PCT Day 0

The past few weeks have gone by in a total blur. Im almost too tired to write about it, so I'll stick to mostly pictures with a few rushed descriptions.

I'm taking a leave of absense from work, so on my last day I cooked about 60 hot dogs for my wonderful coworkers. I usually do this on Pride Weekend in June (weiner celebration day- I like a good double entendre), but this year I brought my wieners to Mach.

After getting out of work I finished moving out of my apartment, into a backpack, and onto Heidi's couch for a few days. Thanks Heidi!

On Tuesday, the day before my flight home to California, I stayed on the farm where my boy Ethan works as a farm hand. We had a big party full of farm-fresh food for the birthdays of the two farmers who own the place and they added a "happy trails" to the cake for me. I'm going to miss a lot of people in these next 6 months, but I'm going to really miss Ethan. That boy is pure sunshine. 

I flew home to Yucaipa on Wednesday and wasted no time getting started on the final preparations. I moved my start date from the 14th to the 7th since I'm having trouble with my foot and I want to start early. I'm excited to take a bunch of extra zero days (PCT lingo for a day with no hiking), but four days has felt like nothing to prepare my 12 resupply boxes.

Most of the time on trail I plan on buying food as I go, but there are a few places (mostly in Oregon and Washington) where I would have to go really far out of my way to find a grocery store. For these portions I'm mailing myself food in advance. This should be much more convenient on trail, but it took me more than 6 hours to get these boxes organized and that doesn't even include time for shopping!

To keep myself from going completely crazy, I took a day to visit my grandma (I love you grandma, sorry I forgot to get a picture with you), and my friend Crystal (I hope you have a beautiful wedding my friend, sorry I'll miss it).

Once I got home I had time for a 30-minute nap before going to a family barbecue.

I limited myself to one shot of Fireball. Must. Stay. Hydrated.

It has been an exhausting few days and I don't think I can write any more. Now it's time for a dip in my dad's hot tub before going to sleep. I head to Campo in the morning to start my journey. Wish me luck!