This morning I woke up warm and comfortable on Lingo's mom's couch. I had planned to wake up at 6:30, but I could sleep past 6 because I was so excited to get back to the trail. It's sort of unexpected, but even though I'm tired and sore I can't waut to start hiking every morning. This PCT thing really seems to suit me.
We tossed some leftover pizza into a goodie bag for Troll since he couldn't come into town with us. We love Troll!
Lingo's mom Peggy took us to Starbucks and I got a double tall caramel machiatto with whole milk. I never drink Starbucks (I'm a Seattlite), but it was SO GOOD. I'm very sensitive to caffeine which works against me in my regular life, but is wonderful on trail. By the time Peggy dropped us off that Scissor's Crossing I was ready to cartwheel up the trail. Thanks Peggy!
There is a couch under the bridge at Scissor's Crossing that has become sort of infamous. The trail angels have had trouble with the local rangers because of hiker trash (actual trash this time) that blows into the bird sanctuary next door. The trail angel has warned everyone that unless the couch and trash are removed, there will be no water cache at this spot. The couch was surprisingly comfortable!
Today we hiked up the San Fellipe mountains. In the picture below you can see the mountains we hiked yesterday and the valley floor we crossed to meet Lingo's mom.
As always, my favorite part of hiking is the breaks. Look at this view!
Getting close to camp...
We camped at a water cache called Third Gate. This is the most organized cache we've seen so far, with a net for empty bottles and chairs to sit on while refilling our bottles.
At camp, we found Troll and delivered his pizza. I wanted to take a picture, but he had devoured the entire bag before I could get to my camera. We also met Happy Feet (another trail queer! woo!), Blondie, and a few other hikers whose names I can't remember. Over my dinner of pasta with avacado, the trail-famous Rocket Llama gave her account of the events that took her off trail last year. If you haven't read Rocket's account of the ordeal, you really should take the time. She got stuck in a freak snowstorm that stranded her in the mountains for 7 days. Her tent flodded, she ran out of food, and search and rescue couldn't find her. She was forced to walk out of the mountains cold and unprepared, but she's back again this year. She's really an amazing and inspirational person and it has been such a pleasure hiking with her these past few days.
Check out her version of the ordeal at the link below.
http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=436497
After pitching my tent a little frightened (you try reading her story before bed), the wind started howling pretty hard. I tried to put my head down and go to sleep anyway, but my tent started flapping pretty hard in the wind. I ignored the flapping until my tent caved in, when I was forced to get up and move to a better spot. I'm really starting to dislike my tent. I can't seem to get it to set up correctly.
Goodnight!
Goodnight!
This blog is awesome, please don't stop updating. Though, I have to confess my feelings about your PCT hike have shifted from 'so freaking excited for you' to 'what the hell this looks amazing, I totally want to do this myself, I'm so freaking jealous'. But hey, they let me move my cubicle a bit closer to the window, so I got that going for me.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure you could fuel yourself on pizza and vanilla lattes alone if there were enough baristas and pizza huts along the trail. Keep the pics coming? Do you have a trail name yet, or do we have to try to guess?