I am sitting in a peaceful campground outside of Julian, California, enjoying my first “zero.” For thru-hikers, a zero is a day off, meaning zero miles hiked that day. I have planned five zeros over the first 700 miles, so these are mighty precious. Since Alesia is supporting me in our van, I have been able to stay in the vehicle at some road crossings. It has helped me push the mileage and recover more effectively, an incredible advantage as I get myself into PCT shape.
Alesia’s family knows how to read and interpret box scores. I can’t do either – but here is my PCT box score for the 1st of 26 segments. In five days, I covered 109 miles with 12K feet of climbing. All 26 segments comprise 2650 miles and 390K feet of climbing. The home team is off to a great start. Other statistics include bliss-meter pegged at 110%, 0 injuries, 0 blisters, 0 sunburns, and 0 rattlesnake bites. I went from COVID-19 zoom-zombie to a 10 hour per day hiker, which just shouldn’t happen on paper. I ended up doing this segment one day faster than planned. Here are a few photos from the journey so far. I fell in love with the rugged and vast terrain from Campo to Warner Springs.
