Flipped to Walker Pass and hiking south toward Hikertown. Hiked 21.1 PCT miles. At mile 583.3. There was strange weather today. Coyboy camping again, I awoke early seing stars through the tall pines, but no stars in the western sky. After hiking a mile or so I crested a minor ridge and I saw a blanket of clouds on mountains below with some other clouds skirting the hill just ahead. Weather was normal when I saw this long lived oak tree in the early morning. A little more hiking and I was...

Flipped to Walker Pass and hiking south toward Hikertown. Hiked 23.9 PCT miles. At mile 604.4. Today I felt much better. I had an early start shortly before sunrise. I took a couple of Ibuprofen with the idea it could help prevent left shoulder pain. I was also made comfortable with the thought that thanks to my stomach my pack weight was decreasing. I took care to do a series of shoulder stretches as I hiked and believe it or not, this was the first day in weeks that I...

Day 31 Flipped to Walker Pass and hiking south toward Hikertown. Hiked south 15.3 PCT miles. At mile 628.5. At Mcgiver Cabin the annual one week outting of Kenny Majors and friends was taking place. Kenny’s family had built the cabin on land that it had mineral rights for. His family has been visiting for generations. The group is very welcoming to PCT hikers and offered myself and others to share their breakfast. Even though I already had my morning oatmeal, I joined the group for 2 plates of scrambled eggs,...

Flipped to Walker Pass and hiking south toward Hikertown. Hiked 8.3 PCT miles. At mile 643.8. I decided to flip, or skip forward and hike back. This means that starting today at mile 651.3 (Walker Pass), I will walk the next 133.5 miles in the south direction until mile 517.8 (Hikertown, Hwy 138). The reason I’ve flipped is that I plan to fly back to Atlanta for a few weeks and with cousin Margaret’s help, it is more convenient and predictable to get to LAX airport from Hikertown, than Walker...

Hiked 15.4 miles today.  At mile 517.6 Early this morning I hiked into Hikertown where I met my cousin Margaret of Lancaster, CA who arrived with loads of trail magic for me and the other lucky hikers who happened to be at Hikertown. After devouring the 2 Burger King whoppers she brought me (credit to Cousin Ed for the hamburger idea) and saving apples and veggies with hummus dip for afternoon snack (credit to Cousin Kate for that trail magic idea), we drove to Lancaster for shower, laundry, more...

Today I hiked 20 miles.At mile 502.4. The PCT is always surprising me. Nearing th Mojave valley, I expect to walk through desert and I did for a short while in the morning, but everything quickly changed as I began to move into trees. I saw a greater diversity of plant life here on the edge of the Mojave. Here is so sort of weeping pine Inhad not seen until now. Here is an arid view in the morning. As I drew closer to the Mojave desert, everyuaround me greened  up...