Day 31 Today’s trail miles: 17.8Today’s actual miles walked: 13.6Total miles: 197.2 Jess and I were both feeling a little defeated after making it just 13 miles over the past two days. It had been difficult terrain, sure, but that didn’t change the fact we hadn’t walked more than 10 miles in a day in…

Days 24-28 What a whirlwind the last few days have been. We took one last group of hikers out to Paradise Valley on Wednesday morning, before returning the rental car down the mountain in Hemet. I decided to keep the Paddles ‘N Jess Express sign as a memento. We caught a bus west to Perris,…

Days 13-15 Life in the desert with Bob and Karen was glorious and lazy. Gloriously lazy. Our hosts dropped everything to show us a good time, starting with a birthday dinner for Jess at a lively Mexican restaurant. After a wink and a nod from Karen, the staff serenaded Jess with ‘Happy Birthday’ and perched…

Day 7 Today’s miles: 9Total miles: 85.3 Jess and I were both still feeling a bit wrung out from the travails of the past week, especially our marathon day to escape the storm. So we decided to treat ourselves to an easy day out of Stagecoach, which we were in no hurry to leave. I…

Day 4 Today’s miles: 14.8 Total miles: 52.7 The temperature plummeted below freezing overnight, turning the condensation on our tent into a crunchy layer of ice. Jess is prone to the cold, but she slept well thanks to her new sleeping bag liner and our discovery that our couples bag has a pair of clips…