Update

I forgot to explain that the picture from day 10 with the green 5 gallon bucket in it was a water source we used. The pink handle looking thing was a pump to move the water into the green bucket, which we then filtered from. The water is stored in a tank under the broken up concrete. It was probably the grossest looking water we have collected from thus far.

I forgot to mention that we found out a couple days ago that the trail near julian where we had just hiked was closed because of a wildfire! We got through just in time.

We have been out here two weeks so far and we've only seen about 6-8 other thru-hikers. Most of the hikers are still in front of us hopefully we will see more soon.

Day 12 5/27 15mi.

We tried to start the day kinda early today so we could get to town at a resonable time, but we still didn't get going until about 730.

Today was full of amazing scenery as we climbed higher up into the mountains, we got to the highest point on the trip thus far, about 8600 feet! There was a lot of climbing and descending today as we hiked from mountain to mountain.

After arriving at a trail junction after 15miles on the PCT today we had to take a side trail down 1500' over 2.5 miles to reach the nearest road where we hitched another 3miles into town. Tomorrow we will have to climb back up the side trail to resume hiking north along the PCT.

We got a ride into town in the back of a pick up truck from two guys who had spent the day rock climbing up in the mountains. After checking into a motel for the night we got cleaned up and went out for some dinner!!

Day 11 5/26 19mi.

The day started at about 4000 feet, went down to 3500 and then all the way up to 7000, Where we're camped tonight. My phone battery was to low to take pictures again, and its to bad because today was full of spectacular scenery!  We spent the end of the tlday hiking up high on a ridge. Just to get to water today I had to climbing down a couple hundred feet, its days like today that make you appreciate being able to simply turn on a faucet at home and get clean water.

We found a campsite up on a ridge today, we're protect from the wind a little by a few trees. The same hiker that camped with us at mt. Laguna is camped with us again and he made a fire, which was awesome!! There is a heavy mist again tonight and it's very cold. Our tents are actually set up on a little bit of snow! Tomorrow we should be in town.

No pictures today as the phone battery was to low.

Day 10 5/25 18mi.

We woke at 5 to nasty looking weather outside so we went back to sleep until about 8 in hopes that it would clear up. The weather didn't get better but we left anyway and about 2 hours into hiking it cleared up a bit, but was still very cool all day which was a nice change.

As I was was walking down the trail about a 3ft. Long black snake shot out of the bushes next to the trail and under my foot. It happened so fast that I couldn't react in time to avoid stepping on it. It kept speeding off to the other side of the trail so I think it is ok. We also saw a baby rattle snake today about 10inchs long, which I almost stepped on, it was just sitting in the middle of the trail.

We found a small spot to camp along the trail and set up our tents for the night, it is still very cloudy out. We've got a lot of climbing tomorrow.

Day 9  5/24 18mi.

We slept in a little bit after our long day yesterday, but were still out of camp by 745. We started the morning by strolling through warner springs ranch where we hiked past a bunch of horses grazing.

After a fairly flat walk in the morning we hit a long uphill section just in time for the hottest part of the day, poor timing on our part. We took our time going up, then had some small ups and downs through some very rocky terrain to finish out the day.

Came to a trail angels(someone who goes out of their way to help out hikers) house at the end of the day originally just to get water.  But ended up staying in a bunk house made for hikers near the main house, with one other hiker. The hiker bunk house was filled with mice and had a bat flying around in the roof of the ceiling for awhile, lucky the bat found its way out through one of the many holes in the ceiling before long. The bunk house was a nice place to stay for the night, as a heavy mist and a brisk wind picked up throughout the night.

Day 8 5/23 24mi.

We did our first 20 mile day of the trip! And hit the 100 mile mark! The wind picked up last night and blew right through our camp so niether of us got a great night sleep. In the morning we started out walking on a trail cut into the side of some steep mountains, the strong wind made this section a little hairy, as there was a big drop of one one side of us and strong winds pushing us around. We came across rattle snake number 3 this morning and and to venture off trail to get around it again.

We finally made it to a shady spot with water for lunch and a long break, after 16 miles. After recharging for a couple hours we pushed another 8 miles. Along the way we walked through a beautiful  huge open field where it looked like cattle graze early in the spring, all the grass was dead now. It was late in the day and as the sun was getting low in the sky it made the whole field look golden.

Just before we got to camp for the night we came across a rock formation called eagle rock, pictured above, and met 4 older woman one of whom was really excited to meet thru hikers and even took our picture haha.

The picture with all the water bottles above is a water cache. In the middle of some long waterless sections locals will keep a stash of good drinking water near the trail for any hikers running low on water.

Day 7 5/22 14mi.

The day started out with a 6 mile down hill strech to highway 78 which leads into the town of Julian, we got to the road by 830. Carly got her first hitchhiking experience!! The first car that came by stopped to pick us up.

When we got to town we washed up a bit in some public restrooms and then went to resupply at one of two very small grocery stores in town. After resupplying we went to Mom's Pie where we got a free sandwhich drink and slice of pie all for free!! The owner is a big hiker and likes to help out any PCT hikers that come in.

After running a couple more errands wegot a ride back to the trail around 2:30 and hung out under a bridge until about 4. The trail climbed steeply back into the mountains and we were under heavy loads from our resupply and lots of water (24 mile stretch without water). We managed to get in about 8 more miles before nightfall. We had our second rattle snake encounter!! It was right next to the trail rattling at us and wouldn't move so we had to go a little off trail, in steep terrain, to get around it.

Day 5 5/20 14 mi.

We started the day out taking it easy, slept in a little bit and got some brunch from a restaurant next to the campground and got some Gatorade from the general store. We began hiking at about noon and slowly descended down off of Mt. Laguna. Today was the most senic hiking so far! We hiked along the side of mountains all day. We pushed to get in 14 mi. by 7pm, when it was starting to get dark. We made it to a small campsite in a boulder field with an amazing view. We're cowboy camping for the first time tonight (sleeping under the stars without a tent).

Day 6 5/21 15mi.

We woke up to the sun coming over the horizon, packed up quickly and were hiking by 6:30. We did the first 12 miles by noon. Today was the hottest day so far! And the last few miles in the morning were pretty tough. We rested for the afternoon near a huge water storage tank, the water is stored there for easier access in case of any wild fires. This is also where we filled up on water.

We rested until about 430 under a samll bush which was some of the only decent shade all morning. About three more miles down the trail we set up camp which will give us 6 miles to do in the morning before hitchhiking into Julian in the morning for a resupply.

The desert heat and flys can be pretty brutal, but so far the trip has been amazing! The  hike has been full of all kinds of plant, animals, and scenery we've never been exposed to, which keeps everyday new and interesting. 

I wasn't able to take any pictures today because of low battery.

Day 3  5/18 6mi

We sent the morning hanging out around the lake morena campground resting. Then went to the general store a halfmile away for lunch. On the way we meet an older guy that called himself hiker bob, he lives in town and had hiked the trail in 2008. He gave us info on the trail and water sources along it for the next 20 or so miles. The general. Store was low on goods from all the hikers coming through before us this year, but we managed to find a couple decent items to call lunch. We left town at 1:30 and did 6 easy miles to boulder oaks campground. Along the way we saw our first large snake which was in the middle of the trail, but slithered of once it noticed us coming, I'm not to sure what kind of snake it was. We made it to boulder oaks campground, which was actually closed down, but we stayed there anyway, the two of us and two other section hikers had the whole place to ourselves!

Day 4 5/19/12 16mi.

I had set my alarm for 5, but it didn't go off, luckily the birds woke me up at 5:15. We had 16mi. Of almost all uphill today so we wanted to get an early start on the days climb while it was still cool. We did manage to get about 3 miles in before the sun came over mountains and started to bake us. We saw our firat rattlesnake today! I was walking in front and the snake was in the middle of the trail, I didn't notice it until it rattled. We were about 10 ft. From it. The rattle was much louder than I thought it would be, it kinda scarred me and made me jump back! The snake slithered off the trail and we hurried past where it had been.

When we finally made it to the campground and found the camp host site, who were really nice and gave us pretzels and ginger ale. They took the golf cart out and found us an open site so we didn't have to walk around looking for one. This area is very touristy and the campground is rather crowded.

We met another PCT hiker named Dan, who had hike half the appalachian trail in 2009 the same year I hiked it. He cooked dinner with us and stayed at our campsite.

Day 2 5/17 15mi.

We woke up at about 6 to a cool morning, just before the sun poked above the horizon. The minute the sun hit us it felt like the temperature increased by 10degrees. It was a very hot day and we had a lot of climbing to do. All morning we saw helicopters flying back and forth, when we finally came over the top of the first mountain we saw that they were building a high voltage transmission line through the mountains and that's what the helicopters were working on all day.

Anytime we stopped throuhout the day flys swarmed around us, many of them trying to bite us.

Around mile ten for the day we we're running low on water and finally made it to hauser creek, which wasn't really a creek anymore. All we found was a stagnat pool of water with a snake swimming in it to filter water from, shown in the picture above. We rested near the "creek" for a couple hours during the heat of the day., before a steep climb up to lake morena county campground where we stayed for the night. We'll get a hot shower in the morning!!!

Day 1 cont'd 5mi.

The bus to campo, ca was running a little late. We got there at about 615 and had a mile and a half to walk south to the border. We meet another hiker on the bus named Derick who we started walking south with. Soon the three of us ended up at a small ranch with no trespassing signs all over. There are a million dirt roads crisscrossing eachother near the border and the pct isn't marked very well. We quickly found the trail again and got to the border monument at 7pm. We snapped a few pictures and signed the register and were on our way. There are border patrol agents driving all around near the border. The first one we saw stopped and asked us what we were doing and then said he'd radio everyone else and let them know what we were doing out there. We hiked about 5 miles from the border, 2 of those miles were in the dark since the sun set at 7:40. We found a small flat area just big enough to pitch our two tents and called it a night.

Day 1 The Adventure Begins

We left ohare at 830 this morning and made it to san diego at 10:15. We've taken a bus and a trolly to get to la mesa where we picked up supplies for the next five days and just got done eating at a mexican restaurant. Apparently we look interesting cause everyone's asking us what we're doing or where we're going! We have two more buses to go to get to the beginning of the trail. We'll arrive there at about 6 and get as many miles as we can before, hopefully 6 or 7.