Chilling at the Saufleys, mile 450
I’m currently taking my zero and nero at the Saufleys in the Hiker Heaven.
An awesome place to hang around but now I have to leave in the evening.
My body is recovering but I’m going to take some more days of at the Andersons in the Casa de Luna.
I feel great again and I’m completely relaxed.
I have my own bed, which is so much more comfortable than my foam mattress.
They also have bikes to ride into town.
And in the evening you sit by the fire drinking a cool beer.
The last days I had a lot of Poodle Dog Bush.
Thats a poisonous plant that irritates the skin.
And it got me on my right leg, although I wore a long pants.
I walked through the burned parts of the Station Fire… was creepy.
During the next days it goes into the Mojave desert.
That is going to be cruel.
But UB is planning a glowstick walk on the Mojave Aqueduct.
And there is the party at the Andersons 
Wrightwood, ~368 miles
Hi All,
I’m now in Wrightwood at 368 miles.
After rain and snow in bigbear including freezing at night the temperature is back to normal right now.
And that is about 107 degrees.
The ascent to Wrightwood was horrible, about 2000 meters climbing and 23 miles on that day.
I tend to increase my mileage to above 20 miles per day.
This has a big affect on my body.
The knees, ankles, muscles, the back, everything hurts awefully.
Thanks to the new socks from bigbear (adidas running socks) I got my first to blisters.
I just hope that I can find good socks in Agua Dulce, where I also take a ZeroDay.
To make the miles I also walk in the heat of the day.
My body can handle that quite well, and I’m happy with that.
But the locals say it’s getting cooler soon.
In Wrightwood I met a lot of other hikers again, awesome!
We were eating out yesterday and drank some beer and licor in the Racoon Saloon, with roughly 20 hikers…
I’m so happy to be clean again and I’m looking forward to the hiker heaven, casa de lune and especially to mile 770.
Got my trail name
I’m in big bear, and I got my trail name yesterday:
Buritto Grande
Yes it is burrito grande.
I was the first one that finished it in that restaurant.
Back from the ADZPCTKO
Got back from the KickOff.
Manny a really great trail angel picked me and three elderly hikers up at Warner Springs.
We had a great day before the ADZPCTKO including 3 dogs, pizza, shower etc.
Wonderful.
The Kickoff itself was not as crowded as I thought.
It was a great experience meeting all the other hikers and talking to them.
Many have done sections or tried to thru hike it before and try it again.
Every evening there was a nice party beginning with the movies (short film festival and PCT class of 2012, the DVD is out!) continued with beer in the green environment around the lake.
Luckiliy Erin and Brett, 2 fellow hikers that arrived at Warner Springs with me, picked me up and now I’m back.
I had really itchy feet on the second day and wanted to get back to the trail.
Oh and before I forget it: The Postholer maps suck. Halfmiles are the way to go.
105 miles Warner Springs
I’ve done the first 100 miles
I’m currently at Warner Springs Community Resource Center waiting for a ride to the KickOff.
The resource center is quite great as it provides food shower and laundry, everything a hiker needs.
The first days have been wonderful.
No blisters so far, shoes fit perfectly, however I have a problem finding the right socks (Smartwool light hiker short), I hope I find them at the kickoff.
The temperatures started with 20C going up to 35C and last night it even rained and the temperature is as low as 9C.
This was the first night I needed to pitch my tarp.
Hiking in the desert is quite easy.
You have long switchbacks that allow easy ascent, always nice weather and the 2 feet wide PCT.
You start early in the morning at 6:00 before sunrise and walk until 11 or 12.
Then you try to find a place with good shade ( which is not easy with the sun shining at a 90 degree angle) and simply do nothing.
Then at about 16 you continue walking till it’s almost dark, usually about 19:30.
Then you just cowboy camp and everything is fine.
Many hikers already do night hiking, which is not my kind of cup, and I don’t think it’s that hot.
The downside is that this is a very dry year.
A local at Scissors Crossing said he had never seen it that dry since 40 years.
Therefore you sometimes carry 6l of water.
I walked with Andre and Reimar for the first days.
When Andre and I took a Zero Day in Julien Reimar headed on.
Here in Warner we found his shoes, they were to small.
I now head back to the KickOff and Andre continues north.
So the three Germans are now separated.
Sadly I can’t get the card reader to run, so no pictures yet 
I’m ready to hit the trail
I will start tomorrow morning at 6:00
Today was quite busy, I bought resupplies and send 4 packages.
The resupply plan changed also.
Now I will hitch hike to Julien instead of sending a package to Warner Springs.
And I will not visit Idyllwild but pick up a package in the Paradise Cafe.
The first day was really wonderful.
Frodo(Sandy) picked Reimar, Andre an me up at the airport.
Then they showed us where we could find everything in their house.
They are really cool, I’ve never witnessed this kind hospitality.
I also dropped some prejudices.
Today we walked to buy food, only eat quite healthy food and drank tasty dark beer (IPA).
This evening we ate at a neighbors of Grodo and Scout and ate really great food.
As it is now half past eight(pm) and half past 5(am) in Germany, I’m quite fed up/tired.
the trail is coming….
