PCT-1

The Pacific Crest Trail is a more than 2650 miles (4000 km) hiking trail which follows the US West Coast sierras from the Mexico border up to the Canadian border through California, Oregon and Washington State. The elevation change along the trail equates to climbing the Everest up to 14 times! It's crazy tough and crazy gorgeous through major National Parks such as Sequoia, Yosemite, Kings Canyon etc.

We decided to take on the challenge too late so we could not get the permit to start from the Mexico border and had to contend with starting 150 miles north by Palm Springs. Which leaves us with more than 2500 miles to hike anyway. We're giving ourselves 6 months, which means we need to get to hike an average of 15 miles a day. And we need to carry our “houses on our backs”: tent, sleeping mattresses and bags, all weather clothes plus food for up to sometimes a 10-day autonomy, while planning around water sources and food resupplies.

It's gonna be GREAT! 😂

Oh! And we're also taking our 16 y.o. super enthusiastic (just kidding!) teen with us, Jeremy. His older siblings were extra nice with him before our departure, they so pitied him 🤣

That's what he got for not doing anything in school, our self-crafted “homeschooling” program.  Ah ah ah! 😉😉

Day 1 - The D-Day from Palm Springs

We choose to get a 1hr Lyft ride to route 74, South of Palm Springs instead of shortcutting by taking the tram to Mount San Jacinto (10,000ft). Winds are crazy high up there, gusts at 60 mph! And temperatures have plunged. When the driver drops us at the PCT on route 74 (5000ft) it is 45F ! The day before we were at the hotel pool with 100F!!!

Lots of wind here too but the desert  bushes protect us.

We make good progress but our packs are definitely too heavy, more than a third of our weight each, we have too much food!

We make our first “Trail Angel” encounter (those people who provide all kinds of help to PCT hikers, often previous hikers themselves), a hiker quite excited about his finding: old gold mines! He says he has been looking for them for a long time and finally found them. As we talk he suggests we hike to Cedar Springs to appreciate the 4ft wide old trees. This info wasn't mentioned on our PCT guide apps and ended up by being a great idea!

We're all very tired when we get there. 13 miles and 2500ft ascent, from desert to pines beaten by a strong cold gusting wind all the way. We tuck ourselves in our tents shivering.

Day 2

The wind faded after sunset but the temperatures plunged to below freezing.

Skies are blue though and the sun warms us quickly.

We're on our way to Idyllwild. The view on our right below is the desert and Palm Springs.

Up first, then down to a saddle then up again (1000ft!) then down again (2000ft!), The PCT is closed here because of an old fire, and we follow a 14-mile deviation to Idyllwild. The red cedars deliver amazing XXL pine cones!

Winds have knocked down some trees and Muriel shows us how to scramble under! 😂 Looks funny but it's exhausting with our huge backpacks!

12 miles today. We spend the night by a nice creek with a great view of the ridge we just descended.

Day 3-4

We complete the hike to Idyllwild following the mandatory deviation. We're back down to the desert and its beautiful scenery of granite boulders then up again into red cedars and pine forests at 5000ft.

Pretty views. For once we're not on the crest! At Idyllwild, as we we're heading to the campground, we get hailed to stay at this “crash-wherever-you-want-house-turned-into-a-happy-hiker-community”. Showering is our priority followed closely by grocery shopping. This is a cordial social place to eat and drink beers with other hikers (what is that smelly grass doing on the kitchen table?) 😂😂

We sleep in one tiny bedroom with another couple of young hikers, directly on the carpet floor!😜 Jeremy preferred to set up his tent in the yard. And the morning after we pack for our next stop, Big Bear City, in 90 miles, which we plan to reach in 8 days max.

Huge pines and cedars on the way up back to the PCT from Idyllwild.

It's a grueling 8.5 miles / 3500ft ascent from the happy-hiker-house to the primitive campsite just below the 10000ft San Jacinto summit where we call it a day. At 9000ft it's going to be cold and strong winds are forecasted again for tomorrow!

There we meet another family hiking with their 19 y.o. daughter. Very reasonable people like us ! 🤔

Day 5-7

From pines to desert again and again. We make our first 20-mile day. The long and dangerously windy Fuller Ridge followed by a never ending 7500ft descent to Cabezón with no water sources along the way!!! Jeremy has picked up pace, he is running way ahead of us.

Not only we’re exhausted after 10 hours of hiking with very few stops to cover the long distance, but the winds at the desert camp (featuring one generous faucet for water resupply!) are also crazy strong, with gusts at 60 mph; we use rocks to hold the tents. But during the night Muriel has to go solidify Jeremy's tent which is crashing. A terribly uncomfortable night!

The next day we pass under the I-10 and railway. To our delight there's a “trail angel” Oasis right under the freeway.

Coincidence: as we enjoy the complimentary cold sodas a young couple arrives by car, they're not hikers today, they hiked and met on the PCT in 2016. He’s from Luxemburg, she's from Germany. She's expecting a baby now and they took a vacation in the USA just to stock up these trail angels’ oasis along the PCT!! Wow! Great story!

And bounties abound today, we get another lavish trail angel treatment a few miles further, courtesy of local Wind Farm maintenance employees. Jeremy stuffs on junk food and sodas and he flies way ahead on the trail powered by sugar shots!

Along the way we get to see a herd of wild mountain goats.

Our camp tonight is in the beautiful Whitewater reserve. A resort by hiker standards! Toilets and tables but sprinklers on at 11pm! 😂😂

So we climbed up San Jacinto Mountains, then down to the desert and now we're going up to Gorgonio Mountains, the highest peaks in South California. In 10 days of hiking we'll have climbed the equivalent of one Everest already with overly heavy backpacks.

We haven't mentioned our miserable feet yet, they are covered with blisters and have swelled so much we've had to discard the insoles to make room! We keep telling ourselves this is “exquisite suffering".

Day 8

Just 10 miles today but we climbed to 8000ft again. 4000ft up. Jeremy was hiking like a boss yesterday, passing several other hikers, chatting, telling everyone he loved this 👍. Today he is trashed though 👎the sugar shots effect is gone 😂😂.

The weather also is not good for today: wind, cold, chances of rain. Here at 8000ft it's winter.  We get some snow drizzle, all the hikers are under their tents!

And the water source dropping from a little cave is so cold that it has formed icicles!

Day 9

We hike between 7500 and 8500ft for the day.

16 miles - 2000ft up and down.

Snow at Mt Gorgonio peak.

Big cedar trees.

And a couch next to the trail as we get closer to Big Bear City! Just for the fun but the most comfy couch in the world we swear 🤣😉.

Day 10

Surprisingly we had the coldest night so far in Mission Creek down the mountains. Our Nalgene bottles froze ¼ of their capacity just 10 miles to Big Bear City.

We go from huge pine forest to very arid land...again...but the scenery always so majestic we love it!

Saturday April 21st: We've made it to our first milestone: 130 miles and one Everest worth of climb. Two trail angel are at the crossing with the highway waiting for exhausted hikers to take downtown. Sodas are also in supply. We're so lucky! The Big Bear hostel is a great place to stay for a day of rest. What hikers call a zero-mile-day (although we do have to move around for extensive resupply if course!). Time also to fatten up and indulge on any food of our liking. Yipeeh! 😀😀