8 May I am camped somewhere on the east ridge of Blueridge mountain. My view would be outstanding if I could see through the smog that has blown in from LA. I hiked through the most tick and rattlesnake infested area yet this morning, picking about ten ticks off my legs (still crawling) and waking up three rattlers from post-mouse slumber. The hiking in the afternoon was dramatically different as I gained 3,000 ft in two hours and was once again in chemise chaparral. Finally after paralleling a dirt road next to a gun range, I found this nice spot high above any Saturday night excitement.

11 May Little rock creek. A great campsite next to the babbling creek, live oaks surround us [Lara, Jason, Aaron and I]. Today's hike included the vertical ascent of Baden Powell- because of the four feet of snow, we ignored the switch backs and headed straight up. The snow felt so familiar and the altitude and views completed the alpine feeling. I was totally in my element as we post holed for a few hours along the windy snowy ridge down to this dry camp.

13 May Mill Creek. This morning I watched a very alert and very silly looking quail wake up from under a nearby bush. It dusted a bit, looked around with it's normal expression of shock, and then started calling. Another rattlesnake incident today, this time Aaron found it first, stretched out in the middle of the trail and no way for us to get by. I threw some pebbles when I arrived, and the snake didn't flinch. Then Donna arrived, she threw and enormous rock and missed it by an inch, it didn't move. Then she threw a huge pine cone at it's head, hit perfectly and the thing still didn't move. At that point we were convinced it was dead or at least unresponsive enough to run by it and just when we were debating who got to go first Jason, a thrifty boy scout arrived. Now thirty minutes after the animal was first discovered, we were all feeling a bit foolish being totally thwarted by this groggy 3 foot snake in our path. Jason got an enormous tree branch and with a little more harrassment got the thing to move slowly off the trail. Only once in the bushes did it finally rattle!

15 May I'm at Jeff and Donna Shauffley's in Agua Dulce, CA. These guys are great, I slept in their motor home, had a pancake breakfast, and plan to spend the day lounging on their lawn, enjoying the beautiful flowers she has planted all around the house. There are about 6 other hikers here, we all got here at various times over the last two days, and there are several I haven't met before. Also, Sophie Hartshorn has arrived! She plans to hike 6 weeks through the Sierras with me. She has already been put through the gear-ringer of the now veteran hikers, and passed with flying colors (meaning her pack is under 30 lbs.) Hiking has been terrific so far. I am finding that I am much happier and having much more fun then I ever expected. I have no desire to be anywhere else right now- nothing pulling me away. And after 20 miles, almost anything can make me laugh so hard my stomach hurts. As in one hiker's on going description of his toes (the king-tut of the trail as he sports a three inch thick layer of tape around his feet...) The sky has been blue for days now, and even though the mornings are often frost covered, almost every day brings new birds and flowers. We saw evidence of a migration disaster in a canyon the other day- 8 or so warblers dead on the trail from starvation, but others seem to have made it just fine. Now I'm headed for the Sierras and I feel like I am in the best shape mentally and physically that I've ever been in.

15 May leaving from Agua Dulce were: Lara (29) and Jason (29) a couple from Baltimore. Lara is a lab tech at Johns Hopkins, Jason an engineer for Black and Decker. They left the border the same day as I did. Sophie(23) My friend from Cornell. Known for her high energy level and love of salt. Aaron (20) From Boulder Co. youngest guy on trail, finds questions in odd places. Will be an excellent environmental educator one of these days. Nathan(33) From San Fran. Works on human dimensions of climate change, but looking to become involved as Jewish community leader. Kurt (41) and John (69) Both from San Diego. Kurt retired from the Navy and found John a retired ER doc. on the AT in 93. They've been on the trail and roads together since. Jonathan (28) Computer guy from Palo Alto. Frank (50) Retired real-estate agent from Bakersfield Ca. Bryan (26) A bike courier from Boston. Donna (32) A lawyer from Palo Alto Most of this group has been together off and on since the border. We often hike in groups of 2-5 between towns and then get together to share hotel rooms and beers in town. Sometimes we all pile up at the same camp site for the night, and sometimes we don't see each other for a few weeks. But this last week was different and shows how much we really do depend on one another out there.

18 May I'm sitting on this leather couch at Jack Fair's place on the edge of the Mojave. He's telling some rambling story about his biker days. A philosopher by nature, the man is 78 and lives in a bachelor pad full of half empty Enteman boxes and a loyal border collie named Missy, writing poetry and entertaining PCT hikers. I didn't write last night because I was too tired and it was very late by the time I crawled into my bag. We hiked a long hot day, the last couple miles were nice and shady but the midges were in my nose and mouth, and the lack of water had already made me irritable. At 7:30 we hit a dirt road that had a spring 1.7 mi down it. Sophie and I cooked at the slimy trickle and then hiked back up the road to camp. It was a nice night under the pines, windy but we were well protected. We got going first thing in the morning to avoid the heat- I felt awful, so sick to my stomach I could only hike about 1.5mi an hour. Finally after about 2 hrs. I was on the mend, and by 2:30 we made it to Jacks, a fine oasis. I've stocked up on calories from the convenience store- ice cream, dorritos, reeses peanut butter cups, brownies...my appetite is bottomless.

19 May Hiking across the Mojave consists of walking along miles of hot dusty roads and the LA aqueduct. We got an early start because I awoke at 5:30 to the sound of John, who was next to me roaring his stove for his morning coffee. Sophie and I tried to entertain each other for the 5 hour stretch, we ran into John, walkman in, who informed us that the arroyo was right around the corner, though he had sat down to inspect his feet. We all took an hour long break, rehydrating and lounging in the shade listening to John's stories, one of his daughters is a Hari Krishna, another a marathon runner, and he loves to talk about them. Shortly after getting back on the trail we ran into a swarm of bees, we turned and ran and they followed us for a while, and after loosing them, we took a detour around that section of the trail. A long afternoon brought us to a beautiful canyon. Kurt had been there for a while and was so quiet that a rattler had tried to join him in his sleeping bag, fortunately Lara (aka "Viper Hyper") did not hear about this incident. A nice evening of stretching, eating and washing the dust off.

23 May Tonight we are camped on a nice grassy spot near a river. It's Sophie Donna and I. Last night was a bit stressful with all the lightening, so it was a slow morning and I didn't start hiking until 8:30. Two guys practically ran through our campsite this morning- Jeff and Jeff from Minnesota. They didn't talk much except to say they were trying to finish the trail by August and doing between 30-35 mi a day. Beautiful scenery today, dry oak forest and open views of the surrounding mountains and desert.

27 May Today was a day of calorie consumption. I had been running low on food for three days and then we hit a ranger station with a ranger who likes to take advantage of starving hikers by charging them a dollar per candy bar...I was a hungry victim... 4 cups oatmeal with raisins 4 nutty bars 1 box fig newtons 2 reeses peanut butter cups 1 large hersheys with almonds 2 cups rice and beans 1 bag gold fish crackers 1 lipton ice tea and pepsi (from ranger) 1 snickers bar 1 bag triscuts 2 cups tea 3 cups beans rice and vegetables 1/2 cup cake mix handful dried fish 1 harvest power bar Tonight we are camped a few miles before Kennedy Meadows, the first place we have to worry about bears. We are still in sage country, but there are mountains all around now, and the rivers are getting bigger. Bob cat prints everywhere. When we arrived at the ranger station, who piles out of a truck in front of us but John! We hadn't seen him for days, and Kurt had already headed into town yesterday. Turns out he got so lost the first day that he headed back to town and has been in a Motel 6 since...He gave us a typical John greeting and said Kurt and him were spending the night there and would be in Kennedy Meadows with us for a few days.

31 May We just spent a few days in K-Meadows. Every one piled up here, and we had some raucous evenings at Grumpies- the local hang out. Lots of country music and people up for the weekend fishing. We all spent many hours on the store porch drinking cold beers, eating each others care package food and contemplating the snow north of us.