As The Crow Flies

• Laying down on another ridge with my feet up and eating cookies. I’m going to have to hike late if I want to get my miles in. #

• My feet are burning. #
• I made it in to Big Bear. It was a hard hitch I think because there was another hiker with me. #
• Eating chicken and drinking oj. Then a quick resupply and back to the trail. #
• I finally made it out of Big Bear. I got a pity ride from a nice couple who weren’t going my way but took me any way #
• Never have so many cars passed by my smiling face and out stretched thumb. I hope I’m not losing my touch. #
• Sitting on a ridge eating cookies and sugar peas. It’s my reward for getting out of Big Bear. #
• How often do you find yourself on a high ridge, in the shade, with a good view, and big rock to elevate your feet on? So nice. , #
• No more laying around on mountaintops, time to get hiking. #

• Sitting on the trail looking down on the city lights. I’m in my bag but I’m telling myself that this is just a break. #
• I think I should hike on and find a better spot. Last time I slept by sharp rocks I woke to. 850 fill down flying around me. #
• At 4 o’clock I could see where I wanted to be. It’s now 11:30 and I still haven’t got there. An insane person designed this section. #
• Goodnight from a few miles short of where I thought I’d be. #

• Okay, I’ve had by rest. Now to pay the piper. #

• Longest’, toughest day ever, but I made it to Idllywild– mile 178.6 plus 5 mile walk to town. #
• My feet have something to say: why? #
• I think I’ll just eat something out of my food bag tonight so I don’t have use my feet. #
• It would be so easy to get sucked in to this town–must resist. . #
• After the wind blew the mist away and the thick ice quit falling from the trees, it turned out to be a pleasant day, yesterday. #
• There was still some snow left up high but nothing dangerous. #
• Goal for today: pry myself out of town. #
• Either I spend the day laying around, watching TV, soaking in a hot bath and eating yogurt and blueberries or I hike. So hard. #
• Help! I’m being sucked in to a town stop. #
• Okay it’s official, no hiking today. I’ll hit it hard tomorrow. So lazy #
• I have one foot on a frozen bag of blueberries and the other one on a bag of frozen raspberries. #

• Guess who was given a pair of reading glasses from a nice couple at the Paradise cafe. They also gave me a ride back to the trail. #
• So, I’m in the mountains on the section of trail that was closed because of a fire but now I think it’s open. #
• The weather is still cold to pleasant. There are some big scary clouds though. Should be in Idyllwild tomorrow. . #
• This trail is a completely different experience when it’s cold, windy, and wet. #
• I stopped early tonight because of the big low dark cloud over me. Plus my feet needed rubbing. #
• I’m sitting on a mountain top and finally it’s warm. it’s going to be hard to move. #

I’m still in town because if there is one thing I learned from hiking with Thirsty Boots is: don’t leave town without eating breakfast.  Breakfast doesn’t happen here till 7:30.    All my stuff is dry and I’m ready to hit the trail.

I checked the forecast over at postholer’s site and it calls for snow!  Those mountains above Idylwild are sometimes a little hard to navigate even without snow and even if you did have a pair of reading glasses so you could read the map.  Might be that area is still closed because of fire.   That’s hard to believe, but over at Postholer’s site it says it’s still closed.

Hey, I’m writing this from Warners Springs.  I hadn’t planned to stop here but I’m cold and wet.  That’s right the broiling Southern California desert is cold, windy, and wet.   I just crossed the San Felipie Hills wearing a down vest, a fleece balaclva, and a rain coat.

I can’t Twitter because I have lost my reading glasses, again.   They don’t sell them in this town but I’m sure Idywild will have some.  I should be there in three days or so.

I have only met one thru- hiker and that was in Lake Morena.  I haven’t seen him since.   Pretty much the whole trail is mine.

It’s cool and the desert is in bloom.  So, the only draw back to starting late has been that I have to kick out the miles.   I have committed to 25 miles a day with no days off which has been a little hard to start out with, but I think I’m adjusting.

• I’m a few miles short of my goal but I’m tired and my feet hurt so I’m going to sleep now. #
• Hey from the Mt Laguna store. I wasn’t going to stop but I lost my reading glasses. #
• I’m at mile 43. My feet hurt and I’m a little sleepy. The weather has cooled off. So hopefully I can sleep at night instead of hike. #
• When I think of being on the trail, I think about how beautiful and grand life is. I forget that it hurts and is a lot of work. Now, I r … #

• Whoo hooo! Back on the trail again. Right where I belong. #
• On the bus I met another hiker. His only gear was a windbreaker and a pint of gin. This wintet he may ski the Itterod. #
• The moon is bright and the desert is warm. Time to rise and hike. #
• Hey from the Lake Morena store–which is not open mile 20.6 #
• Last night, I saw two men standing in the dark on the trail. They were border patrol chasing illegals. #
• The store opened. I bought enough stuff that I can skip Mt. Laguna. I’m kicking back under a oak tree until things cool off. #

• Today is my day. It’s been a ridiculously #
• In two hours the airport shuttle comes. My sister’s neighbor is also going to the airport, so we can share a shuttle. How lucky is that? #
• So happy…. #
• Made it to the airport and through check-in. No fuel surcharge. Yea. . #
• I am so scattered. It takes. a while to get everything assigned to the right pocket. #
• San Diego I am. It’s really nice here. Very city on the bayish. #
• . My pack is bulky and awkward. It’s always like that when I start. I don’t know why. #
• It’s my nap time, but I’m in the city and the city is a no sleeping zone. #
• Tip: When you are going to be away put your vehicle on storage rate; I just saved 100 dollars. #
• As they say in Indonesia, “Waiting is a bad job.” #

• I’m sporting a Walmart haircut. Which is fine because I wear a hat and I don’t own a mirror. #
• Time to sit on my sister’s patio and drink coffee. I had stopped drinking coffee. But I’m here and it’s here and what are you going do? #
• Taking a stroll around the outside of my sisters house. Between 2 decks and 4 patios, she has outdoor seating for 27 people. Ha! #
• I fed my sister’s llamas. I have to stand between them or the bully one will try to eat the other one’s food. I am the new alpha llama. #
• I’m worried the airline will lose or damage my gear. So, I bought a cheap duffle bag to throw all the stuff I can’t carry on into; the … #

If you are waiting to learn to spell as a form of protest until English spelling makes sense, instead of the random use of letters and sounds that require a person to clutter up their mind with memorizing each word, I applaud your noble cause. 

If between now and that glorious day when the letter “C” will be stricken from the alphabet (because if you have a “k” and a “s” you do not need a letter “c”) and when we have a  phonic based language, you might find a spell checker handy. 

I have Tiny Spell on my computer.   It runs constantly in the background, beeping everytime I misspell a word in any application, and does an excellent job of guessing what word I’m trying to spell.   It’s a free down-loadable program and is one of the handiest programs on my computer. 

• I soaked my clothes in some premethin that I got from the feed store. Now my clothes stink. I’m washing them. Premethin is bug off stuff. #
• My clothes still stink. I’m washing them again. Do not get your bug off stuff at the feed store. #
• oh no. I have so much to do today, but I feel so tired. It’s like a bad dream, where no matter how hard you run, you can’t get away. #
• Wow, there is a post office open till 8pm on Saturday! Looks like it is in a store; thats convenient. I should be able to make that. #
• Still to do: get a hair cut, go to the dump, mail boxes. Ha! Same list as yesterday. Ready or not I’m going to mail those boxes. #

Stewart Anderson, MD of The Thru-Hikers Medical Guide fame, recommends carrying, “Flagyl OR Tinidazole for chronic diarrhea (Giardia)–(Tinidazole is only one time dosing, so I prefer it)”    So, I thought I’d  carry Tinidazole instead of metronidazole(flagyl) this trip. 

I wish I had known that (1) it is really hard to find a pharmacy that has Tinidazole.  And (2) Tinidazole is expensive–30 dollars for one dose from Wallgreens– were as Metrondidazole(flagyl) is only 4 dollars at Wallmart.   

So if you are going to get Tinidazole be sure and order it well in advance, so it will be there before your trip.   Walmart said that they would order it and it would be about 1/2 the price of Wallgreens, but I need to get hiking, so I bought it from Wallgreens.   

• All my stuff for my hike is here. Now, I have to clean my cabin. Then I’m out of here. #
• Entering numbers that I may need into my new phone–gear sellers, trail conditions, people, etc. #
• Eating miso soup with Brags liquid amino, seasoned gourmet rice vinegar, and a whole head of garlic in it. #
• My windows are washed. My floor is vacuumed. Still to do: go to dump, get a haircut, mail boxes. #
• If you put Brag’s liquid aminos and seasoned rice vinegar in your miso soup, you may get really thirsty. #
• Yesterday was the first warm day. I slept with all the windows open. The ponderosa pine forest smells so nice this morning. #
• It’s early, I’m online but I should get busy finishing my chores. If I keep moving, all my prep chores will be done today. #
• My cabin is cold with all the windows open. Too cold to want to stay out of my bag for long. Time to build one last fire. #
• Okay, the fire is built, the oatmeal is eaten yet here I am still not doing my chores. #
• I’m sleepy. Time for a nap before chores. #
• I didn’t want to leave gas in the chainsaw so I went out, in my robe, and cut wood till it ran out of gas. Luckily it didn’t take long. #
• I cut some kindling so that when I come home, in the fall, it will be there for me to build a fire. Okay… back to my chores. #
• At my sister’s. She is not here. I am using her bathtub, watching her tv, and eating the shaved ice her refrigerator makes. #
• Now that I have cell reception, let me see if I can send a message. #