Fuller Ridge to Full Bellies in Big Bear

After another gorgeous stretch of Southern California from Idyllwild to Big Bear City/Lake, we have currently hit the 265 mile mark. With nearly 1/10th of the PCT behind us, we are feeling great and enjoying every day. Due to the massive snow load in the Sierra, we are continuing to take our time to try to get to Kennedy Meadows at a later date when there will be less snow. So....we are once again taking a Zero in Big Bear Lake, CA for our poor feet and to jam as many calories as possible into our shrinking, but wiry, bodies. Wasting no time, we'll give you a rundown of our last leg, characterized by elevation and weather extremes.

Cinco de Mayo—After a day and a half of rest in Idyllwild and a large breakfast at the Red Kettle, we caught a ride from the owner of the Idyllwild Inn in his pick-up to the base of Devil's Slide Trail. 2.5 miles of incline brought us back to the PCT. Now we faced the ascent to the hyped FULLER RIDGE.... We managed to lose the trail multiple times, as we navigated via frozen foot prints and our mediocre maps. We crossed multiple swift, swelled runoff rivers in the diverse conifer forest.  Although we usually hike alone on the trail, it was quite comforting to have the company of our friends Phillip, Chris, and Nicole to find our way through the snowy San Jacintos and cross the ridge. Eventually, after a slow 12 miles through the snow, we made it to the Fuller Ridge remote camp for sunset and a relaxing evening. Despite all the hype and anticipation, Fuller Ridge was quite tame, but still an exciting change of pace.

The bums with Tahquitz peak in the background.

Forest, Chris, and Nicole trying to find the trail.

Phillip crossing snow-melt river.

Phillip staggering through the snow-pack of Fuller Ridge.

Adam relaxing after a snowy day.

5/6—With Fuller Ridge behind us, the next day we were ready for a pleasant, quick 16 miles down the ridge to San Gorgonio Pass. WRONG! We switch-backed for hours down the shade-lacking slopes in the hot desert sun. We pushed hard and finally made it to the bottom to a water fountain that we guzzled from in attempt to fill our deprived bodies. It was a little too late for both of us, as we were wiped out for the next couple days from dehydration. After the descent, we meandered across the devilish San Gorgonio Pass. Under the relentless sun and “the sound of screaming sea gulls” from the Mesa Wind Farm, we leaned into the sandblasting winds and pushed across the sandy, ~100 degree desert. Relieved to reach a shady underpass, we were rewarded with a cooler of beverages from a local Trail Angel. Dehydrated with our hot, blistered feet and tired legs, we moved on to find camp for a lousy, windy night of sleep under the wind turbines. (24 mile day).

The 100 degree death march of San Gorgonio Pass

Mesa Wind Farm with Mt. San Jacinto backdrop.

5/7—We have both been hungry for every moment of our lives for the last 23 years, but on May 7, 2011, a new kind of hunger arose in our churning bellies….the HIKER APPETITE! Nothing filled us up! After starting this leg with what we thought was an excessive, heavy load of food, we were now panicking that we would not have enough food to get to Big Bear. Therefore, Forest was panicking that he was the next entrée on Adam’s menu. He was saved by the distraction of the gorgeous flowers, frequent shade, and massive canyon walls lining the rapid waters of Mission Creek. After 22 miles of hunger, we settled down at a creek-side camp for 3 bags of mashed potatoes and went to sleep hungry….

Whitewater River.

Moving further away from Mt. San Jacinto.

Adam debating whether a grilled Forest would taste better with a side of potatoes or rice.

5/8—Happy Mother’s Day from the PCT! We woke up to the first clouds over the last 2 weeks, and not only was it cloudy, but it was cold! We climbed a little over 2000 feet in 4 miles to a trail camp where we got water from a spring, snacked on our rationed raisins and M+Ms, and bundled up before moving on. With a couple more miles behind us, the sun came out to warm us up a bit. Until this brisk day, we have been trying to evade the torturous sun that never seems to go to sleep in Southern California. With the cooler temperatures, the hiking was much easier and we moved quickly over the ridges of the San Bernardino Mountains. We were startled to hear lions roaring, as we descended a mountain slope in Southern California. These were not cougars. These were the roars from Simba’s hungry Mom and Dad! Soon we ran into a large caged lot, holding grizzly bears, wolves, African lions, leopards, tigers, and cougars. Predators in Action train large predators for movies—odd sighting on the PCT! After some candy, cookies, fruit, and soda from the Big Bear Hostel Trail Angels, we descended into a dense conifer lowland for camp. Another COLD (32 degrees), windy (50 mph gusts) night in the smallest known 2-man tent on the planet. (22 mile day).

San Bernardino Mountains.

Grizzly bear doing Broadway tricks for PCT hikers in its 4x6 cage...

5/9—Cold and eager to get into Big Bear for FOOD, we got an early start and cruised 9.5 miles down to HWY 18. We hitched a ride into Big Bear City from a nice couple from SedonaGrayson, the Big Bear Hostel owner and got a room at his place. Wonderful, cheap place to hang the hat for a couple days. Then, we hit the sports bar for appetizers, which was immediately followed by three heaping plates at the Chinese Buffet. Back to the hostel for bedtime (8 PM). 

An appetizer for the day.

5/10—We got up at 6 today to make a plan for Big Bear and find a local diner in the snow-dusted city. We found exactly what we were looking for at the Grizzly Manor Café. Adam had the Sissy Boy (fitting), which consisted of 2 fried eggs, 2 strips of bacon, and 1 massive pancake larger than Adam’s head! That is BIG! Forest consumed the Grizzly Bear (2 fried eggs, 3 strips of bacon, hash browns, 4 biscuits and gravy) and threw in an extra massive buckwheat pancake. We walked out smiling ear-to-ear! Be back tomorrow before hitting the trail. With our grocery shopping out of the way, we have the rest of the day to relax and explore Big Bear Lake! 

This is NOT a Sissy pancake!!

The Grizzly Bear plus a small pancake.

Tomorrow morning we continue walking north toward Canada!

Anticipated Itinerary:

Wrightwood: 1 week

Agua Dulce: 2 weeks (no incoming mail)

Thanks again for all the support, blog comments, mail, and positive vibes in circulation! We will keep walking! Please continue to help by spreading the word and the love!

Much Love,

F+A (AKA Bert (Adam) and Ernie (Forest) on the trail)

Greetings from Idyllwild!

*Pardon the MASSIVE post. We had a bunch of time in Idyllwild, so we thought we would give you a more in depth look at our trip.

We are taking a Zero (zero miles hiked) in Idyllwild, a hiker friendly town, 178.6 miles from the border. We are a tenth of the way finished with California and a quarter of the way to the Sierra Nevada. Spirits are high and we are getting some quick rest before hitting the trail again! Here is a little summary of our past week.

4/28     After our half day of rest in Julian, we hitched a quick ride down canyon and back to scissors crossing. We took off from scissors at 10 a.m. for a very very hot 18 mile day switchbacking up the San Felipe hills. We encountered our first barrel cacti of the trip, along with an unusual and beautiful plant called Octillio. It basically looks like a pipe cleaner and stands 10-15 ft tall! We had a very windy and relatively sleepless night of camping on a bend in the PCT above a canyon, with beautiful views of the surrounding Volcon Mountains.

Bum trying to grab a ride.

Octillo

Camp with Volcon Mountain backdrop.

4/29     The next day we pushed hard toward Warner Springs Ranch (and natural hot springs!). While walking next to a seasonal stream, we caught our first glimpse at a rattlesnake and it nearly made us jump out of our shoes! We gave it space and it quickly vanished before we could get a good picture. We were surprised after 8 miles of beautiful walking by soda pops and grapefruit left by a trail angel for the PCT hikers! Thanks, Grumpy! Still on our way to Warner Springs, we walked through beautiful horse and cow pastures filled with dandelions and California poppies that were a treat for the eyes after so many dusty desert miles.  The hot springs were a wonderful treat for our tired legs as well. The burger and pizza didn’t hurt either…

Dandelion Meadow.

California Poppy.

Eagle Rock--formed from Mother Nature's breath.

Hot spring, noodles, and BIG kid in the pool.

4/30     The next day found us walking hard again out of Warner springs for a 21 mile day. We were greeted on the trail by a large snake (maybe a bull snake?) on our way out of the Agua Caliente creek bed. We climbed for what seemed like an eternity and late in the day dropped down into a boulder graveyard. We had incredible views all day of the Warner Springs valley and surrounding mountains. Lacking water, we had a .25 mile detour to Mike’s, another trail angel, who supplies hikers with some food, water and other consumablesJ. We camped that night on Comb's Peak but found it hard to sleep because of the cold.

Bull Snake?



Boulder Field.



Comb's Peak

5/1       We packed up and got off Comb's peak as soon as we could to find some sun. Shivering and dehydrated we made our way down canyon 14 miles to a water cache, where we filled up our bottles and had lunch. Immediately after the cache, we started climbing and finished hiking 22 miles! We camped next to Pines-to-Palms highway on a beautifully clear and calm night. While we were comfy in our sleeping bags, our water bottles froze just outside our tent!

Signing in at water cache.



Neanderthalensis



Yucca stabbing curious Adam.

5/2       We slept in until 7 and walked about a mile to the “hiker-famous” Paradise Café for breakfast. It was well worth the walk, and they even let us fill up our water bottles. Once again, we had a day full of climbing into the San Jacinto Mountains. The bigger of us (I won’t name names) nearly died climbing Apache peak at a steep grade and after so many miles. It was exhausting. After 18 beautiful miles, we grabbed some water shortly before the sun went down and went to sleep.

After 3 eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, 2 banana pancakes, OJ, coffee, and water.

Nerd sighting in the Jacintos.

5/3       We woke up early (5 a.m.) to make a quick 12 mile push to Idyllwild. The hike did not go as quickly as we had imagined because of some intense uphill sections and snow. The north slopes of the San Jacinto Mountains still have a lot of snow, (something we will tackle tomorrow in full force) but luckily some hikers have already been through the area so we could follow footprints. We got lost momentarily between snow patches, and in our search for the trail we stumbled upon an incredible view near Tahquitz peak. We took the 2.5 mile Devils Slide trail from the PCT down to Idyllwild where another trail angle, Huff, picked us up and took us to the post office! Idyllwild is a wonderful town and is very hiker friendly.

8200 feet--overlooking Idyllwild

5/4       On our day off we will be running some errands, buying food for our next leg, and eating even more food.

The next towns we will come to will be Big Bear City (ETA: May 10^th) and then Wrightwood (ETA: May 17^th).

Our daily routine is pretty simple. We wake each day at around 6 a.m. and take about 45 minutes to pack up camp, eat some breakfast, and do some stretches. We have developed quite the appetite for what we like to call the “Forest and Adam PCT Breakfast Burrito.” The recipe can be found below:

• Take a tortilla and spread roughly 4 normal human servings of peanut butter on one side.
• Unwrap a snickers bar and place it on top of the peanut butter.
• With grubby, unwashed hands, fold the tortilla into a burrito.
• Close your eyes and pretend that it is lettuce and therefore is not bad for you
• Eat the burrito in roughly 8 seconds.

We hike throughout the day, usually stopping every hour or so (~3 miles) to take a short break and eat a granola bar and dried fruit. For lunches, we like to find a shady spot and lay out for about an hour eating tortillas with tuna and cheese dipped in olive oil.  

We normally find camp around 6 or so after 20+ miles of hiking and cook a big pot of noodles with a lot of spices and cream powder added. We clean up a little with baby wipes (special ones because Forest has sensitive skin…) and get in the tent, as the sun sets ~ 8 p.m. We look over the map sections for the next day and can barely keep our eyes open past 9 p.m.

With all this talk of high calorie foods, it may seem that we are going to return looking like marshmallows! In reality, we burn nearly 6000 calories a day from strenuous hiking and after weighing ourselves in Idyllwild, we realized that we have each lost over 10 lbs. The good thing is that this means we can pig out even more in town!

It is a wonderfully simple life; full of exercise and fresh air from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to sleep. The beauty of our surroundings takes our breath away every moment, and we look forward to another 2500 more miles!

Our next leg starts tomorrow and is our most difficult one yet. We will encounter a lot of snow on Fuller’s Ridge and then drop nearly 8000 feet in 15 miles, only to hike back up before we are done with the leg! It should be exciting!

Fuller's Ridge

We would like to throw out a special thank you and appreciation to our mothers and all mothers around the world as we will not be able update the blog before Sunday. Linda Jenkins and Nikki Houzner, we love you and we could not thank you enough for all of your support throughout the years and specifically for this trip! We will be thinking of you this Sunday!

Please spread the word about our progress and for our cause. Help support Camp AmeriKids!

Much love,

F+A

First Desert Section---Campo to Julian!

After Rob took us for a quick ocean view from Point Loma on April 23rd, we cruised to Campo and the Mexican Border. We signed our names in the PCT register book at the monument, took some photos, touched a toe or finger on Mexico, and hit the trail. It was quite a emotional high for both of us to finally see the trail head. Rob wandered the trail with us for the first four or five miles to send us off on our adventure. Once again, a huge thank you to Rob! What an amazing soul!

Then....Adam and I for the next 5 months in the smallest 2-man tent on the planet. After the first 5 days of meandering through the desert, we were both extremely surprised to see such a variety of flora and fauna in such a hostile, desolate ecosystem. We have crossed through thick, gnarly chaparral mountain ranges, pinyon pine forests, and juniper and cactus plains. Along the way we have crossed paths with numerous plants and animals, but a couple of our highlights have been the horned lizard, tarantula, and the acorn woodpecker. In addition, we have crossed paths and made friends with many cool people along the way, including other thru-hikers like ourselves.

April 23rd--Mexican Border

Tarantula

Foster's Peak



Adam's taped ankle and our only cloudy day.




Desert Beauty.

 Here is a little summary of our trip so far....
April 23rd--Started at 2:30 PM--12 miles
Day 2--18 miles
Day 3--18 miles
Day 4--20 miles
Day 5--9 miles to HWY 78 and a 13 mile hitch from a nice lady to Julian
Total= 77.6 miles

The days have been hot, dry, and full of walking. With so much time on our feet, we spend a great deal of time each day washing, taping, and rubbing our disgusting, blistered feet. The nights have been brisk, fresh, and starlit....that is, until we crawl into our smelly sleeping bags in the cramped living space and pass out shoulder on shoulder. We both are loving life and are excited for each new day to start walking North for Camp AmeriKids and continue enjoying each moment in the wilderness. Until Idyllwild (ETA 7 days)....

Much Love,
F+A

Happy Earth Day from San Diego!

After two gorgeous days in Ocean Beach/San Diego, CA, we just finished our final prep for the first leg of the trip and are ready to hit the trail in Campo tomorrow morning. Since our arrival in San Diego, we have over indulged in sunshine and babe watching, cruised the coast on bikes, investigated tide pools, and swung from eucalyptus trees on Sunset Cliffs.  Another huge thank-you to Rob for all his help and for bumming around with us in SD.

If any of you would like to send mail/letters along the trail, here is the format on how to address them.

Forest Jenkins/Adam Houzner

c/o General Delivery

Town, State, Zip

In the bottom corner, write “Please hold for PCT Thru-hiker, ETA: (Date). You can find our ETAs on our weekly itinerary.

Our anticipated itinerary for the first leg is:

·      Mexico Border (10 a.m. April 23rd)

·      Night 1 – Lake Morena City Park (20.6 miles)

·      Night 2 – Burn Rancheria Campground (42.3 miles)

·      Night 3 – Upper Chariot Canyon (63.5 miles)

·      Night 4/ First town stop– Julian, CA (77.6 miles)

After Julian, the next mail pick up will be at Idyllwild (178.6 miles) Postal Code: 92549

Thanks again to all of the beautiful people that have donated to Camp AmeriKids and for all of you that have supported our journey. Spread the word, spread the love.

We are going to continue celebrating Earth Day by hitting the beach. Thank you Mother Earth.

Much love, F + A

Last Minute Thoughts

We are two days away from take-off and finding that there are not enough hours in the day. Last minute obligations and preparations have us checking and re-checking lists of things to do, but we are finally logistically ready to go (hopefully).

A highlight last week for Forest and I was talking with the Trempealeau Elementary 4^th grade classes under the excellent leadership of Patty Behan and Dave Erickson. We talked through the trip with them, showed them all of our gear, and answered a lot of questions. Some of our favorite questions were:

• Where will you shower?! – Good question, we will let you know if that ever happens.
• What happens if you get bit by scorpions?! – Probably just cry and try to get help.
• Will you get sick of each other?! – Everyday, but we will share the world’s smallest tent regardless.
• What inspires you? – Cool kids, helping people, and Mother Nature of course.

We would like to extend a special thank you to the 4^th graders, Patty Behan, and Dave Erickson for allowing us into your classroom and listening to us ramble on about the trip. Also, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for helping us raise money for Camp AmeriKids! We had a great time last Friday at Trempealeau Elementary, and we will see you all in 5^th grade!

We wanted to make clear that all proceeds will go directly to Camp AmeriKids and are tax-deductible. We are presenting them with the money and list of donors in the fall. Forest and I are completely funding our own hike. Thank you again for supporting the cause.

If you are not comfortable sending credit card information online or with using Pay Pal, you can send a check directly to Forest’s home addressed to “Forest Jenkins – Camp AmeriKids.” His address is:

Forest Jenkins (Camp AmeriKids)

P.O. Box 393

Trempealeau, WI

54661

We are excited to now offer a birds-eye view of where we will be on the trip. Some of the last minute planning and preparations were to insure that you could have daily updates on how far we are along the trail. If you want to find out where we are between blog posts, just click on the map to the right!

We have had a slight change in plans since the last post and are very excited about it. Our friend, Rob Greenfield, has offered to pick us up from the airport and let us spend a couple days with him in San Diego to acclimatize—hit the beach and blind the sun with our Wisconsin winter complexion—and make sure we are ready to start the hike. He may even hike with us for awhile! He has done some incredible things abroad and shares the same passion for helping people. Check out his blog at www.robgreenfield.shutterfly.com. Thank you, Rob, for all your help and we will see you soon!

Please consider supporting Camp AmeriKids, as we are hiking up the West Coast for the kids on the East Coast.

Much love, F +A

Counting down---13 days until San Diego!

With 13 days before we hop on the plane for San Diego, we find ourselves swamped with tons of little things that all of a sudden are essential to our survival on the trail. We recently booked flights from La Crosse, WI to San Diego, CA on April 20, 2011. We keep questioning ourselves as to why we have chose once again to live together in tight--very tight--quarters for another summer. I expect to be annoyed within the first hour on the plane with excessive questioning from Adam--Are we there yet? May I eat all the GORP? Why am I already tired? From San Diego, we plan to take a bus to El Cajon where we will spend a night in a hotel and grab our last-minute items before we hit the trail. On Thursday April 21st, Adam and I will take a bus to Campo, CA (the Southern terminus of the PCT) where we will begin hiking north.


The last few days, we have been putting together our bounce box, grocery shopping, and organizing our gear. The bounce box is a USPS flat-rate box that contains extra gear, phone and camera chargers, and food supplements that we will send ahead to our next resupply point. Traditionally, PCT thru-hikers have sent the majority of their food ahead to post offices in towns along the trail. Due to convenience and cost issues, we felt it would better to support local communities along the trail and resupply as we go--we may end up eating Kraft singles and Oscar Mayer bologna for weeks on end. 


After months of planning and preparation, we are finally closing in on our departure. We are looking forward to spending our last few days with friends and family. In addition, Adam and I will enjoy our last days apart from each other in our own beds and personal space. As you can see, we are living in the smallest tent known to man for the next 4-5 months. It will be interesting, smelly, and we will survive....

Our pack clothes and daily hiking gear expanded.

Footwear, compacted pack clothes, rain gear, and daily hiking gear.

Big Agnes Seedhouse SL2  with Tyvek ground cloth and Western Mountaineering Ultralite 20 degree down bags.

Tight quarters

STUD with Osprey Atmos 65

100 pounds of pure power....

Osprey Atmos 65 and some trial short shorts

Please consider supporting Camp AmeriKids, as we are hiking up the West Coast for the kids on the East Coast.

Much love,
F + A