The miles approaching Forrester Pass are stunning. I was up early that morning because I was 8 miles from the pass, and in the early morning light I think I crossed at least 5 streams. Not just your average streams either. I’m talking about glacially fed, blood-haltingly cold streams where sometimes it’s impossible to avoid…
When I pulled into Lone Pine, I was expecting no fewer than 5 packages at the Post Office: a new phone, a bounce box from way back at Hiker Town, a resupply for Lone Pine, my bear cannister, and a new pair of Darn Tough Socks. I only carry one pair of hiking socks on…
After being reassured by multiple people at Kennedy Meadows that I wasn’t legally required to have a bear cannister until I passed Horseshoe Meadows, I decided to hike on. What a transition. I knew the PCT was going to take me through drastic changes in landscape, but the feelings that come along with that are…
The second I saw the Kern River my entire day turned around. It was about 4 o’clock in the afternoon when the desert suddenly opened up into a lovely green valley; there were trees, green vegetation, but most spectacularly, the Kern River sparkling in the middle. When the trail started to run parallel to the…
It was the day after I left Tehachapi. My pack was feeling heavy from the big water hauls that section required and I was STILL, believe it or not, playing tender foot because of those blisters that had formed back in Agua Dulce. When I was packing up that morning, two older women who had…
Tehachapi Valley is home to the second largest wind farm in America. The Pacific Crest Trail had already passed the largest wind farm back at I-10 and Palm Springs. The point is, it’s really fucking windy. It was a tough hike coming out of Tehachapi. I’m pretty sure that if I had let myself go…
When I was doing research for my mail drops and general hiking schedule for the Pacific Crest Trail, I completely skipped over Tehachapi. It seemed inconvenient, unnecessary, and honestly I just kind of assumed it was another shit town in the middle of Bum Fuck Desert Nowhere. So I had no intention of stopping there……
It can be hard to explain the change you undergo on a long distance hiking trip without sounding like some kind of high flying, holier-than-thou, nature freak. But there is something that happens to you when you start living outside for long periods of time. It’s subtle; you don’t realize it’s happening for a long…
Hiker Town is a weird little establishment on the side of the trail 64 miles after Agua Dulce. I’m not kidding about the weird part. I don’t have pictures because I rolled through there in a hurry, but picture an old Television set of a Wild West town that’s broken down. Like a ghost town,…
When I was sitting around the fire at Hiker Heaven, I was talking to some people about my husband. It always comes up and people are especially curious about where he is and what he’s doing after I tell them we thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail together. So I was telling them that I was really…
Ah. The infamous, the notorious Casa de Luna. I was never planning on stopping here. I had never even heard of it until Hiker Heaven. It’s about 24 miles from Hiker Heaven to the road that leads to Casa de Luna. I didn’t think I was going to do such a big day until about…
People say the longest miles of the trail are between Wrightwood, Agua Dulce, and Casa de Luna. That’s because these three places are home to some of the most incredible trail magicking people known to trail kind. And I thought Wrightwood was impressive. (It was) When I rolled out of the Mexican restaurant in Agua…
It’s 90.8 miles between Wrightwood and the next stop off in Agua Dulce, or ‘sweet water’. The most notable climb of the stretch is up Baden Powell. It’s one of the largest climbs of the trail yet and the views were amazing. It’s also one of those peaks that shows you desert on one side,…
The PCT holds a new class of trail angels. As southbounders on the AT, Zach and I didn’t see very much trail magic. Sodas under overpasses, people grilling out at road crossings, gear being given away… nothing like that. But the angels of Wrightwood and their magic are of an entirely different caliber than cold…
It’s about 93.5 miles from Big Bear to Wrightwood, CA. I left Bud in Big Bear, and I was eager to set off on the next stretch back at my own pace. The first drawback to being by myself came up pretty quickly though when it came to a fire detour. So many places on…
Meg and Zach: Out The Door 