Just a Girl and a Backpack Blog

09/27/2024

This is the story about my first encounter with the idea of thru-hiking. On a random weekend social hike through the dunes with some coworkers, I made a fateful decision that forever changed how I viewed backpacking. And changed the trajectory of my life to set me up to be a long distance hiker, ultralight backpacker, and blogger. This post includes a short story, a…...

09/27/2024

Barefoot in the Dunes: My First Contact with Thru-Hiking

This is the story about my first encounter with the idea of Thru-Hiking. On a random weekend social hike through the dunes with some coworkers, I made a fateful decision that forever changed how I viewed backpacking. And changed the trajectory of my life to set me up to be a long distance hiker, ultralight backpacker, and blogger.

Check out the link to my blog in my bio for the full post with a photo journal, the whole story, and advice for hiking the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes Complex!

10/26/2023

I know, I know, I know: it's been a thousand years since my last real post, and this is branded content.... But I just needed to get something out into the world because I've been working hard to get my blog going again all month. I've also been trying to finish this review for over a year now, so here it is.
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Chicken Tramper Ultralight Wallet Review

One of my favorite things about this UL wallet is that it's two different shades of purple and matches so much of the rest of my clothing and gear.
But on a more gear-reviewy note, it's highly water resistant and the perfect size for everything I need to protect on trail like my trail and fire permits, some cash, my ID and a credit card. Last but not least, its a durable piece of gear with hardly any wear after over a year of daily use in my pocket and in my pack.

Check out my blog post for a full review! https://justagirlandabackpack.blog/

Quick Stats:
Price: $16-25
Materials: V21 Xpac
Weight: 0.3oz (standard size)
Dimensions: 3.75" x 5.25" (standard size
Water-Resistance: Very

Pros:
*Very secure, durable, and water resistant
*Great for those that like organization in their packs
*Reusable & sustainable
*Way less annoying to use than a plastic baggie
*Can hold other stuff like chapstick or a key
*Lots of choices: color combos, sizes and seams

Cons:
*Not the lightest option on the market
*Not for the most Gung-Ho UL hikers

Affiliate Disclaimer: The following is an affiliate link; when you purchase something via this link, I may receive a form of compensation.

Order this Chicken Tramper Ultralight Gear Ultralight Wallet here: https://www.avantlink.com/click.php?tt=pl&ti=9877&pw=323645&mi=23585&pt=3&pri=264

05/19/2022

PCT 2022: Big Bear Lake to Wrightwood (Part 3 of 9)

Day 29: Sunday April 24. Mile 287.6 to 307.9 (20.3 mi).

The promise of hot springs at the end of the day, as long as we could hike far enough to get to them, was what kept us going.

The beautiful wild flowers were in the peak of their season, with all sorts of colors and lovely scents.

I siested under a massive bridge that looked over a deep swimming hole along Deep Creek. Project and Twinkle Toes ate lunch with me but started hiking after half an hour, and I told them I'd catch up.

After the bridge, the trail followed Deep Creek for the rest of the day, looking down on the almost black water below, and back up the valley where I could see deep pools and water falls.

Then I arrived at the hot springs, where dozens of hikers were camped out, along with some locals who were sitting in the hot pools, splashing in the freezing river, and standing naked around a campfire.

Twinkle Toes and I got ready for bed and then joined Project in the hot spring, all of us skinny dipping with the locals.

Puke and Rally, and Potato had zeroed there, and told us all the crazy stories of the night before when the locals had partied with blasting music, party drugs, and naked twerking. Apparently most of the PCT hikers didn't even get in the water either day that they were there, which is kind of sad.

I stayed in the water until 1am, chatting with Puke and Rally and Potato, who were the only ones left. As is my tradition, I waited until I saw a shooting star before getting out of the water.

As I was getting into my base layers, I broke out in hives from the waist down, itching uncontrollably. I was barely able to get some Benadryl in my body, I was so twitchy.

Check out my website for my full journal entry!

05/18/2022

PCT 2022: Big Bear Lake to Wrightwood (Part 2 of 9)

Day 28: Saturday April 23. Mile 268.6 to 287.6 + 0.2 to water (19.1 mi).

Today was one of those days when I just didn't want to get out of bed. Proj and Twinkle got moving around 9am and I stayed until almost 1pm, finishing one book and starting another.

The trail reminded me a lot of Tahoe, especially once I got to the view of Big Bear Lake.

At one point I was approaching another hiker on trail, doing that thing that gear nerds do where they look the other hiker's gear over and judge it. I asked the hiker if I could pass, and she turned around and we were both struck momentarily dumb because we knew each other! It was Abbi, my friend who had driven me down to Campo and who had started the trail a week after me, on horseback with two of her horse people.

We caught up to the Krusty Krew when they were stopped for water, and I introduced them to Abbi. Then we all hiked together for a little bit, even though they were slower walkers due to some injuries. I waited to do lunch with Abbi so that we could hang out for a little while longer, since she was finishing her day at 10 miles (getting her trail legs slowly) and I was finishing at at least 17 miles.

The trail sunk down into a beautiful valley, and bottomed out at a horse camp where at least 50 hikers were spread out camping. I walked off trail to try to find my people, since the camp was right near where we had decided to regroup for the night, but they were nowhere to be found.

They had messaged saying they were going another 4 miles, so I started hiking again with the expectation of a long night, but I was cut short when I saw the two of them cowboy camping with someone else's tent next to them, only 1 mile up from the point where they said they were going another 4 miles.

Check out my website for my full journal entry!

05/17/2022

PCT 2022: Big Bear Lake to Wrightwood (Part 1 of 9)

Day 27: Friday April 22. Mile 266.1 to 268.6 + 1 in Big Bear (3.5 mi).

We woke up to a few centimeters of snow on the ground, still coming down gently, but already melting even though it was a freezing morning. We were trying to decide if it was worth getting back on trail today, since it was still snowing, and wet, cold flakes were soaking through our layers and shoes as we went to the gear shop.

Every minute we spent shivering while trying to catch a hitch, we were reconsidering our decision to get back on trail.

The snow stopped and the clouds cleared up almost immediately once we stepped on trail, and the sun shone down gloriously on the fresh snow we could see on the peaks in the distance.

We met a French Canadian guy named Shaman (he does energy work for a living) who was using the reflective seal from a peanut butter jar as sun protection for his nose, instead of carrying heavy sunscreen that would contaminate water sources.

We only made it about 2 and a half miles before there was the first water source, which was a faucet with a slow dribble coming out of it.

We looked at the elevation profile for the next 10 miles (uphill to super high altitude), and the weather (near 32*F) and decided it would be dumb of us to keep hiking since we were already freezing and it was only going to be colder further up the mountain.

We set up camp early and watched Shrek all curled up together in Project's duplex.

I wore all my layers to bed and slid into Twinkle's borrowed bivy, my feet still freezing even though the rest of me was sweating. So I slid my legs into my new emergency space bag and ate some peanut butter to keep warmer, and soon enough I was toasty and able to read with my hands outside of the quilt.

Check out my website for my full journal entry!

05/16/2022

Low desert or ski town, the wind was relentless the whole way. We had our first snow storm, and vortexed in town for 3 days. Read on for my trail journals for the PCT nobo Cabezon to Big Bear Lake section...

Low desert or ski town, the wind was relentless the whole way. We had our first snow storm, and vortexed in town for 3 days. Read on for my trail journals for the PCT nobo Cabezon to Big Bear Lake section

05/16/2022

PCT 2022: Cabezon to Big Bear Lake (Part 6 of 6)

Day 26: Thursday April 21. Zero in Big Bear, Mile 266.1 + 3 in Big Bear, + 1.5mi bus ride (3 mi).

Leave a comment with any questions you have about blogging while on trail.

I'm writing today's post on May 12th, so it will be short and succinct since I don't remember all the details.

We walked to get a giant pancake breakfast at a diner. The cook was a vegan yoga teacher who talked our ears off.

The three of us split up for the rest of the day to do our own things. Project went off to check out long pants and warmer base layers at different stores since she's been freezing. I have no idea what Twinkle Toes got up to. And I went to the library to schedule as many blog posts as I could before they closed.

We had initially hoped to get on the mountain today, but due to a high wind advisory and snow storm that were supposed to cause some not-so-fun (and actually very dangerous) sleeping and hiking conditions, we decided to stay another night in town.

The Krusty Krew invited us to stay another night, and we all watched part of a Twilight Marathon.

Check out my website for my full journal entry!

05/15/2022

PCT 2022: Cabezon to Big Bear Lake (Part 5 of 6)

Day 25: Wednesday April 20. Zero in Big Bear, Mile 266.1 + 1 in Big Bear (1 mi).

Drop a comment if you have any questions about how to resupply for a 7 day section.

For my resupply method, each day I have a gallon sized ziplock bag with my food for the day.

For me, a day of food is about 3,500 calories, although I don't typically count the calories, I go by a standard "amount" for different meals and snacks.

Breakfast is 1 Pro Bar, OR 2 Clif Bars, OR a protein bar AND 2 Poptarts, OR 1 tortilla with peanut butter and dried fruit (haven't done this one this year yet).

Lunch is a "sufficient" amount of meat (1 or 2 packets of flavored tuna/chicken, or 4+ meat sticks, or half a salami) OR 3 cheese sticks, AND a savory carb (corn nuts, or chips, or crackers, or bread).

Dinner is a box/package of noodles (pasta-roni, or fancy ramen, or chow mein) OR couscous, AND a shot of olive oil.

Snacks include 1+ protein bars, AND 1+ electrolyte/energy chews, AND 1+ savory snacks, AND nuts or trailmix, AND dried fruit, AND chocolate, AND gummy candy.

At the end of the day, and sometimes during breakfast, I also eat a massive mixed spoonful of peanut butter and nutella.

I'm writing today's post on May 12th, so it will be short and succinct since I don't remember all the details.

I grabbed coffee from down the street for everyone, and while caffeinating we spent the morning prepping our 7 day resupply for the next section.

Both Project and Twinkle Toes had run out of food at least once on trail this year, so I convinced them to give my food packing method a try.

The rest of the day we spent wandering around town eating and messing around.

Check out my website for my full journal entry!

05/14/2022

PCT 2022: Cabezon to Big Bear Lake (Part 4 of 6)

Day 24: Tuesday April 19. Mile 256.2 to 266.1 + 2 in Big Bear + 10mi hitch (11.9 mi).

This night was brutally windy, and the only flattish spot for my tent happened to be in a more open space in the trees where the wind funneled through. I woke up at 3am to one corner of my tarp flapping in the wind, thankfully with the stake still attached to the guyline. Sand and dirt was everywhere, including every inch of visible skin; I was taking mud bath to a whole new level.

At a small stream crossing, I attempted to step on a piece of wet bark to keep my feet dry, but ended up slipping into the water, getting both feet and knees wet, and bending my right pole into a 45 degree angle, causing me and Twinkle to laugh uncontrollably while I knelt in the water, unable to pull myself up without getting more wet.

The wind was impressively brutal in the last stretch to Big Bear, tearing at our packs, clothing and bodies, trying to pull us off track.

We were able to catch a hitch for the ten miles to the Post Office in Big Bear City and then to the PO in Big Bear Lake with an older couple of day hikers, squeezing Proj and I in the trunk and Twinkle and Schrodi in the backseat.

Once in town we grabbed burgers and then went to Clean Jeans laundromat, stopping at the local consignment store to buy matching town dresses so that when we get into town and do laundry, we don't have to choose between not washing some articles of clothing, being naked, or wearing just a wind breaker while things wash.

We got a room at Robinhood resort, went gear shopping for new shoes, Twinkle's friend took us to Vons for resupply, and we had a really nice dinner before passing out.

Check out my website for my full journal entry!

05/13/2022

PCT 2022: Cabezon to Big Bear Lake (Part 3 of 6)

Day 23: Monday April 18. Mile 239.9 to 256.2 + 0.4 to/from spring (16.7 mi).

We had camped right near a good water source, so while we were packing up, a bunch of early riser hikers passed by us on their way to the stream. We cameled up, Proj struggling to get water straight from a trickling waterfall inside of a small cave, and me easily getting it from a much denser stream further down the hill.

The ecosystem was beautiful with massive Sierra Junipers towering above us, gnarled red wood and blue berries spicing up the air.

The higher altitude was a problem for Project: "The altitude is like a Dementor. It's sucking the life out of me."

We had a great view of the snow capped San Jacinto, San Gorgonio and Sugarloaf mountains for most of the day.

I decided to siesta with a view, and almost froze to death for a few hours while relaxing in the windy shade at the high point for the day. I caught up to Project, lying upside down on a hillside, and Mainard who didn't like his name linking him to his home state, so we decided we'd try to give him a new name.

He caught up with me again, walking extremely quickly as we passed what used to be a private zoo, and was now a yard with cages and aggressive dogs. Laid out in front of the cages was the word Castelano, disturbingly spelled out in the bleached white bones of a cow.

I caught up to Twinkle Toes and we started throwing names around for Mainard, including One Pole and No Pole, because he regularly left his trekking pole in random places and had to go back for it. We settled on Schrodinger's Pole, Schrodi for short, since the pole was sometimes there when he looked for it, and sometimes not.

Camp was a massive group camp a mile away where a bunch of people, including the guys from the previous night with the fire and a bunch of Canadians.

05/12/2022

PCT 2022: Cabezon to Big Bear Lake (Part 2 of 6)

Day 22: Sunday April 17. Mile 226.2 to 239.9 (13.7 mi).

In the morning we took our time getting ready until it was very warm, at which point we soaked our shirts in cold water from the creek, screaming as we put them back on our bodies.

The rest of the day was a hot mess of trying to find the trail as it wound around a narrow willow and reed wooded valley, crossing the stream repeatedly, only to reappear on the far side of the valley, up high on a ridge where it appeared to have been the whole time.

I took a siesta in one such shaded place by the stream, telling the others I'd catch up after a nap and some time reading for four hours.

I saw Puke and Rally (climbing South Sister one year she had vomited halfway up then proceeded to summit) again, and her hiking partner Potato. And I met Fun Guy and his little trail doggo Bodie.

The trail eventually sunk down into a wooded oaky hill side, which would have been a little creepy to walk through at night after such open desert skies, and I walked through a camp full of hikers bedding down for the night, including King who told me that Proj had stormed through "Rage Hiking" and I met two ladies from the UK (Lee and Ana ?) who told me that Twinkle Toes had told them to say hi to me.

After walking by a bunch of rocks covered in blood, which I found out was Twinkle's attempt at leaving a note for me with a smiley face in blood droplets from his nose, I caught up with Twinkle Toes moving pretty slowly.

When we got to camp, Project and three guys were huddled around the fire, trying not to freeze. I got into warm, dry clothes, strangely sweaty even though the night was really cold, and set up my shelter before joining everyone at the fire pit.

We climbed into our tents, freezing, and I begged Twinkle to throw me his bivy since he wasn't going to use it, and I was able to sleep once I warmed up a little.