First Leg - 42 miles down, 2618 to go

On the Road with Pat
Description of our road trip west begins with the blog entry "Go West Old Man (Woman)" - scroll down to the the Label 2010 October 15 Western Road Trip on the right side of the screen.

Well, here it is Monday, May 3, and John has completed the first 42 miles of his trip, (this was our first 'meet up') and he doesn't look too well. In fact, neither of us feels well at all. I am convinced for me it is the altitude. At 6,000 feet, and very dry, we are not used to this. We both are very tired, and I'm sure John is dehydrated. We came back to the motel room (yes, I am still 'cheating' with the motel room and not camping) and took a nap. In fact, I took two. Then, John drank a quart of milk, had a snack and started feeling better. We both felt good enough, in fact, to go out for a steak dinner. Feeling better now! We have lived in two deserts before, and need to get back into the habit of realizing how much more liquids you need to take in. You don't even realize you are getting dehydrated, as the sweat evaporates as soon as it hits the skin. We're learning.

On the Trail with John

The gradual grades and well maintained trails make it easy to enjoy the beauty of this superficially desolate region. Sweeping vistas capture your 'far distance' eye while wildflowers abound all around you: yucca, creosote, brittle bush, and cactus.

Mile 1 Marker (Someone with a Sense of Humor)


Yucca

Hiking alone, I find myself talking to myself (who else?)in conversations limited usually to one word. "Wow!!!" I whisper repeatedly as I crest another ridge and glimpse the mountains and deserts melding into a distant haze.





Given the fact that I did nothing fitness wise to prepare for this adventure, I am pleased with being able to make reasonable mileage. By 3:00, I am about 17 miles north of Mexico, seeing less discarded clothing and litter left by undocumented workers crossing the border, fewer air patrols, few other hikers. Having descended a steep ravine to a pleasant, tree lined creek, I face a steep ascent, beyond which is a commercial campground. I'm tired, hot and have no one to disappoint by stopping early, so I decide to call it a successful first day and camp by the stream.

As I'm setting up my tent, I hear the low rumble of a car. Soon a Border Patrol vehicle appears and stops. I exchange pleasantries with the Border Agent and, then, the he asks, "Have you seen anybody come by here?"

"No, except for a couple of backpackers. Why?"

"We spotted 3 men crossing border awhile back and are trying to locate them. Are you planning on camping here?" (I guess the pitched tent gave me away.)

"Yeah, I was thinking about it. Will I be okay here?"

A long pause. "Yeah...you'll probably be okay. They usually don't bother anyone. Anyway, stay alert and I'll check back with you later." He drives off.

"Probably be okay"..."probably." I think to myself. "They USUALLY don't bother...." Well, "probably" means "probably" and "usually" means "usually. They don't mean "will" or "never".

Now I look around and think, "You know, it's early yet and maybe it would be a good idea to get the steep climb out of the way this afternoon. Actually, I'm feeling much better, a bit rejuvenated." And so, I press on to the top of the ridge, find a great spot just off the trail and set up camp...again.

Soon, I hear a hardy "Hey there!" I turn and see a healthy looking young woman, late 20s, introducing herself as "Moonshadow", a fellow Thru-hiker. (I will now be plagued with the refrain "I'm being followed by a moonshadow...moonshadow, moonshadow" running through my head for the next several days.)

"You planning on camping here?" she asks. Apparently, it doesn't take a trained government agent to penetrate the obvious.

Glancing back at my tent, I say, "Yeah, I was thinking about it."

"Nice spot....You think it's safe?"

"Yeah, I think so," I respond (assuming she's concerned about border crossers).

"So, you're not worried about mountain lions?"

"Mountain lions?" Surprised...."No, no, I don't think so."

"Well, good, that's good. I think I'll find a spot nearby if that's okay."

"Sure, sure. I saw a pretty nice spot just a couple of hundred feet up the trail."

"Alright, I'll check it out...Listen, if I see a cougar and scream out, you'll come running right?"

"Sure, sure thing, but I don't think we'll have any trouble." I say reassuringly.

That night, I slept soundly, no cougars, no screams. In the morning, I pack up and head out. Moonshadow has already broken camp. I catch up to her and another Thru Hiker, Miguel, from San Diego, later in the morning. We hike along together, sharing life's stories (Moonshadow recently resigned her position with the Appalachian Conservancy and Miguel just lost his Medical Engineering position and is using the hike to reassess his future). Soon we separate, each hiking his/her own hike. The next morning, I catch up with Miguel shortly after passing through some kind of old artillery range, posted with scary warnings.

From Western Trip

Miguel and I hike through beautiful pine woods to the Laguna Mountain Lodge where Pat awaits.

This last day has been really rough. I haven't been able to eat hardly anything over the 2 and a half days I've been out. I don't feel well at all. Maybe it's the altitude, although we're "only" at 6000 feet. Other than that, I'm doing pretty good, a few blisters but nothing serious.

And...he's off!

First thing Saturday morning, May 1st, we headed to the border to drop John off at the start of the trail. It was a little confusing, finding the dirt road which led to the start of the trail, but once on the right track, we spotted the unending line of dark brown corrugated metal wall which is the border. Surprisingly, the whole thing felt 'creepy'. I wasn't expecting that. Maybe it was that the whole place is crawling with Border Patrol, or the fact that Arizona just passed a sweeping anti-immigrant law, which was being contested in court and that scheduled today are protests around the country against the law. Or, maybe it was that it is out in the middle of nowhere, nothing much in site, except suspicious-looking police, and knowing that the people who chance to cross the border can be desperate--and some can be drug dealers.

Mexican US Border

Whatever the feeling was, it soon passed, as we were spotted by the Border Patrol who waited for us to approach them. They were sitting in their truck with binoculars sweeping the hills behind the great fence. I should say that the metal fence is one line of defense, then a dirt road, then a regular wire fence, then another dirt road, over which the Border Patrol constantly roam.

The obligatory pictures taken, with a kiss and a reassuring 'I love you', John was off on the trail. The Border Patrol agent said John was about the third person that morning to start on the trail. For my part, I went back to the motel, took care of some business including calling our daughter to wish her a happy birthday, and was off to take some pictures. I took a beautiful ride along the border, which was populated by small ranches, horses, and very nice houses. I was surprised at the prosperity of the places, as well as the fact that they were apparently not too concerned about being on the border, as there were no walls, bars on the windows, etc. Just people living in a beautiful, country setting.

John at Start of PCT-Border Fence in Background

I'm not usually the picture-taker in our family, so John had given me some instructions on how to use his Nikon D-4 digital camera. I quickly found that, "Hey, this is kinda fun." But, also, frustrating. I feel I cannot adequately convey the majestic scenery and the feel of this place in pictures. The landscape is truly dramatic. Big boulders, spring flowers, green pastures laced with yellow flowers--horses grazing. Nice ranch houses~~not like farms in the east, but REALLY western~~just like in the movies! (Including the fences; love those fences.)

However, I swear, every single time I stopped to take a picture, here would come a Border Patrol agent to check to see if I (or the car) was all right. I have very mixed feelings about that. On the one hand, I am a woman alone, and if my car (with its 245,710 miles on it) should break down, that could be bad. On the other hand, enough already! In talking to a woman who lives here that I met at an overlook, she is fed up with having to be stopped by the same person every day as she goes to and from work and the grocery store. She said she finally told the guy, "Look, I come by here and see you every day. Don't you know me yet?" Ah, life in a police state.

Go West Old Man (& Woman)

After a winter on the boat in which it was just too cold to go anywhere (people were coming back from the Bahamas to the southern US, as the Bahamas were too cold!), we spent a few weeks in Ohio, seeing family and getting ready for our trip out West, where John will attempt to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. John and our youngest, Brad, walked the entire Appalachian Trail three summers ago, and we were hoping that Brad would again accompany John on this venture. Alas, Brad decided that he needed to engage in more serious pursuits (such as a real career, etc.), so John will be on his own. You know, you try to raise your kids right, and what happens????

 

Taos Market

After all the preparation, visiting, and seeing Brad participate in a community theater production of "Never Been Kissed", (he was typecast as the heartthrob) we started west on Monday, April 26. The first night found us in Tulsa. We spent night number two in Taos, then toured Santa Fe and Albuquerque's old town. Along the way, the land gradually morphed from green pastureland to scrub vegetation, to lots of rocks, to mesas, mountains~~all the while getting dryer. We saw a herd of pronghorn antelope, lots of blowing red dirt, cattle, wind farms, canyons, tumbleweed and one dead armadillo.

We took our time getting to California and the start of the trail, as it had been snowing like crazy in the Sierras, so we thought we may as well enjoy the trip. Night three was in Gallop, New Mexico. We next went to Flagstaff, and while having lunch at an old style diner, John just stops in mid-sentence and stares out the front of the restaurant. I turned around to see what the big deal was, and low and behold, its snowing! (Flagstaff is about 7,000 feet.) We took a scenic route after lunch from Flagstaff west and ran into a ton of snow and fierce winds. It was beautiful with all the evergreens. We turned and drove south down the Colorado River to Lake Havasu for night four. Lake Havasu is where the London Bridge is (of course). It is also a desert town on a lake, which just doesn't look like it belongs there. But nice, nevertheless.

We left Lake Havasu Friday morning, stopping for lunch in Yuma (which was surprisingly green~~lots of farms and orchards).

Crossing into California was like crossing into another world. Almost right away you run into the Imperial Sand Dunes (where some of the Star Wars films were done). Then, the land turns into~~~just giant piles of rocks. It was so dramatic and unexpected. As you get on the other side of the mountains which trap the clouds on the west side, everything turns green. It immediately looked more prosperous. We went up to Mount Laguna to pick up some equipment for ice climbing (yes, you read that right) that John had forwarded to him via general delivery. We were talking to the nice man in the general store in the Mount Laguna state forest about camping sites, when he informed us that it was going to be 26 degrees that night, so we opted for a rather rustic motel room (at a not too rustic price). So that's it. We're here, and John is eager to get started. I will drop him off at the trail head at the Mexican border in the morning (that's Saturday, May 1) and we will meet again here in Mount Laguna in 2-3 days.

Octotillo

The Pacific Crest Trail runs from the Mexican border near Campo, California, to Manning Park, British Columbia, Canada, a distance of 2660 miles, through five of the seven 'life zones' which exist in North America, all but tropical and arctic. About 100-150 people hike the whole thing a year, passing through the Sierra Nevada mountains, Sequoia National Park, Kings Canyon, Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, and Lassen Volcanic National Park in California, Crater Lake and Mt. Hood in Oregon, and Mt. Rainier in Washington (and everything in between).