For those not in the know, ADZPCTKO happens every year at the end of April when thru-hikers are generally leaving the southern terminus of the trail for their hike. ADZPCTKO stands for Annual Day Zero Pacific Crest Trail Kick Off. The Pacific Crest Trail Association and former hikers put on the event at Lake Morena, 20 miles from the southern terminus. There are speakers, workshops, movies, beer, and tons of free food for hikers. I think I ate 6 burritos, 2 hot dogs, and 4 burgers while I was there (this does not include breakfasts, which were also large and delicious).

The highlight of Kick Off for me, however, was meeting "Dr. Sole." He is a trail angel who attends to hiker feet. Mine were in particular need of some love. I was under the impression that just about everyone gets gnarly blisters during Section A. Apparently not. I had 15 blisters on my feet in varying sizes and locations. Upon looking at the hamburger meat that was my right foot, he said "Oh my God! Is the other foot as bad?!" When I assured him that it had one less blister, but was in fact more painful, he said "Oh boy! Your feet have broken the record [of 11 blisters], you have the worst feet here!" I wasn't sure whether I should have been proud or intensely embarrassed. He patched me up this morning, and for the first time in over a week, I can make full strides with almost no pain (and no pain killers!!). Dr. Sole is a miracle worker and I can't wait to get out on the trail...just waiting for it to cool off a little before I venture outside.

PS: Bill is the most wonderful housemate/friend/second biggest fan out there!!

I am still trying to figure out how to structure this blog, and as I am a bit pressed for time, I will combine the rest of Section A in this post.

These were long, hot, tough days. Reading about other people making this journey, really did not prepare me for doing it myself. But I made it, blisters and all. In this section, I averaged about 15.5 miles a day.

Things I have learned:
In Washington, we seek to leave the shade when hiking, in Southern California, we rejoice to find it.
Water does not mean shade.
Water is heavy, and not abundant.
I have SWEATY SWEATY feet. It is really terrible.
There is VERY LITTLE fishing to be done in Southern California. Shipping the fishing pole to the Sierra.
Everything down here has thorns, EVERYTHING.
The PCT rarely takes the most efficient route.
Gatorade make a Lime-Cucumber flavor and it is THE BEST.

Sorry there isn't more for you guys, I'll try to do better in the next section. Talk to you in a week!

Day 1 dawned early and chilly in San Diego. We hopped in Girlscout's car (the lovely trail angel and former thru-hiker who picked me up at the airport and brought me to the trail head the next morning) at 6:00am for the hour-long drive to the border.

By the time we got to the border, the day had already heated up. I hit the trail, made very good time for the first three and a half hours (just under 10 miles!), and met a few folks. Unfortunately, the blisters started to show up at about mile 14, with 6 miles to go (and a giant sweaty hill!!) before I could pitch camp for the night.

I hobbled into camp at Lake Morena at about 6:45, being the very...frugal (read: cheap-ass) person I am, I elected to camp in a spot that I thought was just outside the campground instead of pay the $5.

The next morning, a large man who would have been more at home in Sedro Wooley or Darrington than Southern California walked into my beautiful campsite (nestled between several very large boulders and several enormous trees) to tell me that I was, in fact, camped illegally. Whoops! He was friendly and actually apologized to me about the situation!  I skedaddled out of there quick as I could.

I'll try to get pictures up soon.

Yesterday I got all (err almost all) my food into boxes and into the freezer. What a relief to get that over with! I won't lie, I loved making lists of food, groceries, calorie counts etc, but the actual dehydrating and packing process was a bit much!

With that out of the way, I am free to fly to Connecticut, stress-free. Did I mention that I was crossing the country coast to coast before doing the border to border trek? I was told 23 was your Adventure year, and it sure is shaping up that way! 

Hopefully they will let me on the plane with my trekking pole (we will be car camping our way across the country this time) and my slightly-larger-than-carry-on sized bag.


I've been told that TSA has changed the rules and now ski poles, whiffle ball bats, and small knives are now allowed in carry on baggage. Ski poles and trekking poles are essentially the same thing right?

See you in ten days rainy Seattle!

If you haven't heard, the M's just beat the A's in Oakland on Opening Night!!! Hopefully I'll make it to a game before I hit the trail.

On Saturday I moved out of the Seattle house, and back in to my parent's house in Stanwood. It has been a whirlwind of dehydrating, portioning, shopping sorting, tent rigging, and hiking. Today I spent $47 on pudding and instant mashed potatoes. The clerk asked "Sooo what is the occasion? Or are you just stocking up?" I suppose that I may have looked a little crazy...

I should be able to complete the first 18-20 resupply boxes tomorrow. I need to make one more trip to the store for some final breakfast items and GORP materials. (Which is good because I am flying out on Thursday night to help my friend move her car from Connecticut to Montana and won't be home until the 14th!).

A little shout out to my mom: she has been such a big help to me, even leaving work early to help me get things packed! Thanks Ma!!