With hot McGriddles in hand, my mom, dad, and I fastened our seat belts and began the drive towards the PCT starting point: the southern terminus. My San Diegan parents had kindly offered to drop me off early that morning. “You remembered your hat, right?” My dad asked. “You’ll let us know if you need any more food, okay?” My mom piped in.

Their questions, combined with my excitement, made it feel eerily similar to the first day of school. I tapped my blue shoes together and drifted off into daydreams of the friends I’d meet, the challenges I’d face, and the things I’d see.

I’ll be honest I had full intentions of documenting each day properly via my phone or my journal, but I ended up bringing a faulty pen and I haven’t liked looking at a screen after a long day outside. With that said…here are just the highlights of my first 77 miles by numbers.

4 ‘quality’ nights of sleep

– First tent pitch

This pitch overlooked a sunset by Lake Moreno. It was absolutely goregeous and I was able to share it with a new friend who also started the same day as me. The one issue with my tent placement was that one of my tent stakes apparently struck a red ant highway, and I proceeded to be bitten by these ants while I made myself dinner.

– Second tent pitch

I was more tired that day and stumbled into a camping site you had to pay for. I ended up running into a whole group of PCT hikers and split one ‘spot’ with about 12 of them. We laughed, talked, and prepared for the upcoming mountains over beers. The one great part about this is I could charge my phone and had access to clean running water.

– third tent pitch

I made more friends this day, and my feet were a bit more sore. I don’t have much to say about this pitch other than a bunch of us trying to hide from the wind on this valley. It was unsuccessful. I would be slapped by the walls of my tent every 2 hours or so. But at least it was in good company with others.

– Fourth night, American legion in Julian

At American Legion, apparently, it’s free to sleep on their porch, and they even provide you with a cot! Great time, and there’s a bar inside. Apparently, it was karaoke night, so we had some lovely lullabies as we drifted to sleep.

3 instances of trail magic

Trail magic is when someone helps hikers in some way. This could be a ride, water, food, or really anything.

My first trail magic was on day two. I met a long red haired fellow in the forest and he offered me a seat, an orange, and a beer. He had hiked the pct before and told me loads of stories as I took shelter from the sun and enjoyed fresh fruit. My second trail magic was from two true gems, my parents. They picked me and 4 other hikers up from the trail to go to Julian. However, before we all hoped in the car my parents brought down Costco pizza and cold sodas for everyone to enjoy! I definitely got a kick out of watching my parents and my new friends enjoy pizza under a bridge on a hot day.

Lastly, one kind woman gave myself and some other friends a hitch from Julian back down to the trail. Apparently she’s been giving people rides for years and even had us sign her hiker book she keeps in her car.

2 20+ Mile days

Up to this point, my body had been incredibly forgiving to me.im not sore yet and am loving the beauty. What often happens is I’ll get to Mile 15 around 1 or 2pm. I mean to stop but I just keep thibking….what’s around the next bend? Next thing I know I’ve gone another 5 miles.

1 rattlesnake scare

I’m terribly afraid of rattlesnakes. Always have been, always will be. I had many interactions with them growing up and was never a fan. That’s why when I was turning the corner of a trail and heard the infamous rattle, I became quite startled. Instead of stepping back, I pushed on my trekking poles and landed straight on my back. Squirming around like a bug with my enormous pack pinning me to the ground, I tried to find the sound of the now louder hissing and rattling. I located the source, and to my dismay, the snake was now directly at my feet (I had slid forward in the fall). When I tried to slide my foot closer to my body to get up, it hissed louder. It was coiled and ready to strike. I decided to hit it with my trekking poles if it striked and I mustered up all of my strength to jump to my feet in one swoop. I landed on my feet and then proceeded to run, the hissing fading from behind me.

0 showers

Very sad, I know. I’ve come up with the ‘Cyle of backpacking’. First you get dusty, all that dirt in the desert sticking to you. Then you get crusty, when your nose and the outside of your lips start forming a gross dirt crust around them. Last stage is musty. I don’t want to explain that one, to gross.

I’d say at Mile 77 I was in full blown crusty stage.

Plentiful smiles, laughs, and friends

This goes without saying but this trail wouldn’t be the same without the people I’ve met so far. Yes, my current main goal of this trip is introspection, but not a day has gone by where I don’t shed a tear out of laughing so much. People are good. And this trail reaffirms that fact (yes, I’m calling it a fact) with every mile. I’ve got 2575+ more miles to go and couldn’t be happier.

A Contest (of sorts)

Okay, if you’ve gotten this far you must be pretty interested. We’ll I thought it’d be fun for yall to try to identify some of the flowers I’ve seen on my walk so far. Growing up in San Diego, I feel I should know these and I’d love your help identifying them. Comment below if you know the flower.

What do you when if you get it right?  A smile and two thumbs up from me.