Trailhead
New Boots • Gathering • Grapevine • Springer Fever
A.T. Companion • Headlamp Material • Work Trips • Side Trails
372 MILES INTO our hike of the 2638 mile Pacific Crest Trail, Ann and I are relaxing in the Pines Motel in the ski community of Wrightwood, CA.Arriving at 1:00 p.m. after hiking 13 miles this morning, we’ve washed our bodies, cleaned our clothes, bought groceries, picked up our mail at the post office, checked our E-mail at an Internet café, and eaten two restaurant meals. Town stops are great. And the trail has been great, too. Four days after Ann was flown by helicopter to the Palm Springs Hospital with a concussion from an automobile wreck, she decided she was ready to hike. With her head still hurting we started slowly, stopping often to rest and stopping early in the afternoon to camp at Cedar Spring, a beautiful spot in the San Jacinto Mountains surrounded by majestic cedars hundreds of years old. As her headache improved we gradually increased our mileage, walking over patchy snow at 9000 feet elevation. Then it was back down to the desert floor to cross I-10 at San Gorgonio Pass, where we leaned against 50 mph winds that turn hundreds of wind turbines to generate electricity. We knew Ann was fully recovered when she hiked 6 miles to breakfast at McDonald’s where the trail crosses I-15. She had three Egg McMuffins, three cups of coffee, and a large chocolate shake. Back at elevation in the San Bernadino Mountains, we took a day off in Big Bear City. Our young friends took us to see the new Star Wars movie, which had many lines appropriate to the trail experience. Ann’s favorite was “Listen to your heart.”
Twelve of us left Big Bear on the same day and became hiking partners for the 105-mile leg to Wrightwood: • Blake, age 24, a management consultant from Boston. We were with Blake at the Mexican border and were in the car wreck together. He had facial cuts which had to be stitched, but was otherwise unhurt. • Heiko, age 30, from Germany. Heiko worked for a company that manufactures pull-down attic stairs and is on a 6-month visa to the U.S. to hike the PCT. • Laura, age 25, a student at the University of Oregon working on her master’s degree in urban and community planning. • Smokey, age 38, from Northern Virginia. Smokey hiked the Appalachian Trail the same year we did and finished only four days after us. He knew us through our register entries, but we did not know him. When we met him it was like meeting an old friend. • Barclay, age 20, from Grant’s Pass, Ore. He is the olodest of five children, all born at home and home-schooled. He recently helped his family move to a 20-acre homestead where their electricity is produced by a small water turbine. He made his own backpack, sleeping bag and tarp. • Stephanie, age 34, a mental health therapist from Seattle. She figures if she helps her clients to make big changes in their lives she should be able to make a big change in hers, so she is hiking the Pacific Crest trail. • The Pennsylvania Plumbers, Ken, age 54, and Jay, age 53. Friends since grade school, they both started plumbing contracting businesses and are hiking the trail together. Their training program included hiking over 1,000 miles with loaded backpacks. • Rafi, age 25, from Los Altos, Calif. Part Armenian, he is an independent consultant for eight international aid organizations. • Ishmael, age 34, from Boiling Springs, Pa. He hiked the Appalachian Trail in ’96, and frequently provides AT hikers a place to stay when they pass through Boiling Springs. We love the majestic beauty of the mountains, the wildflowers in the desert, sleeping under clear star-lit skies, and knowing it’s time to wake up when the Big Dipper is “holding water” underneath the North Star. But, like most of life, it’s the friends that make the trail.