It’s only day 2? Jeez. Time has slipped back into trail time, wherein every day lasfs a week.
Well… mile 22 and change. I got to Lake Morena at about 2, drank about 2 liters of blissfully chill water, and tore the crap out of my pack. Meaning I dumped about two pounds of stuff. Flipflops? Gone! Pretty green bandana? Trash! It’s fire sale time, just like at Neels Gap. At least I packed my stuff out. Other hikers are just dumping crap willy-nilly. Today I saw a pair of zip-off pants, a pair of boxer briefs, two pairs of Smartwool socks, a double egg foam mattress, and a five-pound jar of peanut butter. That first massive water carry is no joke. This is the desert, baby! Hot, hot heat.
I’m not the slowest nor the most out of shape hiker out here.
The heat continues to be brutal. It’s supposed to be cooler tomorrow, though.
Critter report: Saw a HUGE rabbit, a marmot, a lot of tiny dragon lizards, some spotted gecko things, some birds that are different from East Coast birds. I didn’t see a rattlesnake, but I apparently just missed one.
This is a real United Nations of a trail. In two days I’ve met people from New Zealand, France, the UK, Sweden, Germany, Canada. For a while it seemed lile the Americans were in the minority. Most are in their 20s . A few are older. I’ve only met one other solo female–and she happens to have done the AT in 2013 and is also from Philly. She grew up in Lansdale. How weird is that! We’ll see if our paths. cross again.
It’s strange to be around people doing their first trail. Like… people sometimes ask me things, and sometimes I have an answer for them. Mostly, though, I’m just not phased by things. They’re more phased, if you know what I mean.
I’m continuing my tradition of falling every day. Yesterday I fell once, but today I took two nasty ones, one of which gave me every kid’s badge of honor–a bloody knee. 🙂 That issue should resolve now that my pack is literally 20 pounds lighter. There aren’t any huge waterless stretches tomorrow–11 miles, I think. Which is good, be ause my shoulders HURT.
I wish I were doing more miles, as usual, but overall I”m OK with it. Eleven to 12 miles ain’t bad after 800 zeroes!
This trail is much more wildernessy than the AT. Glad I did the other one first.
Telephone signal is really spotty out here. Not sure when this’ll go out or in what order. (Also, I can’t vet the photos on the phone. Sorry if they’re upside down!) 😀
Karma on the PCT 