When asked “how is the trail?” Our response has been “hard.” We expected it to be hard and we have not been disappointed. While the experience has been rewarding and the good far outweighs the bad “this is hard” can be heard muttered by one, or both of us more than a few times each day. 
Mattea: 

My legs hurt, my knees hurt, my shoulders hurt, and boy do my feet hurt. At any given moment during the day there are at least two places in my body that are hurting and crying out for a break. When we are going uphill my legs and my lungs are burning. When we go downhill my knees throb. When we trek in the sand with the sun beating down the arches of my feet aching. And I’m constantly hungry. No matter how much I eat within an hour I’m hungry again. Our days consist of about 7 meals: breakfast, after breakfast snack, lunch, first afternoon snack, second afternoon snack, dinner, before bed snack…….and somehow I’m STILL hungry.      

On multiple days, “blood, sweat, and tears” have been a reality. It’s only been 2 weeks and I’ve already wondered if I’m strong enough to do this for 4 months. Everyday when we crawl out of our tent it’s hard to put our pack on again but once we get going it doesn’t take long to remember why we’re out here. It’s beautiful. It’s simply beautiful. The kind of beautiful that makes you wonder if what your looking at is real. The kind of beautiful that floods you with peace and leaves you with a sense of wonder. But it’s not just the nature that’s beautiful. It’s the people too. We’ve met so many people who have made this journey more joyful and just a little less hard. This is hard but I think it has to be and I think we will be stronger because of it.

Brenda:
The uphills are steep, the days are long and the sun is hot, oh so HOT! I have had pretty impressive burns on my hands, a heat rash, what we call the “hiker hobble” and regardless of how much water I drink I’m always thirsty. I’ve seen more than my fair share of snakes and have been poked by a few unidentified cacti. I’m developing thick skin emotionally, strong legs and tough feet, but the transformation is not without pain, sweat and tears.  
And yet each day I am surprised by how strong we actually are, I am proud of what we’ve accomplished and I’m impressed by our ability to continue. “Be strong and courageous” has been my battle cry as we turn another corner and find yet another steep hill. This is hard but we are strong and we are tough and we will continue. 

Happy Trails, 

M & B

Brenda’s blisters (affectionately called reptile hands) 

It’s not all hard… sometimes it’s sweet, like when we get free pie from Mom’s in Julian, CA. Left our mark at Carmen’s in Julian rattle snake #6 

100 miles! Eagle Rock with some of our trail buddies First Resupply box arrived!  Classic PCT pic at Mile 109.5 Just filtering some water and taking a selfie(no caption needed) 
Trail Log 

• Day 5 – 16 miles 
• Day 6 – 9 miles – spent the afternoon in Julian, CA… slept in a real bed! 
• Day 7 – 8 miles – late start because did we mention the bed 😉 
• Day 8 – 15 miles 
• Day 9 – 8.5 miles… spent the afternoon in Warner Springs, CA took a bucket shower. 
• Day 10 – 17 miles