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Averaging 35 Miles a Day With a “Nero”
This morning I had a ton of alarms set. I wanted to have as early a start as possible to get to Cabazon as early as I could. Though, I also didn’t want to start walking before the sun came up. Based off what I saw last night, it was a safe bet that I would be going through some snow this morning. Hopefully just not very much.
I got packed up pretty quickly and was walking just after 5:30 AM. And as I suspected, there was some snow. The first couple of miles weren’t too bad. The trail actually wound up going downhill briefly, then right back uphill. I caught a gorgeous sunrise, comparable to last night’s sunset. It was such an incredible way to start the day. There was some mist rolling in, so I had to get moving quickly. I figured the storm would be rolling through any minute.
It was a misty and cold start to the day, but the sky was beautiful.
Every mile that I traveled, I was getting further and further downhill. So it wouldn’t be long before I would be out of range of snow. The worst thing that could happen was that I would get rained on a little bit. But I didn’t mind the idea of rain when I knew I was heading to town. And the trail was also almost entirely downhill. Which meant I could just wear my rain gear if it did rain.
After walking for a mile or two I got to a section with pretty continuous snow. The fallout wasn’t terrible. But the snow itself was very slick with ice. I definitely wasn’t incredibly comfortable walking on it without spikes. That area wound up slowing me down a good bit. I just didn’t want to move too quickly and risk hurting myself.
Once the sun came fully up, the sky lit up in the most exceptional way. It almost didn’t feel real.
Eventually, I got to the next designated campsite. This one was actually really close to a road and there were at least 4-5 tents set up there. I was so glad that I didn’t make the decision to continue onto this campsite last night. It would’ve been a wildly late night if I had. The snow proceeding the tent site slowed me down a lot.
But once I got past that site, there was no more snow for the rest of the day. I had dropped below 8000 feet and the rest of the day was just rolling switchbacks heading down to Cabazon. The temperature was still nice and cool at this point in the day. I had my rain jacket and pants on, as well as my gloves. I wound up keeping all of that on for the first couple hours of my descent.
You can see a lot of snow up on this mountain in the distance.
Eventually, the sun came out and I was able to strip some layers off. It was looking like I would be getting to town right around 1 PM. That wasn’t too bad at all! Even doing a 22 mile day today, my average for the last six days will still be 35 miles a day. It just goes to show how many miles I’ve been doing every day before today. I averaged 38 miles a day the last five days previously. Which is a pretty solid start to the PCT.
As I made my way downhill, I listened to a couple podcasts. I also got service and wound up booking a room for the night in Banning, CA. The town of Cabazon just has one hotel, which is a casino on tribal land. It was pretty expensive for the night. And I would have to either hitch or Uber to Cabazon regardless. It just seemed to make more sense to go to the town next to it, Banning. That would give me more options for resupplying, eating, and a cheaper motel for the night.
Making my way down toward Cabazon.
I’m excited to have a whole afternoon to get video and blog editing done. I usually have to do this at least once a week to get caught up on things. Unless I’m being incredibly productive at the end of each day. I’ve just been doing some pretty big mileage recently. So I haven’t had of energy at the end of the day to write or edit.
The trail was pretty “round about” at times, but the views were stunning.
When I got further down the descent, I ran into a few hikers. It was nice to see some people! One of the girls actually recognized me from some form of social media. And it looks like they’re also going into Banning today! So maybe I’ll be seeing them again later today. When I had about two or three hours left for the day, I passed the PCT 200 mile marker. I can’t believe that I made it here in the last six days. More like 5.5 days honestly. I remember it taking me 13 days to get to Idyllwild in 2017. So it must’ve taken maybe 16 or so days to get here last time. The difference is stark.
200+ miles into the PCT on day 6!
As I was getting closer to the road, I wound up calling my dad and we talked on the phone for a while. That was nice and passed a ton of time by. Then I went by a large group of trail maintainers, which is always a beautiful site to see. I think it’s important to take time out of your day to thank each and every every one of them for their hard work. They are what keep the trails hike-able.
There were at least 3 stone markers made for the 200 mile marker.
By the time I got down to a paved road, the wind was crazy. So I had to get off the phone and just walk. I was only walking along the road for maybe 5 or 10 minutes when it started to rain! I felt pretty lucky that the weather held off until I was an hour out of town. It doesn’t get much better than that. The trail follows along a road for at least a mile or so. Then you get back onto some loose sand until you come to the I-10 underpass. It looked like I would be getting there right on time.
These are the first of this type of flower that I’ve seen in the desert so far.
Just before I got there, my mom called me and had some pretty sad news. She just had to put her cat down yesterday because suddenly. That was really tragic news because she loved him so much and has only had him for a few years. She rescued him from a really awful home life. It was just one of those freak things. It sounds like he had some kind of a tumor and was given about a month to live, uncomfortably. She was really upset and the worst part was it was very hard to hear because of the wind. So once I get to town, I’ll have to call her back and talk to her. I can only imagine that she’s very upset. Bodhi was a very good cat and a sweet boy.
In 2024 a hiker died trying to cut some switchbacks. Now there are warning on Far Out telling hikers to strictly stay on trail.
I wound up getting to the I-10 underpass and blew right by it. Then headed out to the next road where you’re able to hitch a ride into Cabazon. I was told that you could also get an Uber, so I decided to try my luck with that. Short days are such a delightful rarity for me out here. I don’t want to waste a single minute of the day trying to hitch. I was actually able to call an Uber right away and it arrived within three minutes! Then took me to Banning which is about 15–20 minutes from the trailhead. I think I’ll probably try to schedule an Uber to pick me up for tomorrow morning. That way I don’t have to wait around or worry about it tomorrow.
I believe that this sign is outside of a trail angel house. But staying in a motel just makes it easier for me to get work done.
I got dropped off right at the Quality Inn. Then checked in, dropped my bag, and headed across the street to grab some Mexican food. I was in bed eating Mexican food by 1:30 PM. That sounds like a dang productive day to me.
I got two MASSIVE burritos at the spot across the street.
After I ate, I took a shower and a bath. Then I started doing a ton of writing and video work. I have so much to get done. I would love to do as much as possible today. After I got at least a couple hours of work done I went to go resupply. I think my plan is to skip Big Bear. It’ll save me a hitch in the middle of the day. If the mileage lined up a little bit better, I might’ve gone into Big Bear. There’s actually a person who was possibly going to host me. But it’ll wind up being a short day in. And I have a box being sent to Cajon pass. So I’m planning on spending the night there if possible.
I love when a burrito is the size of my whole head.
When I resupplied at the Dollar General, one of the employees was super curious about what I was doing. I wound up talking to that guy for maybe 15 minutes on and off while I loaded my cart with tons of food. I need about 3.5 days of food. And I was struggling between the balance of getting way too much and not enough. But I think if I eat at the continental breakfast tomorrow morning, then I should be all good.
I also got a bunch of drinks there, chocolate milk, and an ice cream bar. It was this delicious creamy pecan Mexican ice cream bar. That was one of the most delicious things I’ve ever had and I don’t know how I’ve never tried one before. I hope I see more of those in the future. I chugged a sprite and a gator lite as well. Then planned to fill my bottles with some Gatorade too. I love to do that when I’m leaving town. It’s just a little treat for the first day out of town.
A good ole dollar general resupply!
Back at the room, I got going on more work. I wound up getting about five videos uploaded to YouTube, a couple things done on Instagram, and all of my blogs finished. In the interim, I also ate a bunch of Mexican food. I got multiple burritos so that I could eat them over the course of the night. And you better believe I was putting in work on that chocolate milk
I also wound up taking another bath so I could shave my legs and also soak my body. And I got some writing work done while I took the bath. One of my main goals of the day was multitasking efficiently. Anytime I was doing one task I was simultaneously doing something else. If I didn’t need my phone for anything, I was exporting or uploading YouTube videos. While I was eating, I was uploading. While I was packing my food away, I was uploading. You get the gist. I think I did a better job today being strategic and multitasking and then I ever have.
One of my craziest moves of the day was deciding to drink a coffee around 8 PM. But I could feel my eyes already getting so tired. Lately the hardest thing I have to do every day is write my blog. I think I’ve Pavlovian trained myself into getting sleepy every time I go to write. I swear I can hardly keep my eyes open, even if I’m just editing and doing grammatical changes. So I drank a little bit of coffee in the hopes that it would keep me up a bit longer. Honestly, caffeine does not work that intensely on me when I’m tired. So I knew when the time came to sleep that I wouldn’t have any issues.
I wound up getting more work done while I took another bath. Then got into bed and had some more writing to do before calling it at night. I got everything scheduled to have an Uber pick me up in the morning as well. It’s pretty cool that you are able to schedule Uber rides. That way you’re not laying in the balance hoping that someone can come and get you.
Tomorrow is going to be a pretty interesting day of hiking. I have about 17 miles standard miles after I leave town. But then 17 miles into the day, I start the “wash out”section. A 10 mile stretch of trail that has been completely destroyed by water damage. It’s been like this for a couple years and still hasn’t been fixed. There’s absolutely no trail at all, and you’re supposed to follow cairns or written directions on FarOut. That of course makes me a little bit anxious, but I think I’m going to be ok. Even if it slows me down, I should at least be able to get through that before I make a camp tomorrow night. Though it is also supposed to rain for most of tomorrow! It should be a pretty interesting day.
I have one last side note for anyone who is still emotionally invested in my weird shelter story from Vermont. I’ve been a pretty busy on trail the last couple weeks, clearly. As I just flew from the East Coast to the West Coast, and have been doing really big mile days. But finally today I was able to get in touch with the Forrest service agent who went out to the shelter in Vermont to check on the man who I felt threatened by. The officer confirmed that the guy was strange and acting incredibly “off”. Apparently, he has been living out on the trail for many months and actually has no history on any record for the last 20 years. After they spoke with him, it became clear that the man was not armed and there was no reason for them to believe he was a physical threat to anyone. It’s very likely he is dealing with some kind of mental health issues, though obviously they would not and could not diagnose him. He had actually consumed some of those nicotine pouches, which is what caused him to believe he was poisoned. Which in of itself is incredibly odd and surprising. That was his only reasoning for stating that he had been poisoned, apparently.
I’m glad that I called the police because they were able to go out there and provide some support to this person. Who they said has had the police called on him multiple times. They also believe the police will be called on him many more times this hiking season. The officer commended me on acting quickly and calling the authorities. Not just to protect myself, but also to protect future hikers, and to provide support to that man. He confirmed there was no way of me to know if the man acting strangely and aggressively was threatening. And the best course of action was to leave the scene immediately and call for help. They also tried to explain to the man that the way he spoke, and yelled, at me had made me afraid for my safety. Though I’m sure that didn’t go very far.
It’s not every day that you get any type of closure in situations like this. I’m glad that this person wasn’t a legitimate threat. But when you are alone in the woods, you have no way of knowing that until it’s too late. I was pleased to get the confirmation that contacting authorities was the right choice, though I did already know that. And that’s all I got!
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Comments 26
Oh wow, so glad to hear you weren’t actually “almost attacked”.
Also I’m so proud you did the brave feminist thing by calling in a man to deal with the scary nothingburger situation. God forbid you had actually exchanged a few words with the dude in orange, then you would have realized what was going on.
But then you wouldn’t be able to stir your narcissistic drama cauldron and beg for money on the internet, alas.
First off, you weren’t there and don’t know anymore about the situation than what PegLeg wrote.
Obviously, she felt the situation deserved a call to the authorities, and did what she felt was best for her. And, reading what she wrote, others have also made calls about this dude. So,.. yeah,.. she did the right thing.
As far as her “stirring her narcissistic drama cauldron” I’ve been reading her blog for ages, and RARELY (if ever) has there been any drama like this before.
Paulie,
I feel sad when I see you share vitriol like this on the internet. As someone who’s a gal with at least one close call, it can be really scary, and you don’t have the physical tools to deal with e.g. potential violence beyond running away. People with testosterone have ~4x peak strength vs people with estrogen, it’s exceptionally unbalanced.
That being said, being near an unstable person can be threatening for anyone. It’s not necessarily a feminist or weak thing to call the authorities, it’s helpful to build a record so that someone harassing people has a record to make it easier to deal with the situation once enough complaints have built up — it’s a legal requirement! That’s what the courts look at.
Wish I could give you a hug in person — I’m getting the feeling you’re sharing this like this because we’re over the anonymous Internet, but I know that if we were in the same room together it wouldn’t be so bad. I have the feeling we have a lot of similar frustrations about a lot of things, and wouldn’t be so far disconnected from each other. :hug:
<3:)
Maybe stop breaking the Lithium in half.
I feel sorry for people like you. I have been reading Peg Legs blogs now for about 1-2 months. I have enjoyed them very much and not seen any
narcissistic drama cauldron of any sort. Also she does not BEG for money. She is a go getter when it comes to hiking.
I have a mental image of you posting this from your mom’s basement. It’s just too funny to hear this particular woman, who has been on the trail for thousands of miles, facing all sorts of perils and tests, being accused of being soft.
I’m glad she called….
I am so sorry that your mom had to say goodbye to her Bodhi. May she feel his snuggles and purrs in her heart always. Congratulations on making such good use of your town time and for tripling your pct start mileage! Glad you got in touch with the forestry officer to get some closure on your ordeal.
That burrito! Wow! The first photo didn’t do it justice, but the second,.. damn! Not to sound gross,.. but I think it’d be funny to watch a video of you just endlessly scarfing down food at buffet,.. or finishing that pancake challenge in Seiad Valley 🙂
Wow PL another full on day! So many things happened in such a short amount of time – I might have to read your blog again just so I get my facts straight 🤣.
First and foremost, congrats on 200 miles on the PCT! Absolutely amazing. I’m glad you referenced your previous hike because I was curious about the time/mileage differences. I know you have mentioned numerous times that you are a totally different hiker today than you were back then, but to shave off a good 10 days of hiking is absolutely insane! I’m so incredibly proud and in awe of you. Congratulations 🎉
Second that sunrise was amazing! I’m so happy you got to experience such beauty. It almost looked like a sunset vs sunrise. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that you made it to town and were eating that huge ‘head sized’ 🤣burrito in your hotel room by 1.30pm after a 20+ mile day!!!
Always happy to hear you caught up with your mum and dad, I know they are so incredibly proud of you. Really sad to hear about your mum’s kitty 😞. It’s never easy losing our fur babies but what a wonderful life your mum gave Bodhi even for a little while ❤️. Big hugs to your mama xx
Thanks for giving us the update on the crazy orange man in the woods. I had no doubts whatsoever that you made the right decision. For those who are still questioning your motives and actions maybe they need to go out into the woods and live the exact same scenario and see how they react. From what I’m reading that man would have been shot dead by numerous people already. People can be so darn judgemental and tough when they are behind a screen. Anyway, thanks for the update PL and for taking the extra time to fill everyone in. I just hope other hikers don’t run across him anytime soon. Just because he didn’t seem violent to the police or forest rangers, doesn’t mean he can’t turn in an instant. Always, always follow your gut 💜
Thanks for all the updates. I’ve spent my morning coffee routine sitting on our deck enjoying every single post. I know you must be exhausted trying to keep up with all of your writing, blogging and video commitments as well as hiking huge miles into the night.
I will try to wait patiently for your next blog 🤣. As long as you’re safe, that’s all I really care about 💜 Thanks again PL for taking us along for the ride 🥰
Always ( ! ) trust your gut, in every situation but especially when hiking alone. You do not have to justify your actions or responses … you did the right thing because it felt right. My deepest sympathies to your mom on her loss. Excelsior! Be safe.
Wow you have been busy with all the writing!! I just got thru with reading your last 3 in one day!! So glad you made it thru the snow ok & beautiful pictures & meeting lots of interesting people & out of the heat for a little bit but really glad you’re getting the hot section done a little sooner! Have fun out there!!
Ahh the long awaited “creepy man” conclusion. As expected, not a threat.
Doesn’t this remind anyone of the Central Park birdwatching black guy incident? Women these days are really something else.
I agree completely Travis, this female clearly exaggerated a benign situation into something it wasn’t. And I’ll bet that if it had been a woman instead who was acting strange and saying she was poisoned, PL would have not run off. Clearly misandry.
Stay strong out there men, not all of us women are like this!
They’re never going to pick you, Kerrie.
You got that right Kerrie. Not all women are nasty and judgmental like you. To say the situation in VT was beign and down play it, clearly shows how much common sense you are lacking.
So wild to me that you bring up the incident of Black birder Christian Cooper getting racially profiled, yet somehow fail to identify the issue there as racism. Instead you’ve done some misogynistic mental gymnastics to reach your inane conclusion about “women these days.”
Anyway, to answer your question, no! This does not remind me of that incident at all, as Christian Cooper was not actually acting in a strange or potentially threatening way. The woman who called the police on him did so as an explicitly racist act of aggression, not in response to any actual sense of being unsafe. That incident took place in the middle of the most populated cities in the world, not the Vermont wilderness. The two situations have very little in common to anyone who’s not looking for an excuse to vocally hate women.
Peg Leg,
Congrats on 200 miles on the PCT! It must have truly been odd to hike through 90 degree weather after the snow in Vermont. What an incredible time you are having in this life. You are collecting so many stories and experiences to treasure. Really enjoying your posts and photos! Thank you so much!
Regarding folks who post negative comments (best ignored, not going to respond to them personally)-it’s about them, not about you. I find their lack of compassion disturbing and not contributing to the conversation about your journey. I’m puzzled why some feel the need to judge your decisions.
I read your blog to experience your unique take on the wild world of life on trail. I can’t do these hikes myself so it’s great to read about all of your experiences, the good and the bad. I really appreciated that you relied on your best instincts and getting out of a potentially bad situation. I had to do the same thing as a young woman and it’s not easy. You can’t always guess someone’s intentions but their behaviors are all you may have to go by at times. I think women probably have to err on the cautious side. There are too many examples of those who didn’t or couldn’t follow their instincts until it was too late. Good for you!!
Really appreciate the follow up about that Vermont guy. It’s good he is getting helped and is a known individual in that area. Your call may be the next step towards helping him. As a previous person wrote, the written record of calls about him will form a pattern that eventually will get him what he needs or is willing to accept. It was also good to know why he felt he had been poisoned. Thanks for that!
Another milestone, 200. Congratulations!
Even if your tired when you write them, your
“blog” posts are refreshing. How your able to
compose anything after dealing with the weather/ elements and logging mind-boggling
miles is amazing.
“R.I.P. Bohdi”. Carol Burnett used to close her
television broadcasts with: “Let’s be glad we’ve
had this time together, just to laugh awhile and
share a song. Seems we just get started, then
before you know it, comes the time we have to
to say “so long”.
Wow! That’s fast hiking. I think the average at PCT is less then 18 mpd. Thanks for sharing! Nice article and great pictures!
If you’re listening to books you might enjoy “The Gift of Fear”
Glad you cleared up the Vermont incident. Wish I would have been reading your journey would have been Glad to give you a ride when you were in Pawling know that you enjoyed the food there but Tony’s deli has really good food too and close by the trail
Thanks for taking us along, and stay safe as always!
Over 200 miles in 6 days?WOW!! This sure beats hanging out at home, or in a motel watching snow melt in NH. Doesn’t Mexican food taste better in S. Cali? Quick Question:
Would you mind if I accumulated and organized all. of the comments critical of your efforts or what you wear in the hot tub this year? I’ve been working with Anthem and United Health in an effort to have them cover my new start up In Home Ennema Svcs. Your critics obviously suffer from Constipation and they might need a visit from DooDoo Chasers LLC.🤣😂😜💩
The PCT is over 8,000 miles long?????
Peg Leg is currently on the PCT as part of her border-to-border calendar year triple crown; the 8,400 miles includes the PCT, CDT, AT, and hiking from Key West to the AT Southern Terminus and from Katahdin to the Canadian border.