Day 42: 600 Miles!

Date: Tues 5/29

PCT Start Mile: 585.8

PCT End Mile: 608.9

PCT Mileage for Day: 23.1

Total PCT Mileage: 608.9

The Highlights: 600 mile marker, more long hot climbs, mutant growth

At some point yesterday, when we were all exhausted by the climbing, Squishy said something like… the next two days should be easier. Yeah, I thought. Totally. We were wrong.

After our painful 9am start yesterday, we wanted to get started MUCH earlier this morning. Squishy and I rolled out of camp at 5:30am, with Hot Mess and LOL to follow at 6am since they were faster and would catch us up. It was already warm enough to start without any extra layers, so we knew the day would warm up quickly. Wind turbines in the distance were again at a standstill.

The day started pretty nice. We were in the shade of the mountain, the terrain was mostly easy, and we watched a family of deer bounding up the mountainside. Everything is wonderful!

By 8am it was already growing hot. At 8:15, we stopped for a break to let LOL and Hot Mess catch up since we knew they wouldn’t be far behind. They arrived within 15 minutes, and in another 15 minutes we were all back on the trail. We had already hiked 7 miles and had 9 more to go until our lunch stop. And, I had already eaten all my morning snacks. Ugh.

This next 9 mile stretch included A LOT of climbing. Merciless climbs that just went up, up, up without switchbacks, no end in sight. Over the day we would climb about 4700 ft, about the same as yesterday. Most of this climbing for today seemed to be in this 9 mile stretch. The fatigue of yesterday combined with today’s climbs, with temperatures soaring into the mid-80s and no breeze to speak of, made this section very trying.

And, while there were more areas of shade than yesterday, every time we had shade there were large mutant gnat-fly-skeeter things. They didn’t bite but they liked to fly in our faces and were big enough to hit with our trekking poles like we were playing baseball. My poles were in a constant swinging motion in front of my face to keep them away. Everything is terrible.

We eventually passed by a group of six other hikers we knew and had been hiking with and around for several weeks. “How’s it going?”, we asked as we walked by. “Oh you know,” Just Josh said, “just talking about how we hate everything about this day”.

At least we weren’t the only ones struggling. It should be said that, in general, we love this adventure and enjoy the scenery, challenge, and camaraderie of the trail, but there are definite moments of Type 2 fun. The 9am-1pm section of today’s hike fell squarely into this category.

About 2 miles before the water/lunch break stop, we passed something that cheered everyone up a little: the 600 mile marker!!! Only 100 miles until we are firmly out of the desert!!!

We stopped for some pics and Shawn hiked on while I took a short break, talking to other hikers and taking a goofball “IOWA” picture with three other hikers from Iowa.

*The Iowa crew: Just Josh (aka DHS), Jinx, me, and Twinkle Toes*

The next two miles to the water stop included a one mile climb up a rutted dirt road and another mile over easier rolling trail. I was so happy to finally reach our break point at Robin Bird Spring. We stayed for 2 1/2 hours, taking a nice long break for lunch and naps.

In addition to eating and sleeping, I use the lunch breaks to take care of things like mutant growths on my feet:

Leaving the spring, we had a steep 1/2 mile climb, and then the remainder of our 7 mile hike to our camp spot for the night was downhill, flat, and nice easy rollers. Perfect terrain for the end of a long day in the cooler late afternoon/early evening hours. We strolled through beautiful pine forest and life was good. Everything is amazing.

Our stop for the day was Landers Meadow Camp, which also had a spring where we could fill our water. I was in a hurry to get there for another reason. I had kind of felt like I needed to use the bathroom all afternoon, but there was never enough urgency for me to want to run up into the woods and dig a cathole. However, as we neared the campsite, it was becoming urgent. I was about to burst as I busted open the door to the privy (aren’t you glad you read this blog?). Despite the fact that there were two dead mice in the corner on the same shelf as the toilet seat, I would later describe the pricy as nice. Your standards go way way down when you are hiking.

Important business taken care of, we set up camp, topped off all our water, and ate dinner.

The sunset through the trees tonight was stunning, though the picture doesn’t do it justice. Tomorrow will be another early morning with a huge water carry. Did I mention how excited we are to get out of the desert and stop carrying so much water!?!? Less than 100 miles to go…

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