When I was about nine years, old, my parents and their best friends decided to try camping. Our family had five kids and theirs had two, the older of whom had cerebral palsy. My father worked as an aircraft mechanic, and his friend was an electrician. Needless to say, neither family was wealthy. So camping seemed like a great way for the families to take a little vacation. It was going well; we kids were building things with rocks and sticks, and the adults were sitting around enjoying themselves. Mid- afternoon, I needed another rock and saw some sitting in a ring around the campfire, which had been burning all day. I walked up and grabbed this beautiful round rock; what a shock! I burned my hand and dropped it. None of the adults seem to notice, and I walked away nursing my burnt hand and feeling quite embarrassed. Lesson learned!

Well, my parents decided that camping was so much fun that they went out and bought a bunch of camping equipment. For the next several years, we camped nearly every weekend in the summertime. As soon as my father got home from work on Friday evening, we all piled into the car and headed up Angeles Crest Highway into the San Gabriel mountains to one of several campgrounds. We’d play and explore until late Sunday afternoon when we’d head home. There was always at least one hike.

March 28

This morning I passed the place where I had had my colossal face plant in 2018 that earned me my trail name. I thought I would recognize the exact spot and even the rock that I tripped over, but when I thought I found the spot there was no rock to be found. “Maybe someone kicked it off the trail,” I said to myself. I continued on, thankful for my health and strength to be doing this.

A while later I arrived at Kitchen Creek Road. I sat on the same big rock where I had waited for the paramedics to pick me up three years ago and felt happy and thankful for the chance to be out here again. a minute later a car pulled up and parked. A man got out, set up a couple of camp chairs, walked over and asked me if I was a thru hiker. I said yes and he told me he was a trail angel and invited me to come sit down and have a snack. The back of his SUV was completely filled with snacks of every sort (croissants, fruit, cookies, chips) and the cooler was filled with all kinds of ice cold drinks. He excitedly told me that this was his first time being at Trail Angel and I was his first recipient. I happily told him that he was the first Trail Angel I had met on this hike so far. I was delighted to receive his wonderful trail magic, and stayed for over an hour even though I felt I needed to be on my way. His name was Monarch in the Mountains and we became friends immediately. He even let me charge my phone in his car. Surprisingly, no other hikers came through while I was there (probably too early). When I was ready to leave he discovered his battery was dead from charging my phone. (He had turned the car’s ignition to “accessory.” But good things happen on the trail and almost immediately he found someone to give him a jump. The car started, we exchanged contact info, and I headed back down the trail.

I camped that night at mile 37 with Joseph and a woman who’s name I have sadly forgotten. She and I had been leapfrogging each other for a couple of hours but I never saw her again after that.

So, it’s been raining heavily, but we’re all quite comfy holed up in these sweet little cabins at Lake Morena. During brief periods when it stops raining, we all come out and stand in a big circle, maintaining appropriate social distancing.

The food at the malt shop is so good and the portions are so big that I’ve gained weight despite the fact that it’s a mile each way. (No zero days here!) The only problem is that we are not allowed now to eat there and the food is cold by the time I walk back to my cabin.

The only place with WiFi is the malt shop. We are not allowed to even stand around on their patio except while waiting for a food order, so I have just a few minutes to check and leave messages, make calls (huh?), read email and the news, and post updates to social media. Sometimes I stand in the middle of the street to be compliant but still have that signal. The sheriff comes around now and then to check on the store’s compliance. We don’t want to do anything to get them in trouble.

So anyway, the couple who convinced me to wait out the storm gave up and called it quits yesterday. They talked their cabin-mate into quitting as well. They got a trail angel to drive them to a rental car place so they could drive home to Washington. That’s okay; they were quickly replaced and we’ll all head out in the morning.

So the first two days were so nice. It was quite cool and cloudy the whole time but it didn’t rain. Compared to two years ago when I did this this, this was heaven. In late April 2018 the temperature was in the low 90s and there was no shade. So that was quite miserable. Besides having cool weather to hike in, there’s been plenty of water in the creeks along the way so I didn’t have to carry 6 L like I did last time. I only carried two liters: one with electrolytes in it and one plain for cooking.I made it to Lake Marina mid-afternoon and two of us went straight to the malt shop to share a pizza. The forecast was for rain all night so three of us went in on a cabin. Sweet little cabins: they look brand new and are very nice with a bunk and a double bed platform. They have heat and electricity but no bathrooms. It was a bit of a hike to the bathrooms but there’s an out house just about 100 yards away so that was nice. It’s actually about a mile from the malt shop to the cabins, and since I went back there for dinner, I actually put in an extra 3 miles that day. Met a bunch of great people on the trail and at the malt shop.There are two women, a mother and daughter, hiking with three dogs. Small dogs and they have to carry them most of the time. They’re caring a lot of food to for them and the dogs and they said they’re packs weigh 40 to 50 pounds apiece.

I made it to Lake Morena mid- afternoon and two of us went straight to the malt shop to share a pizza. It was supposed to rain all night so three of us went in on a little cabin. These cabins look brand new and are quite nice with one bunkbed and one double bed. The beds are wooden platforms so you still have to put your sleeping pad on it.

So I am heading out tomorrow. Expect to begin hiking on Sunday.

Well I am packed and ready to go. Fully loaded pack weight 23 lbs. I am a happy girl.

Welcome to my new PCT page to document my second attempt at completing a thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail.  Many of you recall my first attempt at thru-hiking the PCT in 2018. For those who didn’t follow that trek, here’s the Cliff Notes version: I did a faceplant on Day 3. At the ER, they did a CT scan of my face, head and neck, and X-rayed my right hand. The ER doctor said he was amazed to find that nothing was broken (he said he was sure I had an orbital fracture and possibly a broken nose and skull fracture) and I just had bruising and  a whiplash, oh, and a mild concussion. I took a day off and returned to the trail. A fellow hiker with a medical background later commented on my concussion, based on my behavior and my brain being foggy. The pain in my hand made every step with my trekking poles very painful and kept me awake at night; a couple of nurse friends along the trail said it seemed broken. (Six months later it was X-rayed again and found to be broken.) The whiplash lasted for at least a month until I went to a Chiropractor, who’s treatment helped a lot.  (Several months later a physical therapist told me I still had signs of it.) The pain caused by a protruding disc in my upper back was likely aggravated by the whiplash. Needless to say, the injuries plagued me throughout my hike (both physically and psychologically) and slowed me down. I left the trail at Tuolumne Meadows and later returned to hike about half of Washington. In between, I did some trail angel stuff in Washington. Altogether, I completed about 1,200 miles.

I have dreamed about the trail nearly every night since leaving it, and I have thought about it every single day. So, of course, I wanted to try again in 2019. But that was a very heavy snow year. I thought I might be able to complete the sections I skipped but would need to wait for the snow to melt. Meanwhile, I sold my house in Prescott and moved to Chino Valley. Then learned I had a tumor on my left kidney that was “suspicious of cancer” and I needed a partial nephrectomy. I am very thankful that it turned out to be benign, but the recovery was much slower than I anticipated, so returning to the trail was not possible that year.

So here I go again in 2020.