It’s Friday night and I’m at mile 144, eight days into it. That is exactly 18 miles a day which was my goal. The weather has taken a real turn for the worst, really cold and rainy. It is difficult to get movatated to get up in the morning, pack things up and walk in the rain. I thought this was supposed to be the desert!  I think I can make Idyllwild tomorrow night, it will be good to dry out and regroup. The guys I have spent the last several days with hitched back to the big kickoff gathering at lake Morino so I doubt I will see them for a long time. Till later, Ladies Man

At mile 91.8 on the Pacific Crest Trail. 18.4 miles yesterday, 18.7 miles today and feeling great. This section is the longest dry section, 30 miles between natural water sources.  Tomorrow I hope to make Warner Springs, my first Mail package.  I have finally been bestowed trail name. My friend Jeanne Gemmel who has a home down here, hiked in with her hiking group to meet me on the trail. As they walked on everybody on the trail “have you seen Dean, we are looking for Dean”. The guys I had been hiking with met me at the next water stopped and said from this point on you will be known as ” ladies man”. The hike is been awesome the deserts in full bloom and the people on the trail amazing, great experience.

Dean met up with his first friends on the trail.  Jeanne Gemmell is a friend from Sun Valley, who also lives in Borrego Springs.  Her hiking club made a special outing to meet the PCT guy!  They had to hike from the Pedro Fages Monument (near Lake Cuyamaca) over to the PCT and then hike south on the PCT to meet up with Dean who was hiking north from the Pioneer Mail Campground.  Great effort!

“We had fun meeting up with Jeanne’s friend Dean from Sun Valley on the Pacific Crest Trail.  We hiked through meadows of wildflowers, had panoramic mountain views, and visited with PCT hikers from Minnesota, Portland, San Francisco, etc.  and were surprised by another rattlesnake.  The weather was perfect once again.”

Day number three and I’m at burnt rancher Rea campground mile 41 1/2. Today I went from 2000 feet up to 6000 feet, so I dialed my mileage back to 13 miles a day to save the knees in the feet.

Food, for breakfast I eat seven spoonfuls of an oatmeal, grain mix that I made. For lunch I have two granola bars. Dinner has been  a mixture of couscous, mashed potato and some India seasoning.

Water:   Not as much of a problem as I feared before my departure. The first day was a bit of an issue, 20 miles and no water so I had to carry 8 leiters which weighed 16 pounds on their own, and since it was day one my Food weighed just over 10 pounds. I ran into people who did not manage their water so well and ended up giving a guy who could go no further and decided to camp 5 miles from the next water and was completely dry1 L of my water to get him through that night and the next morning.

I am doing well all the body parts seem to be holding together generally speaking. The day I started roughly 25 other people started around the same time. Of those probably five have already dropped out.

Until next time it’s still Dean I don’t have a trail name yet.

Day two on the PCT and taking a break after only 6 miles of hiking. I hiked 20 miles my first day to stop at Marino Lake, which everybody says will be the coldest night on the PCT. they weren’t wrong, pretty freezing last night.