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Mom and i left my Grandma’s this morning at about 6:30am. We are heading to Mt. Laguna for me to start the trail again from there.

I’m very excited, i am taking my mom’s pack back in place of mine, since her pack is 2lbs lighter than mine. My tent is now 2lbs lighter than it was and i have dropped a lot of excess things from my pack.

Now with everything and food and water, my pack weighs 35lbs. Wooohoo!!! That is about half the weight that i started with.

Things are looking up for my hike. 😄  

I am still nervous though and self doubt has certainly crept in. Fingers crosssd things go better. 

Hi!

So yesterday mom and i went to REI, i was a little nervous because i’ve never returned anything there but have always heard its so amazing, well it is! I bought my tent in April 2014 and they took it back with no questions. I am so impressed with REI, they may have just saved my hike!
The new tent i got is still a small 2person tent, i wanted a little extra room inside so i could spread all my stuff out. Its freestanding so barring a tornado (knock on wood) it shouldn’t collapse on me.  Im really excited for this tent and bonus……its lighter than the one i returned! This tent is only 1lbs 15oz! Man technology is crazy.

It has a rainfly to go over it but i dont have it on in the picture. I love that it will stay standing even if i cant get it staked down out in nature.

Yesterday afternoon we went over to my aunt’s to use her WIFI and i replanned my entire resupply so normally i am not carrying more than 4-5 days of food. There are three or four times down the road where i get up to 7 days of food but it couldn’t be helped. I also cut down the amount of food im taking for each day, i cut a bunch of the snacks out.

So today i will repack all the food i have into several resupplys and set up directions and addresses and everything mom will need for my resupplys.

Other possible news is mom and i are talking about me taking her pack back out on the trail because it is 2lbs lighter than mine….but hers is brand new and 5 years of me using it would trash it im sure. So we are discussing it.
Ill keep you posted.
I should be back out on the trail tomorrow or Sunday!

Hi!!!!

So mom and i started the day in El Cajon, we took a trolly to the San Diego Amtrak station

Then we took the Amtrak train to Santa Ana

Enjoyed some lovely train food lol

My wonderful sister picked us up at the train station and brought us back to my grandma’s.

Here is the new plan, tomorrow mom and i will hit REI where i will get a new tent, one that doesnt use my trecking poles so it wont collapse on me in the middle of the night lol……hopefully.

I will rethink my entire resupply plan so that the max amount of food i will carry at one time will be 4-5 days MAX. And i will continue to eliminate more from my pack.

Ill take a few days to relax and mom will drive me back to Mt. Laguna on Sunday which will put me just about back on track.

Oddly i already miss the trail a bit. But ill be a much happier hiker when i am carrying less wait……now to Starbucks!!!!

Talk to you all soon and thank you all so much for the support!

Hola,

Well mom and i had pretty much decided at the end of day one that we were screwed and had to turn around. Mom had drank more than half of her water and i hadn’t drank enough. We would have had to hike 11 miles forward to Lake Moreno, we knew that 7 miles back would be safer.

We were so exhausted we didn’t eat lunch or dinner the first day and today when we turned around we didnt stop for lunch.

We did rest a lot on the way back which allowed us to look at the scenery more.

We pushed to make it back to Campo by about 1:15.
At 2:54 the last bus leaving Campo came so we could get on it. The bus took us to El Cajon. We are now staying at the Rest Inn or something akin to that.

Tomorrow we will take the trolly to the Amtrak station and head back toward Long Beach.

To say the last two days were hard is an understatement. Last night once we laid down in the tent, fully clothes because it was so cold, i cried for a good 10 minutes, also not smart since i had lost enough salt.

What do i do now, how do i proceed, has all my planning gone down the drain?
I could sit and wollow and give up or i could take a step back an reevaluate.

For the near future i could go back home and teach more a month-ish, save up a little money and do some section hiking this summer.
This of course will be after i make some huge cuts from my pack.

After that i have to decide if i want to continue with the Appalachian trail next year and just section hike the PCT when i can or if i want to move Europe up a year.

This has been humbling and a great learning experience. And i am so happy to be in a bed tonight after these two difficult days. Ill let you know what i decide.

Hi everyone!
So my aunt picked us up at 7am and drove us to the trail head in Campo, CA.  Thankfully it was overcast so it made for nice hiking weather.

We took some pictures, signed the register and took off.
Here are our first steps on the trail

One foot in front of the other and we started walking.

The southern California area does have some hot dry spots but also some beautiful spots

I will so say though the shortest distance between two points is a straight line…..this trail is sooo not straight or even close to it.

We crossed a railroad track then a mile later got close to it then another mile later could see it again. It was beautiful but sometimes frustrating.

The first few miles weren’t too bad then the trail started climbing….
We ran into a few other hikers on the trail and they all had tiny packs while mom and i were toiling away with crazy heavy packs.

We stopped frequently and by mile 8 we were dead on our feet. Mom was a trooper and pulled through but by 8.6 miles we were done.

We found a semi-clear area and set up our tent. It was freezing!

We went from a very difficult day to a horrible night. We were camped on a slant, the tent collapsed and so much condensation formed we woke up to soaked sleeping bags.

By the end of the day we both knew we were in big trouble.

Happy Easter everyone!!!!!
And happy birthday to me! Today i am 27 years old…..and i took a 2 hour nap today, whew my age is hitting me lol!!! No really i think its the stress and nerves. There is so much to do and so little time. Thankfully the universe seems to be letting me get what i need accomplishmed in the short time i have.

Mom and i went for a little test walk around the block last night.

I hope this video works out. Its my first one since i bought Videopress.
Videopress is an upgrade from wordpress (this blog site) so i can upload my videos directly from my phone to the blog instead of from my phone to my mom’s computer then to YouTube then to the blog lol.

Well after my errands are done the day will be spent with family then mom and i will check, double check, and recheck that we have everything and attempt to get some sleep tonight then the real adveture begins!!!! See you all tomorrow!!!!

Oh a quick message. In case you dont know, i wont have any kind of regular service to upload the blog so i will be writing them on my phone and uploading when i have service. So dont freak if you dont see a post for a few days or even a week.

Talk to you soon!!!!!

Hi guys!!!!

We leave in two days ahhhhh!!!!
Today mom and i are test packing our packs.

Finding every nook and cranny in our packs to fill.

Went to an Easter egg hunt with my sister, neice and nephew.

And yes Auntie Ariana helped herself to some of her niece’s candy hahaha.

I’ve been visiting with friends

Relaxed at the beach

And have been fed by all my friends from home cooked pancko crusted turkey and garlic bread to my first taste of chic-fil-a.

We also finally put my dad and grandpas ashes in their wall at the cemetery so that was an emotional day.

It has been a great week of visiting and lots of EATING!
Tomorrow we are spending Easter with the family then Monday it is time to leave ahhh! This will be an anxious 36ish hours!

Talk to you soon!!!!

Hi everyone!!!! Well today is the beginning of our journey. Mom and i left home this morning after spending all day yesterday packing up all my stuff and finishing my resupply boxes.

The car is jam packed with stuff, it has our suitcases for a week of visiting, our backpacks and 3 resupplys worth of food. Along with other junk.

Had to pick up my road trip food

And mom’s road trip addiction

And we are on our way!!!!

Super awesome….mom and i decided to check out where the PCT is closest to Mojave. We found the trail then crossed over a bridge to get back on the hwy and who should be at the bottom of the ramp but a hitchhiking backpacker!!!!

Mom and i picked up William, a south bound section hiker. We were super stoked by this!!!!

….or should i say the end of a decade.

Hi everyone!!! How are you guys?
I’m good. Got a lot of errands done today one of which was saying goodbye to my car.
At 17 i moved back to my hometown to finish high school with my friends, i rented a room from my aunt and got a job to pay rent. My parents bought me a used car so i could get to work and school. This little car got me back to California then back to Nevada, got me through college, got me to Portland and now back home. Since i wont be using a car for half the year i am passing my car onto my brother. My mom is going to lend me her car when i am in town….i am now a pedestrian lol.

Don’t try and stalk me by the plates, they are being turned in and going to someone else lol.

Goodbye my little car, i will miss you, you have been great to me and got me through so much.