Well, we left on Sun morning at 10:30 and started hiking in the desert again. We sure felt the effects of our 2 weeks off! It was in the low 90's, but there was a nice breeze. At about 12:30 I started feeling a little dizzy and so we sat down to have a bite to eat. We started hiking again about a 1/2 an hour later even though I wasn't feeling any better and was actually beginning to feel worse. Jeremy found a little bit of shade for me to lay down and rest for a little while. I slept for a short time and woke up very nauseated and started vomiting then I had diarrhea. I felt so horrible. Jeremy was able to call cousin Janet and arrange for her to pick us back up. We packed up the packs and I became really dizzy. My ears were ringing and my head felt like it was stuffed with cotton and I knew I was about to faint or pass out so I layed down face down in the dirt and closed my eyes. It was at that point that I decided that I was done and couldn't and didn't want to go on anymo!

 re. Jeremy strapped my pack onto his and told me to get up and start walking and use my poles for support. I felt like I was in a daze, but I did it. I don't even hardly remember the walk back, but we made it to a parking lot where Rich and Janet could pick us up. I spent the rest of the day sleeping and still wasn't able to eat anything until much later that night. The next day I was pretty groggy, but I was feeling much better. Now we were at a crossroads which seemed to have a myriad of intersections. What to do now? I had absolutely no desire to go on and yet Jeremy was still having a great time and getting stronger all the time. I knew that if I quit he would too and I really wanted him to go on. I would support him from home and meet him in whatever towns I could. We went ahead with that plan and he ordered a solo tent and a smaller pot to be delivered here on Wed at which point

I would rent yet another car and drop him off and drive home. We were both agonizing over being separated, but it seemed like the best plan. We spoke with our families and recieved all kinds of great wisdom and promises of prayers. After a long talk with our brother in law Paul, we decided that whatever we did we would do it together. After more thought I offered to try again on the trail with a much lighter pack. Jeremy had all ready begun thinking where we would backpack at home. There are so many beautiful places in our own home state that given the time we would love to explore! Jeremy voiced that the thought of carrying much more weight than he all ready was, was not appealing to him. I came to the conclusion that I am just not cut out to be a long distance hiker and carry all the food and water a person has to carry to survive. So we have finally come to a decision. We will go home and let our house sitter know we are coming back. We will go off with the dogs and backp!

 ack in the beautiful Eagle cap wilderness in north east Oregon. There are over 500 miles of trails with lots of lakes and trees. This is more our style. We will have our jeep as a base camp,so we can resupply from there. This way Annie has enough time to find herself a place to rent and we can keep backpacking and getting in shape like we wanted. Jeremy still plans to hike with his dad the PCT section they were origially going to do and I will head back to work on a supplemental basis so we can keep hiking throughout the summer.

We don't regret the dream we had and our backpacking days are far from over. We are both pretty sick of the desert and long for lakes and trees and hiking with our 2 dogs.

Everybody has been so encouraging to us by following us on the trail. We are regretting letting everyone down who has been so wonderful to us. The PCT is a very tough hike in so many ways and we have learned a lot from it. The best part is that we are staying together no matter what. Jeremy and I have never been apart for more than a few days and that was tough on us.

Thanks again to everyone who supported the Bumpkin Walkers. We will keep on hiking together which is what we love to do!

Good morning! We are at a Motel 6 in Big Bear. Neither of us could sleep last night. We went out to a Denny's at 11:30pm. We are usually in bed by 7pm. We are just so excited I guess. Also my legs have hurt so bad the past 2 nights I have had trouble sleeping well.

Yesterday we found out why those helicopters were flying over our camp. I had mentioned earlier about a couple of people dying on Mt. San Jacinto. One of them was a PCT thru hiker from last year named John Donovan. He has never been found. We all thought about him a lot and have wondered what happened to him. While they searched for him they found the skull of another hiker that has been missing for 12 years. Anyway, there is a tram that you can ride to the top of Mt. San Jacinto. It's just a day trip and I'll bet the views were spectacular. Anyway a group of people went up and this young couple decided to separate from the group and explore around. They could still hear the voices so they figured they were OK. Well, they lost the group and the tram left without them. Mind you it is HOT on the desert floor in the 90's where they came from and they were dressed for that. They were lost for three days up there in the freezing cold and snow. They are whom the helicopters were searching for that night. One hiker was asking us if we heard a woman yelling, but we had only heard the coyotes that night. Any way they burrowed in a cave the first night and were pretty much doomed to die of exposure, but on Monday they found a backpack. It was John Donovan's pack. They were able to survive out of its contents until they were rescued. There were some matches in there, shoes, socks, a sweater, food...normal hiker stuff. Johns body is yet to be recovered, but the hiker community and John Donovan's family think it's a wonderful legacy for John that from his tragedy his backpack probably saved the lives of those 2 people. We were up there and we know how cold it was. I had mentioned I had no pillow because I was wearing all my clothes plus a 15 degree 900 fill goose down sleeping bag with a silk liner and a tent with a rain fly with 2 bodies inside and a hot meal in my belly and it was definitely cold. Quite a story!

Well, we are going to be home for a couple of weeks, so I will pick up our journal then. Until then we will be visiting family and friends. We also need to visit a snowy mountain to practice our ice axe skills. We will take our dogs and snowshoe up to one of the mountains in our area and practice falling off the edge and self arresting with the ice axe.

Thanks everyone for keeping up with us and praying for us keep it up. We will be continuing our hike at the San Gorgonio pass where we left off and will wrap up the Southern CA. section. We hope the snow will be melted enough to go over the High Sierras in relative safety.

It was still dark when I was awakened this morning by a deer walking by our tent. We keep all our gear and shoes etc. under the vestibule of the tent because the deer and other critters will grab backpacks, shoes, trekking poles, clothes and anything they can get a hold of to suck the salt out of it. Our shirts by the end of the day have white salt all over them from sweating all day and when they dry they are stiff. It's really nasty to put it back on in the morning day after day.

Anyway, I was so anxious to get going. We had a 16 mile 8,000ft descent ahead of us and then a 4 mile walk to Cabazon where we needed to get a room, make a bunch of phone calls and arrange for a rental car.

We said our goodbyes to Dr. Bob since we didn't know if we would see him again. He gave Jeremy a great compliment. He said he was a strong hiker with a great attitude and excellent map and compass skills. All very true. We headed down the mountain with visions of family, a soft bed and good food and some time off to spur us on. There had been a fire on that side of the mountain so once again it was a totally shade less descent. This was OK until the sun came out and we got lower and lower and it got hotter and hotter. ENDLESS frustrating meandering switchbacks in the baking sun for 16 miles is NOT fun. Poor Jeremy had to put up with my complaints about how this is miserable and I can't wait to get the heck out of here and I can't believe that anyone would think this is fun. He started to become concerned that if he got me home I wouldn't come back. I'll come back I just really need some time off from hiking. Jeremy, meanwhile, was having problems of his own. His feet were developing painful hotspots. He tried to stop and take care of them, but it didn't really help. At that point we still had about 10 miles to go. Dr. Bob caught up with us and we hiked together.  It sure is good to have his company, he is really great. We told about our plans and he offered the use of his cell phone to call a couple of local trail angels he knows of in the area that might be able to help. The only problem was that his battery was pretty low, so we didn't have much time. He and Captain America are probably in their 60's. We went through the water fast in the now brutally hot sun and we still were about 5 miles from water. Jeremy was visibly limping now and I was out of water and the others were low. We still had at least 2 miles left. We pushed on because there was nothing else we could do. Everything hurt. My mouth and throat were so dry. I tried to eat some pretzels since we hadn't hardly eaten anything all day and they just got stuck in my throat because I had no moisture. I can't remember a time when I've been so thirsty. Finally we made it to the water faucet at about 1:30pm and I drank 3 liters of water right down and the others guzzled water too. By now we were all pretty beat up and in bad shape. Jeremy was the worst with his now very painful foot. He said it's like walking on thousands of needles every step. Bob called the first trail angel and she wasn't home. He called the next one and she wasn't home either, but she also had a cell phone. This trail angel is a former PCT thru hiker trail name Gottogo. She lives about 25 miles from where we were.  I was sure we were going to be walking the 8 miles we had left to get to Cabazon, and I didn't think Jeremy could do that. Bob called her cell phone and she answered! She said she was in the area and only about 10 min away and yes, she would come and pick us up. She said she usually comes in the evening, but she just had a feeling she should come earlier today. We hiked down to their car since the road we were on was blocked. They hiked up to meet us and her husband (a retired prop master for Gun Smoke) took Jeremy's pack which was very nice of him. After discussing our options we decided to go to the airport in Palm Springs and rent a car. We didn't realize this, but it is more than double the price to rent a car from an airport than from a regular dealership. We did however have a few to choose from. Jeremy did some checking around and finally got the best deal he could and we had a car until Saturday. Our plan is to drive to Big Bear City and get a room and make our numerous phone calls. We had to call Annie our house sitter who had planned to board the dogs for the weekend since she is going out of town, call Jeremy's mom to let her know we will be in town and would she be available to help us drop off the rental car, and several others. Everything is working out so well. We are so excited to be coming home. We plan to surprise my parents. That would be fun!

Our whirlwind hike up, across and down the San Jacinto Mtns has left us feeling crippled and sore. We went way faster than we normally would have, but it will all be worth it to see our family and friends soon.

We all slept well although there was a helicopter flying overhead over and over. We all wondered if there was someone lost or something. It would be very easy to get lost up here and it's pretty cold at night. The coyotes howled in the early evening and they were sure close.

Captain America had a terrible night of sleeplessness and has a very sore knee. He has decided to get off at Idyllwild after all. We met 2 other hikers as Captain America, Jeremy and I started off. The 5 of us got lost pretty much right away. The trail is not well marked and hidden under the snow. There were footprints everywhere indicating that several others had been lost as well. We bushwhacked up through the snow and scrub until we were high enough to line up peaks and get a bearing on where we were. After following the compass we finally found the trail. We were a little worried about Dr. Bob but Captain America assured us that he was a professor of advanced backpacking at a university and would have no problem. As we headed down the trail I looked down and saw Dr. Bob wandering around in a ravine. We shouted for him and waited for him until he joined us on the trail. We all then headed to the saddle junction where everyone but Dr. Bob and us went down to Idyllwild. We hiked up, up, up to 9,000ft. Actually it was more than that because we would hike up 1,000ft and then down 1,000ft and then back up. It was incredibly hard and incredibly beautiful. The air is thinner up there and Dr. Bob and I were feeling the effects of it. I was working hard to breathe and it slowed me down. We hiked alone for awhile and then met up with Dr. Bob again. We lost the trail again in the deep snow and we decided to stick together to look for it. We hiked around above where we thought it would be and finally  found a junction with the PCT. We then were faced with the infamous Fuller Ridge. It started with us in about 2ft of snow that was steadily getting deeper. We hit our last water source for about 20 miles and tanked up from a freezing cold snow melt stream. These streams are very dangerous because they flow under the snow and you could walk on them unawares.  Jeremy was carrying 7 liters and I was carrying 4. We had 5 miles of Fuller Ridge to hike yet and we were running out of time. The last 2 1/2 miles of it are the most dangerous because they are on the north side with 4 ft of snow and they are on a very steep sheer ridge. Below us was 8,000ft drop to the valley floor. We were post-holing and slipping and sliding around. We had no crampons which was fine because the snow was too soft for them, but we did have our trekking poles. Without them this would have been nearly impossible and much more dangerous. I was up to my thighs in snow. It was exhausting work and very slow going. We usually hike about 2 mph. That day we were probably down to about 1/2 mph. at times. I was totally spent and could hardly go on. Jeremy took 3 liters of my water so he was now carrying 10 liters. He carried it like a champ. He was having so much fun with the snow and fighting daylight and getting lost and the thrill and danger of it all. I, on the other hand was struggling even with the lighter load. We also had to contend with downed trees that we had to traverse around. We finally made it across Fuller Ridge safely after much prayer on our part. We stumbled into our campsite. Jeremy was feeling good, but Dr. Bob and I were another story. My hips and legs hurt more than I could imagine and at 9,000ft I was working much harder than normal to breathe. I was so glad to be at camp! We set up the tent and I took my usual baby wipe bath and went to bed after taking 4 Advil. Jeremy stayed up and talked with Dr. Bob and another hiker who came down after us. We had to get up early the next day because Jeremy and I had been talking about a crazy plan to take a vacation from our vacation. We are actually going too fast and need to give the Sierras more time to melt. We wanted to make it to Quincy in time for the Fri. night performance of "The Sound of Music" (which my brother and nieces are in) so we have been pushing ourselves much harder than usual. We wanted to go to our friend Bryan's wedding, get his old pack since his new pack was giving him problems, go to my brother and nieces performance of "The Sound of Music", surprise my parents in Quincy, Ca., celebrate

Mother's Day, visit our home and spend some time with our dogs. We also have gear to go through and more plans to make regarding food drops etc. No coyotes tonight. All of our exertion has left Jeremy with an insatiable appetite. He just can't seem to eat enough and we gave away all our extra food. Can't even believe what we have just been through. All I can say is keep up the prayers because they are working and we need them desperately!

Wow! What a day. We left camp at about 6:30am and hiked the mile to the trail. We left yesterday at 4,500ft and are now camped at 8,500ft. We started hiking and it was absolutely the most grueling hiking we have ever done. Steep and climbing all day long. The views were breathtaking! We were in and out of desert chaparral mostly manzanita which is blooming right now and smells fabulous. The bees think so too and swarm them. For the last part of the hike we have been in sheer granite cliffs with beautiful Silver tip pines and sugar pines. And Snow! We were kicking footsteps into the snow and using our poles for balance. Going through snow is exhausting especially at the end of a tiring day. We hiked all day with 2 guys trail names Dr. Bob and Captain America. Captain America was planning on getting off the trail at Idyllwild to re-supply. He changed his mind and wants to skip it. He needed food so Jeremy and I were able to supply him with enough food to get to Cabazon. We gave !

 ourselves 6 days to hike this and we are going faster than we planned and will probably be able to hike it in 3 days.  We are camped in the only snow free spot around we are all crammed in this little area, but thankful for dry ground. It is soooo cold up here. I won't have much of a pillow tonight because I'm wearing all my clothes!

Jeremy is so wonderful. While I sat on my duff because I was so tired Jeremy set up the tent and while I took a baby wipes bath and got all my warm clothes on he pumped 6 liters of water for us for tomorrow. Now while I'm writing this he is cooking dinner. The other guys were pretty impressed with his .3oz. homemade alcohol stove and Jeremy likes to show it off.

Tomorrow we have quite a bit more snow to go over and we climb to 9,000ft. We will go over the infamous Fuller Ridge tomorrow. it is believed to be the spot where a hiker died last year and a hiker died there last month. This is why we waited to go over this spot. Hopefully the snow isn't bad there.

Well, it's time eat!

Thanks again to our wonderful trail angels Rich and Janet! We sure had fun! We started hiking around 11am and hiked for 12 miles to Cedar Springs. We had to hike a mile off the trail to get there, but we were out of water and there was good camping. There are 2 older gentlemen here and another hiker we met named Morgan. We are so used to solitude it's kind of weird to camp with other people, but they are real nice.

It's so good to be hiking northbound again. We left today at Hwy 78 and are heading for Cabazon. We climbed 1,500ft today and the views are spectacular! The trail is great although it's steep and rocky at times. We are going to try to get up early and put in a big day tomorrow. Jeremy's feet did good today and I felt good also. I think we may have finally got our "mountain legs". It was tough earning them!

Happy Cinco de Mayo. Well we made it to Agua Dulce! It was a long hot walk through town, but we are so glad to be here.

The Saufleys are really nice and they have a great set up here. There is a mobile home for hikers, but all those beds were spoken for so we are staying in an RV. It will be more private, so that will be nice.

We will be here until tomorrow when Jeremy's cousin Janet comes to pick us up. At some point we will be dropped off back at the Paradise Cafe and we will head northbound again. Hopefully the worst of the desert is behind us, but there is more ahead along with mountains and snow. For now we will take a small break and then the adventure will continue!

The wind, cold and drizzle didn't go away all night and was still in full force in the morning. It was too cold to get up, so we laid around until about 8am and then finally decided to leave. I bundled up in fleece, hat and gloves and we set out. We started with quite a climb, so Jeremy shed his layers early on, but I didn't take mine off for awhile. It was a perfect day for hiking. It was cool, the trail was beautiful and we are feeling great. We climbed out of Green valley canyon, and then in and out of Spunky canyon and Dowd canyon and now we are camping at the bottom of Bouquet canyon. It is a 10 mile 1,600ft climb out of this canyon in our final stretch to Agua Dulce.

We ran into another rattlesnake today. I didn't even see it and walked right by it, but Jeremy saw it. It was right by the trail. It was pretty small and probably too young to have rattles, but it did have a diamond back. It was about 50 degrees outside so it was cold and slow. We also have been brushing ticks off of each other all day. We've had about 12 between the two of us all day. We go by so many bushes it's unavoidable and just part of our new PCT life. When we got to our campsite a very curious toad poked its head out of its hidey hole in the sandy ground. Jeremy got a good picture of it.

Thanks for all your letters of encouragement and rooting us on. We are back in love with the trail! I guess hikers are a fickle bunch.

You'll hear from us again in Agua Dulce yea!!!!

We packed up and had a great lunch at the Rock Inn. There was no one available to give us a ride to the trailhead so we walked there. It was much better going down than up. Also it has turned cool and there are some clouds. As we hiked on the beautiful trail we ran into some other thru hikers. One of them was one of the guys from England that we left Lake Morena with. The guy he was hiking with quit the trail. Anyway it was so good to see him and he had some really rough times in the San Jacinto's too with falling and losing the trail. He has a trail name now and it's pretty funny how he got it. He was at a store re-supplying and when he opened one of the cans of food to eat it he thought it tasted kind of funny, but he figured it must be an American thing that he didn't know about. As he was reading the label it said, "How to keep your dog happy." He then figured out he was eating dog food. He introduced himself as Alpo (like the dog food). We probably won't run into Alpo again, but he is going to go back to England in about a month to try to renew his visa for another 3 months so he can finish the trail.

As we ascended the clouds got thicker and thicker as we climbed 1,200ft today. Jeremy said, "I feel like I'm going to come around a corner and be at the Pearly Gates!" We could only see the trail right in front of us, although we knew there were canyons all around. The air was thick with moisture and cold, but it wasn't raining. We finally started making a rapid descent into San Francis Quito Canyon in Green Valley in Angeles National Forest. The weather was getting worse and we needed to make camp. We had hiked 10 1/2 miles in an afternoon. We got some water at the ranger station and camped along side the trail. It is soooooo cold about 54 degrees outside and that is not taking into account the wind chill factor because the wind is blowing and gusting at times. It keeps trying to rain, but hasn't yet. It probably will tonight. Tomorrow will be more of the same. Climbing in and out of steep canyons all the way to Agua Dulce. It will sure be good to wrap this section up. It has been a hard one.

Good morning! We slept in until 8am which is unheard of for us. Just wanted to let everyone know our next move. We are leaving this afternoon to finish hiking southbound to Agua Dulce. The initial hike out of Lake Hughes is a grueling 1,000ft climb out of Elizabeth Canyon. We can see all the switchbacks from here. So, we will just get the big climb out of the way this evening when the sun isn't so brutal and then we'll camp. When we get to Agua Dulce we will go to Jeff & Donna Saufly's house. They are well known trail angels and the story about how they became trail angels is pretty funny. Apparently, one night Jeff went to a bachelor party where there was a lot of drinking etc. Donna didn't really want him to go so to get her mind off things she went down to the restaurant for a Burger. While she was there she noticed several filthy, dirty, tired hikers at another table, but they seemed nice and were having a good time. They didn't have anywhere to stay so Donna invited them to stay in her bunkhouse on their property. She brought them all home and they flopped down on the bunks and couches. Meanwhile Jeff didn't really like drinking and he wasn't having much fun and he was missing Donna like crazy so he decided to go home early. Donna, having second thoughts about bringing all these strangers home had locked up the house like Ft. Knox and was laying in bed wide awake listening to every sound. When Jeff came home trying to get in the house he tried the doors and windows and found himself locked out. Donna thought it was hikers trying to get into her house and she just laid there scared to death! Jeff figured she was mad at him and had locked him out so he headed to the bunkhouse to sleep. He didn't turn the light on because he knew in the dark right where the couch was. When he flopped down to go to sleep he laid right on a startled hiker. They both jumped up and Jeff said, "What are you doing here?" and the hiker said, "What are YOU doing here?!" Anyway they got it all straightened out and had a good laugh the next morning. Jeff and Donna have been taking good care of hikers ever since.

Jeremy called his cousin Janet and when we finally get to Agua Dulce she will pick us up there and is going to help us get back to Anza where we left off and we will continue our trek northbound from there back to Agua Dulce. Thanks cousin Janet! You're a lifesaver!

We saw Kevin (the guy that gave us a ride to the Rock Inn yesterday) last night here eating dinner and talked with him about the trail. He is a runner and has run on the trails around here quite a bit. On his run yesterday he said he ran into 3 rattlesnakes! Yikes! I hope he scared them off!

Well, we've got a few chores to do and we plan to leave here about 3pm. We are hoping to get a ride to the trailhead since this road is so dangerous to walk on. I'll bet we will. I'll continue this day's journal entry tonight, meanwhile everyone have a blessed day.

We camped early last night and got a good nights sleep. After talking over various scenarios we decided to keep on the trail as planned, but not rush and try to do big miles. The trail from here has been so nice and beautiful. Not rushing through I have been enjoying the trail much more today. We are looking forward to a burger at Lake Hughes. We hiked through canyons that are covered in chaparral and graphite mines toward the end. We are covered in bug bites and I am scratching like crazy. We saw our arch enemy poison oak again today. We made it to the road that leads to Lake Hughes and had a two mile uphill walk on hot pavement. There was no shoulder and it was very curvy and dangerous. A guy named Kevin stopped and asked if we were PCT hikers and offered us his place to stay. We thanked him, but said we were going to rent a room near the restaurant and market. He then offered to drive us there and we accepted. He dropped us off at the Red Rock Inn and we were instant celebrities. The mother of the owner is about 80 years old and she was so excited to see us. Her eyes brightened up and she didn't know what to do first. She had a card she wanted us to fill out and she wanted to take our picture and give us the best room she was so sweet. She wanted to take our picture while we were at our grimiest. Our room is cute and the restaurant is downstairs and the market is across the street. Unfortunately the is no phone here so we have to go across the street for the phone. We will get this off today.

We were so tired and didn't want to get up today. I think between the Mojave desert and the steep climbs we are just worn out. We made it out of camp by 7am and had a very steep climb right off. It leveled off a bit. Once again it was very hot, but the high chaparral made it bearable. What was unbearable was the mosquitoes. My face was so sweaty they would stick to my face. Yuck! I finally had enough and got Jeremy's face net. That was a big improvement. We ran into our first rattlesnake today and it was a doozy! It had at least 8 buttons on it's rattle and it was shaking them all at us. Jeremy got a great picture of it. We waited for it to go away, but it was content to sit right by the trail. We finally went around it giving it a wide berth. For awhile after that we were spooked and everything looked like a snake! We got to our water source and I sat down and expressed my doubts about me finishing the trail. We have only been going about 8 miles per day the last two days and it seems like I just run out of steam on the steep hills. We are just about out of food and we have at least 2-3 more days of hiking left. We made our lunch today (our 1 hot meal of the day) and it was disgusting. It tasted like some sort of nasty chemical had gotten in it. We really tried to eat it because we were so hungry, but there was no way. Reluctantly we threw it out. That did not help our spirits any. We hiked on and finally found some decent shade to take a break. Jeremy had expressed doubts early on, but we kept on going. Now as we discuss the snow and the dangers this particular year and all the skipping around we are having to do we are starting to make other plans. We may get out of this funk and keep going. That would be good. We know that people from time to time have doubts about the trail. We camped early tonight since neither of us are motivated to push on. Maybe with a good nights sleep we will feel better. We are however; getting off the trail to go to!

  Lake Hughes to re-supply and call people to let them know that we won'

t be making it to Agua Dulce in the 6 days we had planned. For now we are just going to have to rethink our food supply and realize it's going to take us longer than we thought for each section. That IS why we left so early. Tomorrow will be a better day. WE MISS OUR FAMILY!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLAIRE!!
We didn't get to bed until about 11pm last night. We watched Bonanza on video and read the PCT register from 2003-2006. We were the first ones to stay at Hikertown in 2006 so our entry is the first. Pretty cool. We got up about 6:30am and left around 7:30am. Our goal for today was to get most of the 2,300ft climbing out of the way. As we left the desert behind and headed for the hills we were feeling pretty good. There has recently been a big fire here, so the trail is virtually wiped out and at times very difficult to follow. There were several fallen trees and huge washouts that were like little canyons we had to jump over. I made Jeremy very nervous by barely making it one time! What would have provided refreshing shade was now just a bunch of black twigs. So once again we got hot and our energy was sapped early on. Jeremy's knee (which he has had 3 surgeries on) started giving him some trouble and he was allergic to something up there and was sneezing a lot. So we weren't moving very fast. The views, however, were gorgeous. Wildflowers blanketed the hillsides and ravines. Purples, blues, yellows, white, gold, red it was amazing! We got lots of pictures. I wanted to pick a huge bouquet for my mom, but she will enjoy the pictures.

We made it to our water source and filled up and rested in the shade for about an hour. We felt so much better after that and made our ascent. The trail is pretty overgrown, so there is a lot of bushwhacking involved. There was a time when the weeds were taller than me! We climbed and finally made it to the greatest little campsite. It is nice and flat with green grass and pine trees. The birds are singing and the views are excellent. We are on the Liebre Mtns. Our elevation is 4,780ft. From up here we are supposed to be able to see the lights of L.A., but we will probably be asleep before we can find out. Maybe we'll see them in the morning. We would love to stay at this campsite another night, but our barely adequate food supply forces us to push on.

Wow so much to celebrate today! We did our first 20 mile day AND we have completed 200 miles on the PCT!

We got up early this morning and started hiking about 5:20am. The minute the sun came up it was HOT. Of course there was no shade and we were walking on a dirt road paralleling the the L.A. aqueduct. By 9am it was 99 degrees and I'm sure it climbed higher than that. We were absolutely melting in the sun when a van came by with 2 young guys heading out to ride their motorcycles and they stopped and handed us 2 ice cold bottles of Gatorade. it was just exactly what we needed! They call this "trail magic", but we call it a blessing from God. The walking seemed endless and by 1pm it was truly dangerous to be out there. I told Jeremy I felt like I was slowly committing suicide being out there like that. I even started seeing mirages and was sure there was water on the aqueduct and the road. How embarrassing! We were blessed again with an abandoned homestead where someone had lovingly planted a pine tree. The little fence was still around the trunk along with a stake to support it. Now this tree (the only one around) had grown huge with low sweeping branches. We could both lay under it's ample shade and we did for 2 hours. Oh, it felt so great to relax in the shade! All around us were scrubby bushes and Joshua trees. The peoples houses we walked past had signs out front like "not welcome" and "No trespassing-violators will be shot-survivors will be shot again"

We thought they were pretty funny.

Anyway, we reluctantly got up from under our wonderful tree and started hiking the 5 1\2 miles to Neenech. After lots of hot and windy walking we came to the place where the L.A. aqueduct and the California aqueduct cross each other. We made it to "Hikertown" (a personal residence) at 6:15pm and met Bob. He showed us all around and drove us to the little market so we could pick up a few things we needed. Jeremy checked the website and got a weather report. Weather looks clear. Even Bob said it sure was a hot day to be walking in the Mojave! We agreed.

Hikertown is pretty cool and Bob is really nice. We are staying in a converted barn with another room built onto it. It comes complete with the little mouse that Jeremy saw running across the floor.

We are so tired and tomorrow we head for the hills again and climb 2,300ft. Just thinking about it makes me tired! This is definitely the most extreme thing either of us has ever done!

We sure had a windy night last night! The rainfly was slapping against the tent all night. We woke to a beautiful view of Antelope Valley the Mojave desert. We still had some climbing to do, but in the cool of the morning it wasn't too bad. I kept up better today, but I've done better. It's really sad the way the off road vehicles have really torn up the trail. They are not allowed on the trail and there are signs posted everywhere to that effect. They make new trails and at times it is easy to get lost following one of them instead of our beloved PCT. We got turned around once, but it wasn't for long. The day turned really hot as we were climbing down the canyon. The views were incredible with deep ravines and cheerful yellow flowers everywhere. Unfortunately there was no shade except the very rare juniper bush. We were fighting the blistering heat all day and finally 13 miles later when we reached our water source Tylerhorse Creek Jeremy decided to take a break here until the sun started sinking. The water was cool and we drank about a liter and 1/2. I rested and Jeremy soaked his feet in the creek. We had one more 200ft climb out of Tylerhorse Canyon to go. The heat had gotten to Jeremy and he had a splitting headache and was very nauseated. We were hoping to hike a few more miles, but we really needed to make camp. By this time the wind was whipping and we were hiking in ravines again with no flat places whatsoever. We hiked on until we found a sandy wash to make camp. For once I felt great like I could hike for miles, but Jeremy is sacked out already and it's still light. I think a good rest will do him good. The trail on this section has been crazy. The slope is so steep and you are walking at an angle on very loose gravel. There really is no "trail" at times. At other times the trail is so narrow you have to put one foot directly in front of another just like a supermodel on the catwalk!

Tomorrow we will be on the desert floor following the L.A. aqueduct for I don't know how many miles. Shade is out of the question so we are planning to get up early and beat the heat. We have about 24 miles to hike to get to a place called Hikertown. With the flat terrain we just might make it. I've heard Hikertown is kind of a offbeat place, so I'll fill you in on the details later. Well, it's starting to get cold and I need to tend to my ailing hubby.

Good morning! Our day didn't start out so good. The whole reason we stayed at Whites Motel was because they are designated trail angels and give rides to the trail head. Otherwise we wouldn't have stayed in a motel that we had to clean first before we could relax in it. Anyway, yesterday Jeremy arranged with the front desk for a ride in the morning and they said no problem.

When he called the front desk this morning the guy said that the boss is the only one with a car and he is out of town until Sunday. Jeremy was very upset! We had to end up calling a taxi from the next town Tehachapi to come and drive us to the trailhead. $30 later we were at the trailhead. It felt good to be on the trail again even though it started with an 800ft climb right off the bat. We could both tell that we had gone a little "soft" from our 5 days off. We both decided not to take that much time off again....especially in yucky Mojave!

As we were hiking we ran into 2 thru hikers trail names Sweetpea and Kestrel. This is the second time they have done the trail only this time they are gathering data for their PhD. They are leap-frogging and flip flopping even more than we are!

There is a herd of about 30 wild horses around us. They have been around a long time and originate from Spanish explorers. Sweetpea and Kestrel saw them and they ran up and over the hill before we could see them. Maybe tomorrow.

Today we almost climbed the 2,300 ft that was our goal. This would have taken us to 6,200ft before we drop down to the Mojave desert. I pooped out at 5,400ft much to Jeremy's dismay. So we made camp in a less than ideal spot, but it will do. We have been getting sprinkled on here and there, but not really a true rainstorm. We have our rainfly on just in case.

We hiked along the Tehachapi wind farms all day. The gigantic windmills are amazing. As you walk by them you feel like a little ant.

By tomorrow we should be on the desert floor and will hopefully be making good time as we roadwalk on the flatlands. We only hiked 10 miles today and in order to make it to Agua Dulce in 6 days we have to hike about 17 miles/day. So we have some miles to make up for since we are only carrying 6 days of food. Not to worry though, we still have some fat reserves to use up!

Thanks to all, Bumpkin Walkers

Hello all! We are still in Mojave and will be leaving in the morning to hit the trail again. It's been great having this time off, but it's time to get going. As James Taylor says," The walkin' man walks."

We heard from Smoky and Fancy and they went over the San Jacintos but not without hardship. First of all it's only a 30 mile section and it took them about 4 days. Fancy fell down a bank for about 15 ft. She is OK, but a little scraped up and ripped a toenail. They were snowed on and there was lots of snow and they were post-holing, lost the trail for awhile and the going was pretty slow. They made it to Idyllwild, but are skipping the next snow section not wanting to go through that or worse again. They are going to take a little while off and take a break.

It makes me feel good about our decision. We will probably pass them on the trail going south.

We will keep you posted on our plans and our adventures along the way.

We are homesick, but having a great time.

We stayed here another night since we needed to do some research at the library which was closed yesterday.

Yesterday we ran into a section hiker named Osprey who just finished hiking northbound the section we are going to be hiking southbound. He came over and we talked for quite awhile about trail conditions, water sources etc. He had some great information and it really helped us out.

We went to the post office and mailed our packages and now we are just getting ready to leave tomorrow.

It will be good to get back on the trail. We will be hiking just over 100 miles in this section.

We had such a great time with Badger and Hot Sauce last night. They are pretty cool. Badger has a degree in chemistry and Hot sauce has a degree in biophysical engineering. Neither of them are using it though since they have spent their time being ski bums working at different ski resorts and snowboarding a lot.

There was ice all over the tent this morning and everything was wet. We had to meet Doodad at 8am so we just packed everything up wet and hiked off to meet him. We ran into Hot sauce and Badger in town looking for a good hot bottomless cup of coffee and we got their picture. We also ran into Eric (who we first met at the Paradise cafe). He had just come down Devils slide and had made it over the San Jacintos. He said there was lots of snow and he was post-holing (walking through snow up to your thighs) for 3 hours. He hiked 30 miles a day. He is in incredibly good shape, did the PCT last year and is very comfortable in snow. He did see Smoky and Fancy up there, but they were quite a ways behind him since they average 15 miles a day on dry ground. Another hiker we know, trail name Cucumber, took one look at all the snow and turned around and came into town. We never did see him there though. We let everyone know our plans and headed odd to catch our ride. It was kind of sad to leave our little group, but we really feel like we are making the right decision for us.

It was great to see Doodad again! He is looking well and feeling pretty good. We had to wait for the PO to open and I went and got breakfast. We had a good drive to Mojave and talked a lot. Doodad is trying to see if the PCT would allow him to pull a bicycle type cart behind him so he could continue his hike. They don't allow bicycles and may not distinguish between the two. He will keep us updated.

We thanked Doodad for the ride and he sped off as he had a dr.'s appt. to get to.

We registered at Whites motel. They are official PCT trail angels and will give us a ride to the trailhead. We have so much to do since our plans have changed so quickly. We just relaxed and talked with family the rest of today and tomorrow we will get to work. We are a little anxious about this change of plans, but we are in it together and keep the prayers coming!

Well, we woke up to a winter wonderland this morning. About a 1/2 inch of snow everywhere. We are camping at a campground and our tent did pretty well. We had a great breakfast at the Red Griddle and drank lots of good coffee! The mountains around here are covered with snow and in talking to locals it is bound to continue. We looked at all our options and finally decided to go to Mojave and hike south to where we are now. We got an e-mail from Doodad and he is seeking medical care in Ramona and has a rental car and was wondering if he could help us with anything. We called him back and he is willing to help us get to Mojave. He has to come into Idyllwild to get his packages anyway and will be here at 8am.

We made some phone calls to inform family of our change in plans and then met up with Nic and Andy (Hot Sauce and Badger) aka the guys from Pennsylvania. We bought a pepperoni pizza and they bought a berry pie and we sat around a rip roaring campfire all evening talking and laughing. So the Bumpkin Walkers are still in business, but in a new area. It will be interesting trying to follow us now as we are going southbound from Mojave to Anza.

It snowed all night long. Our tent received some minor damage by a fallen pinecone. It put a 1/4 in. tear in the rainfly but I patched it with good ole duct tape. Regina and I got up this morning and took showers, almost getting hypothermia in the process! We left our camp and now we are having some good hot coffee. We are now going to see if the local Laundromat can get the overwhelming stench out of our clothes!

 I feel like we made the right decision to get off the trail yesterday. I won't be surprised if our PCT comrades get off the trail and show up here! When I saw the low clouds around the San Jacintos and felt the temp drop I knew it was going to snow. I am a little bummed out because we have walked 150 miles through So Cal hills and chaparral and were just about to be rewarded for our efforts by climbing a decent mountain, but that will come soon enough.

I can't seem to relax about the issue. There are some definite options. 1. we could rest our muscles and wait for the storm to pass, re-supplement our food bags, get our ice axes & crampons, a larger map of the area, and hitch a ride back down to where we left off. 2. skip the last 30 miles and start up the mountain from here. Or option 3. take an alternate route linking dirt roads and trails to get around this mountain. By going over the mountain (option 1-2) we will be in snow for at least 15 miles possibly more. If we do option 2 we will have to come back at a later date to finish, and we will regret it. Option 3 does not sound very appealing and the chances of getting lost are probably greater. Option 1 I am concerned about ice, but we would have the proper gear now.

All that I know is for sure we will be staying to rest our very sore muscles!

We woke up very early (5am) and got on the trail with our headlamps on. It was very cloudy and cold once again only this time there was a biting cold wind. We hiked for about an hour and came upon the two guys from Pennsylvania, a father and son (trail names Scout and Sprout) and Smoky and Fancy. Everyone was just waking up, so we stopped and talked awhile about plans and gear etc. We all met up again at a water cache 3 miles away and agreed to met at the Cafe. Upper Coyote Canyon was the steepest yet! It was so ridiculously steep I can't even describe it. Straight up! There are these stick bushes with thorns on them growing over the trail that grab you as you go by. Jeremy got caught up in one and was stuck in 3 different places. Anyway, it was such a long hike today. The weather was getting worse and worse as we got closer to Pines to Palms Highway. Jeremy's feet were getting very sore and we took frequent breaks to rest them. He is developing hot spots under his toes and they will soon be blisters. Then he started getting nauseated. My feet were just hurting the usual amount in the same places. I got a new blister over the old one on my right toe. We were tired and tired of hiking! We also figured we were too low on food, physically and mentally needing a break and the weather on the San Jacintos looked nasty. We decided to go into Idyllwild and rest our weary bodies. Easier said than done! We had a great lunch with Smoky, Fancy, Scout and Sprout. We decided to hitchhike to Idyllwild and stood out in the freezing cold for about 15 min. before we gave up. Neither of us has much hitchhiking experience and we were very uncomfortable. We went back into the cafe and considered our options. We could camp out in a field by the cafe and try in the morning (not very appealing) or try to get to Anza (6 miles away + another 4 miles to the campground) It was getting to be about 5:30pm by that time. We tried again to hitch with no luck. Back into the cafe we went. We met another PCT hiker named Eric and he gave us some hitch

hiking pointers. We were running out of options and I thought we were camping out in a field for sure, but we made a new sign that read, "Idyllwild" along with our hiker to town sign. Within 10 min we had a ride! We were so happy we couldn't believe it! It was a really nice lady who is familiar with PCT hikers. She drove us around town and gave us a tour of the surrounding area and in town. We walked 1/4 mile to the state campground just as it was starting to rain. It's only $6/night here and it's a nice campground. The other people in our group are attempting to climb, but may change their mind and come into Idyllwild tomorrow. I am happy with our choice, it looks pretty bad up there.

We hiked 15 miles today in and out of steep canyons.

Jeremy says Hi and at about 8:30am we stopped to brush our teeth. His quote of the day is, "how can you be happy without happy teeth?"

Well, it is raining pretty good now and we are so thankful to be in our tent warm and dry. Jeremy was feeling malnourished all day and felt much better after getting some solid food in him.

We are on the mend!

Right now at 8:15pm it is snowing on us! We're so glad to be in town and not in the mountains!

We went to sleep early last night it was still light out. During the night the clouds rolled in. We woke up and were on the trail by 6am. We watched a beautiful sunrise. We passed Smoky and Fancy sleeping by the trail. We were back to our old pace and flying down the trail. We started with a steep uphill climb and without the sun baking us it was a piece of cake! By 9:30 that morning we had hiked 6 miles. By noon the sun had burnt off the clouds and it was hot again, but that was OK because by then we were going downhill. We stopped for lunch at about 12:30 and I took about a 20 min power nap. I have always been able to sleep anywhere which came in handy today as I was on a gravel slope. Jeremy read maps and listened for a weather report on his radio. As we rested two other PCT hikers came by. We remembered them from Warner Springs. It was the guys from Pennsylvania.

We hiked down to a spring and loaded up on water again. It tastes pretty nasty, but it's wet! We started looking for a campsite and found a good one. We stopped hiking at 5:30pm. We are pleased with the 17 miles we hiked today. About an hour after we set up camp Smoky and Fancy came by. We are all excited to get to the Pines to Palms highway 13 miles from here because a mile down the road is The Paradise Cafe with it's legendary burgers! There is also a phone there so we can send and check emails.

We could see the San Jacintos from the trail today and there is definitely snow on them, but it doesn't look too bad. We'll stay on the trail as long as we can!

Jeremy says hi and he thinks that down here spring showers bring cactus sprouters!

We are hoping for an update from Doodad tomorrow. We'll pass on what we find out.

Jeremy & I had a great time talking about future plans and our childhoods and all kinds of things. It sure passes the time and the miles fly by as I get to walk and talk with my best friend!

Had a hard time getting going this morning. Jeremy had "town hangover" so bad that he suggested staying another night! I resolutely said, "no"! We started out later than we had planned. We had to walk along the highway for 1.4 miles which was very dangerous because of it's blind corners and lack of a decent shoulder. We were glad to be back on our old friend the PCT.

We crossed Agua Caliente Creek right off of the highway and then walked in some very wet tall grass. We crossed this creek a total of 8 times today. We both got our right foot wet crossing it and had to hike with a wet sock all day. We filtered 4 liters of water each to carry. The trip up the mountain of Cleveland National forest was a scorcher. After so many stream crossings, swatting bugs and rerouting around fallen trees I was tired even before we started the 2,300ft climb for today. It was sooo hot and once again there was no shade. This time however; there was not a breath of wind either. My energy was zapped and I lagged behind Jeremy all day. Our 4 liters of water were going faster than we had expected. We did manage to hike 13 miles today. We took a break at about 2 and I was wiping my face and it felt like I had sand all over my face. When I looked at the "sand" it was white. It was salt granules from my dried sweat! Very weird.

 We are on a ridge above a canyon, so camping spots are few and far between. I was so tired but I knew that there was not much else to do but keep pushing on. Once again Jeremy started getting worried about me and at 4pm he had found a perfect little campsite just big enough for our tent. 4pm is awfully early to be stopping in hiker world, but I am so blessed to have a husband who is sensitive to my needs and doesn't make me feel bad for slowing him down and not getting to the destination he wanted tonight.

Not our best day of hiking, but tomorrow will be better. We got the bulk of the climbing out of the way. Really we're so high up there isn't much more we could climb. We were rewarded for our efforts with a beautiful view of Chihuahua Valley.

As we were lounging at our campsite Fancy and Smoky came walking by. They had a rough day too and were glad to hear they weren't the only ones. They are from Klamath Falls too which is quite a coincidence! Fancy said she was going to call the Herald & News (the local K. Falls paper) to let them know that 2 couples from there are on the PCT. They were very envious of our campsite as they have been looking for one for about an hour. Wish there was room for all of us.

We sure missed our friend Doodad today and thought of him often. It sure has been fun hiking with him.

It's good to be up in the high country again. We're at 5,100ft right now. It will be great to see pine trees again. I'm tired of chaparral!

Onward! Bumpkin Walkers

Happy Birthday Krista!!

We got up at 5:30 this morning and went to the mineral hot springs and soaked for about an hour. The hot springs are about 104 degrees and toward the end we were feeling a little lightheaded. We headed back to our room and were just getting settled when there was a knock at our door and a frantic security guard was standing there telling us that Doodad was in the lobby and he was very sick and they had already called the EMT. We quickly went to him and we found him sitting on a bench in a bathroom looking very pale and weak. He had been up all night vomiting and is very dehydrated. He has been pushing himself so hard with his very heavy pack. We have been worried about him daily that he is overdoing, but he seems to have been doing OK until now. He will need to stay over an extra day or two and rest and re-hydrate. We will stay as long as he needs to to make sure he is alright. We mixed up some electrolyte drink for him and left him to rest. If he gets worse he may need to go to the hospital and get an IV. We are letting him rest now, but will check on him at 1:00 this afternoon.

I know he would appreciate your prayers.

Bumpkin Walkers

We enjoyed our campsite last night in the meadow; however there are hazards to such a great campsite. We woke up and there was dew all over the tent AND when we were packing up a herd of 15 cows descended upon us. They were very curious about us and got too close for me! I climbed up onto a giant granite boulder and left Jeremy to herd them away from our campsite. About 10 years ago I was out on our neighbors' cattle ranch and got chased and treed by a bull. That was very scary and not fun. Apparently I am still afraid of cows.

We finished hiking the short distance into Warner Springs. What a fancy schmancy town! Basically the whole town is the Warner Springs Ranch Resort. It is private and very exclusive. It has an 18 hole championship PGA golf course a huge mineral pool and two other regular pools. You can take a ride in a glider or rent horses and go riding. The best thing about it is that they let hikers stay here! The hiker rate is only $50.00/night. Otherwise the members pay $150+/night. Each casita is like a little house. They are sooo cute! The population of Warner Springs is 203 and the Resort employs 150.

Doodad finally showed up at about 4pm. He will hike to Idyllwild and then he is going to rent a car and attend a wedding of a friend, go to the PCT kickoff party and then resume the trail. I hope we see each other again. If not we can communicate with him through pocketmail (he has one too.)

We have had fun today exploring the resort. We had a great lunch at the golf course.

We have taken a trail name. In a previous email I said we felt like 2 country bumpkins in the big city. Uncle Irv picked up on it and has been addressing us as "Bumpkin Walkers" We feel like this fits us rather well and who better than Uncle Irv (a seasoned outdoorsman/ wildland firefighter himself) to bestow us this honor.

Looking forward to tomorrow~ a day of rest and relaxation in the mineral hot springs.

Onward, Bumpkin walkers

We had a very very windy night! When we got up we all debated about hunkering down for a day to wait it out. Jeremy started getting nervous about a lightning storm hitting us and this was no place to be, it was unanimous we'd all head down to Barrel Springs. The hike down to Barrel Springs was unforgettable! The wind was whipping and gusting so strongly that I had to walk in front of Jeremy so he could grab my pack if the wind knocked me off the trail (and down the canyon). Jeremy said it was like the wind and the sun were at war and we were caught in the middle of a fierce battle of the forces of nature!

Well, we finally blew down the mountain and arrived at Barrel Springs at 11am. We stopped to wait for Doodad. At 12 another PCT hiker named Tim who we met yesterday said he saw Doodad earlier that morning. We waited until 2pm and then decided to hike on. We left a note for Doodad that we would see him at Warner Springs.

After Barrel Springs the scenery changed. Gone were the endless cactus and chaparral, instead we found ourselves in the middle of a meadow complete with green grass, wildflowers and beautiful Oak trees. We couldn't believe it! The wind died down, the sky was blue and our spirits were lifted.

We ran into another hiker trail name "Chance". This is his 3rd time to hike the entire PCT. He is going from Warner Springs to Lake Morena where there is an annual kick off party for PCT hikers. We talked for about 40 min and he had a wealth of good information and advice.

We passed Eagle Rock and got some pictures. Pretty cool. We also went by the Lost Coyote Indian reservation.

Our campsite tonight is a grassy little flat by a big granite boulder. The views are fantastic.

We are only about 2 miles from town. We hiked 17 miles today and we feel pretty good. My feet are sore as always, but not as bad as last night.

We are looking forward to the Hot Springs at Warner Springs.

Happy Resurrection Day! What a glorious morning! Jeremy & I had a little Easter service in our hotel room. What a special time of prayer! So much to be thankful for. Our cup runneth over!

So many people in town have questions about what we are doing. It's pretty fun to talk with them.

Our wonderful trail angel Jan was there at 8am to pick us up. She is a retired archeologist. She was instrumental in the conception of the PCT. The engineers would go out and flag where they thought the trail should go and then Jan's team would scout the area for artifacts or places that the trail should be routed around. She is an older gal with a foreign accent I couldn't place. She remains active in trail maintenance and still hikes herself and she helps PCT hikers!

Well, we caught up to Doodad today he was sure surprised to see us! He hiked with his friend for awhile, but now he is solo again. His wife is in England right now visiting family, she plans to join him on some sections. He misses her.

Jeremy got some great pictures today. We saw our first barrel cactus and horny toads keep running across the trail at our feet. We stopped and watched a beautiful falcon ride the wind. What a treat!

As expected the trail was uphill all the way. It was cleared off well so for the first time I got to hike in shorts. Usually there are wicked looking cactus reaching out to get you and shrubs with thorns and other prickers.

The wind today was incredible! Gusts grab our packs and threaten our balance.

We hiked 14 miles today and I am beat! Jeremy found 2 great campsites and by the time I got there my trekking poles were more like canes helping my poor feet and legs ambulate.

Jeremy is so dear. He knew I was exhausted, so he did all the camp chores and I crawled into my sleeping bag and haven't moved since.

Jeremy is over talking to Doodad who caught up to us and is occupying the other campsite. It's nice to have a neighbor. It helps Jeremy relax.

Doodad is into ham radio and he is sending an email to his wife in England right now and she got it!

Amazing!

Well, we are tired and will get a good nights rest.

We are 92 miles from the border and Warner Springs is mile 110. Jeremy wants to make Warner Springs tomorrow, but I don't know if I have it in me. We will probably get to town early Tues.

We woke up this morning and had a great breakfast at the B&B. Checkout was at noon so we did some gear evaluation. The weather was still really nasty so we decided to move across the street to the Julian Lodge which doesn't cost as much.

Last night we went over to Doodad's room and had a time of prayer and he read from the Bible. We talked about the next section to Warner Springs. He has a friend here in Julian who wants to hike with him to Warner Springs. I'm sure we will run into him again. He is becoming a good friend.

We were a little concerned about how we were going to get back to Scissors Crossing with it being Easter morning and all. We went to the local chamber of commerce and there is a trail angel named Jan who lives here and helps PCT hikers. We arranged with her to meet us here at our hotel at 8am to go to the trail. I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter! I plan on focusing on Jesus and his death, burial and resurrection as I hike tomorrow. It is so great to have this time to focus my mind on things above.

Well, we have 15 miles to hike tomorrow to our first water source and it's all uphill!

We should be hitting snow soon at least that's what we hear.

Jeremy says Hi. He is studying maps now which is what he does a lot!

We woke up this morning while the moon was still up, packed up and were on the trail by 5am. It was still dark so we hiked about an hour with our headlamps on. We were still on Granite Mtn. which we have been on since yesterday. It has to skirt around miles of private property making it incredibly frustrating because you can see your destination and yet you are hiking miles out of the way. We FINALLY got off the mountain and decided to get off the trail and go to a little town called Julian. Jeremy remembered reading that there is a rural bus that runs at 8:30am into Julian. We were still a ways from the road so we decided to go for it and walk as fast as we could to the road. It reminded me of taking a walk with my mom because she walks so fast I have to jog to keep up! Anyway we made it to the road and the bus did come by and Jeremy flagged it down. We ran with our packs on and caught the bus. It cost $5 each for us to ride the bus and Jeremy only had a $20. Because we didn't have exact change the guy had the door open and was going to throw us off the bus in the middle of the desert! I couldn't believe it! Just then he got a call and had to pick up another passenger in Borrego Springs so we got to stay on the bus since Jeremy could make change in that town.

We made it to Julian and checked into the historic Julian Hotel Bed & Breakfast. It is so beautiful! We made some phone calls and then went outside just as a nasty storm blew in. It's raining cats and dogs here! We are so glad to be off the trail and not hiking in this weather! We'll have to hitchhike back to Scissors crossing to pick up to trail where we left off. Hopefully this storm breaks. Now we are going to get our first hot meal since leaving San Diego.

God has watched over us every step of the way. We see His guiding hand on a daily basis. It's incredible to me that He cares so much about 2 crazy kids and their dream to walk from Mexico to Canada!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to us! Yes, it's been 4 wonderful and adventurous years! We are more in love today than EVER!

Well, it's really hard to believe that last Thurs. we were standing at the Mexican border ready to start this trek. Now as we lounge at our campsite we have hiked 73 miles.

We slept under the stars last night. (Which means we only set up our inner mesh tent) There are WAY too many creepy crawlies to TRULY sleep under the stars! The moon was sooo bright! In the morning we awoke to a stunning sunrise-so magnificent!

My feet felt much better and we were ready to hit the trail. We left our campsite at about 6:10am. We hiked for about an hour and we came across Doodad packing up his campsite. What a character! He has so many doodads hanging off his pack it's unbelievable! Radios, antennas, GPS, and who knows what else! Part of his ritual in getting ready is to smear what he referred to as, "circus grade white clown face paint" all over his face. I couldn't even look at Jeremy because we both would have burst out laughing uncontrollably. He really did look like a clown! But, maybe he is onto something because he's not burned and Jeremy and I are FRIED!

Then he asked Jeremy to help him put on his pack. Jeremy couldn't believe how heavy his pack was...about 70 pounds!

Well, we left Doodad and started hiking again and our destination was Rodriguez Spur truck trail, our next water source. The trail was going along just fine until it suddenly took a very, very steep knee aching 700ft drop in a mile. At the bottom we heard there were Indian mortar bowls carved into the granite, so we left our packs at the trail and went artifact hunting. We were so happy we found one! We got a picture.

Back on the trail again we had a punishing climb waiting for us. We regained all our altitude we lost in 90+ degree weather. The trail leveled off as it followed the contours of the hills. We made it to our water source and rested and Jeremy gave me the best anniversary present ever! He said he would carry one of my liters of water! So now he is carrying 7 liters and I have 5.

Well, we climb into the San Felipe hills toward Warner Springs!

Well, we finally got moving again! We were starting to feel like lazy bums! The rest sure did us good though. We started out from Mt. Laguna at 7am and we felt great~ no aches or pains. We were just hiking along enjoying the incredible views (Jeremy took lots of pictures), and when we stopped to take a break at 10am we figured out we had already hiked 6 miles! We couldn't believe it. We kept going and at 9 miles came to a picnic area that is our last reliable water source for 24 miles. We rested and pumped 12 liters of water and drank as much as we could. So we set back out with 6 liters of water each and 6 days of food plus all our regular gear. Jeremy was feeling great trucking right along I, however, was wilting in the heat and from the weight of my pack. I started dragging at about 4pm and Jeremy offered to take some of my water (maybe it was dumb, but I said "no") and at 5pm I think Jeremy was getting worried about me so he scouted out a campsite even though we had hours of daylight left. We were feeling pretty good though about the 15 miles we hiked today. At this point in the hike water dictates how far you must hike and your body better be able to meet those demands. Our lives now consist of finding all water sources reliable and unreliable and knowing all bailout points in case we run out.

We are in very rugged territory right now with huge granite boulders all around and lots of scrubby little bushes. The ground is a fine gravel which is very nice to sleep on.

Jeremy is out exploring right now and I am lying in the tent because my feet hurt so bad that standing on them is not an option. A good nights rest and I'll be good as new tomorrow (I hope).

Our food for this 6 days includes granola bars dipped in Peanut Butter for breakfast, Lipton Noodles for lunch, and dinner and snacks consist of peanuts, Wheat Thins and beef jerky. Yee Haw.

We hiked on some spectacular cliffs today. If a person was afraid of heights they would have been scared to death! We also came across a big ole lizard sunning himself in the middle of the trail. He didn't look like any lizard either of us had ever seen...more like a miniature Komodo Dragon. He followed us with his eyes, but didn't budge as we walked WAY around him.

Well the sun is going down and I am getting cold, so I'll say goodnight for now.

We hope to catch up to Doodad tomorrow for some more great stories and conversation.

What a lazy day we've had! Hanging out at Mt. Laguna is rough. Tomorrow we will get an early start on our next section, a 70 mile trek out of the Lagunas edging the Anza-Borrego with lots of long waterless stretches....should be a challenge. We will arrive at the small town of Warner Springs, hopefully alive, looking for a shower, and a good rest. The Desert has been kind to us so far, suffering only from sun burns. The wind has been cool, and the chaparral has provided shade and occasionally bloomed flowers, cacti, and of course poison oak every now and then.

Today we separated our food rations, put together a bounce box. A bounce box basically is extra stuff we think we need but don't want to carry like batteries, first aid, shampoo, extra food, and what ever we pick up along the way that is extra. We send it at least a week ahead of us to the next re-supply town.

We hung out a little with Doodad today. Doodad sure has a lot of doodads including a small ham radio w/antenna. He sets it up in the woods and talks with Morse code. I had to take a picture of him today with his pack on because it was so amazing. He is a really neat guy. On the PCT we really go out of the way to take care of each other. Doodad invited us over for peanuts yesterday, and today we discussed some trail strategy and we gave him some compeed bandages for his blister. We also swapped pocketmail addresses so we can keep in touch on the trail.
Please keep us in your prayers as we will be even more challenged on this next section.

We spent a very cold and windy night at Burnt Rancheria among the pines and oaks. We had a great little hike into the town of Mt Laguna. On the way we met up with the desert view trail that gave us a spectacular view of the Anza Borrego desert. Desert as far as the eye can see. We arrived in Mt. Laguna at about 0900 and went to the little store/PO to register for 2 nights. The owners are very used to PCT hikers and were not at all offended by our "Hiker stench" They are very nice people. We even got our laundry done for us for $3.50/load. We shopped at the store and re-supplied for the next 6 days.

Jessie and the 2 guys from England hiked on, so I don't know if we will see them anymore; however we did meet Doodad a fellow PCT hiker from British Columbia. Very nice guy. We swapped trail stories and compared gear as hikers do whenever they meet. We are starting to feel like real PCT hikers!

We are enjoying our zero days (days in which we log zero trail miles) very much. We are resting, making phone calls, going through our gear and lightening our load as much as is safely possible. We love all our emails from everyone! Thanks so much for the support! Jeremy says "Hi"

Today's hike was the rest of the climb into the Laguna Mtns. We left camp at 4200 ft. and we are now camped at 6000. Wow! such an incredible hike. As we traveled further into the Lagunas we could look all the way back over all the terrain we had traveled.....very rugged and hot!

Glad to be in the Mnts. except up here there is a bite of coldness in the 40mph winds. We heard an arctic storm is blowing in.

Our last push up the Lagunas we ran into 3 male illegals. We were a bit startled by them. They were in sad shape. One of them tried to communicate he was hurt and needed an ace wrap.. I think. I guess they are harmless, that's what the locals say, but I don't take chances. I am really sick and tired of seeing them litter this trail, America's crown jewel. This trail is like a freeway for illegals and I'm sick of it! We need some minutemen on the trail!

Well all that aside, Regina and I are at Burnt Rancheria campground, one mile from town. Tomorrow we plan on getting a room to recover. My foot arches are bruising and its starting to get painful. Regina's heel is bruised, but isn't bothering her to bad. We have walked 43 hard miles with no days off! We hiked with Jesse today, and he is probably in town tonight. We will be mailing pictures off tomorrow, and calling home.

We got up and dried our frozen rainfly out and started hiking at about 9am. The climb out of Lake Morena wasn't too bad considering we only planned on hiking the 6 miles to Boulder Oaks Campground. On the way we met a dayhiker named Fred who is stationed here with the Navy. He is quite a talker and talked our ears off for 3 miles and then for another hour at the campground. Jesse caught up to us at the campground and after much discussion we decided to push on for another 2 miles even though the elevation gain in those 2 miles was 2000ft. Well we did that OK and amazingly still felt pretty good so we pushed on. We crossed a road and I was running out of steam, but Jeremy didn't want to camp by the road so once again we pushed on. By this time we are in a rugged canyon with steep downhill on one side and steep uphill on the other at 4200ft and not a campsite in sight and daylight is slipping away. I prayed for a campsite since my body was telling me "I'm DONE" God answered my prayers as we came upon a little windy shelf at the edge of a huge canyon. In any other situation we would never have considered this a campsite, but it looked great to me! It is freezing up here, but we have good gear, each other, God, and our designated trail angel grandpa Harley Marshall on our side. Grandpa would have loved this! (Except for the rattlesnakes) Well, it's goodnight for now and we push on toward Mt. Laguna and a motel room. YEA!!

Well we pretty much hobbled into Lake Morena campground, so happy to be here! The water looks so nice. We made a couple of phone calls and registered at the ranger station. We went to the backpackers designated campsites and found Jessie and a couple of fellow PCT'ers from England. Great accent I could listen to them talk all day. Jessie overdid it and is recovering here at the campground just resting and re-hydrating. One of the guys from England is sick from a recurrent cold and heat exhaustion. All in all I guess we are doing better than I thought since we feel just fine except for sore muscles and sunburns. We took showers...GLORIOUS!

Then walked 1\2 mile to the little grocery store where everything costs about triple what it does at home! We may stay here tomorrow night too as it is a pretty hard stretch and Jeremy is nursing painful shin muscles. We'll see how we feel tomorrow.

Keep the prayers coming!

We started today with a 1000 foot decent then a 1000+ climb. We are here at Lake Morena and its like an oasis. We will camp here tonight and if we feel good we will head for the mountains tomorrow. This is the hardest hiking we both have ever done. It is quite challenging, and at times discouraging, but already some of the most incredible vistas.

Regina is doing so great! I am proud of her. This is already quite a journey and hopefully we can hang in there.

What a difference a day makes! We left the house at about 4:30 and arrived at the border at about 5:30. Thank you Bob for the adventurous ride and the great hospitality! After taking a picture Jessie took off and we haven't seen him since! We hung around and took a picture at the monument marking the beginning of the trail. We were beginning to take a picture when one of the militia minutemen drove up and got out of his truck. I was a little nervous about this since these "good ole' boys" are all over the news. He turned out to be very nice and took a picture of us at the border he was patrolling. So we set out on the first day of our journey. Along the way there are signs of illegals everywhere. Zip ties they've used for handcuffs, discarded clothing and trash and wrappers in Spanish. Jeremy was particularly distressed about the litter as this drives him crazy and makes him sad. As we traveled on we were amazed at the beauty of the cactus, and flowers. After all the rain we just had this sure doesn't feel like the desert.  The terrain is pretty hostile though.

We are now camped just above Hauser creek. Jeremy is cooking dinner on our new stove which he made at Bob's house out of 2 soda pop cans. It runs on denatured alcohol. Jeremy was so impressed with it he sent our trusty white gas stove and fuel bottle to Warner Springs and we may bounce it home and never use it. We'll see. Well at this point we have gone 11.5 miles and we are beat!

Jeremy has been the absolute best hiking partner. If I get out of his eyesight when I come around the corner he is there waiting for me.

Border patrol presence is everywhere here. The choppers are constantly flying overhead and at night they scan this whole area  with infrared night-vision. We feel pretty safe tucked away in our little tent. Keep the prayers coming and thank you everyone for all your notes and thoughts. We sure look forward to them. Well, we're gonna eat dinner and hit the sack! We'll sleep good tonight we are so tired~ almost too tired to eat and that's really tired.

We're off to the border!

Talk to you at Mt. Laguna  - The Franklins

Well here we are at THE day! We woke up at about 3:30am and got our hiking clothes on ready to go.....and it was pouring down rain with a flash flood and wind advisory.

Sooooooo we all decided that we will hang out here for one more day as the weather is supposed to clear tomorrow. Our first day of our big hike and we take a zero day. What slackers! Actually, we have hiked in pouring rain with driving wind before and it isn't much fun and is best avoided when possible. Jesse has gone back to bed and Jeremy and I are watching a movie. The plan is for us to hit the trail at 6am tomorrow. Keep the prayers coming! We love all the notes from everyone!

 the Franklins

Well we made it! We are at our trail angel's house, Bob.  We got here before him and he just showed up a few minutes ago. He is great! We also met his Golden Retriever named Sandy. We can't believe we are here. I can already tell that this will be a life changing experience.  We are going to go and pick up Jesse, another PCT'er, at 6:00pm then go out for Mexican. He said he will be dropping us at the border tomorrow before light.

Regina:

It has been quite an experience already. I feel like I am in a foreign country. We are sitting in Bobs backyard looking over the fence into Tiaquana (sp?) Mexico. Bob is skimming his pool and talking about past hikers he's hosted. We have 3 bedrooms to pick from and a motorhome. We chose a bedroom with double glass French doors overlooking National City. Bob is making us feel very welcome in his home. Well, we will update again soon! love you all ~ The Franklins 

Hello Family and Friends,

As you all know Regina and I will be starting on our vacation of a lifetime.....hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. Mexico to Canada on foot with our home on our back.

March 31st we will be turning off our phones, so there will be no way to reach us except by email. We will be receiving emails by a small device that we carry with us called pocketmail. When we arrive in a town the first thing we will do is find a pay phone, hook the pocketmail up and send/receive email. We are driving to the Mexico border and will leave from there on foot April 5th at around 6am. 

Regina:

Hi everyone! I can't believe the time is almost here. So much planning and yet there are so many unknowns. This is truly an adventure of a lifetime! We will be relying heavily on your prayers and your support. You are a huge part of our journey! I want to thank all our family and friends for helping to make this crazy dream of ours a reality. Thanks mom and dad for not freaking out when I first told you about this. Instead you were excited for us and gave your support right away.

Well, our house looks like a backpacker outfitters store with full inventory of gear and LOTS of freeze dried food! Soon we will be saying goodbye to all that is comfortable and familiar and heading to new surroundings where the strangers we will be talking to will be asking us if we are crazy  and out of our minds for what we are attempting. Leaving family and friends for 6 months is very hard to do. We will miss out on family get-togethers, birthdays, graduations and special times. In exchange my prayer is that Jeremy and I grow closer to God and to each other.

We will be in touch as often as we can since we will be missing you all like crazy! Please send us notes of encouragement and inspiration as I am sure there will be times we will feel like giving up. I am sure that some of our most exciting times will be when we get town and download our pocketmail. Yea for technology that allows us to communicate with our loved ones like this!

Well, I have to say I am excited, but nervous about starting. Our great "getting in shape" plan sadly was comprised mostly of good intentions. The truth is we are starting this incredible journey in the worst shape of our lives. The only good thing is that our before and after pictures will be more dramatic! It has been downright embarrassing when we are so excited to tell people about our plans and they look at us like " I don't think you could walk around the block let alone from Mexico to Canada!" Mostly people say, "Have you ever done anything like this before?" So we don't look like the athletic type, but we love backpacking and the outdoors and we are determined to soak in all we can.

We'll see some of you along the way and others when we return, but we will be thinking of you all.

Section	mi/day	ft/day	Distance (mi)	Elev. Gain (ft)	Days	Arrival
Campo (start) Actual start date	4-05-06 4-06-06
Campo to Mt. Laguna Actual arrival @ Mt. Laguna	13.5	1684	43.9	5485	3.3	4-08-06 4-10-06
Mt. Laguna to Warner Springs Actual arrival @ Warner Springs	10.4	522	70.1	3500	6.7	4-14-06 4-18-06
Warner Springs to Idylwild Actual arrival @ Idylwild	12.4	1711	74.1	10211	6.0	4-20-06 4-22-06
Idylwild to Big Bear City Itinerary Change- Tehachapi to Agua Dulce  Arrival @ Lake Hughes  Arrival @ Agua Dulce	14.5	1770	100.6	12307	7.0	4-27-06 5-2-06 5-5-06
Big Bear City to Wrightwood	16.1	1399	93.1	8090	5.8	5-03-06
Wrightwood to Agua Dulce	15.6	1763	92.5	10428	5.9	5-09-06
Agua Dulce to Tehachapi	18.8	2142	100.2	11427	5.3	5-14-06
Tehachapi to Kennedy Meadows	16.6	1878	141.9	16045	8.5	5-23-06
Kennedy Meadows to Vermillion Valley Resort	16.2	2563	184.3	29128	11.4	6-03-06
Vermillion Valley Resort to Red's Meadow	16.1	2363	30.6	4484	1.9	6-05-06
Red's Meadow to Tuolumne Meadows	11.4	1427	37.1	4626	3.2	6-08-06
Tuolumne Meadows to Echo Lake Resort	16.5	2133	153.3	19885	9.3	6-18-06
Echo Lake Resort to Soda Spr. / Pooh Corner	13.0	1615	60.7	7536	4.7	6-22-06
Soda Spr. / Pooh Corner to Sierra City	17.5	1301	41.4	3070	2.4	6-25-06
Sierra City to Belden	18.6	2246	91.7	11056	4.9	6-30-06
Belden to Chester	10.1	1500	46.5	6875	4.6	7-04-06
Chester to Old Station	19.6	1591	41.9	3400	2.1	7-06-06
Old Station to Burney Falls State Park	21.0	667	45.9	1457	2.2	7-09-06
Burney Falls State Park to Castella	19.2	1855	82.9