Miles today: 12.2
Trail miles: 369.2
Elevation: 8400’ish
Spinning on the turntable: David Guetta: Nothing but the beat
Another slog of a day, hiking up, up and up.
My ankles are still sore from yesterday. Thankfully my camp mates departed at 6AM and missed the spectacle of my exiting the tent and hobbling around. Honestly, I thought we’d be long done with this kind of stiffness by now!
guthooks day 42
I spent the night at the gravel road on left of the screen shot. I spent the morning hiking to the first hills apex.
above the mountains
I snapped this pic pretty quickly after starting the hike this morning. I think the tent site was on the right side of the pic, but above the clouds.
PCT trail post
The afternoon wasn’t as easy as I expected it to be. I was thinking of it as a easy peasy downhill stroll….it was not to be!
fallen tree
Lots of trees to climb over or navigate around and
snowy trail
snow to navigate. I think I (only) fell twice. It was later in the day so the snow was soft and easy to slip on. (I didn’t capture any real difficult snow terrain pictures, I was too busy focusing on my three points of contact methodology.)
I did chat with a SOBO hiker today who told me that he slid down 1200 feet on snow after losing his footing on Baden – Powell a few weeks ago. I verified that he said 1200 feet and then commented on how healthy he appeared. He shared that he was out of commission for a week and a half and today was his first day on the trail. We met a hiker a week or two ago who told us he had to military crawl 1000 feet up a snowy pass to reach the summit. In both cases my BS meter was starting to resonate but I shut it down. I accepted each guys story at face value. If they say this is what happened to them, then, that’s what happened to them. I’m trying to leave my judgements locked up and be more accepting.
tree across the trail
…and there were more trees to navigate.
Clouds and mountains
I hiked back down to 7364 ft elevation and walked out onto highway 2 to thumb a ride into Wrightwood. Luckily Noelle had been watching my progress on Garmin and had corralled a few locals into driving out to pick me up. Just as I was about to Uber I got the txt msg that they were on the way.
I was very much relieved for the ride and happy to reconnect with Noelle. Seven weeks into our journey and we’ve spent pretty much every moment together. I felt incomplete to hike alone while she was somewhere else.
Tomorrow we’ll resupply and then head back out on the trail the day after.
You forgot to PIM your incomplete feeling
Haha haha 😂
I was very much relieved for the ride and happy to reconnect with Noelle. Seven weeks into our journey and we’ve spent pretty much every moment together. I felt incomplete to hike alone while she was somewhere else.
Take your bearings carefully, no slipping. A rain storm is coming in. We have a 100% chance of rain and snow at higher elevations, that might be Wrightwood, certainly Mt Baldy and Baden Powell. Check the weather for Wednesday night and Thursday. You might decide to stay put another day. You 2 are barely getting broken in (head and shoulders knees and toes) much more to go.Each up hill and down hill is a different slant so it works the muscles a different way…………….
I am going to Kaiser today to have a new evaluation of my open wound from my big surgery May 3rd. I am feeling okay but for this problem. I am not far from the PCT crossing on San Francisquito Canyon. I will be in touch if you get closer and may be able to pick you up. If you are planning on going to Casa de Luna I might give you a ride there. It is an uphill walk to their place. You are still a ways away with a lot to talk over and a lot of hiking. Enjoy your stay in Wrightwood. I have not been there in many years.
Hi Rosie. The blog is a bit behind us in updates, so we’re actually past Baden-Powell and the surrounding mountains right now. Thank you for your kind offer though! We are taking our time and trying to make safe and healthy decisions, even when they’re hard ones!
Glad you’re feeling okay and hope you get some good answers from the wound clinic!