PCT Thru-hike #8: Sometimes You Pee Your Pants
Thru-hiking the Pacific Crest Trail was a life-changing experience for Arthur and Jill. This is our story.
Follow the PCT thru-hike adventure from the beginning and hike with us to mile 2,650.
Sometimes You Pee Your Pants
Written by Jill
Tomtit and I both slept fitfully last night — I think our tent is becoming the standard for sleeping and other beds are now weird. We hit up the complementary breakfast at around seven for mini waffles, bagels and cream cheese, eggs, strawberry-banana yogurt, orange juice, and coffee. Then we headed back to the room to pack everything up and fill our water bottles from the sink.
We checked out of the hotel and headed over to Subway to grab some sandwiches to pack out for lunch (yum!). Once we were all ready to go we needed to get back to the trail, so commence the sketchiest thing we have done so far — we walked along a highway overpass with no sidewalk to get back to the McDonald’s where we started. I was sure a distracted truck driver was going to smash into us. We made it over alright, though : )
The trail started by going under the highway we had just walked over. We wound around past several train tracks and then started climbing away from the highway. There were some fantastic rocks.
We were walking along and I realized I had to pee. I have a p-style which is this plastic thing that lets me pee standing up, and I was just bragging to mama about how good I’d gotten with it. Well, today I accidentally peed my pants. A little bit got away from the p-style and I had a wet spot on my shorts…serves me right for bragging! I told Tomtit it was the saddest day on trail for me. Luckily the wind dried it quickly.
We found a nice picnic spot with a view after about eight miles. There was a small tarantula hanging out on the trail as well, which is unusual because I’ve only seen them at dusk. We were thinking he might have been stung by one of the many tarantula hawks we saw today. Big scary wasp-like bugs.
After our lunch break, the trail kept on going up and up. The trail goes from 3000 ft to around 8000 ft in this section. There was a half mile stretch that was infested with poodle dog bush, but an alternate road walk took us around the nasty plant (still no pictures of it, sorry!).
There was a tucked away flat spot after we had gone 17 miles from the McDonald’s and we grabbed it to make for an early day. Tomtit had a headache brewing and we didn’t want to push on. We took advantage of the time to eat snacks and blog!
Tomorrow we are going to check out Guffy Campground for a water source, but if it is inadequate we will have to hitch into the town of Wrightwood.
Wrightwood in a Flash
Written by Jill
We slept for about 11 hours last night — we must have needed it! Our tent was above a sea of clouds as the sun rose.
The town of Wrightwood was close to where we camped, and a side trail called the Acorn Trail goes down to the main streets of town. Our original plan was to check Guffy Campground for water and then head to Wrightwood if needed, but I kept talking about getting pizza until we decided to take the Acorn Trail (hehe).
We ran into the Three Amigos (formerly The Texans), Llama, DuPont, Stinger, and Justa near the top of the climb. The Three Amigos had camped up on the top last night and must have had a great view!
Getting to the Acorn Trail was quick, aside from a downed tree. Right before we started down to Wrightwood we stopped for a snack. Tomtit had a Reese’s bunny and a PowerBar and I had a Cliff Bar dipped in peanut butter. The Acorn Trail was pretty steep. We ran into a really sweet day hiker who had five dogs with her and she recommended a place for pizza in town.
Our first stop in town was the post office to pick up a package from my friend. On the way we ran into Kat who told us that thunderstorms and snow were expected over the upcoming Mt. Baden-Powell late Thursday and Friday, so right then and there we decided to make our visit to Wrightwood a short one. We dashed to the post office to get my package, dropped into the grocery store to grab tortillas, and then darted into Yodelers for pizza. All in all we spent about two hours in town which I think is the quickest town stop we’ve done!
We got a really fast hitch from a nice older man who gave us a run down of Wrightwood’s ski resort and the San Andreas Fault as he drove. He dropped us off at Inspiration Point where Hwy 2 met the PCT and took off back to town. Our goal for the day was a campsite five miles from the road at around 6000 feet. The trail down took us into a foggy forest.
When we got to the campground it was only 3:30, and we knew we should put in a few more miles. There was a campsite three miles ahead up at 8600 feet and we aimed for that. We climbed back up out of the fog to find a bench! Benches are much nicer to sit on than rocks.
The climb was slow and difficult for us — we stopped at every switchback to catch our breath. Finally after another two hours we found our camp for the night! We took off our sweaty clothes, hung them on a tree to dry, and switched to our dry “pajamas”. We are currently a mile short of the summit of Mt. Baden-Powel.
Freezing
Written by Arthur
Waking with only one mile to the Baden-Powell summit, Bushtit and I marched the steep cliff to 9399 feet in elevation. We reached near the peak and dropped our packs to climb the last hundred yards to victory! The view was gorgeous, but we also saw the wind and fog we were about to descend into. A storm would be hitting the mountains by the evening, and we knew we had to drop in elevation fast before we were caught in the snow.
We raced downhill. The fog thickened like soup, and it wasn’t long before the winds were blasting us. The last weather report I had seen said to expect a 37 degree high with 30mph winds. Coupled with the wet air, we were shivering all throughout the day. Breaks were kept to under 10 minutes because the only way to keep warm was to keep moving. The trees were covered in frost and kept dropping ice down on us as the wind rustled their frozen branches.
We reached a closed portion of the trail. Some nearly extinct frog had caused several miles of the trail to be shut down. We had two options: a twenty mile trail detour with some scary trail washouts on the cliff side, or a five mile detour with a couple of road walking miles. We chose the latter. Problem was once we reached the road we saw that it was also engulfed in fog. It was going to be a very dangerous two miles of windy and curvy highway walking, but we could not turn back. It was too damn cold and it had started to hail.
Just as we were starting down the road, a man in a pickup pulled over and all but ordered us to get into his car. “It’s too dangerous on this stretch. Get in and I’ll drive you down to where the trail meets up again. I don’t wanna hear about any dead hikers tomorrow!” So we got in.
Turns out he had been driving back and forth all day stopping hikers from walking the dangerous stretch in the fog, and he was planning on doing the same over the weekend as well. What a nice guy!
We were dropped off and walked into Buckhorn Campground at 3pm. With the wind and hail still going we decided to call it an early day. We ate quick (very cold instant mashed potatoes and trail mix) before jumping into our sleeping bags. We shared the site with several other hikers who quit the day early as well. We still made seventeen miles today.
Hopefully the storm tonight doesn’t hinder us too much for tomorrow!
What the Snow
Written by Jill
I am very glad we stopped when we did yesterday! Hail started hitting our tent around five in the evening, and then it snowed off and on until two in the morning. We woke up repeatedly to knock the snow off of the tent because the weight of it was collapsing the walls.
When we finally got up in the morning there was a good two inches of snow on the ground and maybe four inches built up around the tent — crazy!
Neither Tomtit nor I had ever camped or hiked in snow, so the morning went slow as we crunched around the campsite. Paparazzi and DJ, two hikers who we camped next to, had both hiked in snow before and weren’t phased in the slightest. I was a little apprehensive about finding the buried trail, but they were willing to go first and break trail. Tomtit and I prepared for the cold wet snow by putting ziplock bags on our feet.
Once we started hiking I saw there was nothing to be scared of. The trail was gorgeous and easy to follow since it wound along a creek.
A few miles in we ran into Cashmere and Physio (love those two!) and caught up with what had happened since we all left Cajon Pass. We also talked about a restaurant 1.8 miles down highway 2 that would have hot food, which sounded fantastic. I was dead set on a cheeseburger. Tomtit and I ran into Limey, Meta, Stump, and Sarge a few miles later and Stump and Sarge were headed for the restaurant as well. It started snowing again as we got to the highway. We started walking down the road.
A few cars passed us going the other way, but none stopped. We road walked two miles to the most depressing sight — the restaurant was closed! We stood there for about two minutes staring dejectedly at the door until a man came out. “The kitchen is closed but there are hikers inside and we can give you hot chocolate and chips.”
We went into the warm lobby and saw a few other hikers whose faces mirrored our feelings. Pam, Shaggy, Bangarang, Dilly, Dally, and Lucky were all sitting at the bar and we joined them with our hot chocolate. A few minutes later Cashmere and Physio showed up, and then a few more hikers, and then there were fifteen hikers sitting inside.
Someone commented to the bartender that the restaurant was missing out on a lot of revenue from us starving hikers, and he replied that the cook was still in the building and might be persuaded to open the kitchen. Cashmere jumped at that and worked her magic, and the cook agreed to make us burgers and fries!! I had never been so excited for a burger in my life. The room went silent as we all stuffed our faces. Then the bartender offered to drive us all back to the trail head in his truck — so amazing! The whole experience was trail magic.
When Tomtit and I got out of the truck at the trail we hiked uphill, fueled by cheeseburgers. We made a 22 mile day to the top of a frigid ridge between poodle dog bush and sage brush. We set up our tent fast and hopped in our sleeping bags, watching the clouds boil over the hills below. What a crazy day!
Poodle Dog Gauntlet
Written by Jill
Our tent was frozen when we woke up. We camped at the peak and had a great view in the morning, but it was way too cold. We didn’t want to get out of our sleeping bags. We had our biggest mileage day yet. 24 miles! But they were crappy miles.
Bushtit was angry because all day long, all 24 miles were absolutely covered in poodle dog bush. Every turn we took, there it was. Every step we took, there it was. Imagine hiking for 24 miles, 7am to 7pm, and just staring at your feet while you tiptoed around literal hot lava. That’s what today was like.
Poodle dog. Poodle dog! POODLE DOG!
We had to pay an excruciating amount of attention to the placement of our entire bodies throughout the whole day. It’s as if the stuff is constantly reaching out for you, trying to touch you while flipping you the finger at the same time. If we touched it and had a bad reaction we could be sent to the hospital with our skin falling off. It can be that bad.
Not to mention that a good chunk of the day was uphill, and it was all a burnt wilderness. It was torture. Our guides had said the path was well clear of the plant, but they were very wrong. We had missed the chance to take an alternate road walk around the poison weed, and we regretted it. Eventually we made it to a ranger station and made camp with fellow hikers where we all ranted about the trail.
To end the day I had mistaken what I thought was instant mashed potatoes with powdered milk. I wound up accidentally making a chili milk, which wasn’t awful tasting. Bushtit added some instant apple and cinnamon oatmeal to the mix and it was a sort of tasty dessert drink. We drank it all. Yes, we did. Then we went to bed and tried to forget all about this day.
But…
It actually wasn’t a completely miserable day. I was in good spirits for most of it. The excessive poodle dog dodging just wore us out and it was all we could really remember of the day.
(no picture for this one because we don’t ever want to look at poodle dog bush again)
Dropping Elevation
Written by Arthur
Off to a slow start, there was no need to rush at all today. We had camped at a cozy ranger station with all the water and outhouses we could ever ask for, and it was the first warm morning in many days. We were at the end of the burnt forest, which also meant the end of the poodle dog. It was going to be a good day.
We hiked eight miles down in elevation back to the desert floor. Who knew we would be looking forward to the desert again? It was warm and familiar and free of poison plants. We only had to watch for poison snakes again!
At the valley floor was a Kampgrounds of America. We walked a bit off trail to get to it because we heard there was a shop with snacks! Bushtit and I each grabbed ice cream bars and sodas. We also walked out with chips and fresh microwaved burritos and pizza. Yum!
Plenty of hikers had stayed the previous night at the KOA, and we ran into some friends we hadn’t seen in days and weeks!
We didn’t stay for long, however. We ate and ran off to a small 900ft climb in the hottest weather we had felt in a long time. 85 degrees isn’t killer, but we had been in freezing temps for the last few days. We took it slow and had a lot of breaks over the next 10 miles. The heat broke as we passed under a highway through a tunnel and popped out at the Vasquez Rocks Park.
There were many amazing, huge rock formations here. Several TV shows and movies had used the area for filming. Completely different than anything else we had seen on the trail so far. Right past the rocks was the town of Agua Dulce. The trail cut right through town, and we found ourselves walking down streets with PCT signs guiding our way.
We came upon a plaza with places to eat and a grocery store. Banners all around welcomed PCT hikers into the places of business. We spotted a ton of hiker packs outside a pizza place and went in. We were again greeted by many faces we hadn’t seen in quite a while. It was great fun catching up with other hikers over sandwiches, pizza, and pitchers of beer.
Just as we were finishing our plates, Bushtit’s sister Rebecca showed up with her dog Dakota! She lived in a nearby town and had insisted we stay at her place to rest up a bit.
Rebecca grabbed some dinner and took us home. She gave us a tour of her beautiful house and set us up with everything we could ask for.
First things first, showers and laundry. We Tits cleaned up and then chatted the evening away with Rebecca and her man Bruce. Bed called early, but we are going to stay another full day here in Rebecca’s home. So nice of her and Bruce to take us in and let us eat their food!
The Oasis
Written by Jill
After a wonderful day at Rebecca and Bruce’s it was time to get back to hiking. Bruce dropped us off at the grocery store where Rebecca had met. Thanks again! We grabbed a few Gatorades from the store and started down the road.
The trail went uphill right away and we took it slow to warm up our muscles. We climbed about 2000 feet to where we could see back to the mountains we traversed a few days prior. Once we got to the top, the desert chaparral faded into a lovely grass and oak tree combination.
We stopped at Bear Spring to gather some water.
The trail went down to a road and we met two very friendly day hikers who knew a lot about the section we had just hiked. One guy was Running Deer and the other didn’t have a trail name. They both gave us candy. So sweet!
We hiked up and away from the road for a bit and had decided to stop for dinner after a few miles when we stumbled across The Oasis!
There were two trail angels, Joe and Terri Anderson, who hosted hikers at their home and they created an amazing cache called The Oasis. There was soda and water and shaded chairs! We sat down and had a soda each, and it was then we came to the conclusion that we needed to push on seven more miles to the Anderson’s. It was 5 o’clock. We threw it into high gear and booked it up and down the hills. Tomtit was a hiking beast and I was pulled along in his wake.
We got to mile seven (24 miles for the day) at 7:20 only to find the trail angels lived two miles down the road. We were beat, but we started walking the road. We walked about a mile when a car drove past. I whipped out my thumb but the guy kept going around the corner. Then we heard a screechy tire noise and the guy came back! He said we were the first hitch hikers he had ever picked up and we were so grateful! He dropped us off at a store around the corner from the Anderson’s, and inside the store we ran into Rattles and Nomad. They showed us the way to the trail angel’s home and all of our friends were on couches in the front yard! It was definitely a treat for pushing the miles today. We were required to don Hawaiian shirts from their personal collection and then we wandered through their manzanita forest backyard to find a place for our tent. We stayed up late (read 10 o’clock) chatting and playing card games — I was really glad we made it!
On The Road Again
Written by Arthur
Dappled sunlight broke through the manzanita forest at 6am, their leaves shimmering in the light morning breeze.
After half a dozen shots of whiskey and a tallboy of Miller High Life last night, I thought I would wake up nauseated and groggy, but I was just dandy other than needing to make a trek to the port-o-potty. I walked through the maze of trails, stepping as gently as I could around the dozens of sleeping hikers scattered throughout the majestic forest. At the end of the maze I found the Anderson’s house, and a handful of hikers already up and chatting on the sofas and picnic tables in the front lawn, sipping on hot coffee. I took care of business and joined them, warming up with steaming coffee and fluffy pancakes cooked by Mr. Anderson.
Throughout the next couple of hours all of the other hikers, including Bushtit, awoke and joined in on breakfast. The Andersons took a group photo of us against a bed sheet backdrop which all visiting hikers were required to sign. In groups of seven Mrs. Anderson shuttled us back in her minivan to where the trail we left met the road. She dropped us off and made sure to hug each one of us. The Andersons are truly a couple of trail angels.
Because of another burned section of forest, we had to walk a detour. Some took the 21 mile road route straight to Hikertown, while we and some others opted to do 12 miles of road walking where we could connect back to the PCT, and then another 24 miles of trail to make it to Hikertown. The long route was fine with us because we packed enough food and ordered packages delivered to the town of Tehachapi, and we didn’t want to get there before our packages did!
The road walk was easy, but dull. There was a flipped car, an ostrich and quail farm, a cage of wolves, and some mannequins in top hats and overcoats tied up to a tree, but even those amazing things were not enough to keep away the boredom of 12 miles walking along a quiet backwoods highway.
We did come across an awesome restaurant called the Rock Inn. I had a spectacular club sandwich with bacon and avocado with very tasty onion rings, and Bushtit had a very yummy grilled cheese with tomato soup and cottage cheese. Really an awesome meal in an old, historic building, though they weren’t prepared for 20 hikers to show up within minutes of each other! After lunch we hiked down the road with our friend Roxanne for a few more miles until we came upon the side trail to the PCT. Roxanne was having some tendonitis issues and opted for the shorter trek along the road.
We walked up the trail to a spring where a pipe poked out from the hillside and dripped water. Water source! We loaded up.
The trail continued to an abandoned campground with picnic tables strewn across crumbling paved roads and camping spots. The grass was taking over and the restroom was filled with several inches of leaves, twigs, and pine needles.
We took a break at one of the picnic tables and ran into a few other hikers. We all pressed on five more miles to get to another, better maintained campground. It was nice to be back on the PCT again, away from speeding cars and back to awesome views and green forests.
By the time we made it to camp it was cold and getting dark. We set up the tent, ate dinner, and started getting warm. I hopped in my sleeping bag to type this post, and Bushtit hung out with a few other campers at a roaring campfire.
Zog tended to the fire. He’s a retired firefighter who fought wildfires for decades. He didn’t let any tomfoolery happen!
Hikertown
Written by Jill
We woke up to the sound of rain hitting our tent. I peered out and saw the campground shrouded in mist. The “rain” was mist from the trees above the tent. We packed up, got dressed in our rain gear, and put on our pack covers. A few Belvita bars were scarfed for breakfast as we watched Rowan, Kat, Cuban B, and PT hit the trail. We were the last to get moving in the morning.
Our morning was consumed with the knowledge that we would be crossing 500 miles today — so exciting! We stopped to take pictures when we got there : )
500 miles seems like a long way, but we have got a lot more ground yet to cover! We stopped to grab some water from a rain-collecting tank and then pushed on downhill. The lower we hiked the sparser the clouds became until we were finally clear of the rain. The trail wound around the low hills and finally dumped us onto a fire break road alongside some farmland. We made our way to the highway and after a 19 mile day we had made it to Hikertown.
A line of buildings with western style facades served as a hostel for hikers. There was a store down the road with snacks and drinks, and the proprietor drove groups of hikers down a couple times a day. Tomtit and I snagged a trailer to spend the night in and then spent a few hours hanging out in the lounge with all of the other hikers on the garage’s three couches.
The evening went by quickly and Tomtit and I retired to our trailer to watch a few episodes of Friends on Netflix before falling asleep.
The Aqueduct
Written by Arthur
We booked it out of Hikertown once we learned that the rains were at an end. Most hikers suffer through scorching heat as they head out of Hikertown, panting and sweating as they walk a shadeless 20+ mile stretch across the desert, but we had to keep our jackets on as the clouds and breeze made for a chilly desert morning.
The Los Angeles Aqueduct greeted us as soon as we left Hikertown. It was an open, man-made river. We walked alongside the open water for several miles along a dirt road until the aqueduct water was guided into a humongous pipe. The PCT turned off the dirt road and we were routed ONTO THE PIPE!
It was weird. We “hiked” on top of a river of flowing water, walking over metal rivets and around maintenance hatches. The pipe cut right through a rural area where dogs barked at us, men pitchforked tumbleweeds over fences, and front loaders scraped new dirt roads. Odd.
We then turned to where the pipe went fully underground and was covered by slabs of concrete. Miles and miles of concrete trail meant miles and miles of aching feet. Our hiking shoes were meant for the dirt, not metal and cement. We weren’t wearing cushy sneakers. Our trail runners were stiff, and were not comfortable on roads and sidewalks.
We were mostly in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by joshua trees. Every once in a while we would come across something a little too much like a Breaking Bad desert meth lab trailer.
After all of those miles of aqueduct we found ourselves greeted by a fabulous wind farm! We walked around and between the spinning beasts. Hundreds, if not thousands of them whirled around us. The sound was like a fleet of airplanes overhead. And where there are windmills, there was wind. Oh man did it ramp up.
We were being pushed every which way by the strong gusts of wind. For a quick snack we took refuge behind a big bush. The windmills roared still as we walked past them and made our way uphill. The higher we went, the stronger the winds kicked. For several miles the gusts were so strong that they repeatedly pushed us off the trail and we would not have regained control of our steps at all if it weren’t for our trekking poles.
What goes up must go down, and so we made our way into a canyon. A small stream was our next water source, and though it was still incredibly windy in the canyon, many hikers were setting up camp in the area. It made sense. The ridge was windy and dangerous, and all of the other hikers had left Hikertown just as we had, and at this point we had already walked 24 miles. We were all kind of stuck. But Bushtit and I still felt great, and we were hoping the next campsite would be a bit less windy. So we marched on! Uphill, but now with the roaring winds at our backs! It felt like we floated the next 3.5 miles to the next canyon.
Our spot was much less windy and less crowded than the previous canyon. It was very peaceful as we fell asleep.
And then midnight struck, and all hell broke loose. The wind whipped through our canyon, flapping our tent walls and waking us both. The tent folded in on us, pressing down with brute force. The wind was strong enough to plaster the roof of the tent down on my face, and with unexpected pressure. Bushtit was worried the tent was going to collapse. She used her arms and I used my feet to help hold up and support the folding walls. We held on for awhile.
And then I gave up. The tent was bending, but not breaking. I just stuck my earplugs in and went back to sleep. If it was going to collapse, then so be it. But it never did. It was a little beaten in the morning, and everything we had, inside and out of the tent, was covered in sand and dust, but we survived the night just fine. It was a beautiful, windless morning we awoke to.
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See more pictures from Arthur and Jill’s Pacific Crest Trail thru-hike by downloading the Adventure and The Pacific Crest Trail eBook. A print version is available as well. All sales help support Better Hiker.
