Eating pizza and garlic fries in the Red Dog Saloon in the restored mining town of Virginia City, Nevada while listening to live jazz. God bless America.

Day 49: sitting on Black Sand Beach after having hiked 25 miles of the Lost Coast over the past four days. (Yesterday, at 2 miles, was especially rough.)

Spent yesterday in Eureka, met some interesting people. Headed out to the coast today, might not have reception for the next week or so.

Continue to be exceedingly impressed by the punctuality of Greyhound buses. Maybe we'll try Amtrak next time. On the plus side, got to see San Francisco Bay.

The bus is currently running at least 10 minutes late (or at least we assume. It hasn't shown up yet). Sure glad we got here 30 minutes early like they told us.

After an absolutely fabulous 3-day 2-night stay at Hiker Heaven in Agua Dulce (L-Rod, you're amazing!), we're headed toward the Lost Coast via Greyhound.

Towanda got stung by an of insect of doom & was up most of the night soaking her foot in cold water, trying to keep the pain at a tolerable level. 0mi today.

Day 38: Dropped off at the trailhead by our kind & goofy host, and ran into trail legend Mendo-Rider as he was heading off to do some trail upkeep.

Day 37: Zeroing on Wrightwood, hoping to recover somwhat from the way we pushed ourselves from Big Bear to Wrightwood. The library is golden.

Day 35: Did 18mi/4800ft. Got to camp but were warned by Scalpel about bears. Chief looked at the tracks & said there might be bears, but they had dog feet.

We finally have trail names! Towanda (the Avenger, Righter of Wrongs and Queen Beyond Compare) and (Flatia, Goddess of) Air. No points for guessing who is who.

Day 32:
Stubble check: Rugged and manly.
23.5 miles today. Operation Insert Sugar Into Bloodstream And Pass Out has commenced. Dinner can be eaten tomorrow.

6 years! Celebrating with hummus by Holcomb Creek. Melted-Rolo trail mix, foot soaking and a nap in the sun to follow.

Day 30: Left Big Bear Hostel this morning and did 19.5 mi (longest day yet). Convo over dinner:
M: My dogs are barking.
N: My dogs have been treed by a coon.

No worries, it was in a cage. There's a film stunt animal company with cages ~50ft E of the trail. There was a cute tuxedo-colored kitty on guard.

Saw our first grizzly bear today!

Day 27: 12 mi before 12:30 and no one feels like death/dying. Progress, I say! Views of the snow-covered San Gorgonios. Also, there's tequila at this H2O cache.

Day 26: Spent the morning climbing into pine forest and will be sleeping at 8000 ft near the source spring of the creek we've been following.

Day 25: Taking a siesta by the creek we'll be following for the next 15 mi. It appears damselfly mating season is in full swing; I can see 6 pairs from my seat.

So, re: lost phone issue ... if you have my phone number, please shoot me a text and identify yourself so I can get your number.

Lost my phone during longest-mile day thus far. Rescued by great-aunt in Palm Desert, staying for a couple days in her beautiful house.

We met a guy with a 5 lb base weight. Base weight=weight of all gear minus food, water, and fuel. Ultralight=10-15 lb. Most have 15-25 lb.

Different priorities: Honey-Badger dropped all his 1st aid gear, extra socks, and battery pack in Idyllwild. We picked up 3 books.

Hiker gathering seem to consist almost entirely of comparing packweight/hiking speed/distance per day. We usually lose these battles.

# books read/carried during first 15 days: 0. # books Nia read during two zero days in Idyllwild: 2. # books carried out of Idyllwild: 3.

Had to hitchhike ~17 miles to Idyllwild. Were picked up within 90 seconds by two plucky octogenarians in a Prius. Best hitch ever?

Day 16: Up at dawn (though we youngsters missed the Senior Shuttle by 20 min) and lunched at Paradise Valley Cafe. Real food is too real.

Third day with Andrew and Nancy, third night of cowboy camping. It's been fabulous. I'll be sad to part company tomorrow.

Day 15: Took a siesta from 12-2 today. Of course we can't know how it would have gone without that, but the afternoon was pretty brutal.

Day 14: Longest mi yet. Cowboy camping with yesterday's peeps on a ridge with clear views to the NW, N, NE and SE. Sunrise should be epic!

Cowboy camping (without a tent) for the first time tonight. It's Nancy's first night as a cowboy, too. Wish us luck!

Day 13: Met up with Andrew and Nancy.
Finally! We meet peeps the night before and spend the night at the same place. Thanks for sharing!

Day 12: Gorgeous day. Hiked through chaparral & grazeland & are tenting on sand next to a small creek under beautiful gnarled trees.

If you've ever put on sunscreen, not just for the SPF, but also b/c it smells waaaaay better than you, you might be a long-distance hiker.

Breakfast of champions: coconut moose goo burritos. PB, masa, honey & coconut oil mixed together and spread on tortillas.

Things you don't expect to hear while rescuing your tent which has collapsed due to heavy, wet snow: frogs. You are a strange place, CA.

Hit mile 101 today. Only 2562 to go!

Day 10: The Chaparral Show hosted by Heavy Rain. Today's guest Babywipe-Smelling Flowers with 'Didn't Think the Desert Would Be Like This'

A Rusty moment: when all you want to do is wail " but I don't want to live in a fabric house with no couch!" (in honor of Jo's dog Rusty)

If you answered D, congratulations, you might enjoy the PCT. If not, perhaps you should try something more predictable, like sky-diving.

a) I hate it, b) I try to avoid it whenever possible, c) I like it, but only if there are safe words and leather involved, or d) FUN!!!

Pain, how do you feel about it?

Is this: a) a disaster, b) I'm going home. Now. c) I'm going to devote my life to teaching the world re: the trail's hazards, or d) FUN!!!

You wake up having survived an all-night wind/rain storm, which collapsed your tent and soaked you & that gear which it didn't blow away.

Is this: a) lunacy, b) sheer lunacy, c) what on earth was I thinking? or d) FUN!!!

You wake up bruised, badly blistered, and everything hurts. There's a 14-mile hike between you & the next water.

How to tell if the PCT is for you: a multiple-choice quiz.

Vertigo from video games: debilitating. Vertigo from actual mountains? so far nonexistent. I'll keep my fingers crossed until the Sierras.

Day 8: narrow path, steep mountainside, heavy mist & high winds. Wait ... are we in the highlands of Scotland?

Day 7: encountered my first rattlesnake. Looked at least 4.5 feet long. No one got hurt, but I think I lost about 2 years off my life.

We're not allowed to say this until we're actually IN town "And they found their bodies the very next day." Some things are just too real.

As a (former?) polar bear, it's disconcerting to go from being v. hot to COLD in the space of 30 sec, depending on the presence of sun.

Day 5: taking a zero day (0 trail miles) in Mt Laguna as we gear up for the next week, which includes a 30-mi portion of H2O-less desert.

Day 3: +1LCK, -1 AGL, -1 PER, -2 CHR

Day 2: a self-proclaimed (and much touted by other hikers) 'Malt Shop' has not served malts for "like, two years, man". Boo.

+1 INT (also, must try not to hit the send button when trying to hit the down arrow button)

Day 1: twisted my ankle, but suffered no lasting injury (-1 AGL, +1 LCK); decided to stay near water rather than try for 20 mi (-1 END, +1

Have discovered that I need to send these updates during the day, when we're at higher elevations, rather than at night in the valleys.

Safely in San Diego. We have an appointment with a monument at O dark hundred tomorrow.

Finally done packing (and almost done with other preparations). Off celebrate with Chinese food! And possibly malts.

PCT 101

So, your friends/relatives/random acquaintances are attempting to through-hike the Pacific Crest Trail.

[tetraconz on flickr]

DON’T PANIC! We will get through this together. Let’s break it down:



the Pacific Crest Trail a.k.a. PCT
A national scenic trail with its southern terminus at the U.S.-Mexican border near Campo, California and its northern terminus in Manning Provincial Park, British Columbia. The trail is roughly 2664 miles long and runs through the Laguna, San Jacinto, Tehachapi, Sierra Nevada, and Cascade mountain ranges.
Learn more about the PCT from the Pacific Crest Trail Association and Whiteblaze.net PCT forum.

through-hike a.k.a. thru-hike
Hiking the whole length of the trail in one go (as opposed to hiking only a section of the trail). Paradoxically, one can only truly call oneself a through-hiker at the moment one ceases to be a through-hiker -- at the moment one completes the trail.

[andyleonard on flickr]

Some questions we have frequently been asked (and the answers):

• How long does this take?
• Four to six months, depending on assorted factors including the (in)experience of the hiker, the weather, and luck. Because we have little experience with long-distance hiking, we’re expecting the hike to take us six months. We’re leaving during the first week of April and hope to return near the beginning of October.

[MiguelVieira on flickr]

• Wow! Wish I could take a six-month vacation.
• We are terribly excited and grateful to have the opportunity to make this journey. We expect to come back revitalized, but not especially rested. If hiking 10-30 miles per day through the mountains, six or seven days per week for six months sounds like a vacation to you, perhaps you should consider hiking the PCT.

• What will you be taking with you?
• We expect to be carrying between three and eight liters of water each, enough food and fuel for five to nine days, and the gear we’ll need, including a tent, sleeping bags, clothing, a stove, journals, maps, trekking poles, a camera, and first-aid supplies.

[bdearth on flickr]

• How will you get food and water?
• We will head off-trail every five to nine days to obtain food from nearby towns and will treat naturally occurring water we find along the trail.

[MichaelOnTheTrail on flickr]

• Will you carry a gun?
• No.

• What about bears?
• The number one cause of injurious bear/human interaction is related to improper storing of human food. Bears come looking for food, either because they have found humans and their food in the area before or because they are drawn by the smell of food/cooking. Often humans purposefully or inadvertently get in the way of their search for that food. To keep ourselves and the bears as safe as possible, we will be using a combination of a bear canister, the Ursack, and cooking in places where we don’t plan on sleeping.

[MichaelOnTheTrail on flickr]

• Why?!?
• Why not? We find ourselves, perhaps uniquely, at a time in our lives when we are not in school, don’t have a mortgage, and our employers are willing to let us take six-month leaves of absence. We have also received (and will continue to receive while on the trail) a tremendous amount of familial support without which we never would have been able to make this attempt.

[SteveD. on flickr]

• So I won’t be able to contact you for six months?
• Currently, we’re planning to carry cell phones, which we plan to turn on at least every few days, and only access the internet every two to four weeks when in town for resupply.
• I will be updating interested parties on our progress via this blog, Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, and Google+. The content will be virtually identical, so just use whichever is most convenient for you.
• If you would like to receive a postcard or two from us while we're on the trail, send your snail mail address to cultofbeautifulpain at gmail dot com.