My oldest son is considering hiking the PCT this year. The one negative this year is the snow that has fallen this winter. This year's snowfall is of epic proportions surpassing the second most snowfall recorded and could pass the highest snowfall year if a couple more storms show up.
INFO LINK on the PCT
Gear Video for PCT
On Friday, March 3 I gave written notice to the school district of my decision to retire at the end of the last day of this school year June 9th, 2023. I did this after filling out paperwork through CalSTRS online. I am currently in my 29th year of teaching, and 19th year of teaching high school. I have taught woodshop, technology, PE, Algebra, Construction, and farming. My first 10 years of teaching were at the junior high school level. My decision was based on my recent diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis. Although the new drug Methotrexate has taken much of the pain away, it is by no means a cure. I want to enjoy as much of my remaining time as I can while my body still feels good.
The first person I ever worked with who retired died three days later. That is seared into my brain. The guy waited way too long to retire, then never really got a chance to enjoy life afterward.
So plans are in motion, my wife and I set a time to go on the TMB, and I made the retirement official, so there is no turning back. I am looking forward to the work to get into shape for the trip and then I am looking forward to the beauty and the time spent on the trip.
Today, the first day of Day Light savings in the US found us on our normal Sunday trek. We walked the Claremont Wilderness Trail anti-clockwise today. At the start of the hike, the temperature was 53 degrees, up 10 degrees from last week. Today the trail was a bit soggy from the 1 1/2 inches of rain that fell yesterday.
PHOTOS
EVO picked up a couple of clearance items. We will see how long it takes to receive the items. Ordered on March 9, 2023. EVO had some deeply discounted items. I am still shopping for the upcoming trip and hope to land some clothing deals.
On our 6-mile hike loop, we received light rain. At the beginning of the hike, the temperature was 43 degrees. 6 miles 2 hours
This week we received snow in the city of Claremont for the first time in a long time. The snow hit at the 1,000 ft. elevation all along the Inland Empire mountain range. Up to 8' of snow fell on our local mountain of Mt. Baldy. Mt. Baldy is at 10,000 ft. elevation.
Snow at our home....
On Monday, February 20 we purchased our flights for the hike. We fly out of LAX to Geneva on August 15 and return from Paris, France to LAX on Sept. 12.
On Sunday we hiked the CWT and on Monday we hiked the Marshall Canyon Trail.
Sunday's hike was 5.6 miles and Monday's was 10.5 miles. On Monday we hiked with Terry and Annette our lifelong friends. Side note. Last year I began training with Terry as he was attempting to climb Mt. the tallest mountain in the continental United States. I was hoping to hike Whitney with him, but after our third hike up the Ice House Canyon trail in the Mt. Baldy area, I realized my sore knee joints were a larger problem than realized. As a result of the ongoing pain I saw a specialist and it was determined I have Rheumatoid arthritis. The condition was found in a blood workup. My RA factor was 51 when normally it should have been under 15.
I am on week four of a once-a-week medication I started called Methotrexate. I take 10 MG's a week.
And since I see I have not posted in a couple of weeks, we did the CWT the previous Sunday too, and the Marshall Canyon Trail last Wednesday. That week we decided to up our game and put in a bit more walking.
The previous Wednesday we hiked up to Potato Mountain from the CWT. This hike has had the most elevation gain of 1928' over 10 miles.
On the CWT hike today the temperature was 52 degrees the humidity was 76%. It had rained earlier in the day. I wore a Morino Wool Tee and the Skygoat pullover and I was hot while hiking. We did the hike at 2:06. 5.62 miles 912 ft elevation gain.
