Desert Lows and Mountain Highs

Woke up this morning
Feel around for my shoes
You know ’bout that babe
Had them old walkin’ blues
– Robert Johnson

Well, another 50 or so miles and we have learned the following: After hiking over 250 miles, we both hate the desert. It’s beautiful from about 6am to 8am and 5pm to 7pm but other than that it’s hot as hell and dry. We’ve had an eventful couple of weeks though. For those who don’t follow us on Facebook, on our decent from Mt. San Jacinto we encountered some troubles. We had stopped for a snack when a fellow hiker walked up to us in distress.  He was biting on a bandanna with blood pouring from his nose and forehead from tripping on a rock. We started to escort him down the mountain to find his way to an ER when we came across a woman resting in the shade who looked a little woozie.  We stopped briefly to ask if she was okay and she started vomiting from heat exhaustion. It’s a tough situation to be in; to be so dehydrated you can’t stomach water but need water to fix the problem… So Steve went on with the head injury guy and I stayed back to help the woman with dehydration. Long story short, everyone made it out of the situation fine. After this we decided to hang up our boot laces and maybe visit a few national parks in the neighbourhood before venturing home, but within a couple days we were planing our way back to the PCT.  I guess we haden’t had enough at that point so we went back to the trail. We were not back on the trail for even 5 miles when we came across this:

If you ever want to try and catch a couple hikers this is a sure fire way to do so.  They bagged 9 of us in the 20min we took shelter there. But honestly, thank you to the folks at the Mesa Wind Farm who provide hikers with water and shade during these hot days. 

We found a nice spot in the whitewater preserve to have our dinner and rest our tired bones

It was after this that Steve told me again that he wasn’t happy and wanted to go home. And I totally understand. This is a huge undertaking. We have seen countless individuals along the way, being held together with medical tape and we have questioned why.  Why are they doing this, why are we doing this, and so on and so forth. Here is what we came up with: We started this journey because we needed a break. We work long hours apart on the road, and a long stretch in nature, free from technology sounded like a good idea. Maybe I felt a little challenged with the side jabs I get in regard to our relationship; that we have lasted so long because we never see each other… well to that I say Poo Poo! It is almost disturbing, the level of comfort we have with each other now… 

But I digress… back to the adventure at hand! 

We are both of sound body and looking at this going ‘okay I know I can do this physically, but is this the best use of my time?’ The answer is no. 

So it is with a heavy heart we share our last few trail days with you. Instead of turning around we soildered through up to Big Bear Lake. We gained around 2000 meters of elevation over the first day.  It was on a our ascent that we came across our first rattlesnake.  I would of taken a picture but I was too busy running in the opposite direction.  We continued to hike up into the San Bernardino forest which was previously affected by forest fire. It was certainly intersting to see.

We then continued the long climb up out of the fire protection ground and into some beautiful tall red woods.

This is Steve. Perfecting the selfie. Proof we have no more to learn from this trail.

So we ended our hike on a happy note – achieving over 400km. And that is nothing to scoff at.

But we still have 5 months of unemployment coming up! What to do?!  Well now seems to be the perfect time to participate in all those activities that are hard to fit into our schedule. For instance, now we can take clasesses in mountaineering and woodworking and follow our own personal interests for a while. Maybe even socialize with others. First on our list is an 80 hour Advanced Wilderness First Aid course, coming up in 2 weeks. I don’t think we’ll have trouble filling our time with adventures. 

And with that I leave you with the photo of our last sunset on the trail. It has been a beautiful experience and I can not imagine doing any of this without my best friend being at my side. This past month together has just been the absolute best, despite the challenges… and aw heck I just love this guy.

And we still have 5 months together to go ❤

– Peace and Love from Rachel and Steve