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...

Hiked 21.8 miles today. At mile 482.4. It was a day for the critters. Got stung by 2 bees and saw my 3rd Rattlesnake. The snake was hiding in a bush beside the trail and rattled when I passed. I l also saw the largest lizard so far, 12 inches; it seems the hotter it gets, THe larger the lizards grow. The morning started with the most beautiful green mountain meadows I had  seen on this hike. Upon crossing a mountain ridge, the landscape changed to a hot dry landscape...