Week 6: Pacifico Mountain to Green Valley
Day 36
16 miles, hitched 9 miles
We woke up at Little Jimmy Campground with no bear attacks despite sleeping with food in our tent - yay! That feels like a success on its own.
We decided to start today's hike on the road instead of the trail, which was a nice start to our morning. I forget how nice it is to walk next to each other and easily talk instead of walking in single file down the trail.
We saw lots of hikers near the Islip saddle, many hikers that we hadn't seen or met before! The morning fog covered the valley below us and while it blocked views from a distance it was stunning to see the fog envelope the trees.
Part of the trail in this section has been closed for years due to an endangered mountain frog habitat. Hikers have two option for an alternate route: one is a much longer hike and one is a shorter road walk. We opted for the road walk. Road walks are pretty tough after hiking so many miles because the concrete is too hard on the joints. Even though we didn't see any cars heading in the direction that we were going, I wanted to try to hitchhike if we saw someone. I had a feeling that a man in a truck would pick us up, I'm not sure why. Sure enough, a man in a white Caltrans truck pulled over for us. He was a very sweet guy out changing the highway signage who happily rescued us from a long, hot walk on the road. Easy and I both noticed his looney tunes tattoo on his left arm!
He dropped us off at the trail and we got back to hiking on the dirt! We walked eight miles and ran into a few old friends, including Salty Dog, some Australian hikers, and a young couple. We found a gorgeous campsite at the top of a mountain with incredible views. Easy played the "Salty Dog Rag" by Red Foley for Salty Dog. He leaned in towards Easy's phone to hear the song and started dancing to the song. He also suggested some possible trail names for me, including "Butt Cheeks" (in reference to my explaining to our Swiss friends the difference between face cheeks and rear cheeks) and "Frito Farts" (I had mentioned that my sleeping bag smells like frito chips). He also summed up thru-hiking in one sentence: "Eat, drink, fart, piss, shit and then there's walkin'." I made sure to pay close attention to what he was saying so I could write it down tonight. One other bit of wisdom from ol' Salty Dog was when he asked me about my sore ankle. I explained that I had bought shoes in Mount Laguna with a zero drop (the footbed is totally flat in the shoe, most shoes have a higher heel than toe). Salty's response: "Oh yeah the Altra Zero Drop shoes took me about a year to break in." No wonder!!
Day 37
19 miles
This morning we woke up with the sunrise, just in time to wave goodbye to Salty Dog.
Today was a long day of hiking through burned areas and thick brush. We ran into lots of poodle dog bush, a poisonous plant that grows only in certain elevations of formerly burned areas. It has a strong smell and when it blooms it has large purple flowers.
In the afternoon I thought I might be getting a blister. We stopped to rest in the afternoon and sure enough there was a big blister on the left of my right big toe. I think it's from wearing my shoes more loosely. A looser fit has been feeling better on my ankle but I think that my big toe was hitting the side of the shoe on the long downhill stretches.
Arggggg these shoes!
Day 38
14 miles
We woke up at 4:30am today and worked our way down the hill to the Mill Creek station fire for water. We saw our buddy Joe from the Portland REI on our way. We saw Salty Dog at the water spigot and he cracked me up when he asked "what the heck does Poodle Dog Brush look like anyways?" We had just gotten out of miles and miles of the poisonous plant right next to the trail. He must've been lucky though because he wasn't simuktaneousky itching his legs.
Today was a hot day with lots of switchbacks. We learned that Easy and I have different ideas of when to take a break. I have a tendency to hike until I need to stop for more water or food. I'm okay with stopping briefly in the sun on a hot day. Easy likes to stop for breaks in the shade where we can sit and stretch out our legs. On days that we're hiking through the hot desert, finding shade can be nearly impossible! It's good for us to talk openly about what works best for each other and communicate about the level of urgency when one of us needs to take a break.
We arrived to the Acton KOA in the afternoon and enjoyed a nice evening of a dip in the pool, pizza delivery and some Coors original beer thanks to Beat from Switzerland.
Day 39
10 miles
There was a ton of noises at the KOA making it tough to sleep (partying hikers, highway traffic, and possibly some late night construction at a business attached to the KOA main office)!
We shared some leftover pizza with our neighboring campers and packed up the tent. It was good to get back in the trail and we enjoyed a snack break near a tunnel. It was fun to play (and sing along to) music from my cell phone and hear the echo in the tunnel.
We walked through Vasquez State Park, a beautiful area. It was a Saturday so there were lots of visitors and families also enjoying the park. It sure felt strange to be there with big packs on but the area was gorgeous. It was a treat to be surrounded by big rocks - this was the first time we were seeing scenery like this on the trail.
When we got into Agua Dukce we stopped by Sweetwater Bar and Grill. The big line of packs and trekking poles outside told us we'd be in great company with other hikers. After eating, we walked the last mile on the road to "Hiker Heaven," where an incredibly generous couple of Trail Angels (The Saufley's) open their home to PCT hikers. It's completely volunteer run and is unbelievably organized. We were greeted by a Volunteer /Trail Angel named "Tartan." He gave us a tour of the various stations (laundry, charging, information, mailing, kitchen and TV). He offered us a room in the hiker trailer since we're a couple and suggested we sign up on the shower list right away. The majority of hikers camp out in the Saufley's yard. There had to have been over 60 hikers here today.
We ran into some old friends here. Our friend "Nude Beach" was offering massages as a trade die beer. He had made and posted a sign that said "Easy trade massage for beer. You must have had a shower since you've been here." We saw one hiker take him up on his offer.
We had a nice dinner at a local restaurant with Randy from Kentucky and two other hikers we had just met, "Hamlet" and "Cogent." The steak and chicken fajitas tasted amazing. Such a nice break from our usual ramen dinners!
We were thankful for two wifi connections at Hiker Heaven - one called "HikerHeaven" and one called "HikerHeav." Ironically we were woken up by a hiker vomiting in the restroom next to our room. I worried it was an injured hiker we saw drinking cheap whiskey for what seemed like most of the day. It seemed horrible.
Day 40
O miles, Mother's Day
After calling our moms to wish them a happy Mother's Day, we decided to share an Uber with Andrew and Josh to head to REI. It was finally time to shop for new shoes. It was a tough decision after hiking for 450 miles on shoes that weren't quite right for me. I settled on some Salomon shoes with ankle support. Andrew also bought new shoes at REI. We all loved that the color of his shoes was called "High Risk Red," and I suggested that his trail name should be "High Risk." I think he liked it but we'll see if he adopts it as his own.
We went to the nearby grocery store to resupply before heading back to Hiker Heaven. We ended up going back to the Mexican restaurant tonight for dinner with Andrew / "High Risk" and also met a nice hiker couple Meagan and Ian from Alberta.
Day 41
13.5 miles
Boy it was hard to leave Hiker Heaven, that place is amazing. Donna Saufley's garden alone is such a treat to be around! A volunteer helped us create and print the mailing labels for our packages. His wife, also a volunteer, insisted in taking our picture before we left and gave me a big hug. We felt so welcomed and taken care of there. Tartan mentioned that he thought there were close to 80 hikers there the night before! We were lucky to be able to have a room to our own instead of being wedged in next to tons o' tents.
After eating breakfast, we headed towards the trail on a two mile stretch of road. We both started to notice an ominous sky as we got closer to the trail. As the rain started lightly, Easy put on his bright yellow poncho and helped me fashion a backpack cover out of a trash bag (it worked great)!
It got fairly cold as we walked through the rain but I enjoyed the beauty of the light trying to peek through the clouds and the sensation of being wet instead of dry. My new shoes kept untying, which was a bit annoying. I also kept catching my right foot on the top lace notch of my left foot. Maybe I made a mistake...!? I sure hope not.
We found a nice campsite option and found an extra tent stake there (it must be a sign because we had accidentally forgotten to get a couple of extra tent stakes at REI).
Day 42
10 miles
We woke up around 6:30am and felt energized. I think I got a lot of good sleep last night all cozied up in my sleeping bag. Easy even said I was snoring, which is very rare for me (confirmed by Easy)!
We zoomed the five miles to Spunky Edison Road. Then we walked along that road till we reached Spunky Canyon Road, a main road in Green Valley.
We saw firefighters training in the hills hiking with big packs straight up a steep hill. It made our little wimpy low grade switchbacks seem amateur. We stopped into a small general store for sodas, snacks and a scratcher lotto ticket (sadly not a winner). Walking up to Casa de Luna (run by the Andersons, also a Trail Angel couple) we could tell this was going to be fun. Every hiker was wearing a Hawaiian shirt and has a big smile on his face. Terrie Anderson gives every hiker that comes to her house a hug. A volunteer took our picture (along with other hikers that arrived that day) while Terrie mooned all of us. She laughed and greeted us with "welcome to Casa de Luna!" There were tons of camping spots behind the house and we were excited to camp in a spot that wasn't right next to other hikers.
We went to lunch with High Risk, Meagan, and Ian at a restaurant called Heart and Soul. They had delicious milk shakes! When we got back to Casa de Luna, we decided to play horseshoes. We could overhear a group of hikers having a disturbing and sexist conversation that delved into child abuse, sexual assault, and "the gays." There were some younger hikers attempting to unpack some of his statements somewhat unsuccessfully. This was the first time on the trail I was overhearing opinions that I wildly disagree with. Even though his comments started to make me anxious and nervous, I decided to play music on my cell phone and keep on playing horseshoes. I was not about to get in this conversation while we were trying to relax. No thank you.
Terrie makes taco salad for hikers every single evening (and pancakes every single morning) that the PCT hikers come through. Easy and I volunteered to help cook the cheese and the retried beans. At one point the hot beans splattered and burned my hand. Ouch! After dinner, Terrie plays music and the hikers have a dance party. Terrie hands out the annual hiker bandana during the dance party (you must earn it on the dance floor)! I got up and danced to the "Cupid Shuffle," a dance popular at weddings that's similar to the electric slide. After the dance party we got into a strange conversation with a drunk guy (unsure if he's a current PCT hiker or just hanging out). I wasn't as able to avoid this conversation as well as I did earlier in the day. This fella was defending another hiker's misogynistic joke telling on the trail while High Risk was calling out how inappropriate this certain hiker's behavior is. I had enough of the conversation when he told me he knew all about misogyny since he has a daughter and started getting angry and yelling expletives at me directly. Terrie popped her head out of the house and told him to quiet down and calm down. We went to bed. Turns out the trail / trail hangouts attract all kinds of people that don't all agree. It's not some hiker utopia where we all agree and sing songs under the stars by the campfire like a Patagonia ad. To be honest I was surprised this was starting to happen this far into the trip!
