By: Luke Baum and Hayley Babbitt
After a few months off trail now, we finally have the answers. Better to be a little late than never, so let's dive into our answers to our April 2023 entry "Our Questions Before Hiking 2,650 Miles on the Pacific Crest Trail".
Above: Our last picture on trail together before heading our separate ways. June 2023, Big Bear Lake, USA.
Reflective Q and A:
Q: Will the water caches/sources in the desert section be promising this year?
A: Yes. More than we could have hoped for. Considering that the state of California endured record-breaking snow (combined with a copious amount of rain in the desert), we look back and feel a little silly for even asking this question. As a result of the over-abundance of water, we had seen lakes filled to the brim that haven't retained water for decades in Southern California. We had also experienced walking through a gigantic super bloom in the desert section as a result from the snow melt. According to NASA, the California desert super bloom this year flourished so well it was visible from space. Our longest stretch without water on our Southern California section hike was maybe 18 miles. (Which looking back is not too bad.)
Q: How much physical toll will there be within the first 10 days?
Hayley: I was violently ill for the first five days on trail. To this day I don't know exactly how I got so sick, but it affected my physical abilities heavily. This caused us to take it slow for the first handful of days, and it was pretty grueling for me. But, after I felt better on day six, we were able to move quite quickly and pick up the miles rather soon. By day 10, we had pushed two back-to-back 20-miler days to the town of Julian, CA, which was somewhat impressive for the beginning of the trail.
Luke: I felt very strong for the first eight days on trail. I remember being very determined to acclimate to the backpacking lifestyle as soon as possible, which meant I was constantly analyzing any detail that could help me feel more comfortable. After realizing what I did and did not need, it helped that I shed a lot of gear that weighed me down in the beginning. Also, because we were taking it easy while Hayley was throwing up, my confidence was built too much, and I was eager for the comforts of a town. This caused me to lead us on our first extremely long hikes back-to-back (18.5 and then 22 miles). After which, we arrived in Julian (Day 8) where we slept in cots outside on the porch of the American Legion in the misty 33° cold mountain weather after not stretching/massaging my feet and drinking in the bar. This caused me to stiffen up, leading to a light achilles injury. Luckily with care, I felt good to backpack out of Julian by the end of our stay (Day 10).
Q: When will the long days of walking start to feel natural/routine?
A: Around the 100-mile mark. At this point both of us felt in the groove of things.
Q: How many rattlesnakes will we see?
A: We heard way more than we saw, and we saw between 5 and 10 the whole trip.
Q: Will the desert or the mountains be more challenging?
A: Firstly, there are loads of mountains in the desert section. I suppose it depends on who you ask, but coming from Michigan we consider even the larger desert hills to be mountainous. With this being said, any time there is lots of gain and loss of elevation the hiking is definitely more challenging. When you are hiking a difference of over 3,000-4,000+ ft every single day your lungs and legs will feel it. Not to mention the constant change in temperature you experience on a daily basis as well. One morning you could be enduring a full body sweat hiking up a mountain in the blazing 95 degree heat near the desert floor, and that same night you would be camping 4,000+ ft higher on the side of a mountain, struggling to get any sleep because the freezing temperatures are frosting over your tent. We learned quickly that the mountains are more physically demanding to trek thru than the flat, low desert.
Q: Will the PCT be more physically or mentally challenging?
A: Both of us struggled more mentally than physically. Even with some background and experience of backpacking and spending lots of time outdoors, nothing could have prepared us for the process of being truly uncomfortable. For instance, the weather was rarely "perfect", as in 70 degrees and sunny. More often than not, it was either freezing cold or blazing hot. Combine this with some pretty intense "hiker hunger", which is what we call the feeling of never being satisfied with hunger cravings, and even the best of friends can start arguing about seemingly nothing in the wilderness. Improving the physical strength to carry on the hike over time was only natural and bound to happen, whereas your sanity and mentality was dynamic.
Q: How much weight will we lose or gain?
Hayley: I lost around 30 lbs by the time I finished the SoCal section, and 50 lbs by the time I finished Oregon.
Luke: I lost 15 lbs in the first three weeks, gained it all back in LA during week four, and then stayed 150-155 lbs for the duration of the hike.
Q: How high will the rivers be for the river crossing sections this year?
A: Although we decided to bypass the Sierras Nevadas this year due to copious amounts of snowfall (and not to mention the insane water crossings), we did run into a couple of whitewater rivers that we had to cross. If you include the Sierras, the river crossings were a nightmare this year, obviously due to the snow melt. Aside from the Sierras, the only notable river crossing was the Whitewater River near the San Gorgonio Wilderness in Southern California. Right before we crossed, which mind you took us over an hour to evaluate were to cross and execute a sketchy crossing, there was a middle-aged hiker who had been swept down this river maybe a week prior. And this unfortunate hiker was definitely not the only person we had heard about falling victim to the river currents on the trail this year.
Q: Will there be any snow in the desert and/or Sierras?
A: YES! This is probably our most silly question on this list. Most people we met on trail were prepared for this prior to starting at the southern terminus in Campo, CA. Despite having done hours of research on the PCT before starting, we were stunned at how we somehow managed to skip over the news that there would be an insane amount of snow since the very start of the trail by the border. We ran into parts of the trail that had bail-out points before Idyllwild, CA, and that is around mile 180, while our first ever encounter with snow on the trail was in Mount Laguna, CA, around mile 42. So just 40 miles or so north of the Mexican border there was snow. Don't even get us started on the Sierra Nevadas...
Q: How will our morale be at the halfway point?
A: We finished our hike together in Big Bear Lake, California. Once we had reached Big Bear City, CA on our northbound hike from the border, we flip-flopped up to Tehachapi, CA (nearing the end of the desert section) to hike southbound back to our flip point. This decision was influenced by the amount of snow in the Big Bear area, and not to mention the issue of snow in other places in the north desert (ie: Wrightwood area, Mount Baden-Powell, Mount Whitney, etc.). After we had closed the gap and finished the Southern California section, we decided to end our hike together.
Hayley: I decided to go back to trail after helping my family move across the country. Since I headed back to trail to finish Northern California and Oregon, our halfway points are different. But if you look at our halfway point in our hike together, the morale, to be quite frank, was lower than we had hoped for. I did not necessarily want to leave the trail. As much as it sucked for me to have to leave trail for a bit, I knew I had to help support my immediate family in their move across the country.
Luke: I decided to go home with Hayley to help her move. From the beginning, we knew we would have to take this time off, and we were both determined to continue our adventure following the move. Halfway through our hike across Southern California together, it was very hard to imagine coming back to trail. I was craving solo adventure and getting to make choices for myself. I learned after the first 5 days (once Hayley was mostly recovered from her sickness) that hiking the PCT with someone else meant you do not get to make choices for yourself. While in Wrightwood (Day 44), I officially decided to take a break from the PCT to travel in New Zealand.
Q: How many hotel/indoor stays will we have?
A: During our hike together, we stayed indoors for 17 nights out of our 59 total nights on the PCT.
Q: When will I get use to pooping outdoors?
A: Pretty much immediately. And, sometimes, we would even decide to dig a cat hole rather than sit on the throne of a pit toilet that is infested with bugs and feces.
Q: How much will my exhaustion affect my joy?
A: Exhaustion was a big factor in anytime we had disagreements on trail.
Hayley: Although it affected both of us, Luke definitely valued his sleeping time on trail more than I did. Not to say that there is a right or wrong way in terms of how much rest you get on trail, but that causes conflict in hiking styles.
Luke: For instance, I would prefer to sleep in a bit and hit trail closer to 7:00am, whereas Hayley would rather be up and hiking on the trail by 6:00am. As we got better at compromising, getting good rest, and hiking faster, these exhaustion-related conflicts diminished.
Bottom line: No one is in a good mood when they are tired.
Q: What food will become our favorites?
Hayley: I want to preface this with the fact that I seemed to have a wildly unique relationship with my eating habits on the trail. In my whole time being on the PCT, I only ended up meeting one other hiker that shared the same experience with hunger on the trail. Considering that I did not eat virtually anything (or ended up throwing it all up if I did) for the almost the first week, I continued to be satisfied eating very little for the rest of the time I hiked. I do not recommend this at all, since I have no idea how I managed on only 500-800 calories/day on average. I basically lived on chocolate bars, ramen, and instant mashed potatoes. But a few of my favorites were the occasional mushroom stroganoff backpacker meals and chocolate brownie Cliff bars when I wasn't eating my usual M&Ms and Liquid IV as a meal.
Luke: I needed to eat A LOT on trail from the start. One of the things I was curious about was when the "hiker hunger" would kick in, and I didn't realize that it would almost be immediate. I realized it first on day five upon arriving in Mount Laguna where all I was craving was fresh food and a beer. I started off with eating whichever backpacker meals I had packed from the start (VERY unmemorable). In hearing of and seeing other people's favorites, trying new things, getting creative, and trusting my gut; I learned that my favorites were mostly foods with high fat content: cheddar cheese, ramen, oil, sour and spicy foods, chocolate, and potato chips were my favorites. In the mornings, I would eat three bars (a mix of protein, granola, CLIF, etc.) as well as an electrolyte pouch mixed in with a Liter of pre-filtered water. I would eat one bar at camp and eat the other two bars before 10am while hiking whenever my stomach growled (usually the electrolyte mix would have been all drunk by 10am also). Then we would stop around noon for lunchtime where I would enjoy some light snacking in addition to a tortilla with creamy peanut spread and trail mix on top. We would have dinner whenever we made it to camp at night where I would either boil spicy ramen or Knoxville Mexican/Spanish rice with oil and cheese melted. I would also share the dehydrated potatoes with Jet whenever she boiled them and mix in some cheese to make them even more creamy and delicious.
Pro tip: crush the chips inside the chip-bag first BEFORE transferring the contents to a zip-lock baggie.
Q: How windy will it be in the desert?
A: Out of the many things that the desert taught us, we sure did learn alot about wind. One of the biggest lessons we learned is that there is good wind and bad wind, and it sure can affect where you pitch your tent at the end of the day - if you even can. The desert had a lot of wind, whether you were up hiking on a mountainous ridge or if you are hiking on the valley floor through seemingly endless miles of wind turbines. And, although the wind could be a big help in keeping you cool in the hot, dry sections, it is worth noting that the hot wind gusts could make the heat even more unbearable than having no wind at all.
Summary
The Pacific Crest Trail, although not hiked from end-to-end in its entirety by us this year as intended, has taught us so much. From learning the simplicities like how to set up a proper camp and where, to learning more about each other in our friendship and the people we met around us on the trail, we will always cherish these lessons from the PCT. We hope that you have enjoyed seeing the growth between our previous article, "Our Questions Before Hiking 2,650 Miles on the Pacific Crest Trail", and the answers to the questions we could now answer today, almost eight months later.
With intentions of returning to the PCT in the future to finish up the sections we have yet to hike, stay tuned to see us get back out on the trail and learn the rest of the lessons the PCT has to offer us!
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