San Jacinto Mountains

Tuesday, May 19. 8:30pm

It is a very blustery night as we pull out our sleeping bags in a windy pass of the San Jacinto Mtns. We hiked up today out of the small town of Idyllwild where we spent last night. We hitched into town a little earlier than planned on a road 18 miles from town. We needed to treat our blisters and regroup. It turns out 24 hours off the trail isn't enough to magically heal blisters and take away feet soreness. But our morale went up being back around some hiker friends and meeting new ones. Idyllwild is a lovely little town with great food places (we hit Monday night taco night!) and a camp ground in town to stay at for $3! We also got some much needed laundry done. All in all town was a nice resting place.

Also a good cure for the desert blues: tall mountains and tree-covered paths! The views from these passes and peaks is incredible. We may even see some snow still on the ground tomorow as we pass the 8,000 foot mark.

We hope to be able to share our pictures just as soon as we can get our hands on an SD-card reader. We've gotten some questions about what the desert we walk through looks like and we're anxious to share.

After we finish this little mtn range we have a 7,000 foot descent back down to the floor of the desert. Luckily we have 20 miles to make that drop.

Time to get some rest in all this wind!

Bluebird

Thank you,
Garrett & Anna Cole
Buster & Bluebird
http://ordinaryadventure2009.blogspot.com/

More Blisters, More People

Wed. May 20, 9:00 PM

Well I have officially joined the crowd of people who get blisters. Both pinky toes have fully developed and as of today both pads of my feet just below the big toe have blood blisters. I am going to attribute the pinky toes to too small shoes, but I have no idea what is causing the pad blisters, unless my feet just need to get used to hiking 20 miles per day.

To reduce the pain of walking, I have switched to hiking in Crocs for the last 45 miles or so. Since the switch the pinky toes have been healing and the soft slipper/shoes have been very comfortable.

Hiking in the San Jacintos has been amazing... the higher elevation has lowered the temperature which makes hiking during the day bearable. We spent most of our day today climbing from our camp at 6000 feet up to over 9000 feet where we got to play in some snow that has yet to melt off.

As we were setting up camp tonight three more hikers rolled in after their stays in Idyllwild (an awesome trail town). They are Matt from Connecticut who we had met in Mount Laguna, Billy from Santa Barbara, and Monologue, who we have heard about being just minutes ahead f us for days and who also hiked the AT in 2006. It is exciting to camp and hike around so many people, and reassuring that we are not out here alone. Tonight we are camped at 8850 feet and at 9:00 it is about 50 degrees, so we are probably in for the coldest night we have seen so far.

Tomorrow we drop 7000 feet back down to the desert floor going through every ecological zone in California except alpine. Not looking forward to the desert but it has got to be done to get to the San Bernadino forrest coming up.

Tough Days

May 17

We have had a few tough days ever since mile 78 at Scissors Crossing. From Scissors we had a LONG afternoon hike up a 13 mile sun exposed mountain that also happened to have no water.

That afternoon we met our first two hikets who we have spent some time with. During our ciesta we got to know George from Georgia and Michael from New Zealand, who we named Heaps. We camped with those two, Sean, who is now known as Aquaman, and Todd who is on his second PCT Thru- hike.

The next day we all went into Warner Springs, our first trail town and resupply point. On our way in we experienced our first desert field walk an the way to and from Eagle Rock. It is just plain hot in the sun, and when you're walking through the sand or fields you can feel the heat rising.

In Warner Springs Todd got a room and let Anna and I take showers. Little did we know we would be coming back and splitting a room with the 3 other guys, when we found out town security would not let us camp just on the outskirts of town. So we split the room and took advantage of their hot spring fed pool and breakfast buffet.

Anna and I have developed extensive blistering on our pinky toes and Anna on the pads of her feet, so we think we are going to take a day or more off in the next town to drain them and possibly switch shoes.

Well right now we are huddled under a bush to escape the sun, but we are losing our shade, so we have to be on our way... If I never saw sun and sand together again that would be just fine.

Warner Springs

Relaxing now in the first shade since 24 miles ago during our siesta. We're headed into Warner Springs after our break where we hope to
find a shower and pick up our maildrop. This town is super small and
only has a mini-mart, P.O., and resort. Needless to say, we are
getting pretty excited about the mini-mart.

For the first 3 days we saw no other thru-hikers and only 2 section
hikers. But yesterday we caught up to 4 hikers in front of us and 1
more today. It's great to be with people! Most all of them still
need trail names so we're having fun with that.

until next time!

Bluebird
Thank you,
Garrett & Anna

Siesta!

We are sitting at the Sunrise Trailhead where, thanks to trail angels there is 3 gallons of clean water. We stopped at 11:00 when the temperature in the sun was 113.5 degrees. Here in the shade of the Pit Toilet building it is 68.5 degrees. We will stay here until 2:00 or 3:00 when we will head out to look for a campsite around the Rodriguez Spur Truck Trail.

This morning after realizing the sun screen on my legs just wasn't cutting it, I borrowed a trick from our friend Jason (Stretch/Sarong) and attached the groundcloth of our tent around my backpack to drape over my legs. The shade it provides helps cool me down and reduces the risk of sunburn.

First two full hiking days

We started off strong with two 20 mile plus days. Our first two days have been similar routines in that we have done 15 to 16 miles before lunch, taken 4 hour breaks and then finished with another 6 to 8 miles.

The sun is relentless, I am glad to have a huge goofy looking hat. Despite the sun, the high desert scenery is spectacular. I am seeing a lot of new plants and animals, and learning a lot about how to stay comfortable in our new environment.

Today we had to do a long road walk around a helicopter crash site. We could see the clean up effort from the re-route. The exposed repetitive pavement walk took a toll on us and we revived ourselves with ice cream from the general store in Mt. Laguna.

Now we are just below Garnet Peak at mile 49 and it is well past bedtime.

Very happy to be out here...

Mail!

Hello Everyone!

This post is all about how we would love to hear from you during our hike.  Here are the places along our hike where we can receive mail and packages.   We will have to go these post offices anyway to pick up our food, but we also love to get news from home!   Here are some instructions on how packages and mail can reach us:  

-Letters can be mailed First Class (that is normal, regular mail)

-Boxes must be mailed via Priority Mail throught the US Post Office.  If you send a box via First Class or Parcel Post, we probably won't get it.  We've had the best luck with Priority Mail, for sure.

-If you do feel inclined to send a care package, food that we can snack on right away is always a big hit (cookies, chocolate, candy, etc.).  

-We don't have exact dates of when we'll get to each post office, but we've estimated a date that is on the early side.  Our arrival may very well be up to a week after the said date.

-When addressing your envelop or package write:

Anna or Garrett Cole

c/o General Delivery

City, Zipcode

- Also write on the envelope or package: "Hold for PCT Thru-hiker.  ETA: (date listed below)."   This memo can go in a corner somwhere visible but not in the way.  If you're mailing a box it's also helpful to write "COLE" in big letters on other sides of the box so it's easily identified in the post office.

Here are our post office stops:

Warner Springs, CA (this post office is tiny, so if you do send something please keep it small!)

92086

ETA 5/15

Belden, CA  

95915

ETA 7/12

Castella, CA

96017

ETA 7/22

Ashland, OR

97520

ETA 8/1

Cascade Locks, OR

97014

ETA 8/21

Just a couple more days until we ship out.  We are now at my parents' house in Ashland, VA getting our last things together.  Next post should be from the trail!

Anna