Yesterday I did not really receive enough information to write very much. Only two spots and they were only 8 miles apart. His last spot I received on Sunday was (33.09902 - 116.471558) at a place called Scissors Crossing. I had not heard from him in three days. His mileage after the 25 mile trek on Friday has gone down quite a bit. He traveled about 8 miles on Saturday and 7 miles on Sunday and today he past Barrel Spring. His total distance on the Pacific Crest Trail has passed over 100 miles.

Not knowing his exact whereabouts is nerve racking to say the least. In my mind I saw some mountain lion fighting over his GPS device with a bear and a couple of vultures. I could see Zac sitting on the side of the road holding a WILL WORK FOR FOOD sign hoping to catch a ride to civilization so he could find a half eaten cheeseburger behind a Waffle House dumpster. And then the signal sounds and I have new coordinates and all is right with the world.

Today, his friend Amy called and said that she was waiting for his arrival in Warner Springs with a grill and some hamburgers. She said that as she watched the through hikers passing through the town she was looking for Zac to come waltzing into view. She would ask some of the hikers if they had seen someone named Zac along the way. Quite a few of them had and some told her that they had even camped out a few times with “Slim Jim”, apparently his trail nick name. He must be eating a lot of those things. He was planning to make it Warner Springs on Tuesday. One of the hikers mentioned that Zac’s feet were giving him a little trouble but that he was in good spirits.

Then, today about 6:30 our time, Zac called from a borrowed satellite phone and said he was doing fine. He said that there were many other hikers on the trail. He has not traveled by himself much at all. He has only camped by himself once so far. His feet had some blisters on them but he was just putting some mole skin bandages on them and moving on. His food is holding up and he has not had a real problem keeping hydrated. In Barrel Spring he was going to get water but the water hole was occupied with several dead mice so he opted to forgo that fill up. The phone call was short because he was borrowing it and didn’t want to run the battery down.

His last spot arrived about 9:50. (33.24595 – 116.60024) He should arrive in Warner Springs in time for lunch and grilled burgers. He plans to do some laundry and collect his mail from the post office. I hope to get a call from him during the day some time tomorrow. I will request more frequent spots to be sent to me. Thank you all for your support and well wishes for Zac. – Brant(father of Slim Jim)