This morning Chas and I had an appointment to get our passports. It will be our first ones, so we are pretty excited! Everything at the appointment went great. The normal wait is between 4-6 weeks but she said we might even get ours in just 3 weeks! We won’t be needing our passports for the beginning of the trail because the trail starts on the U.S. side at the Mexican border. We will be able to enter Canada via the Pacific Crest Trail with a permit from the Canadian government. We will however need our passports to reenter the United States.

A few hours later we met with our friends Matt and Sean (these are our two buddies we mentioned in our New Years Day post.) The four of us spent the afternoon hiking up South Fortuna at Mission Trails Regional Park. It was so nice outside, with the temperature being in the mid 70s. The hike is about 4.5 miles, and rated moderately strenuous. Once your at the top you can see the Rock Climber’s Loop directly across where Chas and I have gone both hiking and climbing.

Chelsea on top of South Fortuna

Heading back to the trailhead

Not everyone is familiar with Poison Oak in all it’s stages, especially in winter.

We all were getting hungry by the time we reached the car, so we picked up a delicious half-veggie, half-cheese pizza from Costco! We returned to our apartment where we were able to kick off our shoes and eat. The pizza paired perfectly with our growler of Fathom IPL from Ballast Point Brewing. There is something seriously amazing about pizza and beer after a hike…

Sean and Matt have been starting to do podcasts, and they asked if we could be interviewed. This was their first time interviewing someone for their podcast, and we have never been interviewed before, so it was fun and new for all of us! I was really nervous at first, so Chas answered most of the questions in the beginning. The guys are such naturals though that I started to feel more comfortable, and was able to join the conversation more at ease.

Podcast Interview

Matt in action

Some things we talked about during the interview were:

• What made us want to do this hike?
• What are we bringing with us?
• What are some of the things we are concerned about?
• What is the longest stretch before being able to resupply?
• What kind of food will we be eating?
• Will we be meeting with friends and family along the way?
• What will we be thinking about at the CA/Mexico border right before we leave? What will Matt be thinking about? Because, Matt will be starting our journey with us!! That’s right, Matt will be doing the first week with us, and then meet us at various parts along the way as we head further north.

We look forward to putting a link to Matt and Sean’s podcast, Cabin Fever, so you too can hear the interview! We’ll let you know as soon as it’s available. So until next time, Happy Trails!