Snuffy’s 2013 Pacific Crest Trail Journal July 20 & 21

#ThrowbackThursday

This is part of a series of journal entries I have made while section hiking the Pacific Crest Trail since 2013 over on Trailjournals.com. I am moving them here to Must Hike Must Eat and updating them with photos (and maybe fixing typos). Look for them on Thursdays or you can head over to Trailjournals.com and read as many as you would like!

http://www.trailjournals.com/journal/entry/426552

Destination: Trout Lake
Today’s Miles: 0
Start Location: Bridge of The Gods
Trip Miles: 0

I’m off! It was a nice ride down, and I learned about my new friend, Cat, and that we have a lot in common. I look forward to seeing her again on the trail.

Looks like I’ve lost service again, I’ll type more later. The beginning of my adventure was an adventure all it’s own. My dear friend Elizabeth, who was supposed to start with me, her father passed Monday. Needless to say, she wasn’t able to come with me. So, I needed to find another ride to the trailhead as well as figure out my resupply for Trout Lake, as her pickup ride was going to bring them. I just decided to take all my food to make it to White Pass (150 miles) so I could have the option not to stop in Trout Lake if I didn’t want to.

I posted on Facebook about needing a ride and found a trail angel (someone who helps PCT hikers) to get me to the trailhead. I loaded up my pack and made myself a lunch to eat on the way down. Unfortunately, I ended up not eating it, so it went in my pack as well. Needless to say, I started out with a pack much heavier than intended and as you will hear, no appetite.

http://www.trailjournals.com/journal/entry/426580

Destination: Trout Lake
Today’s Miles: 13
Start Location: Bridge of the
Trip Miles: 13

Another short entry as I have reception to let loved ones know where I am. I posted several pictures.

All the pics of the PCT markers are for everyone who asked how well marked the trail is. There even more than that I didn’t stop for, all the first 13 miles. The first lake I came to today was Lake Gillette. A small lake, with a day hiker fishing. I passed about 11 folks today heading south. Mostly day hikers. I met a thru hiker I call Smoking SOBO. He saw me coming and quickly put out his cigarette. He had started from Canada. All I can say is I was dying and I couldn’t believe he was able to smoke! With my lunch in my pack from yesterday, I was extra heavy. I had to keep reminding myself, it won’t be heavier than this the rest of my trip.

I also ran into a section hiker, Slick from Newport, WA. He was headed to Cascade Locks, then headed up to do parts of the Pacific Northwest Trail (runs Bellingham to Glacier NP). I started at 1:30pm and hiked until 8:30, 13 miles. I was totally spent and crashed into my tent. I did nothing, even slept with my food in my tent. Woke at 1 am, at the low elevation it was hot and hard to sleep. I didn’t do too bad, though, first night in the woods by myself. Struggling with heat and not hungry, having to make myself eat.

http://www.trailjournals.com/journal/entry/426745

Destination: Trout Lake
Today’s Miles: 20
Start Location: Mile 2168
Trip Miles: 33

Made it to Windy River road last night, with a side trip to a spring I did 21 miles. For all of them I had been hoping to find a garbage can to unload some stuff. So happy! I’ve been writing notes that I’ll to these entries later, lots to say. The one thing I’m dealing with is I’m not as hungry as I thought I would be, so the food weight is not going down very fast. I’ll explain more later but I have all my food to make it to White Pass (9 days). I could use some hiker hunger! And thank you to those leaving guest messages, very appreciated! Edit: I left mile 2168 @ 6:45am and had breakfast @ a lookout 8:30 am.

So far, I have had good reception, especially along the ridge lines. I have my phone on airplane mode but when I want to use a particular app, I have to turn that off. It will be funny to do so and an email from Target, “20% off patio furniture” will pop up telling me I have service. Anyway, I know it won’t last, I’ll be at higher elevations in a few days. The app I mention is designed just for the PCT and tells me with GPS exactly where I am on the trail and details about what’s ahead like water and campsites. I use it in conjunction with my maps.

I passed about 10 folks by 10am today, including Leisure Suit and Little Foot who are headed south, flip flopping to Tuolumne, CA. Flip floppers are hikers who started at one end, like Mexico, hike a ways, then flip flop up to the other end and go down. All the hikers I met warned me about bees on trail, everyone was being stung. There was a group of Boy Scouts including an older gentleman named Dennis who was finishing his WA section of the PCT.

I had my first good fall today. There was a little side trail to a piped spring. It was bushy and hard to see the trail, a rock caught my left foot and took me completely down on my right side. Luckily, nothing more than a bruise on the hip! Still feeling nauseous and it’s hard to eat. Focusing on drinking lots of water. Not sure if it’s the physical exertion or I still recovering from the food poisoning I had at the end of my Yellowstone trip.

Made 2180 by 1:30 pm, 25 miles in a 24 hour period. As I was nearing the section that was supposed to have bees, I ran into a day hiker from Portland and his dog. He was on the trail just hoping to run into a PCT hiker, he was carrying Gatorade and other treats. He turned around and hiked back with me, warning me about the bees and saying he had left a stick on the trail to mark it. Now, I must admit I felt really bad because I couldn’t accept his Gatorade, even though I wanted to. It wasn’t the Blue #4, I was worried that it would make me more nauseous than I already was. I felt like crying I couldn’t accept it.

I made it to Trout Creek camp by 3:50pm to find some more trail magic by Cat, Skittles and some Starbucks Refresher packets. I felt so guilty about the Gatorade, I ate the Skittles. Delicious! I did laundry and ate dinner. I realized at this point I had no spoon. The trade off for bringing all that food was to leave my stove out and waiting for me at White Pass. I forgot to take my spoon out, however, and eating has been interesting. It was a nice campsite but I decided I would hike on a little further because it was right by the road. I made it a few more miles and crashed for the day (at a stealthy spot under some trees just before Wind River Road).