Hiking Her Story: K'lena Update #2 4-25-25

First off I am BLOWN AWAY! We are up to 68 people on this email thread of updates..... THANK YOU all for taking this journey with K'lena!

I guess maybe these updates are going to be lengthy..... so much information to share! Maybe they will all be like this? Maybe they will get shorter? We will see how this goes...this is something new to me and out of my comfort zone. Happy Reading....

Correction:

I have spelled their new friends' name wrong in my original update. Her name is Nohemy. (don't want to confuse you with a new spelling- it's the same person)

Random things that K'lena sends or photos that are in a family album that we can see:

-- "Tramily" = a group that hikes, camps, goes into towns together. There was a photo of the Tramily hiking.... Jenna (original hiking partner- they became friends at the rock wall when they climbed), Nohemy (from California, quit her job as a talent recruiter for an engineering company), Larissa (same age as Jenna & K'lena. Lived in New Zealand this past year), Johannes (German, just graduated from University. He's got a job lined up in Germany as a Civil Engineer), & K'lena. It will be interesting to see who else they all meet up with and all their trail names and if the 5 of them stick together the whole trip.

- Trail Names: Everyone gets a trail name at some point on the trail. K'lena hasn't gotten her trail name yet. What do you think it will be?!

Jenna: Jailbreak. Jenna has been recovering from knee issues & has a knee brace that she wears on and off throughout the day. When she's not wearing it it sits around her ankle & gives the appearance of an ankle monitor. That same morning we named her that, she tried crawling through a cow gate rather than opening the gate (she was tired) & so that solidified the name for her.

Nohemy & Johannes doesn't have a trail name yet.

Larissa: Chopsticks. When Larissa came to California, she forgot her trekking poles in Idaho. So she bought new ones. Then, when she started the PCT, she forgot them...again. Her tent requires trekking poles to set up, so she spent the first night attempting to rig her tent up with bushes in the rain. She definitely won't be forgetting them again!

- Water

She got water from a water cache recently. There was a photo that I eliminated from this update of what the bottom of the tank looks like....NASTY! She said it did filter out clean BUT it tasted HORRIBLE! The other water sources she's had hasn't been like this one. Water is also the heaviest thing in her pack. 1 liter is 2.2 pounds. The biggest water carry has been 4 liters, so 8.8 pounds in just water. She has the capacity to carry 6.5 liters.

Zero/Zero Day: hiking zero miles in a day, usually when you go into town and stay 2 nights.

Wednesday, April 23rd 7:41pm text from K'lena:

"The chances of me mentally making it through the night are very low"

Dad: "What's wrong?"

K'lena: "So windy, on top of a ridge with a broken tent & flimsy tent poles...not going well. I will definitely probably see another tent while on the trail. I'll be in a hotel tomorrow."

She was asked when she could replace her tent and she wasn't sure, but she was going to go back and forth with "Big Agnes" (turns out that is the tent company...I thought maybe it was someone's trail name that would help her. LOL) and see what they can do for her. She will look at ordering one later down the road, probably a trekking pole one.

K'lena "Otherwise today was great! My legs were so strong!"

**As of Friday, April 25th- she hasn't worried about her tent issue- she has it so it will work and will figure it out maybe tonight or later on the trail.....living life on the edge!

Thursday, April 24th 8:15am text:

"Luckily I was able to find this TINY just barely big enough space for my tent behind some bushes that helped SO much. Before my tent was collapsing on itself & couldn't stay up. Here the bushes helped break the wind & I could use them to support the tent too! Woke up a bit not as much as I thought I would! Just would put in my earbuds & be sound asleep before the first song ended."

Tracker started at 9:34am and ended at 12:17pm...Short hike today....heading into town for a ZERO DAY! K'lena plans to write more details and share those with me so I can update everyone.

Friday, April 25th:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO K'LENA!

We were able to Face Time with K'lena around 5pm tonight (our time, 3pm her time). The kids sang her Happy Birthday (she started to tear up). Here is what she said on the phone/wrote in her update that she shared with me as well.

First FULL week on the trail! "I'm at mile 77! That means I'll hit mile 100 before Warner Springs!"

"I'm in Julian! It's a small town. Here, my tramily is having a zero day on my birthday (not related haha). We hiked 6 miles to a road crossing and hitched a ride into town this morning (this was wrote on 4/24)."

- They are resupplying (meaning they are getting more food & fuel)- they are predicting 6 nights to Idylwild. (3 days Warner Springs). They will get up tomorrow, Saturday, April 26th and have a shuttle scheduled to take them back to the trail to continue on.

Things she was excited for on this zero day:

- Going to eat "real" food- I sent her some money on venmo for her birthday (figured she can purchase what she wants vs me sending her a big package so she doesn't have to fight weight issues)- she bought herself some donuts this morning for breakfast, a Coke, and is looking forward to a Burrito, a beer, & dessert tonight to celebrate her birthday!

- Sleep in a HOTEL!!! (all 5 of them are sharing a room.....cost is about $77 per person for 2 nights).

- Wash hair! (I asked her how many times she's taken a shower since yesterday when arriving. Just once.....she was looking forward to showering and washing her hair before they leave tomorrow morning.)

"I'm so excited to wash my hair! I didn't feel that dirty on the trail but now that I see people with clean clothes, I see how dirty I am."

This is a pretty normal rate for her clothes washing and taking a shower when she was with RMYC in Colorado. She told me she could have gone longer without the luxuries, but doesn't mean it doesn't feel nice.

Sleeping Bag/Quilt Issues: In the previous update she was getting cold with the sleeping quilt she had so my dad sent the sleeping bag. She should get it early next week....however she's been warm now even tho the thermometer has said 42-46 the past couple of nights. She said she might "bump" the sleeping bag to another post office along the trail. She's been told this free...she will find out next week. She will use the sleeping bag in the Sierras tho.

Aches & Pains:

"I have aches and pains everyday, but the ache or pain changes day to day. Some days its my hip, one day it was my left quad, another day it was heels. They go away when I start walking or are very manageable. But consistently my left shoulder is usually hurting. I injusred it this winter by opening a weighted dumpster lid & my shoulder collapsed. The doctors said that maybe I tore or sprained a rotator cuff muscle? So if you know any physical therapies that can help me with exercises or stretches to help, that would be amazing! It causes my shoulder to tighten up and pain/numbing pain to shoot down my arm."

(I know at least 1 person that is pretty close to me in this group that might have some suggestions...wink wink.....I'll have to visit with you soon so maybe we can send some tips and tricks)

Jenna's problem...Jenna's feet are giving her lots of issues. She got new shoes in Julian so hopefully she gets better!

New Game from Johannes.... Johannes taught them a new version of rock, paper, scissors. Young German kids play: rock, paper, scissors, well. This is how they have been making decisions in their tramiliy.

Photos attached (hoping to send this email with 5 photos......fingers crossed this works...if not I might have to reduce photos in this email and follow it up with a few other photos. Next time I'll save the photos and label them better. This is a new learning process for me as well)

- IMG_4681: Tent situation- rigged up for the night to make it work

- IMG_4658: The view- I'm sure there will be lots of beautiful sights to see along the way!

- 76719538274....K'lena pointing toward the Valley into Julian

- IMG_4690: Johannes measuring his food. Making lines on the bag to show how much each day he can consume.

- IMG_4714...: K'lena's food restock. After this photo she has now packaged this into 3 gallon baggies and 3 smaller baggies, plus a couple extra small packages. One big baggie represents 1 days worth of food. She can pull the baggie out the night before, put it in the front pouch of her pack and in her fanny pack. This ensures she doesn't over or under eat.

Any help would be appreciated....

As I am writing this- We're only on update #2 and there are quite a few photos that I would love to share with you. Scenery, experiences, etc....so much to share, but the photo sizes might cause problems down the road when sending an email out. I'm starting to check into a free website or blog site that could potentially house these updates and photos?! Then when I write an update I can just send out the link to the site. Does anyone have any suggestions in this area? Or do you like just a few photos? Let me know some feedback!

Encouraging words...

Like I said in my previous email....I want to send a card and small package at an upcoming stop. I have a card and some smaller encouraging cards available for you to write a message. If you would like to stop by my office next week and sign the card that would be greatly appreciated! If you are not local but still want to send a note that I can hand write for you, please send it to me!

From K'lena:

"Please tell everyone thank you for being so interested in my adventure & cheering me on! On the nights that it's rough (like my night on 4/23 where my tent was collapsing from the wind or on the first night & second morning where I ripped my rain fly & broke a tent pole) it helps keep me going forward. Like I said to Katie, I knew this wasn't going to be easy & I don't want it to be easy, I want to be challenged & pushed well beyond my comfort zone!"

Wrapping up update #2

So many of you have been praying for K'lena & her friends and I thank you so much! Your prayers were heard the other night when I reached out to some of you specifically when her tent was having issues & she was struggling.....Your prayers were heard and were appreciated! Please continue to pray for their strength, safety, their mental, emotional, and physical health on this journey, and this time specifically for Jenna's feet issues to calm down.

(If at any time you want to be removed from the update list- just send me an email)