28th May 2025 Exhaustion has taken over. The lack of sleep over the past week has caught up and not eating dinner last night meant I was running on empty. I was a zombie walking, slow and hesitant, too consumed with putting one leg in front of the other to take in the views around…

27th May 2025 The post office was the definition of madness. Memorial Day weekend had meant a 3 day period of post office closure and all hikers in town had arrived for its 9am opening time, simultaneously collecting and sending packages. The locals are surprisingly patient considering how hikers dominated the queue.  Feeling overwhelmed we…

26th May 2025 By 6am I was outside of the hotel awaiting a lift back to trail. The rest of the gang were gently snoring away in the room upstairs and my backpack was a fraction of its normal weight. I was on my way to slack-pack (not carrying the full weight of gear) the…

25th May 2025 At last a lie in. Well, a hiker lie in, so wide awake by 6:30am. After a quick trip to the store, Sweet Rolls, Dan and I returned to the room to watch TV and eat cereal in bed. We had two hours to kill before the bus was due. A Starbucks…

24th May 2025 We continued through the night passing mile 530 meaning we were now over a fifth of the way through the PCT. I still can’t quite comprehend this mile stone. How does it feel like no time has passed, yet so much has happened on trail?  By 2am we had pitched our tent,…

23rd May 2025 Our body clocks apparently didn’t listen to our pleas for a long lie in. Once awake, we packed up and set off for breakfast. We got a ride to the cafe and at a large round table ordered plates of eggs, pancakes and hash browns. We were joined by others and were…

22nd May 2025 The evening before, we had set up camp in pleasant conditions. There was a mild breeze and a warmth in the air even as the sun set behind the horizon. The view from where we sat showed freckles of red lights that was a neighbouring wind farm. Perhaps that should have been…

21st May 2025 By 8am I was a furnace. The sun was barely up, at its least powerful, yet it contributed to the mess of sweat and fatigue I was. It doesn’t help that we’d been climbing most of the morning and carrying 4L of water each. We’d been weaving up and down over several…

20th May 2025 The hiking today was tough. On an emotional level we felt the absence of Drizzle, and for Sweet Rolls, the lost comforts of being at his sister’s dampened his mood. On a physical level, the sun burnt down on us, unrelenting with its intensity. The path demanded steep ascents from us and…

19th May 2025 Good morning LA. By 11pm we had stopped by China Town, a coffee shop, and had sent off our resupply packages. We then started on assembling a picnic which we took up the mountain to the Griffith Observatory. From here we could see the famous Hollywood sign and sat picnicking overl downtown…

18th May 2025 I woke feeling grateful for our tent and sleep system. It’s taken a month for me to really appreciate our mobile home. Camping has never been something I’ve felt completely compatible with. The lack of space, influence of the elements, and the tendency for the sleeping mats to slide down the slightest…

17th May 2025 This day marked one whole month on trail. We moved out quickly, breaking camp and congregating around a picnic table to eat left over pizza and coffee before heading on out up the ridge. The area surrounding us had been heavily burned from past fires. The cloud eerily floated into the valley,…

16th May 2025 While I had slept well, Dan slept rough having to reinflate his mat every couple of hours due to a slow leak. In the morning the picnic table filled rapidly with the hikers we camped with. We headed on out, the trail easy and, other than developing hives from a wasp sting,…

15th May 2025 It was the coldest night on trail so far. I woke a few times experiencing the loss of feeling in my feet and a numb nose. Despite being able to see my breath the entire night there was no condensation in the tent. We’ll take the small win!  We began our descent,…

14th May 2025 For the first time since starting the PCT I’ve been sad to leave town. I’ve loved our two nights here, the people we’ve stayed with and the access to home comforts. But alas, the trail awaits and with it the adventures pending. After a coffee at the Village Grind we caught a…

13th May 2025 I woke at 3:30am, my stomach noisily shouting  how empty it was. I guess hiker hungers has well and truly been established. Unable to sleep, I set about making a rough plan for mileage and campsites for the next two weeks. At a reasonable hour, Dan and I made coffee and were joined…

12th May 2025 I woke freezing cold, thank you air con. I had slept reasonably well considering there were six of us in one room. Some sort of replica of a hostel dorm whereby several of the sleepers picked the short straw and stayed on the floor. We made our way back to McDonald’s and…

11th May 2025 I woke to the dawning light and from where I lay could see the sunrise colours being cast across the water. Everyone was doing better this morning and we made good time out of camp. We took a path off trail to reach Cleghorn Picnic Area where we planned to refill waters.…

10th May 2025 When I woke it was a little cooler but with the hot springs in close proximity this was nothing a dip couldn’t resolve. I took my oats to the pools and sat on the side with my feet in. I chatted with Drizzle, Raw Bean and Debs and before long I dressed…

9th May 2025 We broke camp and headed out early picking up Heavyweight who camped a mile further on from us. Today we had planned a big day, but if successful would see us bathing in natural hot springs come evening. Our strategy was simple, consistent steps, stopping every four miles for water and snacks. The terrain…

8th May 2025 While chomping down on breakfast at Grizzly Manor Cafe, in Big Bear, a group of hikers we had been walking with the past two weeks clambered in. Together we sprawled out over four tables along one side of the cafe. Dan offered out hand lotion to everyone, something he had become known…

7th May 2025 We had another night of full sleep, that was two on the trot! It was a cold one though and I woke with ice on my sleeping bag from where the condensation froze.  I felt so much better today energy-wise. I had two portions of oats instead of one and I was…

6th May 2025 I slept better in our tent than the two nights I had just spent in actual beds. A big claim from someone who doesn’t like camping. We broke camp early and set off up the notorious Mission Creek. The going was slow with no path to follow and with uneven terrain of…

5th May 2025 It rained throughout the night. Droplets noisily fell on the tin roof, the sound accompanied by the odd, out of sync rooster and the horn of the freight train. I was grateful for the sturdy shelter after the flimsy cover of the tent.  Nitsy kindly made us breakfast and we helped ourselves…

4th May 2025 Motel 6 lived up to its reputation. The walls were paper thin and at 3am we got to enjoy waking to the drunken antics of next door coming home from their night out. We also found handcuffs in the pool and a questionable stain in the bathroom. But all was well because…

3rd May 2025 I have a bad habit of not seeing snakes in the path until I’m mid stride. We saw four snakes this morning. The first three were juvenile rattlers, which it turns out are more dangerous than their elders as they are yet able to regulate their venom. The fourth snake was a…

2nd May 2025 Dan and I have never summited a mountain before, that is until today. We decided to up the ante with the goal of making summit for sunrise. We set an alarm for 3am and were packed anyway and out of camp just before 4am. In the dark we could see the twinkling…

1st May 2025 I wrote this entry from the comfort of an actual bed; a coffee in hand, snuggled under the covers. Neither of us slept as well as we had anticipated the night before. We kept waking confused by our settings; mistaking the light from charging devices for another camper. Despite not sleeping, it…

30th April 2025 We woke at 5am and were away from camp just over an hour later. We paced on upwards knowing Paradise Valley Cafe (PVC) was exactly 10 miles away. As we trudged upwards we met Alex and Josh, a couple from Alabama who we kept crossing paths with. Chatting with them helped time…

29th April 2025 The battle against condensation continues. We woke to water dripping from the ceiling this morning and once again my sleeping bag was wet. This was despite leaving the tent doors open to improve ventilation. We were the last to leave Mike’s Place. We could hear Mike yelling at those leaving to add…

28th April 2025 No wind tonight, but we woke to condensation on almost everything inside the tent. We packed up and headed back to the resource centre where we enjoyed coffee and used the kettle for our oats. Dan even treated himself to a microwaveable breakfast roll. We headed on out and began our day…

27th April 2025 It had rained all night and was still raining in the morning. But, having slept well, we both awoke feeling more positive about life on trail. We packed up and weathered the rain as we continued upwards, finally reaching the top of the pass and heading down into the valley. The rain…

26th April 2025 The previous night was the most disruptive night sleep we have had so far on trail. The wind battered us from every direction. Even sheltered by rocks we weren’t safe. We could hear a gust building in momentum, like a song reaching climax and we would brace awaiting the hit. We had…

25th April 2025 I woke suddenly in the early hours, sitting bolt upright. Something had pulled at my leg, I was sure of it. I couldn’t hear anything over the wind and it was too dark to see. Dan awoke too because of my sudden movement. He rubbed my back for a while, reassuring me…

24th April 2025 It was a novelty to wake up and not have to pack up straight away. There’s not much to discuss about today; it was a day of rest and recovery. We spent time talking with camp mates, reading by the pool and rehabilitation exercises for me. My leg was no longer burning…

23rd April 2025 I expected a rubbish day of sitting idly, worrying about my injury. My foot was on fire last night, any position causing it electric-like pain. But despite my trepidation, it turned out to be a wonderful day.   I emailed Blaze, an on-trail physio, for a telephone appointment. We packed our lives…

22nd April 2025 We both slept through the night, the first time since leaving the comfort of a bed. We had a two mile stretch through thick cactus bushes to scissor crossing, where there’s a road to the town of Julian; our first resupply stop. We got to the trail head and Ghost, a trail…

21st April 2025 When we woke we were treated with views of the sun rising. We enjoyed overnight oats and coffee in the chilly breeze watching the valley come alive. Our first water source, three miles on from camp, was dry. It was the first time we had failed to get water at an expected…

20th April 2025 Slowly the reality of the PCT is setting in, and it far exceeds my expectations. We woke to a sunrise we could see from our tent, casting virgin light into the woodland.  The group packed up and headed to Mount Laguna. Without any plans to do so we found the hostel room…

19th April 2025 We woke to condensation again. Little puddles had formed on our tent floor, the sleeping bags were wet and water dropped onto my forehead from the tent ceiling. It wasn’t just us, the rest of the group found themselves in the same position. When can we begin cowboy camping? Our spirits changed…

18th April 2025 It rained last night, and the tent had been poorly pictched on a slope meaning our sleeping bags and mats got wet. It wasn’t the best start to the day but things quickly improved with some breakfast, coffee and company.  Again I find myself thinking how I’ve underestimated the beauty of the…

17th April 2025 The hiker shelter at CLEEF Campground was buzzing with anticipation. We joined a bench of hikers chomping on pancakes and swigging coffee. Today was the day and we all felt the thrill of it.  We appeared to have brought the English weather with us. Grey and drizzly was not how I envisioned…