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PCT day 8

April 20, 2019

Colors of the Wind 

Scissors Crossing to mile 88.2, 11.1 PCT miles + about 1 mile until we hitched a ride to trailhead, daily total 12.1 miles 

Running total: 94.5 miles 

Last night we ended up camping next to Jeremy from San Diego.  We chatted a bit with him, bonded over the terrible wind storm overnight which resulted in a ton of fine, hard to remove sand covering us and everything in our tents, then parted ways. 

We eventually set off from the Stagecoach RV Park around 830am, hoping to catch a ride the three miles to where we last left off @ Scissors Crossing.  About 25 minutes into our walk a lady stopped for us and we hopped in her car.  Turns out she owns a restaurant that Matt & I have eaten at before, Soups and Such!

We walked to where we left off on Thursday, under the underpass, where we saw a badass trail magic table being set up- we heard rumors of burgers, hot dogs, veggie trays, watermelon, beer, and margaritas!!  As tempting as it was to stay, we decided to hit the trail...

We started around 9, with a steady climb out of Scissors Crossing.  We had heard rumors of this hike being terrible when hot, but we lucked out with cooler temps and a constant breeze- and occasional ridiculous wind gusts! I had to ditch my hat after it flew off into a cactus- thankfully it didn't blow off the side of the mountain!

Speaking of sides of mountains and cacti- the desert was SO colorful today! Amazing wildflowers & blooming cacti spread across the mountain sides- we couldn't stop snapping pictures! And between the wind and the colors, I couldn't stop singing the Pocahontas song, "Colors of the Wind." 

Matt and I had planned to take today slow and steady to see how Matt's ankle was doing.  Every few miles or so we checked in with each other to see how much further we should go- we even took a real break, taking off our shoes and everything.

Eventually, around 1430, we found ourselves at a tent-site at mile 88 where it didn't seem as windy as the rest of the mountain. Matt's ankle was feeling good, and he didn't wanna push it.  We decided to stay. 

We were sitting around chatting when we were joined by Corey, a guy from Illinois.  He spent maybe an hour with us before deciding to push on.  Preston from LA also stopped by- we had met him in Laguna.  He had severely burned hands and admired our sungloves- & now he has a pair of his own! He had never backpacked, hiked, or even camped before! Talk about jumping in! 

Early to bed, we planned to get the earliest start yet, alarm set for a little after 5! 

Happiness is: seeing the rattler before he sees you! (Or at least seeing him before he rattles at you!) 

Pct day 7

April 19, 2019, one week down!

Rest day! After waking up feeling clean and refreshed, we set to work packing up.  We picked out our food carry for the next 3 nights & prepped a food box to be sent to Idyllwild.  Matt made eggs, our last hot meal for a while.  

Jesse brought us to the post office & then to the Stagecoach RV Park in Julian, where we planned to spend the night. 

After charging our phones in the RV park store/deli, we set up camp and relaxed for the evening.  It was a super windy night- we were both surprised our tent survived! We woke up to a layer of sand covering us!

Happiness is: a cup of ice from the RV store & knowing our tent is badass and can survive what sounded like a tornado! 

 

PS, what's in our packs?  In the order that I pack it:

Into a pack liner: sleeping bag, sleeping bag liner, clothes bag (clothes: bandana, small towel, wool hat, wool gloves, rain gloves, capilene thermal layers- top & bottom, extra pair of socks, extra pair of underwear {one hiking, one sleeping...and I had my mom send me one more pair! They are light, eh?}, fleece layer.)

Stuffed next to sleeping bag, outside the pack liner: sleeping pad, rain pants, and rain coat

On top: first-aid bag, food bag, water filter stuff, puffy layer

Stuffed around everything: battery/charging wires, extra camera lense

Stuffed into pack elastic pocket: toilet paper, deuce of spades, ziplock garbage bags, tent ground sheet

Our packs are fancy and we have lots of pockets!

In the hip belt pockets: one has my wallet and toothbrush/toothpaste/floss (clean side). In the dirty side: hand sanitizer, sunscreen, body glide

Big side pocket: 2 water bottles and sun umbrella

Two small side pockets: one has 2 water bottles, the other has my buff, the tent stakes, and my tripod/camera tools

Front strap pockets (purchased from Etsy and added on, thanks Matt!): Left side either has an extra water bottle pocket OR camera holder, depending on what section we are hiking. Right: camera clip, which is holding my camera!

Cheers.

PCT day 6!

April 18, 2019

PCT mile 75.5 to 77.1, 1.6 miles + 1.4 miles off trail to deliver first aid supplies to town! :) =3 miles

Running total: 82.4 miles 

Today we woke up excited to hike the 1.6 miles to Scissors Crossing to meet Jesse for a much-needed rest day.

 We joined a bunch of PCT hikers enjoying shade under the scissors crossing underpass as we waited.  We were excited to see Flower, whom we hadn't seen since the morning of the storm.  She said she spoke to Martin and had heard we pushed on further in the storm to find a site.  It's nice to know people are looking out for us and for each other- we had been thinking of Flower and the others we had either camped with or simply passed while hiking- it's always fun catching up and hearing everyone is doing well.  

This is Squeaky.  His owners were offering a ride to Julian if anybody needed 

Under the bridge there was a well-stocked water cache at a perfect place- no reliable water for at least 14 miles, although that's just a cache and cannot be fully relied on.  There is apparently a trough full of spring water 24 miles out.. again, will it still be full when we get there?  And the last reliable water?  Well, mile 68, 9 miles ago, had a cache that was empty- I know a few hikers were counting on that. Mile 63 apparently had a trickle in a creek a ways off trail.  Mile 59.5 was the last really reliable water, 17.5 miles ago! So, without this cache under the bridge, if people weren't planning on hitching into town, we are looking at over 40 miles without water- that would take me and Matt 3 days! 3 days of hot, hot, desert sun hiking!  Thankfully we had about 1/2 L water left & were planning on a rest day

I was so excited to see Jesse pull in!  He drove us and Yaara into town, dropped Yaara off to find housing for the night, then we stopped by Mom's bakery, where they treat thru-hikers to a free slice of pie, ice cream, and either cider, tea, coffee, or iced tea.  Nomnomnom! Delish! 

Flower was there soaking her blistered feet.  (Later Jesse and I ended up walking back into town from the house to give her some burn stuff we heard might help with blisters...)

After pie, Jesse drove us for over an hour to do errands and pick up groceries for the night.  We had invited Shirley and Rich over for dinner and I was craving ceasar salad!!  Groceries complete, we went home to do laundry, shower, and prep dinner. Matt made homemade guacamole (yum!), Jesse made homemade carrot curry soup (yum!) And I made...a bagged ceasar salad and frozen "chikn" & black-bean patties...cheers!

Happiness is: fresh apple pie you don't feel guilty eating AND having a friend like Jesse, who I definitely don't deserve but am so incredibly grateful to have. Love ya!