hub-bub of that busy interstate. The noise quickly disappeared as the[…]

October 16th, 2018 Grassy Hollow Visitor Center mm 370 to Cajon Pass Interstate 15 mm 342 Distance: 28 miles plus a couple miles walking around town 0620 – 1600 I stayed warm overnight but it was very cold out. I even took a benadryl so that I would sleep through the night. The wind continued to rage. I left on all my layers starting out in the morning, including my tights. I was contemplating going into the town of Wrightwood, since I needed groceries and batteries for my Spot device. One mile from camp was a highway where I could hitch. But I got there at 7 am and there was no traffic. I couldn’t bear to stand around in[…]

October 15th, 2018 Three Points trailhead mm 403 to Grassy Hollow Visitor Center mm 370 Distance: 33 miles plus 1 extra mile on mandatory alternate 0610 – 1855 The wind rose up fierce overnight and I had a hard time sleeping. My tent was pretty protected but I still had to get up to search for rocks to cover the stakes. Even then, the fabric was vibrating violently and bashing me in the head. I was awake at 3 am and couldn’t get back to sleep. So I started my routine at 4 am. During that time, my front stake pulled out twice and the tent swallowed me. I couldn’t wait to get the tent down and get out of[…]

October 14th, 2018 North Fork Station mm 436 to Three Points trailhead mm 403 Distance: 33 miles 0640 – 1800 Everthing was soaked in the morning and I packed a very wet tent. But the sky was clear and we were treated to a unique scene. There were clouds in the valleys, making it look like the ocean had come in to swallow everything but the mountain peaks. We were now atop a series of islands. We climbed and descended a lot today…8100′ up and 6500′ down. It was tiring but at least it stayed relatively cool all day. For lunch, we came to a trailhead with a water spigot…the first water since our camp 17 miles back. Kuba and[…]

October 13th, 2018 Agua Dulce mm 454.5 to North Fork Station mm 436 Distance: 18.5 1145 – 1830 This 100th day was a great one! The title will make more sense later. But first, there were a couple details I left out from yesterday. I didn’t describe my encounter with Cornelius. If you’ll recall from previous blogs, I have a thing for chickens (and ducks, geese, peacocks, and… lots of birds). But especially roosters. Well, the Saufleys had a flock and so I asked Donna if I could catch one. Her reply was ‘good luck, you’ll have to get past Cornelius first.’ Ah, I thought, even better is a sassy rooster. To preface, she did warn me profusely about how[…]

October 12th, 2018 Lake Hughes rd mm 485.5 to Agua Dulce mm 554.5, then Hiker Heaven Distance: 31 miles plus 2 miles walking back and forth to Hiker Heaven 0545 – 1600 I was awake around 4 am, so I just started my morning routine a bit earlier. It was nice to get such an early start on the trail, but of course Stellar and Salty beat me to it. It was a cool morning and also partly cloudy most of the day. The desert conditions continue to be easy on us. About 10 miles in, there was a fire station with a water spigot. It had a warning about Ecoli, so I filtered the water. This appeared to be[…]