10.3 miles hiked/6 hikers seen  

Today started out with me sleeping in till 8 because I slept so badly last night with my tent malfunctioning again.

Around 9 I started hiking. I came across a crap ton of poodle dog bush (look it up if you don't know what this is) and I was super worried. I had to walk very strategically to ensure I didn't brush against any of it. 

Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, my clumsy self tripped and fell into it on one side while I was avoiding it on the other side of trail. 

So of course as soon as this happened I started to freak out and hyperventilate and cry. I made a post in a trail angel group and someone commented they can come get me and get me to the town to rest while I wait to see if I get any symptoms. (Fingers Crossed)

The bail out point was a forest service road approx 4.5 miles from where I was so I got to hiking and called my momma to calm me down.


When I got to where the trail meets the road I got a message from the person meeting me that the road is blocked with a gate and they can't get through.. so that meant an extra 3.2ish mile walk to get to her at the gate. My feet were already hurting from the rough terrain today so I felt a little more defeated knowing I had these extra miles ahead of me. 

I thought to myself, "nothing I can do about this tho, I need to get off trail so I have no other choice except to hike these miles" and I got to trekking. 

Near the end my hip was starting to hurt, but it was just achey and not a sharp pain. push through Alyssa.

Once I got to the truck Megan offered me some baby wipes to wipe the poodle dog bush off my leg and we started driving to Tehachapi. 

Around 3 pm we met Abel and he drove me into town (my amazing trail angel who I stayed with last year and said I could stay with them this year despite the fact they aren't hosting other hikers till their exchange students leave in June. So I am incredibly thankful to Abel and Kim)

After I ate some enchiladas Abel came back to pick me up and take me back to the house so I can shower, do laundry and relax.

I gave Kim a big hug once I arrived and then got unstinky and put on some hiker loaner clothes while I did laundry. 

Then I met their exchange students, two very sweet girls.

We ate stir-fry for dinner (yummy) and chatted a bit before we all went to sleep. 

I couldn't sleep well again. I don't know what it is about being indoors right now with sleeping but I can't seem to get to sleep nicely.

4.12 miles hiked/ Solo Camp


I woke up around 7 and then told myself to go back to sleep for a bit. Then I woke up at 8:30 and started to get ready for the day. 
I packed up my gear, confirmed I had enough food, and then ate my left over tator tots and spicy Mac and cheese bites from the night before. 
Yummy.
 
Around 10:30 I started hiking. 


I was planning on 4-7 miles today depending on how my hip does (this morning it ached a bit).


However the weather had other plans. 
It was very foggy suddenly while hiking. Started about .7 miles into the day. 
And it started to get very very cold and windy too. 
All uphill today too. Type 2 fun. I very much enjoyed my day hiking today even when it was windy. Hiking through the eerie burn zone with fog was a cool experience. 
Around 3.4 miles in I started to feel the occasional drop of rain on my face and I hate the rain haha. 


When I spotted the campsite at 4.12 miles around 1pm it started to pour on me. I started to set up my tent but the wind was so much I had to change tent spots…. And then again. 


Third times the charm right? 


I decided to get warm and dry and wait out the rain and wind for a while. However it continued for 4.5 hours and I decided by then that I should just stay out for the night and wait till tomorrow :) 


Now it’s almost 7 and still incredibly windy so I haven’t moved out of my sleeping bag except to pee haha.


It’s weird how I’m barely hungry still. I hope that changes soon because I assume that I am under eating. So sometimes I force myself to eat when I don’t want to. 


I have service tonight so I’m doing Q and A’s on my Instagram and watching a movie till I sleep :) 



Tonight the wind is so bad that it’s pulled out the tent stakes 4 times so far… it’s almost 4am. And I had multiple rocks over them… make that 5 times now. Fuck my life honestly. I’ve barely slept tonight. 
......
6 times. 5am. 

4 miles hiked 
 
2.3 miles until I felt pain in my hip today. So I think I’m slowly getting stronger? Hope so haha.
Today I think I am going to get into town and charge up and resupply :) 
I like the idea of having my hip rest on a bed that doesn’t deflate during the night….. yeaaaa I’ve realized my pad is deflating throughout the night so that sucks. 
Thinking if I can get a bathtub in a hotel maybe I can find the hole and patch it? 


I still feel good. I feel content out here. Sometimes I miss the comfort of being in my own home and of course my family waiting for me to come home after I finish. But I know I will be home when the time is right. 


I’ve only cried out of sadness once since being out here, and honestly if I didn’t have the exterior factor of being wetted out I doubt I would have cried. 


I’ve cried of happiness a few times though. I’m starting to feel like myself again. I am starting to think about how I can keep this feeling I have of myself when I get home after trail. Last time I started to lose myself again. I don’t want that to happen again.
 
.....


Okay so plot twist. 
I took two hitches to get into this little town and Google lied, there wasn’t a hotel. 
So that’s rough. Now I need to figure out what to do next. I was so excited for a bed ya know? 


......


Okay okay, so I found a family and they took me in for the night. Super amazing people. They have an ostrich farm so I got to see like 15 ostriches getting fed today. 
We chatted and then I took a nap. After the nap we talked some more just about everything, life, comedy, movies, mental health etc. We had a few drinks at the restaurant in town and took our food for take out to bring back to the house to the kids to eat :) 
Then we half watched a movie and then half watched a stand up comedy show while we were chatting away till like 10pm. 
I finally decided to retire to sleep :) 


Tomorrow back to trail :) I can’t wait! 

6 miles hiked/ First night camping with other people (like 10)

 
Made it 1.33 miles before I started to feel any pain in my hip! So that’s a huge win. Everyday I’ve felt pain almost instantly. 
I’m feeling good. I almost want to make it 10 miles today to Green Valley but I know I should not do that. I have had a couple people pass me while I was at camp and I told them to yell at me if they see me at Green Valley. So that will be another incentive not to go farther then I planned today. It’s weird I felt the pain as soon as I started going downhill, last year I only hurt on the uphills. Interesting 


After my first rest I didn’t feel any pain until another 1.5 miles. 


However then the pain didn’t stop. So I’m a little worried but I know everything will work out :) It was an easy day besides that.
The trail provides. 


Today was a good day though. I met a bunch of people who I probably won’t remember their names haha 


Tonight I’m camping with like 10 other people. I socialized for a bit and then I decided to retire to my tent and be alone. 


I hope I can catch my first sunset on trail today. I have been waiting for one to show up.
....

I got a little baby sunset as it was mainly hidden by the mountains. 

1.6 trail miles 

 
Today I got my stuff packed up in record time just by throwing it into my bag. 


I hiked 1.6 miles descending into bouquet canyon road and my trail angel Heidi was waiting for me there.


She brought me to her house and gave me a tour, they had 4 dogs, 3 they are house sitting. Such sweet little pups. 


We put up my gear outside on the clothes line to dry. 


I showered, put on some loaner clothes (Christmas PJ’s and a sweater) and then started some laundry.
Then in the afternoon we went to Walmart so I could resupply. 
That was funny in Christmas PJ pants haha.


Heidi and I had some great conversation and then I rested in my room for a bit. 


Later that evening I met Rob; her husband, ate some tacos, went to town to get movie theatre popcorn and watched a bit of a movie all together 


I had a very hard time sleeping tonight. Miss my sleeping bag and the outdoors already. 

​Unexpected zero day on trail
 
Welpppp. I woke up at like 2 am to a puddle of water in the bottom right part of my tent.
fuck fuck fuck fuck 
Everything is wet except for my sleeping clothes and sleeping bag though so thank god.
I put on my headlamp and made a barrier with my wet gear and some dry items so I don’t slide into the puddle while sleeping 
(Apparently I’m sleeping on an angle) 
I woke up probably every 30 minutes to readjust everything over and over again.

I slept on and off until 8 am and then woke up to use my trowel and scooped out most of the water. Then I went back to sleep. 


My plan was when the rain stopped around 12pm (supposedly) I would pack up and walk 1.6 miles to a road where I could bail out and dry my gear and reset.
The weather had other plans tho. It didn’t stop raining till around 3:30-4pm. 
So today turned into a zero day on trail. Not the most fun zero haha 
I watched all my shows until I got to the ones that didn’t download sadly and then I played some solitaire and got very antsy. I wanted to get out of here. But it’s freezing, everything is wet and I can stay warm inside my tent. 

I managed to orchestrate a bail out ride for tomorrow so that made me feel a lot better about my situation. 

I started to get some stomach pain so I went back to my tent and listened to another chapter of my audio book. My adhd makes it hard to focus so I only listen to a chapter or a half of one at a time. 

Now I wait for sleep to come and tomorrow to get to that road asap.

​

5.43 trail miles/ SOLO camp
 
Nature woke me at 6:30 in the morning, but I forced myself back to sleep till 8:20ish because with me doing these low mileage days I will have a lot of down time.


I woke up and took some magnesium.
My hip hurts a bit from yesterday so I might do even less mileage then I planned to today to make sure I don’t push too hard.
I dug my first cat hole of the trail today and then I did my loop band exercises for my hip. Ouch. 

I am trying an oatmeal packet for breakfast today. I don’t really like oatmeal so I hope I like it. 
.....


Honestly I never want to eat that oatmeal again, but it’s my breakfast for the next like 8-9 days so I gotta suffer through it 


Every half mile I’m taking a rest and every mile I eat some food. 
It’s 1pm and I’ve only got 2.3 miles left to camp. 
I should be there at this pace by 3 pm


This is what I get for forcing myself to go slower than a turtles’ pace. It’s okay. I am having a good time. It’s hard. But familiar. And I feel at home. Even though this part of the trail I haven’t hiked yet. 


I miss stump’s cuddles though. (my dog for those who don't know)


It’s so freaking windy today. My ears hurt even with my hoodie up. 


I anticipated 3pm I’d get to camp and indeed I did. I met a bunch of people at the water source before camp, but they were all going farther another 1.6 miles. 
I know I could go farther but I also know that I shouldn’t go farther. 


It will make for a harder day tomorrow. 14.4 miles left to green valley where I will get some food and hop back on trail same day I assume. So tomorrow 7.4 miles and then the following day 7 miles. 


I’m nervous, but I am sure it will be okay. 


Now that I’ve made it to camp today I can do my stretches and mobility/rehab and then set up my tent and take a nap 😴 


I ate snacks and some dry ramen again. I can’t eat much more but I’m hungry… idk what is wrong I’ve never felt like this before. 


I just watched my show, listened to another chapter of my book and then went to sleep 💤 


No sunset today, too cloudy again. Sad. 

4.18 miles hiked/ Solo Camped
Today is the day! I can't wait to hit the trail finally.
I slept in till 9 and then showered for the last time for a bit. I laid in bed nervous for a while before I finally packed up and got my hitch to Agua Dulce. I had to take two hitches to get there. 

Once I arrived in AD, I sat in the hardware store waiting for the Mexican restaurant to open. I wanted one last meal before I started walking. I met and chatted with Sarah and Caroline and gave them my extra food and after procrastinating a bunch finally got my legs moving.


Most of today was a road walk and I HATE road walks, but it was good to be back on trail.
I feel ready to take on what comes my way.


I took lots of rests. 4 big ones in 4 miles lol. I have never hiked this slow before, but I keep telling myself to slow down and take it easy to avoid injury. All the little familiar aches and pains are back. I welcome them, but also can’t wait until they leave my body as I get stronger. 


My left butt/hip hurts and my feet, but I stretched and used my cork ball and I will again tomorrow. I’m a little worried about the hip but I’m sure I’m just needing to work out the kinks. 


I got to my camp site a little after 3. Listened to my audio book for a bit while I did some stretches, snacked a lot and watched my show. 
And then took a 30 min snooze, then went back to watching my show. 


Camping solo tonight :) 


Sadly, there was no sunset. I was looking forward to my first sunset tonight on trail, but it was too much cloud coverage.


I got hungry at 9pm, but didn’t want to eat any more snacks since I needed them and I didn’t want to start up my stove so I decided to eat some dry ramen noodles for dinner.