Ian's PCT 2023 Thru Hike!

Day 21 was a “Nero” day, meaning we spent most of the day in town and then hiked a few miles on trail. In the morning Kenny, with a little help from Angel, cooked everyone an amazing breakfast and then took us into town.   One thing that I didn’t mention in the previous post is that Kenny has some prominent right-wing political signage posted on the outside of his house, but he made it clear that he doesn’t discuss politics with guests. While it was a tiny bit distracting, other than that Kenny was an incredible host and all 10 hikers staying with him had a great time. Big Bear was a really cool town! We all ate lunch together and resupplied for 6 days of food getting into Wrightwood. There is a fare-free bus line that runs up and down the main street, and there I ran into Nicola for the first time since day 1, when we hiked together for a few miles. There are some unknowns with the next few days as there is a wildfire burning near trail at around mile 350. The trail is closed past I-1

  Day 18 was the start of the climb into the San Bernardino mountains. Leaving the valley the hills were covered with yellow flowers. For much of the day San Jacinto was visible behind us and San Gorgonio was to the west. At mile 220.1 we forded Whitewater river, the first major water crossing on trail. The water only went up to my knees.   At mile 226.2 we came to Mission creek, which the pct would follow for about 10 miles. After the wet winter the trail was left fragmented and in very bad shape. Overall we had to cross the creek 25+ times as it cut across the trail. At mile 229 Angel, Ian, and Ryan stopped for the night, while Chris and I pushed on for several more miles. This section went through a really awesome canyon. At mile 232.1 we set up camp, soon joined by Alashua. The day ended up being our first 20 mile day, with 20.4 being the total. Day 19 was a very challenging day full of elevation gain. The first part of the day was spent climbing out of the Mission Creek canyon, th

  On day 15 the 5 of us (Ryan, Alashua, Ian, Angel, and I) started hiking at 5:00 am in order to have good snow conditions getting closer to Spitler peak. We entered some really beautiful alpine meadows as we got above 7000 feet. After a while there also was a lot of blowdowns of trees blocking the trail, which slows progress quite a bit. Water was again scarce on the trail, and we stopped for a while to melt snow in order to get us to Spitler.  About a mile before the alternate at mile  168.5, snow began to cover the trail, requiring microspikes. I found the snow to be very manageable, but from what I heard it only gets worse after Spitler junction/ Apache Peak and continues for about 15 miles. Our group decided that because of our lack of snow experience, it would be best to leave at Spitler trail going back down toward Idyllwild.  The trail down the mountain had more blowdowns, but they were pretty easy. Toward the bottom, (other) Ian and Angel decided to take a “side trail” to save