So, I am roughly 10 days out from the start of my hike (I fly out to Sand Diego on April 23, my permit start date is April 24). I had originally planned to get a cheap hotel in San Diego and then take the 894 bus from the El Cajon transit center to Campo. Unfortunately the 894 does NOT run on the weekend and I will be arriving on Saturday. Fortunately there is a legendary trail angel couple (Scout and Frodo) that live in San Diego. I contacted them a couple of months ago and got a very nice, informative, email. They open their home every spring for hikers starting out on the PCT. From the email: “We’ll pick you up, give you a place to stay, and get you out to the trailhead.”
They also provide meals, sell fuel canisters and allow hiker to ship packages to their house. And they don’t accept money for this…
“We are in the fortunate position of not needing to charge money for hosting hikers; we do not even accept donations. We do encourage hikers to join the PCTA if they are not already members.”
It’s kind of amazing. They had 325 hikers pass through last year and I expect they will see at least that many this year. So, if everything goes according to plan, they will pick me up at the airport, let me camp in their yard, feed me, and get me to the trail the following morning. Not sure how they handle all this but I guess I will get to see.
Outside Magazine Story about Scout & Frodo
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