Matthew Alan Thyer's Blog

Day 3, 4 & 5

Mount Laguna has been an experience. Late in the evening of day two Red Beard, Bhikkhu and I arrived at the Tiny House Block just as the leading edge of this storm started to rush over the mountain. It was cold and dark, but fortunately for us it was not yet wet.

The hostel we had booked earlier was hopping with both helpful hikers and their bizzaro cousins. A movie was playing and there were guests hanging out sipping beers. Regardless, we ate, got our remaining damp gear hanging and hit...

Day 2

Woke up early from leg cramps and a deep and abiding need to pee. When I walked out of the cabin the moon filtered through the cloud cover to turn everything silver. The reservoir, the oaks, the rocks, everything.

I went back to sleep and near sunup the rest of the camp stirred. There was Trail Magic over by the tent area and we checked it out while we formulated a plan for the day. The idea was to hike out and pull off another 20+ mile day. I was stiff and cramping, but felt like I coul...

Day 1

I started late today because I still hadn’t made my way to the Post Office. The good news is that the Campo mail room was open (at 8:30). I hitched a mile or so from CLEEF to there after repacking my stuff and then waited for the gate to open.

An ominous start

OnlyPaul and Papa Bear had breakfast ready for hikers leaving, but I skipped everything save a cuppa because pancakes and I don’t mix so well. I was the last one out of CLEEF and the rain was picking up its tempo.

The good news i...

Day 0

So I’m currently sitting in Old Town Mexican Cafe digesting a taco haul that should keep my tank full for the next 100 miles or so. My life has been wasted, well at least the parts of it that weren’t eating street tacos and sipping Modelo.

I got to make some extra trips to and from the San Diego international airport this morning. Apparently the baggage handles weren’t willing to run out to the South island like I did so my resupply box and bear can didn’t make the flight last night. The good...

-1

So here I am. My family has dropped me off at the airport. I’ve checked my resupply and currently sitting at my departure gate waiting for them to wheel the plane up to the jetty. I am on my own. My tether is running out slack and soon it will just be me and this ruck traveling along the skin of spaceship Earth.

I don’t make it through to San Diego until late tonight. I’ll rise early to grab some food units. Then start hoofing it around old town to get all my errands done.

Mantra is About Expectations

Many of my memories of when I was a back country wilderness guard are not highlights from someone’s trail video on social media. I spent many long hours doing not much more than walking. Sometimes I was wet or cold. Sometimes I was stupid hot. Much of that time I was hopelessly lonely and also bored with myself. More often than I’d like to admit my brain would get helplessly stuck in a thought loop — usually an endless rendition of Row, Row, Row Your Boat set to the cadence of my pace. Which, if...

D-Minus 12 and Counting

That’s 12 days until my departure, which considering the amount of time I’ve obsessed about this hike is a very small wait. Some might even say tight, especially when if they were to consider the amount of things I should take care of before I go.

Crocus Coming Up in Victoria BC

The To-Do List

Most of my to-doing revolves around getting our new apartment organized and cleaned. Right now there is an obscene number of boxes stacked willy-nilly inside our living space, many or most of them...

Tic Toc Tic Toc

Less than 48 hours before I’m locked in for my March 11th permit. I’m headed to Vancouver to clear our household good through Canadian customs on Tuesday and my intention is to come back to the apartment and print the thing out.

Okay, so I’ve basically been low-key freaking the fuck out. I need to uninstall anything that might have “news” flowing through it. I’ve been trying to stay appraised of career-ish oriented information, but this just leaves me subject to all the other stuff flowing th...

It’s a Mix

So, the good news! My permit to hike the whole damn Pacific Crest Trail has been approved. At present there are four weeks and change left before I board a plane to San Diego and make my way to the monument and only half-a-handful of days remaining until I can print it.

We’ve also nearly completed our move from the US to Canada. There are still a few more hoops to jump through, but we’ve been tackling them as fast as possible. The boy and I crossed the continent in six days and only encou...

I’m Just Going to Throw this Out Anyways

My next major hurdle-for-the-hike to consider is resupply. Honestly, I’m really struggling with this one for a few reasons.

First, it’s complicated by the fact that I’ll reside in a different country from the first day of the hike. My experience mailing things from France back to the US wasn’t good. It was time-consuming, expensive, and inconsistent delivery and I don’t expect much better service from Canada mailing to general delivery addresses back in the States.

Second, a good chunk...