Culture Shock

June 1st 2016

Day 8:

                Nothing too exciting has happened the past few days, but I am taking advantage of the few extra days for some sight-seeing since the trail got cut short. I've been staying with Nat for 3 days now and it's actually been much of a culture shock.  I didn't realize how Indonesian her family actually was.  Her grandmother had moved here from Indonesia to start her own business.  They even sometimes speak a different language in the house! It's actually cool because I've never experienced anything like this before. Staying in this neighborhood makes me feel like a minority, though, and I'm not used to it.  In their backyard there is a lemon, orange and avocado tree! It's the coolest thing ever.  Nat is definitely culturing me a bit.  She took me to a Korean barbecue place the first night, where I couldn't even barely read what was on the menu, let alone understand the waitress.  I ordered the first thing I recognized, teriyaki chicken. It came with a whole fish and this tofu soup.

The tofu was disgusting, but the fish was good! She also took me to try this thing called boba from a place called snow monster.  It was unlike anything I've ever had before.  Apparently, its a west coast thing, but it is slowly making it's way to the east coast.  Boba are actually tapioca balls that are on the bottom of the drink that you suck up through your straw. I had thai tea flavor, but they come in all different kinds of milk teas. 

Another night we also tried the west coasts' famous In & Out burger. It definitely was not better than McDonald's or Wendy's, but I really

hate most fast food anyways, so there's that. Natalie took me to both Laguna and Huntington beach, which were both amazing.  Her mom works right next to Laguna, so we just rode with her to work one day and hung out at the beach all day. The cliffs on the beach were so incredibly gorgeous. Another day she took us to Huntington beach, which is where the US surf championships take place and I could see why once I saw the waves. MASSIVE!!! However, the pacific ocean is absolutely freezing! Extremely too cold for me, but I did get in. Oh and Disneyland is right behind her house, so we get to watch the fireworks outside almost every night.  Her family is so welcoming, and I'm thankful their letting me stay with them for a fewer extra days than planned.

-Grimmzlybear

Safe Return

May 30th 2016
Day 6:
           Well, I made it safe and sound back to Natalie's, which was easier than expected.  The Amtrak was not too difficult to figure out.   Lex and I stayed with an airbnb woman last night after Layla dropped us off at our destination. Melissa, the host, was incredibly nice and even made coffee for us in the morning.  We walked to the beach in the morning and grabbed something to eat in a cute place called swarmi's on the way there.  It was nice not to be eating trail food. After, we lyfted to the train station, which was only about 5 miles, but we had enough walking. Our Lyft driver informed us of this thing called June Gloom that was currently occurring in California.  He told us that every end of May and beginning of June, the ocean temperature starts to warm up to the outside temperature, causing a layer of clouds to hang over the ocean.  This explained why it was so cloudy when we walked to the beach today! I am hoping that this isn't true and it will still be nice a few days because who would of ever thought it'd be cloudy in California!? Not me!! Just my luck! The train drove right next to the ocean, so I got to look at a beautiful view the whole way there.  Nat picked me up at the train station in Anaheim.  I was so happy to finally know that I for sure had a place to sleep at night.
-Grimmzlybear

Cheating

May 29th 2016
Day 5:
          Today we woke up at about 8 and packed all our stuff up.  We went to the local coffee shop to charge our phones and figure out where to go from there.  Camping over the mountain was now out of reach due to the temperatures at night. I would have never guessed it would get this cold at night.  Finally, we remembered Moses told us how there was a way to get to the top of Mt. San Jacinto without having to hike it directly hike it.  There was a place in palm springs called the tram that took you up to the top.

We decided this would be the best option for us, so we could still see the top.  Now the issue was transportation out of this town. Uber wasn't available, which is crazy because I thought Uber reached everywhere!? So, I got onto the internet and began looking up other transportation systems. There were no bus stations, no train access and now no Uber. Finally, another app popped up called Lyft. A nice driver arrived to pick us up and took us into the town of palm springs about another 30 miles away.  We rode a bus up to where you can get tickets for the tram and took it to the top. The elevation increase was insane! At the foot of the mountain it was 85 and at the top it was 65! Once we go to the top, we did a few hiking trails totaling about 10 miles. There were so many tourists, which was kind of annoying because I wanted to see some folks that you could tell were hikers, so I could ask them some questions for my study.  I did end up running into two hikers, a mountain runner and a cyclist.  I asked them whether uphill or downhill seemed to be more difficult and which caused more soreness.  They both agreed that downhill was intensely more difficult. The mountain runner also told me that when running on flat ground, his legs got fatigued much quicker due to the longer strides.  He was trained to take short choppy strides up the mountains. They later informed me that they were hiking 36 miles in one day! They were superhumans! Still without a place to sleep, Lex and I were debating on what we were going to do and then the unimaginable happened.  We were talking to this friendly girl named Layla about where we could reach the nearest train station.  She informed us that she were traveling to this place called Oceanside this evening and we could ride with her! She just first had to talk with her dad before officially agreeing to take us. She introduced her father to us and he asked to see our ID's, as any other concerned father would do.  Once he saw that we were just two friendly hikers he agreed to give us a lift.  Their family even took us back to their house and let us drink a coke.  After Layla got her stuff together, we rode with her down into Oceanside and I contacted another airbnb homestay to stay in for the night, which is currently where we are. I can't believe how things have worked out, but I'm pretty impressed with my navigation skills under pressure. These past 5 days have been a perfectly chaotic whirlwind.  Tomorrow we will try to figure out the Amtrak and make it back to Anaheim to stay with my friend Natalie for a few days before I start my shadowing with Dr. Julie Guthrie and move in with the homestay family. Although we didn't get to stay on the trail for as long as I would have liked, I have learned so much just from what we did do, especially how to tackle difficult obstacles under pressure.
-Realizing how much harder it is to get around when not on the trail.
Grimmzlybear

Camping Chaos

May 28th 2016:
Day 4:
           Last night we celebrated a bit and went out for cheeseburgers with Moses and Torstan.  Since Moses is familiar with the area, he informed us of all the worth while spots on the trail in Socal. After the nice relaxing evening, I slept like a baby in our clean bed. In the morning we spoke with Torstan and Moses again about what they planned on doing on the trail. They decided to hitch a ride out of this section to the following one near Big Bear. Lex and I, however, wanted to hang around the area and do a day hike up to suicide rock. Today was another fiasco. Things just are going to well for me on this trip so far.  We wanted to hike up to suicide rock and then camp at the strawberry junction campground about a mile and a half up the trail from the rock, but since it was memorial day weekend, all of the campgrounds were full, according to the ranger.  So, we asked if there was any other possible thing we could do.  She then chased us down and said "wait girls you can camp 200 ft away from the trail as long as your hidden." Finally, we thought we had a solution. We began the hike and it was the most strenuous of the trip thus far, with multiple switchbacks and steep inclines.  Clear from the bottom of the town to the top was about 5 miles one way. The plan was to camp at the top and then continue onto Mt. San Jacinto in the morning.  However, once we got up to the rock, the temperature had already dropped drastically and the ground was complete rock.  There were jagged rocks everywhere. I mean everywhere! The temperature was 60 degrees at 2:00pm.  We began to panic because there was no way we were going to be able to withstand the cold at night. We were already literally frozen in the desert whenever the temps were in the high 40's at night. The temperature was bound to drop and there was absolutely no way we could pitch our tents on this type of terrain. Looking at the positives, though, the view was incredible! Unlike anything I've ever seen before and I'm so glad we did the hike. I also got to talk to a few teens about my study. Anyways, we decided to make a dash down off the mountain to try to find somewhere to camp in lower ground. The ranger told us again that we couldn't camp in the state park because all of the spots were filled, which I don't understand because we are 2 rather small girls that would take up barely any room. Ironically, the owner of the bed and breakfast we stayed at the previous night pulled along side us as we were trying to figure out where to sleep.  He pulled over and asked if we were alright and we explained the situation to him. I do like to live on the edge, if you couldn't tell thus far, but this was over the edge for me. We had no place to sleep and it was beginning to get dark.  We also hadn't ate since breakfast and just hiked about 10 miles.  He let us pitch our tent behind his place! Another trail angel! I am so thankful for all the people who have helped us thus far on the trail! There are good people in this world. Tonight we'll camp again and talk about what would be the best thing to do in the morning. At least setting the tent up is very easy and we enjoy cooking our Mountain house meals.
-wishing there weren't drastic changes in temperatures here
Grimmzlybear

Lex pitching the tent behind the bed and breakfast

Anxiety Central

May 27th 2016
Day 3:
            Day 3 has definitely been the most stressful day of all.   Unknowing where the next road we'd encounter to escape the fire closure, we were faced with the decision to continue on with the next water stop being 20 miles away and the fire closure being 30. The current camp, where we slept last evening, did have an address, so we knew we could get a ride out now to avoid the closure.  However, the nearest place to get service was a 3 mile hike up the mountain along the trail. Since we are inexperienced, we decided to follow Moses and Torstan because they seemed it was the best decision. So, the 4 of us we made the ascent.  Finally, reaching the top, we had no idea if Uber even reached this far.  Let's face it, we were literally in the middle of nowhere. After downloading the Uber app, we soon learned that Uber did not reach the address where we were located (of course not).  Just when we didn't know what else to do and we were going to continue on, Torstan pulled out a taxi company service card he received earlier on the trail. So, we gave it a try. Lucky enough, they did agree to come pick us up!

Happy after we got a ride out of the desert

 The problem was that we didn't get service back at the camp where we planned to be picked up. We hiked the 3 miles back to the camp and waited anxiously. He was supposed to be there at 11:45, so at 12:00 Moses walked up to the entrance to the house.  We were back 7 miles on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere, I remind you.  When he hadn't showed yet, Lex and I began to pace. We just hiked a wasted 6 miles to try to get a ride out of this place. At 12:30 I was so anxious that I had to walk up. Still no sight.  At this point I was freaking out.  I walked all around the area to try to get service and finally, in one miniscule spot, I got it long enough to call this taxi driver.  Here he had turned around because he couldn't see us!  He didn't even try to come back the dirt road at all! At this point, my anxiety was through the roof.  I hate wasting time and we just hiked 6 miles out of the way to make a phone call. We begged him to turn around to come back and he did, but just as he was turning around another random lady was going up to the boy scout camp 5 miles above us and offered to give us a ride down. Yet another trail angel had presented itself in our time of need.

Trail Angel who gave us a ride down the dirt road

 Incredibly thankful.  It was an hour drive into the next town of Idyllwild. After arriving, Lex and I split a room at the Strawberry Creek inn bed and breakfast.  It was the only thing we could do and it was such a stressful day, not to mention we haven't showered in 3 days. It feels great to lay in this clean bed and not smell my own stench.
       At the end of the day, we were faced with an obstacle and had to make a decision to leave or stay on the trail. In my opinion, this was the best decision for us considering we had no idea where we were going to be able to get another ride out to avoid the forest fire. Also, looking at safety side with the water situation and traveling with these 2 older men, I felt that this was the best decision.
-Thankful for another day with minimal injuries.
Grimmzlybear

Hanging in Idyllwild

Cute Coffee shop in Idyllwild

Thirsty Thursday

May 26th 2016
Day 2:
             Today was another rise in elevation of about 4,000 feet and then begun the descent. I found the downhill to be much harder on my knees compared to uphill. I think it has something to do with the fact that I only have a piece of my ACL left in my right knee. When talking about fatigue, it was much harder walking uphill for sure.  It takes the breath right out of you, but walking downhill requires much more focus mentally and physically.

              We ended up hiking around 12 miles fairly quickly today, ending at about 2:30pm. We first stopped because this was the next water sighting for about 20 miles give or take.

Although risky, we followed the sign because we were low on water. After about a half mile hike, we ran into Torstan and Moses, who were actually the 64 and 39 year olds we met earlier on the trail. Eventually we ran into the giant basin of water that was placed there for hikers.

As we all sat around filtering our fresh ice cold water, Moses informed us of the upcoming fire closure. Lex and I had no idea what they were talking about.  So, we decided to hang around with them a bit because they seemed much more experienced than we. There was a sign with steps behind the basin we decided to follow down into, which led into a hikers heaven!  This campsite is run by a man named Josh, who is literally the nicest person ever.  He's letting us sleep in this camper tonight.

Bed in the camper

Although it's old and run down, I am excited to sleep in a bed and out of the cold temperatures. He currently is cooking us this homemade pizza, which sounds delicious! Unsure of what the plan is tomorrow, but we do plan to stay with Torstan and Moses for a little while. They are even sleeping in the living room of the camper with us, which makes me feel a little safer, considering there are about 15 other male hikers in the camp.

-Praying the pizza is good

Grimmzlybear

Trail Virgins

May 25^th 2016

Day 1: Trail Virgins

                12.miles.later.  I can’t wait to pitch our tent.  I am literally exhausted.  Natalie drove us down into warner springs from her house in Anaheim, which is about a 2 hour drive.  We arrived in Warner Springs at about 12:00pm today feeling nervous and unprepared. I prepared so much for this hike, I kept reminding myself, but once it actually came down to it, it was nerve-racking.  It didn’t help that all the other hikers in the area stared at us like we were idiots, even the people in the community center looked at us strangely. Like “2 girls hiking the PCT?” “Really?”  After this, we even struggled to find where the trail exactly started. 

Warner Springs is in the middle of nowhere with pretty much a population of like 20 it felt like anyway, so how did they expect us to see the tiny PCT sign along the dirt road?  Who knows, but after finally finding it we were off!  The first 2 miles or so was flat dry desert with the mountains quickly approaching in the distance.

Today’s hike was mostly uphill, so we will see how our legs feel tomorrow. After encountering a beheaded snake along the trail, my partner, Lex, had a mental breakdown and did not want to push on. However, I quickly influenced her that everything would be okay and that we could do this. Today, we encountered a fair number of people on the trail, who I was able to talk to about their own muscle fatigue and preparation for the trail.  All of the people we met today plan on hiking the whole thing and all started from Campo, right next to the Mexican border. We first met two men one being 64 & the other 39, who we didn’t talk much with, but found out that both thought hiking downhill was harder.  We then ran into a man named Diego, who told me that his whole body was destroyed and he used a method of breathing techniques to cleanse himself.  He told me he carried an 80 pound pack, which is utterly ridiculous, but I guess if you can handle it, why not. I think that is maybe why his whole body is destroyed. He also informed me that he had to take two 0 days (days where you hike 0 miles) just for his body to recover.  After chatting with him for about 10 minutes, he finally came to the conclusion that hiking downhill was harder for himself.  Lastly, we ran into Witt and Graysville (I call him Graysville because his 1^st name is hard to remember & Graysville is where he’s from), waiting for their friend Jared, who was a little behind them. Witt told me that he doesn’t get sore because he had been preparing for the hike with a much larger pack.   Graysville told me that downhill was harder for him because he had been in many motocross accidents and his knees weren’t exactly as good as new. Graysville ironically ended up being from the east coast only an hour from W&J and had a bunch of friends go to school there! How funny! Their friend Jared, who they gave the trail name “Team Leader” because he was always right, was the odd ball out and found that hiking uphill was harder for him.

Our packs are packed to the absolute max and our bodies are absolutely empty.  We didn’t eat much today because we were busy hiking and didn’t seem to notice hunger much at all.  After finally stopping, I am ready to try out our propane stove and our first mountain house meal. I think we are camping next to Witt, Graysville, and Jared tonight, which makes me feel a little safer in these rugged mountains.

-extremely tired and sore

Grimmzlybear

Journal info

I did not blog directly during my trip, however, I did keep a journal and from that I will publish blogs in order of my days while in Cali.

Tuesday May 24^th 2016

Flying Fiasco

                Well, my plane flew out at 6:15am this morning and it’s been the longest day ever to say the least.

Sunrise from Pittsburgh airport

We had to leave my house at about 3 am just to get to the airport in time to check all my baggage in. Nothing seemed to be running smoothly as I had no idea how to tag my bag or go through the TSA security check. Turns out I actually got into the TSA pre-check in line, which I am clearly not on the checklist for, but they pushed me through anyway and I got to avoid a very long line of regular TSA security check people.  (YAY) Once I finally figured out where my plane waiting area was, I decided to play around with the SIM PIN on my phone. With the SIM PIN on, it allows for your phone GPS to be activated, while all other features/apps are dormant.  I planned to use this on the trail when I used the PCT half mile app, which will show me exactly where I am on the trail and where the nearest water is.  Little did I know, you need a code to unlock your phone from this mode.  So, there I was, at 5:30 in the morning locked out of my cell phone in Pittsburgh airport flying to LAX.  What a great way to start this trip I thought to myself.  However, I was able to figure everything out and quickly get my phone back to normal directly after arriving in LA.  My friend Natalie picked me up from the airport and showed me around LA for the day, taking me to the Hollywood sign, a cute French café, and a restaurant in downtown.

Tonight, I am staying over at Natalie’s and she is taking me to begin my journey on the Pacific Crest Trail tomorrow at Warner Springs with my hiking partner Lex. -Excited to be in nature instead of the city.

-Until after the trail

Grimmzlybear