Julian -> Mexico!
| Hitched back to Scissors Crossings from Julian with Tigger and started our walk through the hot desert. Even in November it gets pretty toasty down here. |
| Took a lunch and nap break in the shade under this rock, 10/10 spot |
| Cooling off in the evening on the climb |
| Next morning, clouds rolled in. 2 days of heavy rain was forecasted for our last bit of trail, a departing present from the PCT. But we hadn't been rained on in over a month so I guess we were due for it. |
| The end is getting near |
| Rain held off this whole day and I felt great. The walking was easy and beautiful, ended up putting in 34 miles! |
| I camped at the Boulder Oaks Campground and woke up to a proper rainstorm |
| Wet, at this point there was only 26 miles left of the trail but we didn't really want to finish in the rain so made a plan to do ~6 miles and get a cabin at the Lake Morena RV park for the night. |
| Check in was at 4 so we hung out at the general store all day |
| We devoured these pizzas. The cook at the store was quite surprised we were able to eat all of it in one sitting, and even more surprised that we'd walked here from Canada. |
| Our final night on the PCT in the cabin. We were so stoked to be dry, and had a blast reminiscing on our adventures. |
| The final day! Rain still coming down |
| Clouds began to clear after a few miles |
| Hard to see but if you look close enough you can make out the border wall! |
| The last mile, we briefly stopped in Campo and got cheap champagne, tequila shooters, and beers for celebrations at the monument |
| Mexico!!! |
| Tigger and Mclovin at the border wall. This trail completed Tigger's triple crown (hiking the AT, CDT, and PCT) and he donned his custom made Burger King crown with the 3 trail logos. Also pictured is Mclovin's ice axe that he carried all the way from Canada and never once used lol! |
| Trail log entries for the crew. I'm Plate by the way (well actually I've been "el Plato" for the last month) I don't think I mentioned my name in this blog until now lol, I got the name on the Colorado Trail last year and decided to keep it. |
| Sittin on the monument |
| Made our way to San Diego and met up with Fern and Stingray who'd finished a day before us. We were all trying to keep the spirits up but it was hard to have everyone take off one by one on our separate ways after the trail. |
| In true hiker fashion I opted to walk to the airport, it was only 4 miles why not! |
I'm writing this post 4 months later. Finishing a long trail is weird. Over the last 4+ months that trail became your entire life and it's abruptly ripped away from you when you hit that monument. Your goals and community and everything in between is gone, but it's also an accomplishment that you're immensely proud of. You can't really explain the trail to anyone, it's too long and there's too much to cover, in fact at this point it all has become a blur and it's hard to even believe yourself that you walked the length of the country. But every once in a while I'll read through this blog or call up a trail friend and all the little details and stories start flooding back. This trail was the best thing I've ever done, I'm so grateful I took this opportunity to go for a walk, and I simply don't have the words to describe how much it meant to me. Until the next one. - Plate |