Episode 53 - PCT Update #1
Days 1 - 7: Campo —> Warner Springs
Day: 7
Total Miles Hiked: 110
Miles remaining: 2540
We’re still alive baby! Feeling in great shape physically, better shape mentally. We’re doing this thing. I’ve already arrived in Warner Springs, 110 miles up the trail and just that much closer to Canada.
The next post office stop will be in Big Bear mountain. Please send me a letter or postcard, I would love it so much and can’t wait to read it. Thanks so much to all y’all for tuning it :)
Address:
PCT Hiker — Dennis Gavrilenko (Expected Arrival 5/25)
Big Bear Post Office
120 W Country Club Blvd, Big Bear, CA 92314, United States
First update from the trail, here we go!
Day 1, 5/11/2025:
Today we hiked 20 miles with ~3000 feet of climbing.
Woke up at 4:30 am in San Diego to be out the house by 5 and on the trail by 6. Arrived at the southern terminus monument, crazy! Took a bunch of pictures and signed the start log, plus got our permits checked and some cool free bag tags. I am so bald in all the pictures.
We are also so close to the Mexican border. The wall is way bigger than I thought, ~30 feet tall. I grabbed some dirt from the other side and brought it to freedom, then grabbed a small Mexican rock and put it into my backpack. I’m bring that bad boy all the way to Canada.
Skye, Brooke’s childhood friend, was with us today to day-hike the first 20 miles with us. She parked her car at the end campsite for us today, then got a ride in Zara’s car (Zara is Brooke’s friend and who we were staying with in San Diego the last two nights) to the border. We were off!
Hot day today, terrain is hilly with this desert chaparral bushes vibe that I don’t particularly love. Excited to get to some more scenic terrain further north on the trail.
Really nice talking to skye and brooke today, nice vibes though we were all roasting by noon. Walking with skye and brooke is very good for my mental health. If you know what I mean.
Left side of my bottom jaw really hurts, I think a wisdom tooth might be erupting through. Ouchies. Popped two ibuprofen from Brooke’s first aid kit and called it a day. Modern medicine is great.
We stopped at the water refill at mile 15, it was only a few small pools of trickling water. Took a two hour break in the shade, I took a much-needed nap after going to bed at midnight the night before. I also tried Joanne’s dehydrated yogurt crisps, they were super weird for my brain. I loved and hated them, my brain couldn’t process that this squishy disk used to be yogurt.
We left the lunch spot at 4, and the creek was completely dried up. Actually insane. I’d never personally witnessed a creek dry up like that in the span of 2 hours. My feet must’ve absorbed the water! Rip later hikers, the main water source for this trail section is now gone.
We also met Liam at the watering hole, too. Bro looks 27 but is 20, just finished his second year at SMU in Dallas, and is taking fall semester off to thru-hike. Apparently saw some PCT YouTube videos and felt inspired to do the whole thing himself. Watched the solar eclipse with his frat bros last spring. Brooke and I drove to Dallas to see it!
Surprisingly easy ascent out the canyon, high spirits. Met lady who had done the CDT and AT already, whoa. Found a geocache at the summit of the ascent, first one of the trip! Epic views of Morena Lake and our campground below.
After around 10 hours of hiking, we made it back to Skye’s van. Found a Gatorade on the park bench, drank it, and we got a tent site for skye’s van and me + Brooke’s tent. Lit
After we set up camp, brooke, skye, and I took an illegal dip in the algae-bloom-filled lake, drove over to the nearby store in town with Liam (already so overstimulating being back in civilization lol), brooke made some delicious dinner back at the campsite, got skye and Liam to sign up for my perplexity referral thing because they have edu emails (if you have an edu email please please please do this, I’ll be so grateful), and we were asleep by 10. What a day!
Day 2, 5/12:
~17 miles today with ~3600 feet of climbing. New elevation gain record!
Woke up around 7:45 am, and Skye had already made pancakes for me and Brooke! They were so delicious, and were washed down so well with the freshly brewed coffee. Skye’s van is so cool, and our first breakfast on the PCT was amazing.
Skye left back for San Diego around 8:30 (we’ll see her again when she brings us our first reapply on Saturday!) and Brooke and I left for the trail around 9:30. We were the last ones to leave camp. Still had service because we were in civilization, so I called Emily, Mama, Papa, Federico, and Ariv. Really nice to catch up with them and hear all their updates — we’re all on different adventures these days!
Today we also had our first permit check outside the start; two rangers stopped to ask for our permits, said “that was easy”, and called it a day. Turns out that any start date within ~2 weeks of your permit start date is acceptable; would’ve been nice to know that. We’re already 2 permit checks in on just the second day. Wonder how many there’ll be by the end!
First trail magic today, too. Trail magic is where something magical (usually food related) happens along the trail unexpectedly, and we were greeted with 4 friendly southbound hikers who gave us the option of a free bag of chips, 3 hard caramels, or 3 instant coffee packets. Brooke instantly chose Fritos, I got the caramels. Apparently the dude, GoalTech, has been section hiking southbound since 2011 and given out over 4000 trail magics, and keeps all the data in a spreadsheet about who chose what.
Apparently German people prefer the instant coffee, according to GoalTech’s stats. Ariv was on the phone while we chatted with them, and wished he was there with us. Another dude worked at Microsoft despite being a bio major. lol
Spent the rest of the day hiking more directly north through the desert mountains. Hiked a bit by myself behind Brooke, just pondering general post grad woes and thinking about life after the PCT. Amazing philosophical talks with Ariv, Federico, and Emily got me thinking all day about life. Not much else to do!
Found 2 geocaches — one was inside a fake plastic head (brooke shrieked when she found this one), the other was a mini bison tube drilled inside a log in a dense bushy area. Evil! I’ve filtered the geocaching map to only show caches with 5+ favorite points, because some dude hid a power trail on this section that no one looks for and it was polluting my map.
Also saw (and heard) a rattlesnake today. First time hearing one in the wild! Took a looooooooong detour around it, not trying to get bit on my second day.
Played tag all day with Alyssa and her husband Alex. They’re from LA, but moved to Maine last year to take care of Alex’s grandma after Alyssa was fired from her media job and Alex quit his. Both are super funny. Alyssa has a really good German accent to imitate the Swiss German people we heard were further up the trail. We passed her, then stopped for lunch. She warned us to watch out for Alex, who was “probably taking a shit behind her somewhere”. We see Alex hike 10 minutes later, and I laughed the hardest I have all week when he reveals that he was, in fact, taking a shit.
Alyssa was passed by Liam today, and thought he was 35. She was blown away when we told her he was 20. We also chatted about the pronunciation of Hermione since my version is apparently very weird.
Lots of caterpillars everywhere, too. On the trail, but especially on the bushes and trees. There will be so many butterflies here in ~2 weeks.
Took my first shit in the woods today. Nothing to write home about.
Thought a lot today about my life post-grad today and how the quote “comparison is the thief of joy” applies to me quite extensively tbh. Will need to work through that this trip. Really hoping to feel more relaxed mentally as the trip goes on.
Brooke helped fix my backpack straps today, shoulders feel SO much better!
Found a really nice campsite for the evening, cooked dinner and set up the tent very quickly. The Jetboil boils water so frickin fast, it’s unbelievable. My mountain house lasagna was delicious, Joanne’s lentil soup concoction even more so. Joanne is really doing some wonders with her dehydrator back home in Antioch. Wow!
Ate some chocolate cigars with brooke as a celebration of a successful second day. We’re doing this thing!
Day 3, 5/13:
~18 miles today, 2200 feet of climbing
Super duper windy last night, I thought the tent was going to be blown over. Woke up and the tent was full of dirt.
The scenery of our campsite this morning reminds me perfectly of Point Reyes. Low fog, mist flying over the hills, sharp grasses, pine trees with moss. How is this only 40 miles from the Mexican border?
Packed up camp quickly with brooke and we were on the trail by 9:15. I’m sure we’ll get a lot better at getting ready and out on the trail earlier. Arrived at Laguna Mountain at 10:30, very pretty pine trees and granite mountainsides, so much more enjoyable than the desert chaparral bushes for me. Jeffrey pine trees smell like delicious caramel. This place is just like Big Bear.
Saw on the map that there’s a cafe at the campground, brooke and I pulled up for a coffee. Met a Montana girl on the walk over, she came with us to the cafe. We get there, and out walks Liam! I’ve only known this man for 2.5 days but I was already so stoked to see him. He got two big plates of food already, but decided to come back in to join us at the table. Alyssa and Alex are here too, the whole gang is back.
The people who own this cafe are French. How? Why? We are so far from France!
Got some yummy eggs and a coffee from the cafe, used the proper toilet, and we were off back to the trail. Stopped at the general store to buy and mail a postcard, store owner was impressed we had our own stamps and told us that all the thru-hikers came through a month ago. We have some catching up to do.
Found a few geocaches on the trail, some hadn’t been found in years! Really pretty pine forest up here, eventually we left it for stunning vistas of the desert below. Large salt flats and barren mountains as far as the eye can see. Super pretty. Extremely windy.
Stopped for lunch overlooking a canyon. Folks driving a car pulled up and chatted with us. Very impressed with our thru-hike. Very epic plaques about the PCT near our lunch spot. I’m becoming more and more proud about this trip as we’re continuing on, I know it’ll be a top accomplishment when I’m done. :)
Continued chatting with brooke about my ucla journey, really cathartic recounting my freshman year struggles. Refilled water at the picnic area, talked to some German girls thru-hiking slowly, continued along the old route of the Sunrise Highway and saw some beautiful gravestone monuments. Found a geocache overlooking the desert vistas, extremely windy. Almost blown over!
Carried on for 3 more miles, set up camp in nice wind shelter among the tall bushes, made a JetBoil dinner in ~2 minutes. I am becoming a pro! One of the handles of my bowl fell off and is now missing; I have no idea where it is lol. Set out breakfast and snacks for tomorrow tonight, proud of myself for being so proactive. Goal is to be out earlier tomorrow morning.
I’m considerably less bald now. There is fuzz on my head, and the back of my head near my neck feels hairy. It grows so fast!
Feeling super strong physically, a lot better mentally. Things are looking good and becoming better. Feeling optimistic, we’re already more than 2% done. Excited for the long day of descending tomorrow!
Day 4, 5/14:
21.5 miles today, ~1700 feet of climbing. New distance record!
We are getting a lot better at packing up our campsite and getting out onto the trail. Today we left camp at 8:45, a slow but steady improvement over the first 3 days. Goal is to continue improving that time until we’re out at about 7 am each day. We’ll see how that goes!
Smooth sailing this morning, we’re headed mostly downhill today with the end destination of reaching our first major town, Julian. Stopped at a gravel parking lot for some water, brooke was really excited that we’d (already) made it to Anza Borrego SP. We are flying!
Really interesting water situation at this parking lot — no actual drain, but there was a huge PCT-stickered jug waiting for us outside of the pit toilet. lol. We filtered water, saw a random mountain biker pass us twice, and a ranger swerved into the gravel lot at high speeds before swerving back out shortly thereafter. wtf is happening here in SoCal
Also, my bag of seasoned almonds exploded in my side pocket. Note to self: do not store lots of seasoned almonds in a sandwich-size Ziploc bag in direct sun for 2 days. Explosion incoming, rookie mistake. Not doing that again
Continued downhill, great conversation with brooke about our high school lives and so many more stories. It must be so much more boring thru-hiking this alone with no one to talk to all day. We stopped for lunch at a shady spot smack in the middle of the trail, delicious views. Blocked the entire trail, but no one was walking by us — we haven’t seen any other hikers all day. Today I started on my second baguette, but it’s so stale already that it tasted just like sourdough. I’m basically in SF.
Eventually a hiker did arrive — Tanya. Australian lady who was super sweet and chatted with us for ~20 minutes, then continued on. Brooke and I packed up our lunch spot, met Tanya again about 2 miles down the trail at the water tank. We chatted about our lives and work-life balance, she had quit her contract job to come thru-hike the PCT.
I’ve decided thru-hikers are very much not representative of the general population, especially regarding work-life balance topics.
Shared Joanne’s dehydrated yogurt with Tanya, she loved it. Texted Joanne the good news and she was excited. Bye bye Tanya, nice to meet you!
Continued flying down the mountain into Julian, beautiful flowering cacti everywhere and stunning valley vistas. Mountains and valley sizes are strangely disproportionate, and I can’t tell how far away or how tall things actually all. Very strange. Brooke walked into two cacti, got spikes in her leg and hand. Ouch!
Made it to the main road, getting dark and no cars. Our goal was to hitchhike 3.5 miles down the road to the Stagecoach RV park, where we can get a mini cabin and a shower. We are slightly demoralized, no cars stopping, then one TURNS AROUND and gives us a ride! The 7th car! Wow!
Driver apparently saw us before, dropped off his groceries at home, then came back to give us a ride into town. Driver Jeremiah is our savior. He used to buy antique car parts from a house in Julian, then bought the house when it was on the market several years later. Now been living in Julian for 15 years. Crazy
Dropped off at Stagecoach RV park, everything is closed. Sign says us to go to camp host. We arrive at camp host van, white lady inside seems very confused as to why we’re there. One super strange paper form and credit card transaction later, we have a mini cabin! It is a cute little wagon room with two beds and a mini table, so cozy. Literally no one else at this campsite, plus tent spots cost $45 per site. No one is paying that much for a tent site here. Cute cabin cost $81 for two people, not bad!
Brooke and I take hot showers, the water is nearly black at first. Yikes. Hot water feels AMAZING on the skin, someone left body wash there and saved us. We have been getting saved all trip, it seems! Washed out dirty clothes in the sink with the extra body wash, that was wild. First time drying myself solely with bathroom paper towels, now that was an interesting experience.
Tried to get myself a Coke from the vending machine, it took my $5, registered my $3 Coke purchase, gave me back $2, made some sounds inside the machine, and nothing came out. This vending machine stole my money. (Technically Brooke’s money because I borrowed her $5) Big mad. What a modern problem. I’m going to the main store tomorrow and asking for my Coke there.
Really happy to be clean and in a warm bed today. People are so kind, and life is good!
Day 5, 5/15:
14.5 miles today, 2000 feet of climbing
Slept in today in the wagon, and had a delightful lie-in this morning. Really nice to be taking a break from the break-down-your-campsite ritual this morning, town days are so nice and welcome.
The rest of the campground was very deserted, and I walked around a bit to check it out. I went over to the general store to ask about if the tap water was potable (yes it was!), and decided to shoot my shot and ask for a free Coke after the vending machine fiasco the night before.
The very-bearded man at the counter happily obliged, crisis averted!
Slowly but surely Brooke and I got ready to leave, and we were out by ~11 (yikes). Made it to the main road, and there are very very few cars driving on it at all. We realize that we might need to walk all the way to the trailhead, so we figured we might as well get started and began trudging northwest on the side of the road. No car stops, until a grandma does! Her name’s Chris, and “she’s never picked up hitchhikers before because I’m an old lady by myself but I just felt so bad for your poor two people walking on the side of this hot road.” Or something like that.
She was so sweet and drove us the 3.5 miles to the trailhead, saved us an hour of misery. Thank you Chris!
Walked from the road to the trailhead, which immediately went under a bridge where there was a water stash, hiker box, and two comfy camp chairs to sit in. Trail angels are amazing!
Today’s hiking was mostly uphill, and the trail snaked up the range on the other side of the valley we descended into last night. There was good service on this climb, so I called Mama, Papa, Ariv, and Emily, really nice to catch up with everyone back home. Philosophical talk with Ariv on the steep ascent was absolutely delightful! Shared my deep thoughts from the past few days, highlight was Ariv’s advice that how you experience something is fully up to you. I’m trying a lot harder to enjoy the desert, and it’s working a little bit! These flowering cacti and cliff-side walking are beautiful.
Accidentally sat on a camouflaged cactus while taking a break from hiking uphill. Extremely painful, had to pull cactus swipes off my butt. Not good.
Met 2 French thru-hikers, they were some funny dudes and it was great talking them. I really do love French people, they always seem to get so excited from my American mannerisms. Crazy that they’re in the States thru-hiking this bad boy. Need to ask about their visa situation, very curious.
Last 5 miles I walked mostly alone, popped in the AirPods and listened to my beloved Skippy and Uhtovio “BIG SCORE” Scorandum. iykyk. Was absolutely flying up the mountains, feel so in tune with my body and like an absolutely machine. Super super pumped about that. Trekking poles are a perfect extension of my body at this point. Recurring debate I’ve been having with brooke is how many extra legs the trekking poles add to your physique — she says 1, I say 0.5. I.e. with the trekking poles, I have the stability and speed of 2.5 total legs. lol
Arrived at the final campsite, French dudes already there. Dropped off bag, and headed down hill to find the water stash on the map. There is SO much there! Gallons and gallons and gallons of water, I estimated ~500 total. Trail magic is real.
Walked another 1/4 downhill to check out the cistern there map mentioned was there. Online forums mentioned the water was horrific and rat-infested, I became very curious and HAD to investigate.
Thank goodness we didn’t need to drink that water, I might’ve actually died from that. All the online comments were true, it was just a dark, brick-lined hole full of dark water with a single rope bucket tied in. No gracias.
Set up camp quickly, yummy dinner and interesting post-dinner blister popping session. I had one, brooke three. lol
What another great day, hiker legs are really beginning to develop. Pushing to Warner Springs tomorrow, and our first supply box from Skye on Saturday!
Day 6, 5/16:
18 miles today, 1800 feet of climbing.
Last day before civilization again!
We woke up early this morning to get the earliest start of the trip, and we succeeded with an 8 am departure. Smooth sailing in the morning slightly uphill, before a long descent down to the next major road. Along the way, we reached the 100-mile mark! We made it! The app said 100 miles, and there was a nice “100” made of rocks on the trail.
The fact that we’ve already hiked 100 miles is actually pretty insane to me. Wow. Only 2550 more to go!
Descended down to the major road, already a new biome here — lots of oaks and grasslands, seems just like NorCal and the Sierra foothills, so soothing. Took a 2-hour nap under an oak tree, so amazing. Brooke and I have been testing out the different strategies of waking up earlier and taking more breaks, or sleeping in and pushing all day.
More breaks is def the move, I love my naps!
After the siesta, continued on toward Warner Springs, absolutely gorgeous rolling hills and meadows, such a crazy change in scenery and very beautiful landscapes. Lots of cows and grasslands makes it feel just like home!
Saw Eagle Rock, the famous formation in the desert that looks exactly like an Eagle — no squinting or imagination required. So cool! This has been on my SoCal bucket list for a while, and I’m pleasantly surprised to have checked it off unexpectedly on this thru-hike.
Really pleasant end to the day, beautiful grassy meadows and giant oak trees along a little creek. Camped on the granite beach and ate another delicious pasta dinner with Joanne’s ghost pepper flakes. I love these flakes so much.
Brooke has developed a massive blister between her left big toe and her left index toe (I don’t think that’s what it’s called but yolo I guess), it literally looks like she’s grown an extra toe. So satisfying popping it with her needle again. We’ve used the needle much more to pop blisters than to actually sow anything. Hilarious
We camped just a quarter mile from Warner Springs Community Center, the epic stop we’re going to tomorrow. Checked it out in the evening and found a little lending library THAT HAD FOUNDATION’S EDGE, the book I was planning on reading this trip and had downloaded on my phone. It smells just like a delicious old sci-fi book, and I’m so so excited to read it. Feel asleep 60 pages in.
Day 7, 5/17:
What an amazing morning! Had a lie-in at the campsite (probably my favorite one so far), and headed over to the community center around 10. Such a cool place! A store full of snacks and food AND COFFEE, laundry facilities (a bucket that you can buy detergent for), and the BEST showers ever! Such hot water and amazing water pressure, it almost blew my little hair off.
They also have the coolest hiker box here ever — hiker boxes are basically big collections of discarded hiker items, and it’s so fun digging through them and seeing what’s in there. It’s like Christmas meets thrifting meets PCT. I’m finally starting to feel like I’m on the PCT!
Skye arrived around noon and brought us some Chipotle and our resupply food. I’m so grateful she’s here, oh my goodness. Sat around and chatted for a while, then skye drove me and another dude Sam to the post office to mail some stuff home. He also got a package from home in St. Louis, and the postage cost $75. That’s actually crazy. Sam and his friend Skylar are thru-hiking the whole thing after years of planning and dreaming. Epic. I showed Sam my camping chair and gave him a demonstration of how to properly sit in it, and he was super impressed. Potentially might even get one for himself! Also had a great conversation with someone outside, who was very impressed I was thru-hiking and asked about cow safety tips. He was hiking to Eagle Rock that day, and was apparently super worried about cow interactions. Clearly he didn’t grow up in Antioch.
I also got a package, too from Mama, Papa, and Maxim!!!! I’m so so so happy, it had some postcards and chocolate that I shared with everyone at the community center. Packed our bags for the next few weeks, our next stop is Idyllwild, then Big Bear. I can’t believe we’re walking this far!
BIG SCORE indeed!
you may have doxxed yourself eggnis gavrileggno...