PCT Day 24

 

Day 24

5 miles

I wake up at 7 am as everyone is slowly making a move. The hotel has a free breakfast (woop!) so I fill up on mini muffins, cereal, yoghurt, fruit, orange juice, hot chocolate, English tea. Snakebite and I then walk to the supermarket. I get 2 bags of food and chill waiting for Snakebite to collect her vegan friendly food. We hitch a lift back from a friendly lady who talks about the film Wild. Now here comes the task of packing my food into my bag which takes a while... It feels like I have so much food which is great but so so heavy. It is 130 miles to Kennedy Meadows! It’s better to have more food than not.

I chill with everyone in the room for a bit, writing, packing, interneting, reading and eating. I call home and chat to Mum and Dad who are fine. Then we all slowly head out. I go to the cinema and Puss in boots tags along. I get a 1$ hot dog and some cookies and sit down to enjoy Spy which was actually pretty amusing. Not that I was expecting it to bad or anything. Was nice to see British actors in it and be in the familiarity of a cinema. No matter where you are in the world when you’re in a cinema they can deceive you into thinking or back in your home country.

Afterwards we head out and make our way to the highway. A woman who own a shop selling antiques flags us down and offers to drive us to the trail. Yes please! We wait ½ an hour till she closes her store at 4 pm then we drive. It rains a bit but were in the car so it doesn’t matter. We arrive, sign the register and get on the trail. Due to the heavy rain, the trail isn’t so clear and we zigzag all over the place trying to suss it out. Then I climb a ridge and find it. Puss in boots follows then overtakes me. I’m slow as usual as I ascend the hill. I’m always slow in the afternoons. Rain splats down every now and again but nothing too heavy. Up and up I go and I make it to mile 573. Puss is at the camp site already. I have a few things to eat, put up my tent and climb into bed. We chat about this and that as night begins to fall. Then Cookie Monster from Chicago joins us. She says that the others are behind us and she wanted to make it as far as she could up the hill.

 

Day 25 here

PCT Day 23

Day 23

Miles 17

I’m up early and have to pack my whole tent away even though it didn’t rain. I’ve gotten use to cowboy camping and using my whole tent as a pillow. I’m walking by 5:45am. I’m slow at first as my feet warm up - they sit ache and I have to hike up a 2000 ft climb. The sun begins to peak over hills as I rise over the steeper ones. I pass a few hikers who’ve taken a break and get overtaken in turn by a few others. I look to the right and see the sun shining over numerous wind turbines. There are so many of them, most not turning yet in the feeble morning breeze. There are more to my left.

I ascend to the summit pleased to find Puss in boots and Kyle both chilling on seats beside a water cache which also has green apples. I grab one to eat and down a litre of water. Puss sets off while Kyle and I relax for a bit longer. It’s about 9 miles to the road and only another 500 ft to climb then it’s all down hill. I set off and reach the new wind turbines on the left and it feels like they’re multiplied. They glistened in the sun and I walk on. It’s lovely to descend and luckily  at this time of day this section is in the shade of the hill. Nearly all of the trees are burnt out, all black and dead. The green shrubs bloom with colourful flowers though.

I then start to descend. I’m wearing two pairs of socks which are working well to counter the rubbing on my feet. Kyle catches up in the end and we find Puss. It’s midday so we made good time. We start walking to layby to hitch a ride, thumbing every car that drives by. Amazingly it’s doesn’t take long for one to stop for the three of us. A large, white car pulls in and we hobble over to it as fast as we can. It’s a guy who is driving to Tehachapi who is fitting satellite dishes. We squeeze the 3 of us in and sit with our packs on our laps. His cars has electronic stuff everywhere.

We relax in the air con and it’s amazing to be moving so fast. It takes us about 20 minutes and we arrive in Tehachapi. He drops us at a junction and we head to a fast food joint. I buy a large burger and chips which pleases me greatly. It tastes so good….. We eat loads and start walking to a Great Western hotel. Then a random guy pulls over and offers to take us anywhere we want. We can’t believe our luck! He’s a day hiker and talks about the future water sources on the trail. He says they  are scarce….

We get to the hotel and get a room for 6 people. Snakebite (a lady from Australia whose names comes from being bitten by a snake in Australia) arrives just as we head to the room. We rock, paper, scissors for the first shower and I win. It feels amazing. We watch Planet of the Apes and chill as the others arrive. Some fit in our room while others get a second room next door. There are two double beds and others sleep on the floor. I head out with Snakebite for a look at the petrol station. It’s got a few snacks which we devour and decide to head to the supermarket tomorrow.

We then head into the pool. I sit half in half out munching on strawberries. Trying to get my fruit in for the day. We’re all planning on going to a grill house for tea, meat! It takes ages for everyone to shower and be ready but we eventually head out. It’s a mile walk away and then we find out it’s close about 15 mins earlier. So we just head to a greasy spoon place and takes up 12 seats. I get a tuna melt and chips….so good…. Then hiker midnight happens and we’re all so tired. A few of us pay and head back while others stay. I brush my teeth and crawl into bed. I’m awoken at 2 am by toothache which sucks. I take a paracetamol which numbs the pain and I’m able to sleep on.

Day 24 here

 

PCT Day 22

Day 22

Miles 23

I wake up for half 4 am and everyone is slowly getting ready to go, brushing teeth and sorting out bags. The owner of hiker town, Bob has kindly offered to drive our bags 17 miles down the trail so we could slack pack to the water source. We load our bags into his van and Puss in boots and I start walking slowly. My feet are really tight, the heel on my right and the sole on my left. It quieten downs after a while but I’m still aware of it.

The sun rises slowly over the aqueduct and creaks through the clouds. It is actually stunning and I can’t take my eyes off it. We talk all the way - about films, life, love, hiking, food, our futures, education, our upbringing, the PCT, books, writing, jobs. We get to the bridge which is the meetup point and catch up to the two hikers who hiked out last night. They say they heard a mountain lion stalk and kill a sheep next to their tent last night. We snooze in the shade, then the other hikes join us. We all chill and wait for two hours til our packs arrive.

We set off separately and I'm super slow. It’s so much hard work walking across the wind farm. The wind just blows right into me and it takes like four hours to walk from mile 535 to 541. On the way I stop for a sugary snack and get overtaken by two hiker. I trail them up the hill then get a signal and send a few messages. I pack my yucca stick away as it’s no good against the wind - being super light weight the wind is just blowing it all other the place. I get to the top and then descend into a valley. I catch the two hikers at the bottom where I find Walken and Puss in boots. It feels good to be out the wind so I chill for a bit. All the hikers who slept in Hiker town last night have arrived and we all set up camp in various places around the valley. A river flows through it and there are a few places to pitch tents.It's called
Tyler House Canyon.

I collect some water and set up for bed. It starts raining a bit and we put up our shelters then it clears, damn rain. I head to sleep but I can’t. It’s windy and my tent is too warm. But eventually I do and the wind dies down in the late morning.

Day 23 here