Once again, I am in town resting and picking up my next resupply box, so once again it is time for a review of all my days on the trail since my last entry. Buckle up ladies and gentlemen, it’s about to be a wild and bumpy ride.

On the morning of my eighth day, I woke not to an alarm or to the rays of my sun, but to little water droplets on my face. We had camped at a very high altitude but luckily the combination of wearing all of my clothes, putting the rainfly on my tent and strategic tent placement between trees to block the wind had allowed me to have a warm night of sleep. Wait. I used my rainfly? What the heck are these water droplets doing in here? Still groggy from sleep and not wanting to leave my sleeping bag, I decided I’d figure it out later and went about my normal morning routine: eating breakfast (which is always more fun the day after resupply. this morning I learned that berries Captain Crunch and peanuts are a magical combination), getting dressed, putting on sunscreen and then finally packing up my sleeping bag and heading out into the world to deal with my wet tent. I took the rainfly off and hung it on a tree to dry in the sun as much as it could before Ryan, Alyssa and I began hiking for the day. I left my tent to dry where it was, because I knew that without the rainfly on its mesh walls would dry fast. Once upon a time, this small roadblock would have flustered me greatly, but in the short amount of time I’ve been on trail I’ve already becoming much better at ‘rolling with the punches’. This also became a learning experience: Ryan told me that the water was caused by condensation from Alyssa and my body heat within the tent, and then he taught me that this could be prevented by fighting the guylines on the tent to create ventilation. Every day I learn many lessons—some big, some small, some internal things about myself, some about how to navigate the wilderness—and this was my first of the day.

Since we’d only hiked out from town 2 miles the previous day I’d packed an energy drink, so I knew day 8 was going to be a good one. Our first several miles were a steady climb, and then the trail flattened out as we wound through a dusty and dry pine forest. We reached our first water source, a crystal clear stream, just before we hit 10 miles for the day. The plan was to hike 17 miles that day to get to a campsite at a slightly lower elevation, but shortly after we began hiking again it became apparent that would not be the best option. So far the trail had been following a ridge above Big Bear Lake (the views were stunning), but just after we reached our highest elevation of the day at 7,950 feet the trail would be switching to the north face of the mountain range, and therefore to the snow.

We didn’t want a repeat of San Gorgonio (day 5), so we opted to set up camp early despite the extremely high elevation and attack the snow early in the morning. It was a lovely campsite and it was nice to set up camp early and chill for a bit. However, somehow I’ve already forgotten what I’m supposed to do with myself when I’m not walking. We all went to bed early.

One more fun and random story about this day: in his food bag Ryan had a packet of salmon, rice, wasabi and nori and used it to make trail sushi. Iconic. Not quite as exciting, but I ate salami and ranch flavored corn nuts together and discovered my new favorite trail dinner.

On day 9 we wanted to have a big mileage day (24 miles) to make up for the day before when we only hiked 14, so we set alarms and woke up at 6 a.m. with the goal of heading out by 7 a.m. It was a chilly morning, but big mile days make me really excited so I was ready to go. The first 5 miles were indeed on very snowy slopes—not nearly as bad as Gorgonio, but going in the morning when it was still icy made the miles much easier—and the majority of miles that day were downhill. There were also abundant water sources despite the fact that the desert was actually beginning to look like the desert, so we never had to carry too many liters at a time. 10 miles into the day I also hit my first milestone: 100 miles hiked on the PCT.

After 18.5 miles our entire crew was hurting. For me, it was my horribly blistered feet and resurgence of hip pain; For Alyssa it was her knee as she tore her MCL at the end of last year and is still healing; For Ryan it was the general fatigue of a day with more miles than our bodies were accustomed to. They both really wanted to stop, but I was determined to push on at least a bit more, and eventually the crew rallied and made it to 21.21 miles—a new record number of miles in a day for all of us. I was very proud of our little trail family that day. Proud of how we found shared strength between us all, but also how we dig deep and found more strength than we knew we had within ourselves. We set up camp on a little beach next to Deep Creek making for another extremely beautiful campsite. It was a very good night of sleep due to being at a lower elevation, but also because falling asleep to water noises is probably the most relaxing thing there is.

The first 7 miles on day 10 were spent winding along the side of the canyon above deep creek. The views were breathtaking and it was hard to look at the trail and not the scenery, but after almost stepping off a cliff twice I forced myself to pay more attention. Every time I did look up, which was still quite frequent, the views were just as stunning.

We took a break at the 7 mile mark to visit an iconic spot along the PCT: Deep Creek Hot Springs. I only spent a few minutes in the hot pools because I’ve heard countless stories of hikers with opens wounds or blistered feet (which unfortunately my feet were still horribly blistered) and holding your feet out of the water while you soak is quite difficult. I then moved to the cold water of the actual creek and “iced” my legs for 10 minutes, then jumped off a rock into the water to take a “shower”, and then we packed up and continued on.

We continued to wind along canyon walls, but it became slightly less scenic after the hot springs and relaxing in the sun had made me a bit lazy. I knew that at PCT mile marker 315 there was a burger cookout-—trail magic—awaiting us, which helped me keep going. We eventually reached the cookout and by then I was famished, and I think the bacon avocado burger I was rewarded with for making it there was the most delicious thing I’ve ever eaten. Or at least it was in that moment. When we reached mile 315 we’d only hiked 14 miles so far that day and intended to continue on after, but ended up camping there for the night and hanging out with the other hikers. Everybody I meet on this trail is fantastically unique and wild and I’m starstruck again and again. I’ve wondered many times if anyone has ever felt this way after meeting me.

On the morning of day 11 I awoke to a beautiful desert sunrise. Before setting out on the PCT I thought I’d watch the sun rise and set almost every day, but I think this was the first sunrise I actually sat and enjoyed. It was a beautiful morning and despite the fact that we were going to hike 20 miles that day, we allowed ourselves to move slow. Along with watching the sunrise, I also stretched my sore muscles and called my dad. Oh how magical the little things are.

We had lots of climbing but also lots of descending that day, and knowing that there are equal amounts of both makes each feel easier. Somehow the first 14 miles flew by faster than ever that day—we all felt so strong we didn’t stop once. The trail was once again winding along canyon walls, this time above Silverwood lake, and it was quite windy but also incredibly beautiful. The miles after our lunch break felt a bit harder, but despite our late start (around 8:40 a.m.) we still hiked 21.07 miles and got to camp around 5:30 p.m. Once again there was daylight left to spare after setting up camp, and once again I wasn’t sure how to spend those hours. Why can’t I just walk nonstop for ever?

The night before day 12 we camped at the last camping area before Cajon Pass where there is another iconic PCT stop—a McDonalds that is just off trail—so that we’d only have 7.5 miles until McDonalds. I’d been feeling bold so I hadn’t set up my rainfly for the first time in a while, and of course an unexpected light rain hit us overnight. Tucked within my sleeping bag with no part of me exposed I hadn’t felt the rain, so I hadn’t woken up while it was raining, so all of my things were wet. Oooops. Not pleasant. The clouds were still present and it began to rain lightly again so I packed up at record speed. I was freezing cold since all of my clothes were wet, but the promise of McDonalds (warm yummy food, a real bathroom, and a place to charge my phone) was great motivation. Despite a 3 mph hiking pace I felt we weren’t getting there fast enough, so somehow I found it within myself to run the last 2 miles. With my pack on.

It was worth it. We hung out at McDonalds for 5 hours since we were only going 4 more miles after, so I got to eat breakfast and lunch there. And about 10 cookies in between. I felt revived. I also left with some chicken tenders and barbecue sauce to eat for dinner the next day—I wanted a treat for my birthday dinner.

The miles after McDonalds were so green and so beautiful. It was an all around fantastic day.

Day 13, Friday, April 5, was my birthday. My friends made me feel very special in the morning, and the spunkiest and best part of me came out that day. Almost our entire day of hiking was spent climbing up up up up—we had one mountain to climb before getting into our next resupply day—but it was cloudy and not too hot, so it didn’t feel like that much of a challenge. The fog made the scenery look so mysterious, and I found it so beautiful. The miles flew by that day, and I don’t think my smile faltered all day. We camped early again to attack the north face and final 7.5 miles into Wrightwood the following morning. Once again at high elevation it was very cold and I was wearing all my clothes by 5 p.m. but I stayed out of my tent to watch the sunset anyways. It was stunningly beautiful and incredibly worth it.

On day 14 we were out of camp before 7 a.m. for the first time, and we made good time over the snowy miles. Baden-Powell was the next mountain after Wrightwood and is notoriously dangerous. Alyssa and I both don’t have ice axes, so we decided we would bypass these miles and come back later when the snow would be gone. Ryan has an ice axe and had decided he would stay behind and hike Baden-Powell after Wrightwood when Alyssa and I skipped forward. The three of us had been together almost the entire time I’d been on trail, so it was very hard to say goodbye. It wasn’t hard to say goodbye to the snow though.

The three of us shared a hotel room in Wrightwood that night and ate a good dinner together, and the following morning we said our goodbyes. A friend of Alyssa’s picked Alyssa and I up and drove us to Acton, where we then hiked the 10 miles into Agua Dulce where we would resupply. We arrived pretty late that night, pitched a tent in the yard of the local trail angels, and fell right asleep.

That brings us to this morning, day 15. I slept good. I woke to the sun, then took a long hot shower and did my laundry. I drank two cups of delicious coffee, then unpacked my resupply box and my new trekking poles. Soon we will set out again for the next stretch of trail.

I am already ready to hike again. We are in the real desert again and I’m about to be hiking in far higher temperatures than I’m used to. In about a week when I reach Tehachapi, you will all find out how it went.