Day 43 – a day at the beach

May 17, 2016November 26, 2016 / Andy, Laurie, Miles & Ani / 8 Comments

May 16, 2016

Bushcamp (mile 623.5) to bushcamp (mile 643.7)

Miles: 20.2

Today started off great. We slept well. Ear plugs worked wonders diminishing the sound of wind pounding on our tent. The rain fly provided a nice extra layer of protection and took the brunt of the wind.

This trail is all about learning from our mistakes. We now pay attention to the direction of the wind and seek out natural wind blocks in addition to flat surfaces when looking for the ideal camp spot.

Last night we made due with what we could find- at times it felt a little sketchy- particularly when standing up and hitting our heads on Joshua tree spikes. But it turned out to be an awesome spot!

We set out around 7:10am. The wind had died down and the air was cool. The trail was mellow to start and then turned a corner and we started climbing. We climbed up the barren hills toward other brown and similarly barren landscapes.

The trail loosened and soon we were walking on sand. We look at elevation profiles and mileages but this is the “X factor.” This walking on sand business is something you can’t read about or see on a map. It is what makes this adventure both exciting and difficult.

The air was cool and made for comfortable walking. We walked passed Joshua trees and cow patties. It is hard to imagine how cows survive out here but there is evidence of them everywhere so apparently they do, at least in some part of the year.

The trail continued up and then flattened out before dipping down to a dirt road and climbing again. The sand continued.

It made for slower walking.

Laurie’s feet started hurting too – she has a blister on the ball of her left foot and the soft sand put more pressure to the sensitive area than hard trail usually does. She kept going knowing that the discomfort is temporary and will gradually subside with time and miles.

Most moments while walking something hurts, but the pain is temporary.

We left Bird Pass Spring at high noon. According to our calculations we thought we had enough water to get us the 20 miles to Walker pass. Turns out we miscalculated.

We discovered this 1 mile up the 1500 ft climb. Instead of 9 liters, we had only 7. Andy didn’t adjust for the two liters we drank enroute to the cache this morning. He offered to walk back down to the road and get more water but we decided we could make it work. Thus far we have always had extra water and food. We may be cutting it close but we both felt comfortable with what we had.

In light of scarcity, our differences became more evident. Laurie felt most comfortable individually rationing 3.5 liters. Andy felt that Laurie was detaching from the partnership and functioning as an individual. This one example is part of a larger issue and lead to a conversation about money and the future. These underlying emotions and discussion that followed helped power us up the climb.

We feel fortunate that we have created a partnership where we can voice our frustrations, concerns and other feelings as they arise instead of bottling them up.

The issues around scarcity come up now and again and it’s great being able to talk about them and see where we stand now.

Once we crested the hill, we stopped for a shoes off and lunch break. Our socks were wet from the climb. The trail was sandy most of the way up. Great exercise for our ankles but not very pleasant with trail runners and packs.

The trail always provides. This case it provided a lesson in patience and acceptance. This is the trail. There is no other way to go up. Heck, we should be grateful we had a trail to follow!

The rest of the afternoon Andy felt off. The trail was uninspiring and the road walk that followed was unpleasant. He was looking down at his phone while hiking and even stepped in a hole on the trail, resulting in Laurie laughing so hard she peed in her pants a little.

He’s glad the hole wasn’t deeper (we’ve seen some knarly ones) and that he didn’t twist his ankle, or worse.

We had planned to take a shoes off break when we got to the road but decided to forgo the break and push on to camp.

We made it to camp around 6:10pm. Soon Kiter was cruising by when we called to him. He’s camped next to us again tonight.

We ate dinner, followed by snacks and hot chocolate for Laurie.

We enjoy Kiter’s company. We chit chatted until about 7:30, then prepared for bed.

Tomorrow we hope to be on the trail by 6:30am to beat Andy’s parents to Walker Pass Campground. It’s Andy’s dad’s birthday and we want to sing him Happy Bithday when they pull up.

But til then we hope for no rain tonight. We’ve chosen to forgo the fly even though there were threatening clouds and thunder to the east (moving away from us) earlier in the evening.

Goodnight y’all.

Tonight we are grateful for opportunities for growth as a couple and hard packed dirt for trail.

Day 42 – What are we doing here?

May 17, 2016November 26, 2016 / Andy, Laurie, Miles & Ani / 2 Comments

May 15, 2016

Bushcamp (mile 603.7) to bushcamp (mile 623.4)

Miles: 19.7

The soft dirt provided a wonderful bed last night. We both slept well wearing our ear plugs as the wind howled through the trees above.

Andy continues to be our natural alarm clock. He wakes up between 5:39 and 5:45 am every morning.

When he wakes up, he usually wakes Laurie up too. But unlike other mornings, today Laurie woke up not wanting to hike. She was comfy on her mat and cozy in her sleeping bag. This morning was one of those mornings when you just don’t want to do anything, you know?

Eventually she mobilized. She can’t let Andy be ready to go before her ☺

We started walking a little past 7 am, as per usual. A number of hikers had already passed our tent – none of whom we recognized.

The trail was beautiful, twisting through a pine forest. Our feet and knees appreciated the soft ground and relatively flat terrain.

We walked 5 miles to Lander’s Spring and fire tank – our last reliable water for 43 miles!

There are supposed to be two water caches along the route but no one knows for sure how often they are maintained. Last thing Andy wants to do is put us at risk by relying on a cache.

So with that in mind, we filled our water bottles to capacity. Andy carried a total of 9 liters and Laurie carried 8 liters. That’s 19.8 and 17.6 pounds of water we’d be carrying to last us until Tuesday morning.

We both felt good about our decision. It’s easy to second guess yourself out here. It’s easy to want to do what everyone else is doing. But that’s usually how people get in trouble. We’d rather carry the additional weight than walk up to a dry cache.

After filling our bottles, repacking our backpacks and chit chatting with other hikers, we set off again. Our packs were heavy, but not as heavy as we thought they’d be.

Soon we walked out of the forest and into a burn area where lupine lined the trail. We gradually climbed and then descended down to Kelso road.

We chatted about what sections of trail we really liked and would visit again. We also discussed our expectations and how they compared to reality.

Andy has been reading trail journals for many years and felt he knew what to expect. Now that we are out here we realize that most of what we, and others, write about are the highlights of the day. They are the things we remember when lying in the tent at night.

What we forget are the usually temporary but nonetheless bothersome daily discomforts (pack not fitting well, achy feet, tight muscles, pain with every step when walking with blisters, baking in the sun, negative thoughts, anger, etc), and the daily joys (feeling as if you can walk forever, the stunning scenery, birds chirping, the wildflowers, the sudden breeze cooling you down during the long climb, bursting with laughter in the presence of others, reuniting with hikers from hundreds of miles ago, etc).

All of these emotions and experiences can be hard to put into words. It is the combination of feelings of joy, pain, elation, fatigue and pride that makes this trail and experience so special.

When we finally made it down to Kelso Road, there were two cars parked in the pullout. One belonging to a day hiker who had left out a cooler of soda (unfortunately they were all gone by the time we got there) and the other was a 4 runner under which hikers laid in search of shade.

We found some shade up a hill under a Joshua tree. We had a relaxing lunch as we watched the activity of other hikers down below. Kiter, a hiker we had last seen at Paradise Cafe, showed up right as we were leaving. It was great to see a familiar face!

We chatted with him for a few minutes before hiking into the dry and arid desert. This was probably the most desolate section we have walked through as of yet. Joshua trees speckled the backdrop and gave us something to look at as we fought the wind.

Initially we had a tail wind and Laurie was able to use her umbrella. After the wind suddenly changed direction and flipped her umbrella inside out we aborted that idea.

The wind continued to howl as the trail wound around the hills, with our tailwind turning into a side and headwind. It made it hard to walk.

Neither of us could believe how remote, dry and inhospitable this place seemed. Before we started hiking the PCT, this is what we imagined most of the desert section of California would be like.

It feels as if this place should be enjoyed by those on dirt bikes or atvs, but surprisingly it’s not too bad on foot either. Mind you the temps today were in the 80s with a cool wind.

Around 6 pm we finally found a flat spot next to a Joshua tree. We looked around for a spot that offered more protection from the wind but could not find anything. We set up our tent, and not even 2 minutes later a huge gust of wind ripped one of the stakes out of the ground tossing the tent into a bush.

Immediately thereafter we moved the tent under the Joshua tree hoping to be more protected from the wind. It’s not as flat of a spot, but hey, out here, in these conditions, we’ll take it!

Kiter showed up looking very tired and camped right next to us. It was nice to share the evening with him. We shared our food and traded stories from the warmth and protection of our respective tents, shouting above the wind.

We were hoping the wind would die down after the sun set but it’s 9:15pm now and it is still howling. We hope that our tent stays standing throughout the night.

Tonight we are grateful for tailwinds and our tent rain fly which offers another layer of protection from the wind.

Day 41 – the day of snakes

May 17, 2016November 26, 2016 / Andy, Laurie, Miles & Ani / 2 Comments

May 14, 2016

Bushcamp (mile 582.7) to bushcamp (mile 603.7)

Miles: 21

We camped on a ridge near windmills. In hindsight it makes sense why it was so darn windy last night.

Our tent was like a bucking bronco thrashing in the wind. It held up great but Laurie was startled awake a few times when the tent fabric abruptly brushed up against her face.

The wind was intense and made packing up more of a challenge. More than other mornings we had to work together to make sure nothing blew away in the process.

Not even gutting wind could keep us from hitting the trail before 7am. Go us. We’re getting faster with our morning routines.

The air was cool and made colder by the wind. Hiking to Golden Oaks Spring this morning felt a lot harder than it did last night without our packs.

We filled up at the spring with 5 liters each. It was 19 miles to the next water source and if today was anything like yesterday, we would be thirsty!

We met 3 section hikers at the spring and chatted with them as we slowly filled our 10 liters.

We shouldered our now heavy packs at 7:45am and hit the trail. For the most part the trail was mellow. Gentle ups and downs with a few steeper sections around down trees.

We’ve decided Andy will lead on this leg of the hike for a few reasons. One to change things up, and two so he can be in more pictures.

All was going well. Then Andy suddenly stopped. Laurie, who likes to walk on people’s heels, nearly ran into him. There, on the trail was another rattlesnake (we came across a rattlesnake yesterday evening too). He was partially coiled with his head raised – staring at us with his beady black eyes and tongue going in and out.

We waited a few minutes until he slithered away back into the bushes. Laurie was relieved that Andy was leading and we continued on.

“That was the least scariest snake encounter I’ve had. Thank you” Laurie told Andy.

Not even 5 minutes later Andy came to a sudden stop once more. Whadya know, another rattle snake was sunning itself just off the trail. At first it didn’t care about our presence. No rattle. Heck, it wasn’t even looking in our direction. But when Andy intentionally got closer to get it to move, it got real angry, lifted its head, started rattling up a storm and retreated into the bushes.

While waiting for the snake to retreat, Andy noticed Poodle Dog Bush about 10 feet away from the trail. He mentioned it to Laurie but didn’t give it much more thought.

Not taking any chances we went off the trail to give ourselves plenty of room to get by the snake as we couldn’t see it any longer but could hear it rattling.

We continued walking through a burn area. It’s been a while since a trail crew has been through here. Plants are overgrown, trees down and our least favorite plant – poodle dog bush – lined the trail, especially at mile 591.

We thought we were done with this noxious bush and were not too keen to be reunited. Luckily the plants were small and we were able to step around them.

We walked for another mile and decided to take a lunch break under a beautiful oak tree. This part of the trial is stunning. Green hillsides and grassy meadows. The wind creates ripples as it moves through the grass as if waving hello.

After we got going again, the trail started to climb. No switchbacks, just a consistent uphill for about 2 miles. It was warm and Andy set a good strong pace. We our fourth snake of the day here too. A small, thin, greenish grey snake with a reddish underbelly. It quickly scurried off the trial. Whew.

We passed 2 of the 3 people we have been leap frogging with today and found the 3rd, Big Red, sitting on a rock at the top of the hill filtering water.

We took a breather and chatted for a few minutes before continuing on. The trail wound through a pine forest minimally gaining or losing elevation. The ground was soft and the smell of pine trees lifted our spirits. We are transitioning out of the desert and into the Sierras.

The trail joined a dirt road where we encountered a very nicely made 600 mile marker. We took a few pictures and continued on. Laurie’s feet were starting to ache and she had already eaten her daily allotment of candy. Needless to say she was uncomfortable. And when she becomes uncomfortable she gets quiet.

Just after the 600 mile marker we turned a corner and were surprised to see a truck coming right at us. The owner of this beautiful property was driving very slowly and stopped to chat with us before moving on.

We made it to Robin Bird Spring about 6:15 pm. There eating dinner were Walking home and Phillip- 2 hikers we started the day with yesterday. They thought we were miles ahead and we thought they were behind us.

The trail really is funny like that. Hard to really know where other hikers are if you are not in constant communication with them.

We made the final push to camp 1.3 miles from the spring only to get there and not like it very much. Four tenths of a mile away was another campsite so we hiked on. Nearing the site we noticed a bright green tent already set up there.

Darn.

“Over here” Andy shouted toward Laurie.

To the right of the trail and slightly uphill of the next camp was a relatively flat spot tucked away in the trees.

We decided to call it home as it was already 7:15pm.

We made dinner, talked about this and that, and cleaned up.

We’re tired. It was a long day.

Laurie was asleep by 8:45pm while Andy finished putting away the stove and blogging. It’s half an hour past hiker midnight and time for some shuteye. Hopefully we’ll sleep better tonight. It’s windy but we’re in the cover of trees.

Tonight we are grateful for beautiful mountains and soft dirt covered in pine needles.