Big Bear

Beautiful and tragic was the trail today.  We ended our long day hiking down from Mission Creek Campsite watching emergency helicopters recover the body of a woman who became lost hiking with a friend very close to the PCT.  We had heard she was missing since Tuesday and looked for signs of her all day - one mile from our destination, we stood with two friends of hers who had been part of the search party her son organized and stood witness as she was lifted off the desert hillside.  "The whole time she was looking down on us," said a girlfriend who had been searching for days in the valley below.  "At least she had a view," she said.  "At least this," gesturing to the beautiful hills, "was the last thing she saw."

Yesterday we hiked through 80 degree hot sunny hills, gained 7,000 feet of elevation, and slept at Mission Creek which was very cold, almost 35.  I kept just warm enough in my sleeping bag, down jacket, and a sleeping bag liner another hiker named Tribu gave me.  Hiking so near someone else who seems to have died of exposure makes me especially grateful for my warm clothes, gear, and tent (which I am getting better at setting up, though I still would consider carefully your tolerance for wind before investing in a Z-pack Hexamid.)

The day before yesterday, we camped on too windy Fuller Ridge, hiked down 7,000 feet, hiked across what must be the worst stretch of the PCT in the Godforsaken (seriously, I think He forgot about this place) Snow Creek Valley, took luxurious showers at the hostel/home of Trail Angels Ziggy and the Bear, and hiked to a beautiful white sand nature preserve in White River Junction, along what used to be a river.

We're still hiking about 20 miles or more a day - Matan (the Israeli) and I are keeping together.  He's particularly happy about that today because my maildrop is enough for exactly two people for four days...and I bought him gummy candies that are his American obsession.  Tonight we are staying at the home of Big Bear Trail Angels Papa Smurf and Mountain Mama.  Reminds me of my AT night at the home of the Deer River shelter maintainers in 2003, only here there are only three dogs and three cats, not eight and seven.  Also, it is not pouring rain outside.  I am sleeping outside on a cot in their fenced-off backyard after a dinner of homecooked tacos and so many cherries I am going to have a tummy ache and do not care.

And I am amazed at the generosity (or good marketing) of the Angels in this area.  Today on the trail we ran across caches of water, soda, carrots, oranges, sandwich cookies, toiletries, even sofa chairs plunked down on the trail.  Thank you Big Bear Hiker Hostel, the Motel 6, Papa Smurf and Mountain Mama, and Nature's Inn.  Contemplating a ten-mile slack-pack tomorrow to stay in this strange magical funny place one more night before heading north through some hot, sunny terrain to Wrightwood.

Oh, and the personalities.  Here are a few:  Hacksaw, a southerner who just finished the AT, blonde ponytail, great attitude, carries Lunchables and hikes 30-mile days nonstop.  HiLo and Steadfast, nurses who met on the AT and are now thruhiking - Steadfast is 60 and going strong.  Tribu, whose parents live across from Mt. Auburn Cemetery, went to Rindge and Latin, and who spent the months between his 2012 AT thruhike and now working in ashrams in India and Colorado.  7,8,9, a spunky Argentinian experienced hiker girl who I wish was nearby, and also Lucky Winner.  Lastly, southbound sectioner Raven Song who was one of the first women to solo hike the PCT in the 1970s.

Love and fresh mountain air to all.

Underpass, watching a trail after crossing Snow Creek Valley en  route  to Ziggy and the Bear's

Climb out of White River

Finally forest

And more forest up and around Onyx Pass

The outdoor scene at Papa Smurf's

Idyllwild

Idyllwild.  It's all in the name.  Ridiculously cute outdoorsy town at the base of the San Jacinto mountains.  Bakeries, stores to buy leather tasseled clothing items, and hiker-friendly eating establishments abound.  Taking a "zero day" here, which means hiking zero trail miles.  Body is grateful for this rest.  

Everyone here is used to bedraggled hikers and does their best to help.  The Idyllwild Inn, where I am staying, gave me a whole cabin with a deck, livingroom, kitchen for pennies (relatively).  A woman at a gift shop where I may or may not have been Mother's Day shopping helped me figure out which kind of semiprecious gemstone bracelet would heal and soothe my doesn't-like-to-be-dirty skin.  The lady at the pharmacy even smiled when I bought a tube of the product "Boudreaux's Butt Paste."  I hastened to assure her it was for the chafing of my pack shoulder straps...she just kept smiling, nodded sympathetically, and rang me up.

On another note...I logged in to Facebook here, at the Idyllwild Library, and was startled/amazed/elated/confused to see pictures of my former boss, Ambassador Ford, and some other friends entering "Free Syria," a portion of Syria at the Turkish border that is controlled by the rebels.  So many feelings about this.  Are we doing enough?  What more can I do?  What does it mean that I spent a year working in Iraq, only tangentially on these issues, when this crisis was ongoing?  What does it mean to be going to Tel Aviv, and what more should I be doing?

Lots to think about as I head into this next portion of the trail. 

One last note - since the beginning of this hike, my goal has been to reach Kennedy Meadows, 700.2 miles up the trail at the base of the Sierras.  That would be continuous 20-mile days, and I realize now this is a little too much for me.  So my goal is now to hike through June 8, wherever that takes me.  If it's short of that goal, oh well.  It will at least have been about all the steps of the journey and not just the last one.

There are lots of pictures of the same ridge of Mt. San Jacinto and the range...they are all beautiful so I will include them all.  Hard to take a bad picture up here.

Dina, trailnamed Trail Mix (for her love of good music) and Cleopatra (obvious reasons) holding court with the boys in our cabin at the Idyllwild Inn.

Conquering the wild in style

Atop Mt. San Jacinto

This looks idyllic, but it was actually the windiest campsite ever.  Tribu and I  tent-coveted Matan's Big Agnes as only stubborn Hexamites with tents that blow down in the wind can...and granted, the fact that our tents acted like kites could have been "user error."  Still, I heart Big Agnes.

Burgers in Paradise (Valley)

I am reporting from the aptly-named Paradise Valley Café on the Pines to Palms Highway. The manna of this oasis has included a huge, whole amazing burger between thick slices of garlic bread. It's probably the best burger I've ever had, even taking into account its novelty next to the trail food I've been eating (Mac & cheese, quinoa, oatmeal). I paired it with an ice-cream-filled coffee shake and three root beers. Apparently, there are free refills, and my next, welcome task is to decide whether I want one more before I pay.

These are the sweet, caloric payoffs of hiking my longest day yet, 25 miles. Speaking of sweet calories, I have been having some Snickers bar technical issues. From 11 am to 8 pm on this trail, Snickers bars exist only in liquid form. They must be eaten in the key period between 8 pm, when solidified, and 11 am, when they stubbornly reliquify, and it doesn't matter how deeply in your pack you place them. This problem arose in the first place because it has recently gone from being ridiculously cold to ridiculously hot.

I've been thinking a lot about family, specifically my family, and how lucky I am in that respect. Israel is also on my mind a bit, especially because I just finalized my car purchase. It feels a bit ironic since, at the moment, I am getting everywhere on my own two feet.

Not only am I hiking at the same pace as an Israeli, but also with Daniel, a half-Lebanese Jewish guy who was in Syria as a journalist, right after my coworkers and I evacuated our embassy. He stayed only for a hot second, before realizing the level of danger. Despite my serendipitous Middle-Eastern connections here, I feel a very long way from Baghdad.

There is no security guy out here--just me and the trail, and, recently, a couple more animals: a non-poisonous snake and a curious hummingbird, which hovered by my blue hat for a moment, evidently to determine whether or not I was a flower. I could hear its tiny wings beating. [Tania notes: Mimi's spirit animal may well be a hummingbird.]

As other Appalachian thru-hikers I've met here agree, while the PCT is easier step-for-step, it is quite a bit dirtier. There is so much dust, and we are all coated in it to some degree. I'm not sure how much dusty distance I will end up covering, because I realize I'll have more fun if I take some breaks. While I have goals, they are less important than each day's experience. Everything is on a "we'll see" basis.

Sunset with burger in belly, heading to the San Jacintos from Paradise Cafe

Nearing my 33rd birthday, I have found myself to be somewhat of a 'grandmother of the trail'; most of the hikers are around age 24. There is then a large gap until you reach the older hikers, such as Steadfast, who is 60 (and hikes with a partner named Hilo, "high-low"). Because yesterday was the 7^th day we hiked, and made it to 140 miles, my daily average is 20 miles. That average may drop soon, but it's a nice, even number for today.

Mimi, via Tania

Warren Springs and F-16s

Veggie burger lunch stop on a hot lovely hiking day at the Warren Springs Community Resource Center.  Passed Eagle Rock, lots nice ups and downs.  This trail is meant for horses and humans, so none of the Appalachian Trail attitude of, "Oh, a mountain?  Yeah, let's go straight up."  Here, lots of switchbacks and gradual ascents.

Meant to mention that the valley we hiked along for the past two days is a training ground for either F-15s or F-16s.  It is so cool to watch them fly - sometimes almost straight into the mountain before they veer straight up.  We kept seeing three planes flying together - two would go straight over the mountains and one would do that daredevil stunt.

As I speak more Hebrew, I am finding more parallels I didn't catch before with Arabic - and false correlations.  Fun.  Also ran into a hiker named Daniel Fogel today who went to my elementary school...ten years after me!  He's 23 and thruhiking the PCT just like I thruhiked the AT ten years ago.  And we went to the same Minyan.

***

As I walk this trail, without music or anything to distract me, pieces of my past surface.  Yesterday it was Children of Eden, a play I directed my sophomore year of college.  Today, it was Syria.  I knew that would happen eventually.  The force of my longing for that place and the heaviness of my sorrow about how I had to leave and what has happened since has not diminished, but at least I can carry it on my shoulders in a way that is bearable, like the pack I carry with me always.

Biblical Reversal and '49ers

It was a record fifth day with rain. My namesake, Miriam, brought the people of Israel to water in the desert, but I seem to be bringing water to the people. [Tania notes: considering that hiking in rain is annoying, this seems to be the opposite of manna.] A long, red snake, thankfully sans rattle this time, also made an appearance. We are camping high in the San Felipe hills, and heading for Warner Springs tomorrow.

The town we came from, Julian, was a Gold Rush town, and the main street is still set up as if for an old-timey shoot-out. Must try to avoid insulting the honor of anyone resembling a prospector.

Mimi, via Tania

Reaching 100 miles

Eagle Rock

Poptart + Eagle Rock

In Julian,CA in a bed and breakfast whose very generous hiker rate includes a boutique antique-furnished room, laundry,and breakfast...but unfortunately does not provide any clothing or toiletries that would help us fit in to this cute pie-filled tourist town as anything but sketchy vagabonds.  Thank you very much anyway, Julian Hotel.  Today was a relatively short 16 miles in the clouds and then sun. Lots of sun. So much sun I put sunblock on under my sun proof shirt and still got some sun.

Before I get carried away with the hiker minutiae...it was today I fell in love with the PCT. Yes, it is kicking my ass, but it is gorgeous. I took in more beautiful mountain and desert scenery today than any day in my life. Had I a smartphone I would show you. As it stands the pictures will come later.

Other things include a. I am spending over half my day speaking Hebrew (couldn't have planned that one better - take that, Foreign Service Institute that wouldn't give me time to study before reporting to Tel Aviv) and b. I think I like these posts better as Mimi via Tania.  Thanks, Sees.

After a trail angel brings me a warmer sleeping bag tomorrow (she is driving up from San Diego to put water on the trail for hikers 13 miles up into the mountains after) we will head for Warren Springs in a couple of days and eventually Idyllwild.  A Californian Egyptian may soon be in the picture. Stay tuned.

Matan hiking into Scissor's Crossing

Down the ridge

The trail

Mom's Pies in Julian

Rain on the Ridges, and Starlight

From nighttime, May 7. Today was a tough one. Having promised my father I would be careful and nurse my (unfortunate) cold, I left Mt. Laguna at 6 p.m. with Brie, the math teacher, and Matan, the Israeli. We made the probably poor decision to climb a thousand feet to the mountain ridges in cold, driving rain. It eventually cleared up, and now we sit in wind-dried clothing, watching the stars.

Mimi, via Tania

When the sun cleared out of Mt. Laguna

Evening campsite at the (empty) water tank