California Section A (Mexico Border to Warner Springs, 109.5 miles) complete!

As we complete the first section of the PCT I am so excited to have now done my longest ever hiking stint of 109.5 miles (previously the longest was the Wonderland trail which circumnavigates Mt. Rainier at 93 miles). Jeremy reminded me though that if the PCT was a 24 hour day, we would just be approaching 1am as 2540.5 miles are still ahead.

Now that we’re over a week into the journey it’s been fun to see what habits we’re developing and where we’re still a bit clueless. One habit that has been intentional is a daily reflection on what I loved about the day and what I learned. Here are just a few glimpses that will give you a sense of my experience on Section A:

What I’ve Loved –
1) The feeling when we first started walking from the southern terminus – as we walked down the hill all of the pressure, anxiety, and doubt about starting the journey slid away. I was light, full of anticipation, and excited to share the experience with every hiker we came upon which led to some over-eager “Hi!!!!”’s to everyone we saw in the first 15 miles.
2) Being in nature – the flowers, lizards, ground squirrels, bunnies, trees, snakes, sunsets, mountains, hills, valleys, creeks, and plains are a constant source of joy. Having the Merlin bird ID application and Seek nature ID app have been awesome to learn a bit about some of the new species we’re encountering.
3) The communities we go through and the hikers on trail are an instant support network. While everyone is out here for their own reasons, they are happy to help each other. From the rides we receive from locals to and from the trailhead to the hiker ahead of us who waited for five minutes to make sure we knew there was an angry rattlesnake just off the trail, we have been benefited daily from being part of this “tramily.”

What I’ve Learned –
1) Late on day 2 as my first blisters started to develop I was quickly spiraling into negativity as I stared at the rocks and dirt under every step. Without knowing where the thought came from I told myself “Just look up.” At that moment I raised my eyes and saw an incredible view of the high desert and smiled. The pain in my feet seemed less intense and I was filled with gratitude and joy just for being there in that moment. Since then I have told myself “Look up” many times a day (sometimes every hour) and so far it’s still working.
2) Calories. The hunger is real. In order to support our level of activity we need to consume roughly twice as much as normal, meaning close to 3,000 calories a day for me and closer to 4,000 for Jeremy. So far this has been fun (yes, I will have the family sized bag of peanut M&Ms) but it also means we’re carrying twice food as expected.
3) Jeremy can find mushrooms even in the desert. It’s incredible 🍄. See photo evidence below of a desert ink cap.

On the note of calories, it’s been great to get so many offers from folks wanting to send us a care package along the way. We put some instructions together here if you’d like to mail us some love!

If that link doesn’t work just shoot me an email at Kristi.thorne@gmail.com (still learning how this blog works). More photos on Instagram from kristi_tho or jeremy_sea.

Happy trails!