I have gotten some questions about mileage. Here's a brief synopsis of each day thus far:
5/13: (20 miles) hiked from Campo, CA to Lake Morena. Camped at the campground. Tough first day at 80° or so with a big hill climb
5/14: (19 miles) hiked from Lake Morena to mile 39. Was about 55° or colder. High elevation, hiking through the clouds. Stopped once rain picked up to set up tent around 4 pm. Cooked dinner then attempted to sleep. Tent was leaky
5/15: (~3 miles) woke up with tent in the snow. Was snowing and raining at about 6000' on Mt. Laguna. Quickly packed up the wet gear and just decided to power through the weather to the town. Took a couple hours where I was freezing and soaked to the bone. Got to the Pine House Tavern where a bunch of other hikers (about 27) were waiting out the weather we ate food there and slept on the floor that night. Got my first resupply and bought a new tent that was 1 lb lighter and actually waterproof! But the upgrade cost a small fortune of $550.
5/16: (18.5 miles) pretty easy day from the tavern, spending the morning hiking through woods that resembled Oregon or Washington. Then suddenly on the edge of some cliffs opening to the desert down below. Spent the rest of the day hiking the edges around the desert
5/17: (18 miles) really tough day. Up in the 80°s the majority of the day. After about the first hour, descended rapidly (painful on the knees) about 900', then immediately ascending about that same elevation. Spent the rest of the day hiking under the hot sun in a total desert. Got bad sunburn on my hands. At mile 77, hitchhiked with the guy and girl I'm hiking with to Julian, CA (At lunch we reserved a hotel for the night for us). Luckily, within about 5 min a nice old lady picked us up. The main reason for hitching to Julian is that the next reliable water source from when we got water around lunch time at mile 68.4 is at mile 101. Also there's a shop here that has free pie for PCT hikers :)
Very proud of you. Keep on keepin' on.
ReplyDeleteThat's great you found some fellow thru hikers to hike with!
ReplyDeleteThat's great you found some fellow thru hikers to hike with!
ReplyDeleteOuch on the tent price!
ReplyDeleteHope you are getting good pictures! Sounds amazing! Glad you are hanging with others. That must be some tent for $550! Hope it wasn't my tarp that was the problem. :(
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