Idyllwild (Mile 179) to Big Bear (Mile 266) I got discharged from Eisenhower right in the middle of the Coachella music festival, which had filled up every last hotel room in the Palm Springs area. I hadn’t a hope of finding accommodation until my hospital roommate, Bob, kindly offered to let me stay with him…
Month: April 2019
PCT Part 3: Turning it Off and On Again
The past three days have been a blur of nurses, doctors, cardiologists and hospital technicians, all of whom have told me the same thing. “You’re too young to be in here.” I got dropped off at the Eisenhower Medical Centre ER in Rancho Mirage early on Tuesday morning, after experiencing an irregular heartbeat and shortness…
PCT Part 2: Sun, Snow and the Emergency Room
Julian (Mile 77) to Idyllwild (Mile 179) I was full of nachos and apple pie when I hobbled to the highway out of Julian and stuck out my thumb. Two other hikers joined me, and we tried for about 20 minutes to get a hitch back to Scissors Crossing, and the trail. Finally a small…
PCT Part 1: Life in the Desert
Campo (Mile 0) to Julian (Mile 77) I arrived in Los Angeles a week before my PCT start date, and picked up a rental car at LAX. I was a little rusty at driving on the wrong side of the road, but nonetheless survived the drive to my couchsurfing host’s place in Sherman Oaks, about…