THE FIRST FOUR

I'm four days into the trail and here are some things that have happened so far:

DAY 1-Lost the following items: puffy jacket, rain jacket, wallet with all money and ID, one waterproof glove shell. Lessons learned: All belongings must be attached to backpack via tiny leashes. Backpack must have one solid leash attached to self. Must implement organization system immediately.

Also, after a rainy weekend it was a beautiful day to hit the trail. Thought I was headed out to the start at 6am but actually got there sometime after noon. Stuck my arm through the fence into Mexico. Got hiked in by a new friend I met in LA who did the trail two years ago. Did 10 miles. Felt happy to be out there for my first day.

DAY 2-Kevin aka 30Pack ended up camping out last night as well but left early in the morning to run back to where his car got dropped off at Lake Morena. I woke up, broke down camp, started hiking and didn't see or hear another person for the whole 10 miles I hiked. It was weird to be so alone on the second day in and it will be interesting to see how many more days happen where I don't see anyone. I did make it back up to Morena where my rain jacket got dropped off at the small store there. (It had fallen off my pack into Thule box on top of 30Packs Subaru.) Once retrieved, I checked and my wallet was in the pocket. I cried tears of joy for a moment and then I bought a lemonade. Made a phone call and found out that my puffy jacket is getting sent ahead and I'll be able to hike and get it in a few days. Challenges of the day: 1.solar charger stopped working(will solve that later). 2.Almost stepped on a snake and after backing up I had to strategically hike down a slope to avoid it. Found out that evening it was a racer snake. Harmless.
Cowboy camped with some other hikers, early to bed for a good start then next day.

DAY 3-Somehow found my glove this morning, must have been with my stuff all along(even though emptied and searched my whole bag)-all my things have come back to me!!! :-) Hiked 16 miles with a fun friendly German called Angie. She had a rad tattoo of Darth Vader with a Guiness that I followed the whole 16 miles, I'll try to include a photo. Amazing views to end the day. Mini yoga sunset sess while my dinner rehydrated. Loved the trail today.

DAY 4-Hiked into Mt.Laguna solo. Got my first resupply package-yay!! Sent some stuff home. Cut up a sleeping pad from a fellow hiker to use as shoulder pads to save myself from more bruising on my clavicles. Checked internet and emails since it was a "town day". (So far town days remind me a lot of port days from my ship work time.) Found a bunch of other hikers to camp with at a campground near town. Had a hot shower-phenomenal. Washed my clothes in a public campground bathroom-shocking. This bathroom germ-a-phob not only washed her clothes in a bathroom sink but actually felt good about it and considers the clothes "clean" now. Still wrapping my mind around it. It's going to be a dirty 5 months people. Anyone planning to meet up with me, please start preparing yourselves now for the smell and disgust of this hiker trash. ;-)

Okay, time for bed. Sending love to all.
xo,
H

Hello friends! Well, I'm going to give it a go with blogging updates about my trip! Not sure if that or hiking 2,600+ miles will be more challenging...just kidding. But seriously, documentation is not my strong point, and logistics aren't either...getting myself in order for this has been an big effort(even with the massive amount of generous support I have received). At this very moment I'm in my little tent, out of the rain and wind, trying to finish up little tasks and thinking of everything I could get more organized before hitting the trail at 6am tomorrow...

Huge thanks and gratitude to the many people who helped get me to this point!!! From the kind words and encouragement to information sharing, supply sharing, gifts, transportation, late night hours of food dehydrating and map printing-all of it....I am truly overwhelmed with gratitude. Thank you everyone, I will carry you in my heart!



And so it begins. A life dream from over ten years ago: a thru hike. And I ended up on the one where I get to walk back to where I started from. Through  three beautiful states hopefully filled with wonder and adventure. I'm not sure what it will all hold for me but I'm excited to find out.

I'm also hoping my Dad will be able to hike the last 100 miles with me and complete his goal from 20 years ago of section hiking the Washington portion of the PCT. Keep up that training Mom and Dad!

For anyone interested in tracking me, I will have an iridium/gps device on me. Please contact me if you would like the access info for that. I will have phone reception often enough so feel free to be in contact via text/phone/email if you like. 5 months is awhile and I would be happy to see updates from peoples lives: send my your dog photos, baby photos, travel photos, the everyday beautiful life stuff...I'd love to stay at least a little in the loop. ;-)

Also, people have asked for my addresses and I have some but am staying flexible for later dates and locations as I've never done this before and I'm not quite sure how I'll settle into it. For now a couple address are:

Hannah Sorenson
General Delivery
Mt. Laguna, CA 91948
(arriving approx 1 week from now)

Hannah Sorenson
General Delivery
Idyllwild, CA 92549
(arriving approx. May 8)


Hannah Sorenson
General Delivery
Big Bear City, CA 92314
(arriving approx May 15)

Anyone interested in more info about the trail, check out: www.pcta.org

Sending love from Southern California! xo, H

Well, down to the last 36 hours and just doing a quick check on this fancy blog I set up. Err...my brother-in-law set up for me. The final push to get everything down before hitting the trail. Back to work, more updates to come!

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