*Warning: the miles might not add up... there was a detour that added 13 miles to the trip so we made our own detour*
Day 21: 21 miles - mile 369-391
We left Wrightwood pretty late that day and decided to try to make as many miles as we felt like. It was a really nice and beautiful day and we were just relaxed all day. Nothing really exciting happened this day besides the fact that we made progress and that MudD nearly stepped on a rattlesnake!!!! He was walking ahead of me at the end of the day and said that he went to put his foot down, he noticed that there was a snake there so he did a little jump over it and it actually snapped at him! Luckily I did not see this happen or else I don't think I would have had the nerves to keep walking.
Day 22: 26ish miles - 391-418
This was the day with the really long detour. The PCT goes through an endangered frog's habitat and so that part of the hike is closed! There were three options: walk the new detour (13 extra miles), walk the old detour which includes 2.7 miles of "dangerous road walking" (1 extra mile), or do what MudD and I did and just walk that dangerous road all the way passed the old detour and cut a couple miles. It may have been cheating but we didn't really care so thats what we did. And the dangerous road walk wasn't dangerous at all. I think 2 cars passed us the entire 6ish mile walk.
I think doing a road walk first thing in the morning really took our enthusiasm for the day out of us. We didn't feel like walking the whole day. Luckily it was an easy day so we still did a bunch of miles but we never really got into it. This was the first day that this has happened to us and hopefully it won't happen again.
Day 23: 26 miles - 418 to 444
We had a ton of fun this day. We met up pretty early with our two friends Unicrock and Scat Tracker. We had met them before but had never really hiked with them until this day. Mostly we fantasized about what movies we would go and see if there were a movie theater around. We saw another HUGE rattlesnake today and again, MudD got pretty close to it and it curled up in striking position and rattled at us a little bit. Speaking of dangerous things, we also walked through a whole bunch of Poodle Dog Bush and Poison Oak today. I think we avoided most of it (might be wishful thinking). We made it 18 miles by noon and decided that we should keep going and push for another 8 where a KOA campground was with running water, showers, ice cream, and a pool!!! Those last 8 miles were really hot but very worth it. The KOA was great. It was a Saturday so there were tons of people there which normally I'm not into but everyone was really nice and having a great time. A good amount of hikers stopped there too and since there were only 10 miles that we had to walk till town the next day, we stayed up late and hung out (all the way till 9 pm! I was so tired). But absolutely a great great day!
Day 24: 10 miles - 444-454 THE SAUFLEYS!
So MudD let us sleep in all the way till 5:45 this morning! Woah! Let me just say that MudD is a morning person and wakes up before the alarm every morning... even when the alarm is set for 4 am. As for me, I hate the mornings. If MudD weren't there to wake me up I would sleep in till 10 am every day and hike late into the night... which would mean I would be hiking in the heat of the day. It really is better that we wake up early and get miles in before it gets too hot, take a break during the hottest part of the day, and then get moving and get a couple more miles before bed time. But even though I know that, I still hate waking up. So this morning was an absolute treat! We walked the 10 miles into town in just 3 hours, had a great breakfast and headed to the Saufleys.
Now, when we started this trail all the other hikers kept on saying this like, "oh its only 300 miles till the Saufleys" or "the real desert starts after the Saufleys" and I always thought the Saufleys were a mountain range that we walked through. Boy was I wrong. The Saufleys are a trail angel couple who hosts probably every single PCT hiker. As soon as you walk into this place, they give you a clean change of clothing, you can take a shower, and then they have a shower! We got all cleaned up, found cots, and now we are just hanging out and waiting until 5 pm when the Detroit Tigers are playing on ESPN! We love the Tigers and are very excited to watch them play. Anyway, I feel like a broken record saying this but the Saufleys are absolutely amazing and helpful. The best part about these trail angels is that knowing there is someone in a couple miles who is supporting us really gives us the motivation to move and get there!
CRAVINGS
Walking these insane amount of miles every day and eating the same food over and over again really gives every hiker insane cravings. This is what we are craving:
Pickles
Beer
Sour candies
Anything to drink besides water
Fresh Fruit.
These are most of our current cravings. We want these things and lots of these things. The more calories something has the better.
The top of Mt Baden-Powell... Beautiful climb and beautiful views!
Dingo at mile 400!
Walking down towards the KOA
A great shot of the elusive horny toad! These things are all over but won't stay still long enough to get a good photo! MudD even got to touch this one! I think if he had been able to catch it he would have kept it as a pet.
The trail!
Walking into the KOA... so happy to be here!
No comments:
Post a Comment