May 23:AntFarm and Swiffer

Today was the second zero day we took since being on the trail. Pretty much everyone takes a zero @ the Saufley's. In the past hikers had no limit to the number of nights they were allowed to stay, so many "got sucked into the vortex" and stayed for 1,2,3,or more days. This year, probably due to sheer numbers, there is a two night stay cap, limiting hikers to one zero day there. For example, it started getting overcast on our way into Agua Dulce, and the next day hikers were showing up with stories of rain, hail, and even 6-8 inches of snow! Because of this, there were 75 hikers there our second night. Talk about a handful! Next year they are putting a 50 person cap on a first-come, first-serve basis, which should help things from getting too overhelming.

We spent our day relaxing, eating, grocery shopping (we took the sweet old-school bikes into town to the grocery store), and sorting food and shakes to be sent ahead to a few places. We set out to the post Office, got lost, and ended up @ a totally different one than we were aiming for! But, our stuff got sent, so that's all that matters.

This was also the stop we said we needed trail names by. We mentioned earlier that most people go by a trail name because it's easier to remember and usually has a fun story behind it. So our trail names are, yep, you guessed it, Ant Farm and Swiffer.

Mark is Ant Farm. His name came about b/c he woke up one morning with loads of ants in his food. They had spent the night chewing their way into a bunch of his ziplocks; even though he got most of them out he still had a few traveling with him for most of that day.

I, Jess, am Swiffer. I got this name b/c due to my lasik surgery a couple months ago, my eyes were really dry so the doctors plugged the tear ducts in both my eyes. In the cooler hours of the day or when it's windy my eyes water. Wiping the tears off my face had caused dirt to stick (that and all the sunscreen we lather on). I just always have dirt on my face, and often when we go into town, my shirt and face are way dirtier than Mark's. I got Swiffer b/c I collect dirt easily and it was better than being called Dirtface :).

We went to sleep that night very glad to be in the RV; it was definitely still looking like rain and it was definitely still cold!

Total Miles:454.4
Miles Today:0
Camp 26:Hiker Haven RV

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May 22: The Saufley's Hiker Heaven

We woke early and got moving as it was still quite cold and we knew we'd make it to town today. We tanked up on water for the whole day, because the one reliable water source was suspected to be the most polluted on the whole trail as it flowed along a road and through an RV park.

We eventually walked through a long tunnel under a highway and popped out into a county park with these awesome rock formations. It looked like what I picture Utah to be like- or another planet. I literaly think some old Star Trek episodes were filmed here. We wove through the park as clouds were suprisingly thick in the sky and even dark in the distance. It seemed rain was falling somewhere.

The trail briefly walks the road as you enter Agua Dulce and here is where trail Angels Jeff and Donna Saufley have what is known as Hiker Heaven (www.hikerheaven.com). They have arranged their property to accomidate over 50 hikers at a time. There is a mobile trailer, full bathroom, kitchen, an RV,& large tents with cots. Donna does your laundry for you, while you can pick out some fresh loaner clothes to wear. There are bicycles to ride a mile into the town grocery or restaurants. And they even have two vehicles for hikers take and drive wherever they need to!(including REI!)

As we turned off the trail route and down the Saufleys street Donna herself stopped to pick us up. We arrived and got our names on the shower list and picked out clothes to wear. We grabbed cots to sleep on, but soon got upgraded to the RV! It's a small Winnebego style with the bed over the drivers seat area. It's probably early 80's vintage and doesn't look like it's moved in a decade, but it makes a plush home for us.

We get on a list to drive into an REI gear store. It turns into quite the adventure in an old Volvo station wagon and five hikers who don't really know each other. We picked up some new shoes and were able to eat at a Wood Ranch with awesome BBQ! It was a late night, but we were looking forward to our zero day!

Total Miles:454.4
Miles Today:18.2
Camp 25: Hiker Heaven RV

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May 21: BUGS!

When the mornings are cold and you hear the wind howling it is easy to stay in your sleeping bag a little longer. We got a little later start due to this. However, the day remained very cool- even chilly- and combined with some smooth trail the miles clicked by quicker than expected.

We are still carrying a lot water- 4-5 liters is very regular.

For the last few days there have been these tiny flies. They do not bite or sting, but they are exteremely annoying. They are all up in your face and there is no real escape. They love to buzz into your ear or eye. So, I end up walking along waving my hand in front of my face every few seconds in a similar way to a horse wagging its tail as it walks along. Jessica pulls out her mosquito head net to provide a barrier of sanity.

As evening rolls around we catch up to a whole pack of hikers camping at a ranger stations that has a water spicket. We met some new faces and got reacuainted with some familar ones before settling in for the night.

Total Miles:436.2
Miles Today:24.0
Camp 24:Picnic Area Pile-Up

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May 20: The Yellow Legged Frog

Within a few mlies in the morning about three and a half miles of trail were closed due to protecting the habitat of the yellow legged frog. The frog is on the endangered species list and with that comes powerful protection. You surely wouldn't be caught if you just walked theough the area, but it seemed most all hikers respected the reroute.

So, we walked a couple miles on a road and took a side trail to reconnect to the PCT. Some hikers realized that if they walked the road a couple more miles they could reconnect with the PCT. Not only was this shorter but it avoided over a thousand feet of elevation loss, and then, gain. We were suprised how easily hikers would justify walking the road and cutting off a piece of the trail. Every hiker has his or her own set of ethics as to how they want to hike the trail. So, they decide for themselves what is cheating. Some hikers are openly not "purists," needing to walk all of the trail. Some occasionally do what is called slack-packing. This is having someone else take your gear to the road or wherever you will end up and you hike with only minimal supplies for the day. The advantage is a significantly lighter pack. Thirty-Five lbs may drop down to 10 or less this way, allowing the hiker to walk faster and have an easier day.

There is a popular saying on the trail: " Hike your own hike." Essentially don't let others tell you how to hike or what is exceptable. In many ways it is good that people hike there own hike. But, when people start skipping sections of trail and say they hiked the PCT, it seems it starts to diminish it for those who actually walk the whole thing- or at least that's my opinion. With that said, I know everyone misses 10 feet or 100 yards or a half mile somewhere. And with fires and other reroutes it gets tricky as to what hiking the whole trail really means. So in some sense, no one walks every inch of the trail; it's just that some try harder than others.

Miles seemed to roll by smoothly the rest of the day. We enjoyed a cold soda at a cooler where we met our first southbound section hiker, Beadman.

Total Miles:412.2
Miles Today:24.4
Camp 23:Windy Pines

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May 19: Mt. Baden-Powell

Our Trail Angel host cooked us a wonderful breakfast before giving us a ride back to the trail. We started hiking mid-morning, coasting through the first few miles. We soon hit the base of Mt. Baden-Powell the second of two spots before the High Sierra where snow will cover thr trail. Ice axes and crampons are sometimes used here.

We began our climb up the 3 thousand feet on a trail of numerous switch backs. Patches of snow soon covered the trail, and then up high snow totally covered any trace of a trail. We headed straight up kicking steps in the melting snow. After maybe ten minuites we found the trail again and cruised toward the summit. Our climb went rather smooth and our experience climbing and hiking on snow made this seem casual. For other hikers we heard stories of getting confused on their location and really struggling on the snow.

The summit has a marker to pay honor to the man whose name it bears and who started Boy Scouts. As an Eagle Scout I guess I had to pay some sort of homage. The summit marker has among other things a list of the 12 points of the Scout law. A Boy Scout is:

Trustworthy
Loyal
Helpful
Friendly
Courtious
Kind
Obedient
Cheerful
Thrifty
Brave
Clean
Reverent

I think I'm doing pretty good on all those except maybe "Clean". Jess thought it was funny that one was even in the list in the first place.

Leaving the summit we admired this tree believed to be around 1,500 years old. It was pretty gnarled, but seemed to look good for it's age.

We walked along a ridge with more snow patches and stunning views. As a full moon was rising we made camp near the summit of Mt. Williamson in a soft bed of pine needles.

Total Miles: 387.8
Today's milage: 18.3
Camp 22: Magical Full Moon

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May 18: Into Wrightwood

The morning started with about 2,000 ft more of climbing. We had a Swiss couple right behind us. At a break we were talking and realized they are good friends with a Swiss couple we met in 2005 while hiking the JMT. We couldn't believe it. We had a great memory of sharing a whole apple pie with this other couple.

As we hiked toward Wrightwood we went a few more miles on the PCT and got to a road to hitch, rather than walk the side trail in and out of town. The trail wound us through a campground where we met a guy with a couple horses heading out to do trail matinance. Man do we appreciate when someone saws a down tree to clear the trail! There are some enormous trees that can occasionally be a little tricky to get around. The trail wound along a ski resort with chair lifts and all. It was strange to see cleared ski runs ans directional signs with no snow. And the ski resort had no problem routing the trail straight up and down slopes. There were none of the gradual climbs we were used to.

At the road a day hiker gave us a ride into Wrightwood. We went to the hardware store which served as a information hub in this hiker friendly town. There were a list of names and phone numbers of families willing to host hikers. I haven't seen this before. So, after a couple calls we were set. We first hit a pizza place... Amazing! Jess and I erased a medium packed with toppings. We then grabbed our hiking food at the local grocery. Our host family picked us up at in front of the store and took us in. They were great! They let us take showers, do laundry, and had a little bunk area were the slanted roof makes the ceiling low for us to sleep. There was another hiker with us for the night. The family was very generous with all they had. They have had hikers from all over the states and world stay with them in the 4 years they've done this. They really blessed us and we slept well.

Total Milage: 369.5
Today's milage: 12.9
Camp 21: Trail Angels: Jeff & Colleen's house

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May 17:McDonalds

It was almost as exciting as going into town; we hiked 9 miles to interstate 15, where we took a right and walked half a mile to, yes, you guessed it, McDonalds. I have probably only eaten @ McDonalds once or twice in the passed few years, and then, only in a pinch. I'm not usually a huge fan, but when you're hiking, it sounds like heaven!

We arrived just before breakfast was over, so we ordered some breakfast food and, later, some double cheeseburgers to go (yay dollar menu!). It tastes just as good a few miles along the trail as it does fresh off the grill (what does that tell you about their food?) :)

It was extremely hot out, and the climb up from I-15 was a grueling 5000 ft. We made it up about 3000 of them before heading to bed on one of the only flat spots along the ridge, as a nearly full moon lit up the night sky.

Total Miles:356.6
Miles Today:23.5
Camp 20: Yellow Stake Ridge

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May 16:Silverwood Lake

We walked away from our campsite and traversed long an old aquaduct-made-trail and headed toward a dam. Apparently this dam was built as a safety net in case the one a little ways away fails and the lake it's holding gets emptied. The skeptical guidebook says it's there in case a Biblical flood comes someday. We got a kick out of that.

We took a long rest next to some trees (the days are staying HOT) in the afternoon, walked 30 minutes and came over a crest to find Silverwood Lake, and decided we needed to take a side trail down to a beach to get our feet wet and wash a few things off since we've been in poison oak areas again. The first thing I saw on the beach was a snake. He was small, but when I pointed him out to Mark, he noticed it was a rattler. Luckily his mission was to climb up the steep embankment and ours was to be near the water. His mission, however, did manage to take him across both our packs and Mark's hat, but alas, our camera was there as well, so no pics until after he was passed.

Despite all our breaks we somehow managed to do our highest mileage yet and camped atop a little knoll with another guy; in the distance was Cajon Pass, with the interstate and railroad tracks in view and planes flying periodically overhead. Tomorrow we would walk to the Interstate and, yes, McDonalds.

Total Miles:333.1
Miles Today: 24.5
Camp 19:Planes,Trains,& Automobiles

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May 15: Hot Springs!

We finally got to experience some hot springs! We arrived around 5pm after good day of hiking and our muscles were excited. Natural hot springs flow out of the side of the mountain and mix with the cold water of Deep Creek. Stones have been built around three large pools or basically hot tubs. There is a small beach area and plenty of swimming potential in the cool creek. This place can be crowed on the weekends, but on a Thurs there were maybe 10 non-hikers there- 8 of whom felt the need to be clothed. We felt like Jello after soaking in the hot water and understood why such a beautiful and refreshing place was so popular.

I told a high school-aged guy I was talking with that I hoped to find some people cooking burgers. He replied, "I tell you what I got a double cheeseburger in my backpack" and he passed it right over. McDonalds never tasted so good!

This day we also spent a lunch break with 5 older hikers who refered to themselves as the Geriatrics Group since they are all over 60. They consisted of two couples and a single lady who all just met on the trail and decided to hike together. They were a lot of fun and joked with each other. I learned about all these great discounts AARP can get. And they have had fun hitching rides to town. One guy pulled over and said, "I don't normally pick up hitch-hikers but you just looked so OLD!"

Later we hiked ahead of them and I left 5 peanut M&Ms in a row for them as a treat. When they caught us at the hot spring they shared the famous AT (Appalachian Trail) quote, "The difference between a thru-hiker and a weekend hiker is that the weekend hiker will step over an M&M on the trail."

Total Miles: 308.6
Today's miles: 22.2
Camp 18: Arched Bridge

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May 14: Beauty and Bread

We didn't start hiking from the road until after 10am. We got a ride along with a couple other hikers from the owner of the hostel. Before we left we mailed some things at the P.O. and then had to wait a bit for everyone else to get ready.

Despite our late morning start the miles seemed to move by. We had our most beautiful day of weather yet. It was sunny and mildly warm with a light breeze and lots of shade. This was the weather you dream of when you're picturing your hike as the ultimate getaway and pure bliss. Most days start frigid cold and quickly turn blistering hot. Although we have yet to see just how hot the desert can really get. We meet people in town who sometimes say they want to do a hike like this, then they here a story of a hiker waking up with a spider crawling on them and quickly change their mind. It's easy to dream of the postcard perfection of hiking, but the challenges and obsticals are many. Still we find the difficulties to be minimal when compared to the beauty and joys hiking can lead to.

I'm reminded of a famous John Muir quote: "We all need beauty as well as bread." I'm sure I don't have the words exact from memory. I suspect many of us in America are getting more than our share of bread, but sometimes we're starving ourselves of beauty. Still others have opened their eyes to the beauty that surrounds them.

We hiked the second half of our perfect weather day through a forest fire area about 6 months old. It was dusty and barren with some large pine trees that survived. Looking in the distance Jess commented how you seemed to be looking at a black and white photo. Taking a closer look at the ground the small sprouts of green were the reminder that an abundant forest would come again. A beautiful picture of life emerging out of death. Most interesting to me were the large holes left after a stump had entirely burned. I saw one squirrel that reminded me how no other animals were present as in other areas. They all flee the barreness.

We hiked until darkness came and climbed into sleeping bags under a strong moonlight.

Total Miles: 286.4
Today's milage: 21.1
Camp 17: Boulders and Burn

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May 13: Big Bear

Last night was cold!! This was the first night we know it got below freezing. The ice in water bottles was a clue. Luckily our sleeping bags do good at keeping us warm. And once we were out of sleeping bags we quickly wanted to get walking. It stayed quite cold and even when the sun began to hit us, the winds kept the chill on. Then the winds picked up. It can be very windy in these desert section. And we were being blown all over. Luckily we were heading to town. I can feel my calories per mile go down in a strong head wind.

We cruised to the road by 10:30am and enjoyed some cold sodas. A few places to stay in town brought water, sodas, and treats to advertise where to stay in town. Pretty clever idea! Although I enjoyed a Jones Cream soda from the Motel 6 we ended up staying at the Big Bear Hostel.

The Hostel has only been open a few months and is great. We only had a couple blocks walk to restaurants, a post office, a movie theater - all kinds of stuff. This is probably why some other hikers are on there 3rd night here. We hopped a bus to the grocery store, which was fun because the driver was more like a tour guide and she was quite fond of the ski resort where Shawn White grew up learing to snowboard. We plan to get back to the trail in the morning after hitting the post office.

Total Milage: 265.3
Today's milage: 9.4
Camp 16: Big Bear Hostel

May 12: I met Chuck Norris

This day was spent getting to know some of our new hiker friends. I'm trying to avoid writing to much about other hikers in detail and by name, but I have to mention one name. I laughed after I heard myself say to Jessica, "That Chuck Norris seems like a really nice guy." That's right, I'm hiking with Chuck Norris. Hikers go by a trail name that is usually given to them by someone else while hiking. You can never remember all the Brians, Jeffs, Sarahs and so forth, but it's easy to remember someone's trail name that usually is connected with a good story. Well, Chuck Norris looks like Chuck Norris! Really! He's middle aged and has a few extra pounds so he's not the fit Walker Texas Ranger you might be used to, but there is a strong resemblance.

He is a great guy. He hiked that Appalachian Trail last year and got the name there. At the time he didn't realize there was a resurgence of Chuck Norris jokes and lines. You know the ones like "Before the boogyman goes to bed he checks his closet for Chuck Norris." And "Chuck Norris visited the Virgin Islands and they had to rename them The Islands." He said he probably wouldn't have taken the name if he knew there were lines out there like the second one, but it had already stuck.

Later this day we crossed a dirt road and there was this place that had a bear in a cage! I saw my first bear on the PCT and it was in a cage! We're not sure what exactly what the place was, someone thought they had trained animals for movies in the area. It was a big bear in a pretty small cage. You might think I was a little scared, but luckily this was the day I was hiking with Chuck Norris.

We stopped more than an hour earlier than usual to camp with this group. We only had less than 10 miles to the next town anyway. Hikers shared some extra food with Jess and I, plus another made a campfire. We usally don't have these but this place was a designated camp with a fire ring. It was a real treat. There was also a lady with a horse camping there. She is doing the PCT with her horse for about a month. She rides some and leads the horse other times. She seemed to be loving it!

As we went to bed that night we learned why there were some that wanted rename our friend "Chuck Snorris".

Total Milage: 255.9
Today's milage: 20.9
Camp 15: Fire and a Horse

May 11: Ant Farm

Our morning miles seemed to pass quickly as we were heading to a stream that was supposed to be the largest amount of water yet. We heard the sound of water as we stood high on a ridge and peared into a vast basin around a half mile wide. We decened to the basin that seemed it could have been home to a roaring whitwater rivers during a flood, but was now shadless and nearly dry. We knew there was a small vein of water that would flow somewhere through this basin. The trail moved more up the basin than across and we hiked more than a mile without coming to the water or hearing any sound of it. In the shadeless heat we finally came over a small hump and we saw a gushing stream with what seemed to be a village of people! There really were 10 hikers sitting along the water resting, drinking, washing clothes, and even sitting in it. The stream was only about 3 feet wide and varried in depth, but it was wonderful cold water. No doubt flowing from snow melt up high somewhere on Mt. San Bernidino which was seen in the distance.

Hikers tend to congregate at water for breaks during the day. And one hiker claimed it was a glorious oasis in a dry land. I understood how civilizations are drawn to live on and near water. You could feel how this place seemed to give life. The drinks of water restored our bodies. But, the cool relief of washing and resting seemed to restore and lift everyone spirit.

I forgot to mention this was the morning that I had ants get into my [Mark] food bag. It was crazy! There were hundreds, it seemed, and they chewed through some plastic bags! I thought ants only crawled on things and got into stuff left open. These ate through my plastic bag! They were all up in my sunflower seeds and the bag had so many holes the seeds kept falling out! I worked and got rid of about 90% of the ants. There was no way to get rid of them all unless I was going to individually blow on every Cheeto. So I packed up my food and my traveling ant army and set out. Jess wants my trail name to be "Ant Farm". Yeah, I had a little ant farm in my pack most of the day. It's cool though, they don't weigh much.

We took a long afternoon break under the shade of a big tree with the new group of hikers. We spent the rest of the day leap frogging with many of these hikers. We later followed a stream bed up a valley for a few miles, and it was wonderful to be near to water. Jess remarked how uncharacteristic this is for the PCT, which likes to be up high along the ridges. We pulled off for the night camping with a group of these hikers. We have found ourselves willing to stop a mile or two shorter in order to spead some time getting to know other hikers. This has been quite fun!

Total Milage: 235.0
Today's milage: 20.9
Camp 14: Group above Creek

May 10:hot, Hot, HOT!

You know when you wake up @ 6am and crawl out of your sleeping bag in shorts and a tshirt and aren't cold,that it's going to be a hot day. Usually the desert has hot days and cool/cold nights and mornings. I knew when I woke up that it was going to be hot...and it was. We spent most of our day descending from over 7000 ft to 1200 ft, and all of it down a ridge that was scorched b fire in the past, so all the vegetation was knee-high (which equals no shade). We even passed a spot where someone else before us had scratched in the dirt "This sucks". It was pretty funny to read after hours in the hot sun and understanding where they were coming from.

It was well worth it, though because at the bottom there was a fountain with good water and only a mile to a trail angel's house where we and the guy we'd been hiking with got to enjoy some shade, cold juice, and some fresh berries.

We said goodbye to the San Jacinto mts and headed out across the flat valley toward the San Bernadino range. We camped under a hilltop filled with energy-producing windmills after passing under I-10 and downing a couple of gatorades (love that trail magic!!).

Total Miles: 214.1
Miles Today:22.6
Camp Name:Under the Windmills

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May 9: San Jacinto/ Fuller Ridge

We left the town of Idyllwild recharged and began our climb up the 4.5 mile Devil's Slide Trail. With our new socks and insoles our feet felt brand new! We climbed up the trail with a couple other hikers and before we knew it we reached the PCT. A posted sign marked the PCT closure to the south and we turned and headed north.

We are hiking on Mt. San Jacinto, a 10,000 ft mountain that stands above most of southern California. The actual PCT tops out just above 9,000 ft as it skirts around the mountain. It is quite popular to hike to the summit and then reconnect with the PCT about 5 miles later. Because we have stood on many summits, knew the views weren't any different, and wanted to stay on the actual PCT we chose not to summit. We were quite happy with that decsion.

The later afternoon took us across Fuller Ridge, a notorious slope due to the large amounts of snow that linger late in the year. The north side of mountains always hold their snow much longer. And snow there was! Much more than I expected since many hikers went through a couple weeks before us. We plunged along the top of the dense snow using our trekking poles to help balance. The trick is in kicking good footsteps, something a hiker in front of us wasn't getting. With a lot of energy he seemed to want to move fast, but was slipping all over the place. I kept envisioning him banging his knee in the wrong place and having to end his hike. The snow came with small patches of trail in places to keep you sure you're going the right direction. Our firm and steady pace soon put us in front and after about a mile of snow we were back on trail.

We hiked on as the sun set and made camp next to a large rock that offered some protection from the howling winds.

Total milage: 191.5
Todays milage: 12.9 (plus 4.5)
Camp 12: Rock Windshield

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May 8: Zero Day

Hikers commonly use the term "zero day" for a day off. It is termed this because you are hiking zero miles that day. Zero days are an important part of a long hike because everyone needs rest. Even when you still feel strong it is good to rest as this prevents injury and is often good for the spirit as well.
Idyllwild was the sight of our first zero day. We planned on this from the beginning as we mailed ourselves a large package of ingredients for making our protein shakes. We spent a few hours of the mid day mixing powders and tying our little baggies. We mailed off 3 separate packages after Jessica had made 45 shakes and myself 56. It works well to do this on a day off since the primary goal of a zero day is to take as few steps as possible.

Other purposes for the day include consuming as much food as possible and cleaning yourself and clothing. Trips to the Post office, phone calls, catching up on journals, trying to find a new pair of socks or whatever gear you might want are some of the many other tasks that begin to fill your day.

We found a local outdoor outfitter were we each bought a pair of super feet and some new socks. Superfeet are an insole for your shoe that are very popular with hikers. I knew mine were pretty worn out and after being on the trail I realized I had over 1,000 trail miles on my pair in addition to a few years of everyday use. Jessica is excited about her new socks that fit like a glove where each toe has its own pocket like your fingers would. They should help with any blisters inbetween the toes. As for looks they are quite cute, but we'll see if they work.

By the end of the day we are quite exhausted from all the little errands we had to complete, but our bodies are rested and well fed. In the morning we will begin our climb out of town 4.5 miles before we even reach the actual PCT. We don't get credit for those miles. And leaving town your pack is always heaviest because you are loaded with all new food and some water. Our packs base weight is about 10 lbs each (no food or water). We weighed them as we walked out of town and Jessica came in at 26 lbs and I at 27 lbs. Yeah, food and water are heavy! Our 4 liters of water each adds 8 lbs to our packs. We felt bad for the hiker with us whose pack weighed 42 lbs (and he had only 1 quart of water). But, he is much closer to the norm of what most hikers seem to be carrying.

Total milage: 178.6
Today's milage: 0
Camp 11: Idyllwild Inn

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May 7: Road Walk

We had camped about 3.5 miles short of Hwy 74- the decision point. We were hoping that when we got to the road we would find that the section of trail that was closed due to the fire (north of hwy 74 for 27 miles) would be open. Alas, it was not, and the word on the street (or trail) was that it could be days or it could be weeks. Many hikers were simply hitching into Idyllwild, the hiker-friendly town up the road, and reconnecting with the trail just north of town, skipping this section of trail. Others were walking the road 18 miles into town in order to have a continuous mexico to canada walk. We opted for the second option. If the trail were to open soon we would consider hitching back to hike the section we missed, but we didn't want to have to if we were already a long ways away. It's rare to have a year where a fire or something of the sort doesn't interrupt a thru-hike. They are just too common. we just didn't expect it to happen so soon! Road walking is much harder !
on your feet and legs than trail walking. I was way more fatigued at the end of that walk than at the end of any of our trail days. In short, it sucked, but we did it, and now we can still say we walked from mexico to canada, which is what we set out to do. We hobbled into Idyllwild, more than ready for the food, bed, and the "zero day" that was to come.

Total Miles:178.6
Miles Today:21.5 (18 road miles)
Camp 10:Idyllwild Inn

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May 6: Footprints

Mike provided a nice warm bowl of oatmeal to get us started for the day. This is especially a treat for us since we are not cooking any of our food.

We only saw a few other hikers all day.

Had a quarter mile side hike to get some water out of a large cement fire storage container. A valve allowed it to flow out looking clear and cool.

Windy and cool in the early evening. The desert can be very windy! And this helps contribute to it feeling quite cold at times. Actually very cold at times. No nights below freezing yet, but they will come.

Just before making camp we came across another couple whose tracks we had been following. I've learned many other hikers footprints and can tell who is in front of me. It is funny to know someones footprint before you actually meet them.

Made camp pitching our tarp as clouds started rolling in at dusk.

Total Milage: 147.7
Today's Milage: 20.6
Camp 9: Foggy Morning

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May 5: La Fiesta de Cinco de Mayo

We were rested and clean(er) as we hiked (hobbled) out of WSR and back to the trail. Our day today was full of climbing- the trail semed to continually take us uphill, although in actuality it was probably our legs and feet just needing to get used to hiking again after getting so much down time on our day off. We had spent the few days before hiking in a bigger pack of hikers and because we left WSR before many of them, we had a relatively quiet hike. We met a couple of new people, but it wasn't nearly as busy as the days before. We also got our first taste of what it's like to be on the lookout, not only for rattlesnakes, but also fo poison oak. It is one of the most common plants in southern california, and exists in the form of shrubs and small plants. It's similar to poison ivy in that it gives you a nasty rash if you touch it, so we were extra careful not to get near it. Luckily we seemed to get through unscathed...for now. It is much more plentiful on other parts of t!
he trail. As the day wore down, we had a fun surprise pop up. We had planned on picking up some water at a water tank at the house of a guy who has found he enjoyed helping out and meeting hikers in the last couple years. When we got to where the trail crosses the road his house is on, we found a sign that said, "Cinco de Mayo Party, May 3,4,5. Free food/Beer/Shade" with an arrow pointing us to the same house we were heading to already. We were pumped! Free food is always a treat on the trail. Although we were the only ones there for the first 30 minutes or so, eventually there were about 10 others there. Not only did we get some water, but we also got good cooked food and some cots to sleep on on the porch (the others crashed in the hiker hut or garage). Mike, the trail angel who hosted around 60 (or more) hikers in three days was more than hospitable and a lot of fun to chat with. I know many hikers are thankful for the generosity that people like him show!

Total Miles:127.1
Miles Today: 17.6
Camp 8: Cinco de Mayo Party

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May 4: Warner Springs Ranch

We woke up to a cool morning with excitement. We were headed for town! We hiked the last 8 miles into Warner Springs,which is essentially a resort community, a PO, and a gas station/mini mart. Luckily WSR is very hiker-friendly and provides a HUGE discount for hikers on their rooms. We rolled into town around 9:30am, got a room and tok our first shower since we started hiking! It was fabulous! It's amazing how the little things we take for granted in normal life (like showers, washing your clothes,and sleeping in a bed) become huge highlights on the trail! We had also just recently heard rumors of a forest fire 40ish miles up the trail and were anxious to find out more information on whether our trail would be open or closed. It was a great day of relaxing and letting our feet rest and recoup for the days ahead. We spent the day checking email, re-stocking our food for the days ahead, chatting with other hikers and eating! All we knew about the fire when we left WSR was that!
it was 100% contained, but no word on whether we'd get to hike through or not. Our one regret about staying at WSR is that we didn't get to take advantage of the one thing they are famous for: the hot springs.

Total Mileage:109.5
Miles Today:7.4
Camp 7: Warner Springs Ranch

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Hitching into Julian

In our morning hours we counted down the 9 miles until we crossed a highway. Our packs were light with little food or water, so we moved swiftly. At the highway we would be hitching a ride 12 miles into Julian. Yes, hitching as in sticking your thumb out on the side of the road. Another gal wanted to join Jessica and I as she had never hitched a ride and didn't want her virgin hitch to be solo. We welcomed her company and figured another girl would only improve the odds of a quick lift. In my experience having a female with you is an automatic-hitch and don't have to wait long.
Now, I know all our mothers told us to never hitchhike. Actually hitching is so uncommon now they didn't have to mention it by name, they just stated to never go with strangers. Well, part of going to college is to learn that not everything your parents tell you growing up is totally true. I've always chalked up hitching to this list. It's part of the hiker culture to get a ride into the nearest town to resupply food or even overnight and clean up. We are commited to hiking the trial, but when one comes to a road they can take a ride into town and a ride back to the same spot. It helps that we are in rural areas were the average homeless bum doesn't stay and our backpacks help identify us as hikers.
Today it took us about 15 min before we got a ride. A SUV going the oppsite direction pulled over and let 2 hikers out as the driver yelled, "You guys want a ride into town?" True to almost every ride I've gotten he had to move things around in the trunk and back seat to make space for us. It seems the people who stop to give you a ride never have room in their car for you until they move all the junk around. After a 15 min lift I was in line for a footlong Subway!
Julian was a small touristy type town. Everything is on one block and there is a guy giving horse carriage rides. They are most famous for their pies, which are sold all around the area. We found some picnic tables where we relaxed in the shade eating some oranges and pastery treats. We stayed in town just a few hours resisting getting sucked into all the luxery.
After hitching out of town back to the trail, we meet a few other hikers making camp near the road. We chatted with them before beginning a strong climb up from the road. With 6 inches of Sub in each calf and rested feet we hiked until dark a little over an hour later. We made camp along with another hiker who was waiting for his partner to catch up.

Total miles: 82.0
Miles today: 13.6
Camp 5: Makeshift Beach

Disclaimer: Hitch-hiking is dangerous and potentially life threating. Hitching and picking up hitch-hikers is not endorsed or recommended. One should only stray from their mothers advice with fear and trembling.

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Hiker Friends

We set out in the morning about 8 liters of water each. That is about 16 lbs of water! It more than doubles the weight of my pack. But, we were going to have a long dry stretch with a couple of possible water sources. One ended up being a cement horse trough with with dark stagnant liquid (suposedly water) with a few nice size bugs floating in it. Yeah, I'll pass on that water unless I'm realy dying for it.
We spent most of the day leap-frogging other hikers we camped with. We hiked some miles with various people and got to learn a bit about them. There were 2 seperate gals we hiked with that had never hiked an over night hike before! Choosing to hike all summer on the PCT is quite the first overnighter. I was really excited to see them going for it. One of the gals is in college and shared,"my parents think I am crazy for doing this."
I replied, "They wouldn't be very good parents if they didn't."
In the hot afternoon there was absolutly no shade for miles. So we pitched our lightweight tarp for a break under some shade. Later I realized I had been letting my feet hang out in sun for an hour. Normally that wouldn't be a big deal, except that my feet have been in polar hibernation all winter not seeing sun since last September. Ironically I was doing this while telling the story of a friend who fell asleep in the sun and burned their feet badly. My feet turned red but luckily we were there long enough to bring any pain.
We hiked on in the evening and I met a hiker who was planning to finish his final section hike of PCT in the next couple weeks. He started in 1997 in Washington and has hiked part of the trail 10 of the last 12 years working his way south. I was impressed by his commitment over the years and told him that in some ways it is more challenging to stick with over all that time rather than hiking it all in one summer. He had a buddy hiking with him who has shared in almost all the hikes. His friend got sucked into the trail when volunteering to pick him up from the trail and after seeing what he was doing stated, "Man I can't believe how you are living up here in the mountains. I've got to join you."
We hiked on till dusk were the 2 gals joined us for camp.
Total milage: 68.4
Tiodays milage: 20.5
Camp 4: Mark and the 3 "J" girls

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Mt. Laguna

We awoke to the usual cold morning, but this time there were low clouds and moisture in the air that kept the chill lingering all morning. We hiked our usual pace of walking an hour and then stopping to change socks and air out our feet. We really have to baby our feet until they toughen up. Blisters are best prevented rather delt with. After hiking 10 miles around noon we reached the road that lead us into Mt. Laguna. I'm not sure that it is a town, it is more of a Campground with a store and small post office. It was here that we met many other hikers, over 10 for sure. We enjoyed some microwave burritos while watching other hikers decide their pack was too heavy and they needed to mail gear home. All sorts of items were being packaged from extra clothing, to full camera and tripod gear, and even about 8 lbs worth of Ham radio gear to send Morse Code messages. He said it worked and he sent a message. I want to ask if he knew what year it was and wether or not he b!
een in Vietnam. A lot of items to carry in your pack seem like a great idea in your living room and after about 20 miles you're ready to chuck them over a cliff. Another hiker estimated he mailed home 15 lbs worth of gear, which absolutly amazed me when I saw the large size that still remained. For perspective my base weight (everthing minus food and water) is about 10 lbs. This guy just mailed home my whole pack and half of Jessica's and still seemed to have enough gear for all 3 of us. This overpacking is common for many new hikers. I'm always glad to see people lightening their pack rather getting discouraged and quitting.
We enjoyed meeting other hikers and sharing stories on a great porch. Jess particularly enjoyed the offical sign across the road that stated, "It is unlawful to throw snowballs at vehicles or their occupants." Seriously, how many snowballs does it take in the winter to get the city to post that sign?
We hiked out of the store and chose to only do 5 more miles and camp with a group of other hikers. We actually paid $2 a person to stay in a campground with water. It seemed crazy to PAY to sleep outside when we're doing that all along the trail for free. But, this was part of our sacrifice to enjoy a little hiker community. It seems you must always make some sacrifce to enjoy community.

Total miles :47.9
Miles today: 15
Camp 3: Mt. Laguna Hiker group

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A Full Day

We awoke to a cold morning at 6am that left us both wanting to linger in the coziness of our sleping bags. We scurried to get our things together and start moving. The morning temps felt great to walk in. By the heat of early afternoon we reached the Lake Morena Campground where we rested next to the water spicket. We continued to walk through the desert terrain suprised by how much plant life surrounded us. Many desert flowers seem to be in bloom and often shrub type bushes surround the trail. We've seen many animals: lizards of many types, squirrels, rabbits, 2 grass snakes, birds,tons of humming birds, and one baby rattle snake. The rattler was in the middle of the trail relaxing in the shade. He was very non-aggresive as most all snakes I've encountered seem to be. With a little gentle direction of my trekking pole he moved on by. We later came to a campground with the water turned off. Luckily a few miles further we enjoyed some water from a cache near a road !
left by some trail angels. We made camp about 30 min before sundown.

Trail mile: 33
Miles today: 19.3
Camp 2: Pee Spot

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It Begins

"And so what we've already started now begins." This was our journal entery into the regester notebok at the southern monument of the Pacific Crest Trail. Monday April 28, 2008 was our start date. After taking a bus from San Diego we found ourselves in Campo, CA along with another hiker, Ben. Momentarily after stepping off the bus we were greeted by a honk and swerve of a minivan. It was a couple of Trail Angels who live further north. They introduced themselves with a hug and told us to hop in and they would give us a ride the mile back to the border fence. They were full of energy and delighted in mooning the border patrol driving by,yes mooning. New this year is a barb wire fence keeping you about 20 ft from the main border wall. We took some pictures and began walking north just before noon. It's hard to know what to think when taking the first steps of a 4 month journey. Mostly I was thinking about how much water I would need and what I may have forgten to pa!
ck. It was a hot day, as so many people had commented. We began our dessert trek with 7 liters of water each, needing to travel over 19 miles to next reliable water source. We hiked until sundown with many breaks for the feet to rest. As we were beading down for the night we had a group of 8 immigrants cautiously watch us. I was startled by ther presence but yelled,"It's okay" and they pased by. 20 min later in darkness I would spot the first of another pack of immigrants and yell, "Hola!" which sent an imediate stampede in the other direction. In al we would have 37 immigrants pass us on the trail in 4 different groups. Only one was a female. We bundled up in the chill of the night for much needed sleep.
miles today: 13.7
Camp 1: Immigrants

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Wanna Send Us Mail As We Hike?

We'd love to get letters and care packages from you! I know there are a lot of instructions here, and we don't want to scare you. We're just making sure we actually get the mail you send. Picking up mail on the trail is much more involved than simply going to the mailbox that's in front of your house.

Letters can be mailed First Class [this is normal, regular mail].

Any boxes you send MUST be mailed via Priority Mail through the US Post Office. If you send a box via first class or parcel post, we probably won't get it. Don't believe the post office employees when they tell you they can have a parcel post box to us in a week to 10 days. It's not true.

We are not using any mail drops that use UPS or FedEx. All our mail drop addresses are USPS addresses. Please do not use UPS or FedEx.

However, if you do send a box, please make sure that we DO NOT have to sign for it.

What should you put in a box? Care packages don't have to be huge. We would love to get letters and pictures from you with updates on life and fun stories! As far as other stuff...food is always a great option! We would love things like beef jerkey, homemade cookies, chocolate chip cookies, dried fruit, nuts [almonds!], gummy stuff [trolli strawberry puffs, sour patch kids, fruit snacks], granola bars/protein bars, combos [pizzaria pretzel/cheddar cheese pretzel], trail mix, peanut butter m&ms, etc. We aren't cooking at all along the trail, so it has to be food we can eat without cooking. But be creative! I'm sure that you could come up with something fun that we haven't thought of.

What should you NOT put in a box? Anything we will have to carry. If you send us cute little stuffed animals, books, food in cans [that we can't eat right away] or any food that we have to cook, we will either have to give it to someone who is cooking or send it home because we won't be able to take it on the trail with us.

We do not have firm dates for when we'll be at specific places. If we say we'll be someplace on June 5, it's possible we will get there on June 3 or June 7; it's possible we could be off by a week or more. Plans are never set in stone on the trail, so it's a good idea to plan for your box to get to the town a couple days earlier than our scheduled ETA [estimated time of arrival]. We will try to keep you updated on our blog if the dates change, so please check back before you send something.

It's very important that you address each letter/box exactly as we've detailed here. DON'T FORGET to write "Hold for PCT Hiker. ETA: [date]" on the bottom left corner of all boxes and letters. It's also helpful if you write our last name in big block letters on all sides of any box. Surprise packages are nice, but if you want to let us know you've sent something so we can ask for it at a post office, feel free to email either Mark or I or leave a comment on the blog.

Remember that mail is slower since it's being sent to smaller post offices in the mountains. Make sure you send mail far enough ahead of time so that we don't beat it there!

Here's is how you address mail to us [make sure you address the boxes exactly like this!]:

At the bottom left of ALL letters/boxes, write:
Hold for PCT Hiker
ETA: [date]

Here are the specific addresses to mail to:
Mark and Jessica Schmerse
c/o General Delivery
Big Bear City, CA 92314
ETA: May 12

Mark and Jessica Schmerse
c/o the Saufleys
11861 Darling, Rd.
Agua Dulce, CA 91390
ETA: May 21

Mark and Jessica Schmerse
c/o General Delivery
Mojave, CA 93501
ETA: May 28

Mark and Jessica Schmerse
c/o Kennedy Meadows General Store
PO Box 3A-5
Inyokern, CA 93527
[mail needs to be here a week before our arrival date!]
ETA: June 5

Mark and Jessica Schmerse
c/o General Delivery
Independence, CA 93526
ETA: June 10

Mark and Jessica Schmerse
c/o General Delivery
South Lake Tahoe, CA 96151
[they will only hold packages for 30 days before returning to sender]
ETA: June 25

Mark and Jessica Schmerse
c/o General Delivery
Dunsmuir, CA 96025
ETA: July 14

Mark and Jessica Schmerse
c/o General Delivery
Etna, CA 96027
ETA: July 18

Mark and Jessica Schmerse
c/o General Delivery
Ashland, OR 97520
ETA: July 23

Mark and Jessica Schmerse
c/o Post Office General Delivery
Crater Lake National Park, OR 97604
ETA: July 27

Mark and Jessica Schmerse
c/o General Delivery
Sisters, OR 97759
ETA: August 3

Mark and Jessica Schmerse
c/o General Delivery
Cascade Locks, OR 97014
ETA: August 10

Mark and Jessica Schmerse
c/o General Delivery
Snoqualmie Pass, WA 98068
[Please write on mail/pkgs: "Please hold up front at the Chevron"]
[May only hold mail/pkgs for 2 weeks!]
ETA: August 20

Mark and Jessica Schmerse
c/o General Delivery
Skykomish, WA 98288
ETA: August 23

Mark and Jessica Schmerse
c/o General Delivery
Stehekin, WA 98853
ETA: August 27

Thanks for checking in! We leave tomorrow to fly to San Diego. We'll try and update as often as we can! We look forward to hearing from you!

The Trail

Here's a map of the PCT; the numbers behind the points on the map are the mileage you would walk from the Mexican border to get to that point. So now when you read updates and we mention places along the way, you can check out this map to see where we are!

pocketmail

So we have heard from a lot of different hikers that pocketmail was the way to go as far as updates to online journals go. Pocketmail is this cool little lightweight device that allows you to send and receive emails as long as you have access to a phone. It works similar to an oldschool modem. You just hold it up to a phone after dialing the right number, press a button on the pocketmail and, a few beeps later, I have sent and received messages!

So this is my test run to see how it all works. If you are reading this it obviously worked out. Yes! One more step in the right direction!

PCT Here We Come!

In just a little over a week, a dream will have begun
for Mark and I. We both love backpacking, and it has
been a dream of ours to hike the whole Pacific Crest
Trail, Mexico to Canada, 2,650 miles, in one long,
four month stretch. It's something we knew we wanted
to do before we had kids, and on April 26th we board a
plane to San Diego to begin the trek that will take us
all summer. We are pumped!

When we tell people that we are going to do this, most
look at us with wonder and say, "Wow! I can't believe
you're going to do that!" Which I often think equals
out to something like, "You guys are nuts!" It is
going to be an incredible journey with ups and downs
just like any season of life has. I know there will
be days when we think, "This is amazing! I can't
believe I get to do this!" and there will be days
where we think, "What the heck are we doing? Why are
we out here doing this?" The trick will be to push
through those times and continue on, even when the
going gets tough.

Please join us on this journey. We are hoping to be
able to update this blog as we are able so that you
can follow the journey along with us. We would love
to hear from you and will soon have our mail drops
posted so you can send us letters, food--whatever your
heart desires :). We will look forward to hearing
from you, even if it's just a comment on the blog.

10 days and counting...

I Can See!!

Yesterday was the day. I went in at 7:45am with glasses on, and emerged at 11am with clear vision. Yes, I had LASIK surgery done. I was very nervous since I have never had any type of surgery before and this is one where you are awake and staring at a laser that is messing with your eyes. Oh, and I like my vision, so the possibility of anything going wrong was a bit nerve-wracking.

But Dr. Wright was very encouraging and they talk you through every little step along the way. It's crazy because they give you these eye-numbing drops so even though they are doing a lot of stuff to your eyes, you can't even tell.

The lasers really aren't on your eyes for long at all. I had IntraLASIK done so the whole thing is done by lasers [verses the kind where the eye flap is cut with a blade]. So they take you in, numb your eyes, and cut a flap in your cornea with a laser. Then you go sit for 20-30 minutes while some air bubbles that form during the flap-cutting disappear, and then they take you in for the shaping of the cornea. The doctor lifts the flap in your eye, and then everything goes pretty fuzzy; you stare at this little blinking red spot, and as the laser shapes your cornea it's kind of like a psychadelic light show. Each eye took less than a minute.

Mark got to be in there with me as well and watch the whole thing on a TV screen, which was kind of cool, as well as a friend from our church who works at the Vision Center I was doing this through. Now I just have this crazy eye drop regimine to stick to for the next few weeks and quite a few follow-up sessions to attend.

I know it's only been one day, but they checked me out this morning and I already have 20/15 vision in one eye and 20/20 in the other, and they say it will only get better over the next few weeks. I would totally recommend this to anyone, as long as you find someone who will do a good job.

And I must say, it is very nice to not be wearing my glasses anymore, but strange to be able to see without the aid of contacts. Yes, exciting times for sure.

Things to Think About before Saying to Your Wife

Tonight Mark and I were watching a PCT documentary and the following conversation happened:

Jess:: "Have you forgotten how scary I look when I hike?" [I mean, really, who feels cute after a week in the woods with no shower, no makeup, wearing the same clothes and the inability to do your hair?]

Mark:: "Not at a distance...or at 60 miles an hour!" [referring to road crossings on the trail] [the appropriate response would have been, "no honey, I think you look cute!" or some related verbage]

He's lucky I have a sense of humor :).

Last-Minute Vacation::Colorado

With the end of our time here in SD drawing nearer [we are down to one month], we realized pretty quickly after getting back from Wyoming that if we were going to use our last week of vacation, we would have to do it soon...and it ended up being that the only week that would work for us was last week. So we called up our friends down in Colorado and headed down for a week of snowboarding, hanging out, and in the end, climbing a 14er. We got to spend a day at Loveland, a day at Winter Park, and a day climbing Quandary Peak [14,265 ft]. I also got to spend some time hanging with my great friend, Emily, and some time resting and just relaxing. It was a great week!

This is my stud of a husband going over a jump in a Winter Park terrain park. Yeah, he's awesome. I got to practice my jumps as well, but they didn't look anything like that. Mark is pulling 360's, while I'm just happy if I get a few inches of air. I'm still getting used to having my board leave the ground :).

Quandary Peak is a great novice backcountry snowboard descent, so we strapped our snowboards onto some backpacks and lugged them up most of the mountain. I used a Burton daypack, which is made to carry a snowboard from a car to a ski resort. I would NOT recommend using it as a climbing pack. It sucked big time. Mark strapped his onto his GoLite pack, which seemed to work a bit better.


We took the East Ridge route. Our day had beautiful blue skies all day, which made the temps feel much warmer than the teens that showed on the thermometer. This is Mark heading up the ridge.


Jess and Mark on the summit after several hours of climbing.

Looking down the ridge we walked up...It looks a bit narrow, but in reality it was probably about 20-30 ft wide.

We stashed our boards around 13,000 ft., made the summit, and came back to claim our ride down a couple hours later.

Jess getting ready to ride down from 13,000 ft.

We didn't follow the same route down as we took up. Eventually we ended up overlooking some pretty steep chutes that had some rocks sticking out. Mark thought we could slide down the chute, so he went first. But what he thought was a snow patch ended up being a light dusting of snow over some rock and as he slid over the rock he knocked this one loose. Luckily as it rolled it bounced off his board and not him, and I was still above him. Instead of doing the same thing, I ended up downclimbing the chute with an ice axe and we had to hike the rest of the way out to the road.

My gaiters wouldn't fit over my snowboard boots, so this is what my boots looked like after post-holing down to the road. They were pretty frozen.

Despite our little detour and climb, we had a great day. We had a great week as well. We got to the summit of a 14er with clear skies and had a great time snowboarding as well. We got to see great friends and got to relax and enjoy being together.

*Sigh* Back to "normal" for now...

P90X

When we moved out to South Dakota, I had this plan to get a membership to the local YMCA or find a gym that would allow me to get a 5 month membership. But right away, Brooke asked if I would want to do this new workout program with her. She said her aunt had done it and that her aunt got "ripped" from doing it. I said okay, but was a bit skeptical at first simply because I've done home workout videos before and they have been good for a time or two, but it was never as good of a workout for me as going to a gym. It didn't take long for me to get hooked! P90X is awesome! I would recommend it to anyone looking to work their butt off and get in shape. It's a 90-day program that works you out 1-1.5 hours a day, 6 days a week, and the order in which you do them, changes weekly. The website describes the effectiveness of P90X this way:

"The secret behind the P90X system is an advanced training technique called "Muscle Confusion," which accelerates the results process by constantly introducing new moves and routines so your body never plateaus, and you never get bored!"

What's really fun is that Mark and Paul have gotten into them too. So every once and awhile you will find all four of us doing yoga, plyos, or some other routine together, kind of like a "family" activity. And because the leader, Tony Horton, is a bit quirky, we have all these funny one-liners memorized from the different workout routines that are easy to throw around in the middle of normal conversation and that make us [well, me] laugh most of the time that I hear them during a workout.

So, you ask, have I gotten ripped from doing this workout? Heck yeah! I'm huge! Well...okay...that might be an exaggeration. I worked out pretty consistantly before starting P90X, so I haven't seen a ton of difference, but I can definitely say I am stronger, more flexible, and more toned. I have done more push-ups and pull-ups in the last 10 weeks than I've done pretty much in my whole life, and I think if I was following the food program they suggest you follow, that might make a difference as well [although we try to eat pretty healthy anyway]. I am definitely fit, though, and will be bummed when we move and it will be over.

All in all, it's been awesome and a lot of fun as well...I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a great workout program and who doesn't want to head to a gym. You just have to be willing to work hard, be consistant, and be willing to

Wyoming

This past week Mark and I and Paul and Brooke took a vacation to Jackson, WY to hit up Jackson Hole ski resort. We watch a lot of Warren Miller flicks, and the bonus, other than getting to see some crazy skiing and snowboarding, is that they give you a little insight into tons of different ski places around the country and the world. Jackson Hole had shown up a few times, and we had always heard amazing things about it, so we were pumped to finally get over there to check it out for ourselves. We had a blast! We got to ski/ride one day at Grand Targhee [tar-GEE] in Alta, WY [even though you can only get there via Idaho], go snowshoeing near Yellowstone National Park [they close the roads in the winter so you have to park about two miles short of the park and walk or snowcat in during the winter], and spend a couple days on the slopes at Jackson Hole. The only thing that could have made the week better would be not having everyone but me get sick at some point, and possibly a little fresh snow. Apparently we hit the longest window of snowlessness they'd had yet. Oh well...can't complain too much. It was still a great week!

Our drive took us up and over the Continental Divide.

Mark and Jess with the Tetons peaking over the horizon behind us.

Brooke and Paul with the Tetons in view.

The Tetons...Grand Teton is the one kind of in the middle that sticks up the highest. Middle Teton and South Teton are the two points to the left of the Grand. We had no snow the whole time we were there and the skies were cloudless giving us amazing views!

The view from Teton Pass. I think the mountains look painted!

Snowshoeing...we were attempting to find some hot springs, but the directions we were given were pretty vague, and we never did get there...it was a great afternoon anyway...so beautiful!

The only wildlife we saw while snowshoeing was this moose. It was pretty cool, although he was leary of us and kept an eye on us until we were out of sight.

I love snow! It creates some of the coolest formations!

This is a lot of snow! I just fell in love with the snow blankets and random formations we saw all over the place out there.

The view from the top of Apres Vous Mtn at Jackson Hole.

We saw tons of paragliders while we were skiing at Jackson Hole. They would kind of hover on top of the mountain and eventually land in a field next to the parking lot at the resort.

Once again...that's a lot of snow. Jackson Hole has already had between 350-450 inches of snow this year!

Brooke learned to snowboard this week...she did awesome! By the end of day three she was working her way down some of the blue runs at Jackson Hole!

Wild, Wild West

I know that rodeos take place all over the country; I even discovered that there is one in the Quad Cities. But I discovered that if you come out west, when the rodeo comes to town it is a big deal. Everyone goes! There are even some schools out this way that have rodeo as an option for a school sport. Needless to say, Mark and I were excited when we were given two free tickets to the rodeo a couple weeks ago. It was really fun - we were in the third row, and I even got hit with a big chunk of dirt that one of the broncos dug up as he was trying to throw off his rider. We had joked about it before we went, but it really happened! It felt like someone threw a baseball at my arm. Overall, it was a great night. Here are a few pictures...they didn't turn out that great because the rodeo is pretty fast-paced...so most of our pictures ended up blurry. But, you get the idea....

This guy was awesome! He is from Mexico and had a horse that sort of danced around while he did some cool tricks with is lasso. At one point he had the lasso twirling around both him and the horse. It was pretty crazy!

Bucking Bronco. I'm pretty amazed. The guys who ride these things look like rag dolls being thrown around. Not sure how their bodies take the beating. I think they only have to stay on for 8 seconds to qualify for a score. It's amazing how long 8 seconds feels when you're watching someone get whipped around like that!

Bull-riding. This was crazy, too. The bulls are mean and so once the rider is off, they kind of look like they would like to take out a lot of people around them. There are even two special "clowns" that come out for this event to get the bull back into his corral. Not sure I would sign up, but to each his own...

This was the main "rodeo clown." He was pretty funny...kind of like a stand-up comedian in between events. At one point he got on a motorcycle and jumped over a very large trailer attached a very large truck.

Overall, the night was cool...I'd recommend it to anyone if you get a chance...at least once :).

Oh So Busy

So, I'd like to say I have a really good excuse for why I haven't updated the blog very often, but I don't think I do. I think, when we moved here, I imagined myself updating pretty often, since Mark and I are sharing a job and therefore, have a lot of "free" time. However, for whatever reason, it feels like we're really busy! I want to say that I just feel like I'm too busy to blog, and it reminds me of our friends, Josh and Kari Jackson who felt the same way when they were traveling [they were digging holes and felt busy, so it's not quite that extreme, but it still connected in my mind]. So, sorry for those of you who have checked back and found the updates lacking. Here's a quick overview of life in the past month or so:

*Christmas: Mark and I got to go to my home in WI for Christmas, which was pretty cool since we didn't think we'd get to. It was a great time with my family, and we always leave wishing we could have had one more day.

*Visits: Right after we got home from WI, Mark's parents showed up here in Rapid City, and we had a great time with them as well. They got to see Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse, and we did a little hiking/cross-country skiing as well. We love any chance we get to get up into the hills to do something outdoors!

*Colorado: Paul is awesome and has agreed to allow us to periodically re-arrange our work schedules so that we can head down to CO to snowboard. We got to do that last week, and it was awesome! We stayed with Em and Josh [ALWAYS so fun! - Can't wait til next time!], and got to meet there new dog, Cody. We also got some time at Copper Mt. and Eldora. We've always heard of Eldora, and never really went b/c it's smaller, but when we got on I-70 and hit 10-mi/hr traffic at Evergreen, we decided to pull off and head over there. It was a great Saturday place! Not crowded and great snow!

We're still living with Brooke and Paul, and at this point, it looks like we're going to stay there! We've all agreed that it's been a good time. It's definitely brought new dimensions to my understanding of community, and has been much easier than I would have guessed before we came here [not b/c of brooke and paul, but more just the idea of living with another couple]. We've had a great time watching movies, playing games, and hanging out!

As you can see above, we've gotten connected well with our staff. The pictures is of a day we call "Staff Celebration" and includes several elements, one being, on this occasion, lazer tag.

I also have been spending a lot of time working on seminary applications and reading Harry Potter, which Brooke and I have gotten sucked into, and which our husbands lament and can't wait until we're done with. :)

So, there it is. Life as we know it here in Rapid City. It's hard, but somebody's got to do it. I could get used to this working half a job thing!

Life in Rapid City

We're here! We landed in Rapid City after a whirlwind week of visiting both Duke and Princeton Seminaries in North Carolina and New Jersey respectively, packing up our meager possessions, and hitting the road. In the matter of a week and a half we had logged nearly 3000 miles, but had seen cities, mountains, and everything in between. We even got to visit with some friends along the way as well, which made the journey even that much more fun.

Now, here we are, adjusting to a new life here in Rapid City, SD. Currently we are living with our friends, Brooke and Paul Kind, in their two bedroom, two bath apartment, which just happens to be about a 1 minute drive from Fountain Springs Community Church, where we are sharing a position as Assistant Pastors. It is a crazy adjustment going from each of us working a full-time ministry job to each of us only having to work half-time. In a lot of ways it's really nice. We have a lot of free time to just hang out, work on seminary applications, and enjoy the Black Hills for all they have to offer. We are looking forward to a few months of ministry, snowboarding, winter hiking, and exploring the areas near and far.

As for the church, we have had a great time getting to know people and experiencing life in a smaller church. It is very different doing ministry in a church of 250 than in a church of 2500, but it has been fun to experience the differences. I look forward to our seminary experience next fall, and know that this experience will be invaluable to understanding ministry in a whole different dimension than we've known it in the past.

In a lot of ways, it still feels like we're on vacation. I know as time goes on it will begin to sink in that we live here now and that this is home [for now]. I don't think this will be a bad thing...but I do think it will be hard at times. I definitely miss the friendships I had formed back in the Quad Cities, and am increasingly thankful to the welcoming smiles and open arms with which we've been received here at Fountain Springs. I do believe God has led us here, and He has been faithful to pave the way for the transition to be as smooth as possible. For this, I am thankful, and I look forward to all that He is going to do in us and through us here.

To all those in the Quad Cities, I say, "I miss you!! Come visit!" And if that's not possible, at the very least, leave a comment :)

Life is Journey, not a Destination...

...and a journey implies change, movement, and hopefully, growth. Yes, we are transitioning. We've known for some time now that we want to go back to school to get our Masters', and we even knew that it might be in the fall of '08. What we didn't know is that the transition away from Heritage would end up being so early. The church wanted to know as early as possible if we were headed to school next fall so that they could begin searching now to fill our positions. A few months ago as we really began praying about this decision and soon after, we got a call from a good friend of ours out in Rapid City, SD. He mentioned that their Lead Pastor had just made the decision to move to Michigan and that he would be stepping up as Interim Lead Pastor for a few months while they dove into the process of finding a new Lead Pastor. At first, it was casually thrown out that maybe we could head out to Rapid City for a few months to work with him during the transition. We laughed and thought it would be fun. But soon after, we really began to feel like it might be an option and began praying about it more seriously.

Long story short, we will be heading to school next fall [school yet to be determined, although we are applying to quite a few], but we will be making a detour along the way. Mark and I will be heading out to Rapid City in a few weeks for a grand total of 5 months to work alongside Paul as Interim Associate Pastors at Fountain Springs Community Church, before hopefully hiking the PCT and heading to school in the fall.

Our feelings right now are, as expected, bittersweet. We are excited about getting to connect with and work alongside Paul and Brooke out in Rapid City, hike, and head to school, and yet, there are so many people here in the Quad Cities that will be so hard to say goodbye to. We have had a great 2.5 years here. We've learned a lot, grown a lot, and made some amazing friends along the way. There are so many great people here at Heritage.

Change is hard, and yet there's excitement in what the future holds. We know we will look back with joy, and yet we look forward with anticipation at what God has next for us.

Thanks to everyone at Heritage who has supported us, prayed for us, and made our time here great. We've loved seeing God work in your lives, and look forward to hearing updates on how that continues to happen. This blog will continue to be updated, so we're always only one click away!