Days 20 – 24: Miles 209.6 to 266.1

Tl;dr: Saw a bear, the first rattlesnake and descended over 2500m in one day … read on for more details.

Disclaimer: this is a longer post, covering multiple days, as I am changing the posting cycle to once a week roughly. Exciting news: we added a new feature: Now you can subscribe to get an email notification with each new post, more infos below. 🙂

Day 20: Whitewater to Mission Creek (Miles 209.6 to 226.1)

Yesterday was a big day with lots of elevation so today I feel a bit weak and tired today although I had a good night of sleep at Kristine‘s a.k.a. hiker heaven in white water.

Before starting the PCT, I was doing a lot of reading on Reddit on the sub Reddit, Pacific Trail and people say the first month is a challenge physically and the last four months are a challenge mentally so I did prepare to have – you know – a hard time the first couple of weeks on the trail and I am feeling all of those things. Everyday I start hiking something hurts and I’m trying to pace myself and I am pacing myself. I’m not going fast. I’m still going only 12 to 15 miles every day and I intend to do that for another 10 days so that the whole first month per day is less than 15 miles. Yesterday was an exception: we did 20 miles and I’m feeling it today: my knees hurt, my ankles hurt even though I’m wearing my knee brace so what I wanted to say was that that it is absolutely true that the first month is a challenge physically. It’s worth it though. It will get better.

Today I met a person on the trail during lunch. He joined us. His name is rock slide, a.k.a. Luke and for him The PCT is not challenging enough so he added a few extra challenges: he doesn’t have tracking poles with him for the first 300 miles which makes the first two weeks extra challenging (yes he’s doing 300 miles in two weeks) and then second thing he didn’t bring is his stove. Not having a stove means he’s cold soaking, soaking food that is intended to be cooked in boiling water in cold water. So that means no warm meals no coffee nothing. Not having tracking poles means he cannot build his tent because he has a tracking pole tent so he’s done what I did in 20 days twice as fast in 10 days. And all of those 10 days he was cowboy camping which means even if it was raining, he only slept in his sleeping bag outside and got wet. He doesn’t have an air mattress. He only has an Nemo switchback which is a foam pad which you feel everything. “It was raining the last 10 days sometimes I got pretty wet so I just put a tent over my head and dry it the next day.”What a bad ass. Funny thing is before he started walking, he got out his pack of cigarettes and had a smoke – yeah you meet a lot of interesting people on Trail and everyone is hiking their own hike.

Another thought that just came up is this: yesterday after the 31 km descent and San Jacinto was more than 2000m downhill. I put off my backpack which probably weighs around 15 kg at this point and walking without that backpack felt really strange so I’ve started to merge with my backpack and I feel like I’m a turtle that has something big on their back and if it’s not there, it feels quite strange like gravity isn’t pulling me down enough anymore or something like I’m about to lift off the ground. It’s actually quite a funny feeling.

Beautiful camp side at the start of mission creek.

Stats:

Distance: 26.83km

Ascent: 1270m

Steps: 36565

Day 21: Mission Creek to Mission Springs Trail Camp (Mile 226.1 – 239.9)

This was a tough day because there was no tail – a flood or storm had destroyed the trail a few years ago – so we had to find our own way for almost 14 miles – it was a fun obstacle run.

This was also an incredible day because we saw a black bear – in Southern California – which is very rare. Most people don’t see any bears the entire PCT. It scared me for sure when it turned around and started walking my way.

Stats:

Distance: 14.17miles

Ascent: 1517m (without a trail – it was tough and fun at the same time)

Steps: 21.958 (seems off)

Max elevation: 2413

Day 22: Mission Springs Trail Camp to Arrastre Trail Camp (239.9 – 256.2)

Weile at 5.30AM by alarm, had coffee and granola and started walking.

We walked at 2500m elevation all day and through old trees and forest. Saw a cool log cabin. It smelled like forest and sweet like honey. My right foot hurts a bit. It is tough to walk all day. I’m happy though. I am enjoying the views. San Gorgonio with 3500m had snow on top which was beautiful. Crazy to see San Jacinto so far away and that I walked all these mountains on my feet powered by my muscles.

Stats:

Distance: 16.3 miles / 26.59km

Steps: 33369

Ascend: 751

Day 23: 10 mile hike into Big Bear Lake (256.2 to 266.1)

Today, I hit a milestone. While there are large mile markers every 100 miles, I didn’t get very excited about the 100 or 200 mile marker but instantly thought about 265.54 miles – because that marks the 10% completion milestone.

As the distance of the Pacific Crest Trail is so unimaginably long, to think about continuously walking it on one’s own two feet seems crazy, so from the beginning, I tried not to measure a day’s miles hiked compared to total distance because that quite frankly would be disappointing every day. Instead, I take each day, each water carry and each step at a time. This helps me to stay focused on what is right in front of me and not get overwhelmed by a challenge bigger than I could ever dream to overcome.

Nonetheless , I like numbers and the 10% milestone filled me with disbelief – did I really just walk 265.54 miles (427.34km) was I hiking on trail 140h, including 14480m of ascend?🤪 Now the rest of the trail does not feel as impossible as it did just a few weeks ago anymore. You just get up every day and do it – one step at a time.

Day 24: A zero in Big Bear Lake (0 miles hiked)

I had not taken a zero since Julian 2 weeks ago when I was sick, so I needed this day off and was really looking forward to do so in Big Bear Lake because I had heard it was a cute town. Indeed it is! At the Ben & Jerry’s, hikers get a scoop of ice cream for free when you buy one. The lake is super beautiful, the village is hip with cute stores and live music. I went shopping for the resupply, are lots of delicious town food and fruit and washed my clothes in the sink.

Also did some adjustments to my backpack, like fixing minor holes with tenacious tape and adding my sit pad to the bottom of my pack.

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