Things we do while thru-hiking that are not socially acceptable in real life

After about 4 months on trail, these are some habits I’ve picked up which I’ll need to stop once we’re done hiking: – Hitch hiking & accepting rides from strangers; – Accepting food or drinks from strangers; – Eating unlabelled & unpackaged food found randomly in a box; – Not showering for 5+ days in […]

Trail magic

What is trail magic? It’s when a random stranger gives you something or performs an act of kindness to you on the trail. This can be a cooler of cold drinks by the side of the trail or a hitch to the nearest town or a water cache in a middle of a long dry […]

Where are we now?

In my last entry, we were still in the desert in May. Since it’s now mid July, I have a lot of catching up to do which I’ll do below as succinctly as possible. I’m happy to give more details later but here’s a brief summary: – We took a 2 week break mid May […]

Week 6 of the PCT

April 28 to May 4 On day 35, we saw 3 snakes but none being rattlesnakes. However, I think we interrupted one of them having lunch because after it disappeared with a rustle, a black squirming lizard’s tail was left on the trail. I found the dismembered tail unnerving to see. That night we camped […]

Week 5 of the PCT

We visited our mate McDonald’s on day 28. This stretch of the trail was definitely my favourite so far with all the perks along the trail! After another fast 13 miles, we arrive at 12pm – in time for lunch! I polished off a quarter pounder, large fries and 8 chicken nuggets and a McFlurry […]

Week 4 of the PCT

On day 21, we had a long 16 mile (26 km) stretch with no reliable water sources. From where we had camped the previous night, our whole day would be 19 miles. We hiked over snow patches on the San Gorgonio mountain ridges before lunch and then slowly descending down to Arraste campground which was […]

Week 3 of the PCT

Day 14 was the day where we got our first “real” hitch from absolute strangers from Idyllwild back to Paradise Valley cafe. The four of us (Sun bear, Cheers, Andrew and I) were picked up by a lovely elderly couple on their way to lunch with friends. While we drove through the charred remnants of […]

Week 2 of the PCT

After a busy night in Julian eating pizza, resupplying our food for the trail and doing laundry, we woke up unusually clean on day 7. We had some free apple pie (when you show your PCT permit) from Mom’s pies before heading back to the trail. It was 2pm when trail angel Tangerine dropped us […]

Summary of Week 1 on the PCT

It was still dark outside when trail angel Scout directed us and 30 or so other hikers to cars that would be dropping us off at the PCT southern terminus. As we whizzed along the highway, it still felt surreal to me that we were actually starting our 6 month long hike. We arrived at […]

Scout and Frodo

It’s about 8am Friday morning. Lora and I quickly packed up our meager belongings in our hotel room and slowly make our way to the front desk for check out. Behind us was the complimentary breakfast offerings which to our amusement, had an automatic oatmeal dispenser and a large warning sign “DON’T MICROWAVE THE BOILED […]