Day 5: Death March

Part 1, The Desert; Day 5

Miles: 26

PCT Mile: 94.41

Today had its ups and downs, (literally and figuratively, but mostly ups (literally and figuratively!) I barely slept (AGAIN!) last night because there were so many other campers around; some snoring, others packing up and leaving at 1-2 am to beat the heat. I so much prefer camping alone, and will do that whenever possible. 

I did manage to pack up my camp, and purify 6 liters of water in around 30 minutes, my new record, and I started hiking by 5:45 am. I spent the whole morning following the edge of the San Felipe Valley under Granite Mountain.

Around 8 am I descended to the desert floor and luckily it was cool in the morning, because it took an hour to walk across the vast valley floor, but it was true desert and I stopped many times to check out all the cacti and plants. 

I reached the other side, which happened to be Highway 78 and just as I arrived, a hiker was hitchhiking on the other side of the road and had gotten a ride. She asked me if I wanted to go to Julian, a town 12 miles west, and after thinking about it, I politely declined. Julian is a town almost all the hikers I camped with last night are hitching to, to stay, eat, whatever. I decided it was too early for a town day. I don't have my hiker hunger yet, I really don't need much, and I just want to hike. So I headed to the notorious Scissors Crossing. 

Scissors crossing is an underpass which the PCT goes past and is famous for being the only shade for miles and miles during this brutal stretch.

I was here at 9am and there were only a couple people here, but in the middle of the day, it's filled with hikers seeking respite from the sun, and some people sleep here, which is disgusting considering I found at least 4 different kinds of human waste (use your imagination) everywhere. Gross... I still stopped and cooked some Ramen, and also, some lady named Misty left a case of bottled water for hikers. Score! 

As I sat there, I was wondering if I should have gone to Julian for the day with some of the hikers I had gotten to know. Nobody was around and it was getting hot, with a very tough uphill stretch ahead of me. I was even nervous. Do I have enough water, enough energy? I looked up at the San Felipe Mountains, and thought, "let's do this!" I lubed myself up with sunscreen and loaded my pack with water and started to climb.

I was absolutely flying up the hill. For about 6 miles I nearly ran, and I don't know where the energy came from. Probably all of that methamphetamine. I'd actually like to thank the beautiful Ventana Wilderness for all it's ups and downs, because I feel very well trained on this hike so far. My feet weren't even bothering me those first 6 miles. After passing many hikers over several hours, the sun began to beat down and there was zero shade. None. I didn't know what I was in for. 

It got so hot and the trail was virtually endless, and without shade, I was roasting. My feet were killing me, and I had no where to go but forward. I walked for hours, sometimes seeing a hiker trying to sleep under the meager shade of a rock. I was caught twice singing at the top of my lungs by hikers. It was actually pretty funny. At one point I had to sit down and check my feet and put on my other pair of socks. I sat here:

I sat for awhile, and listened to the interesting sounds of the desert, hoping they were real and not in my head. I found this in my pack and ate it; it was pure liquid, but still good.

I put my shoes on and trudged forward. This trail was seriously so long, it never ended. I thought I was losing it, and all of a sudden, a glorious cloud appeared out of no where and covered the sun for a brief period, I was ecstatic, and strangely enough I was listening to Allman Brothers, Blue Sky on my Ipod.

As mysteriously as the cloud appeared, it left. I was laughing at the occurrence when a military jet came out of NO WHERE and flew right by my head. It was so close my body vibrated, must have been a f-15 or something. Anyways, it was at this point that something else besides the regular was bothering my foot, and I couldn't bear it anymore. I checked my foot and there was a rock wedged into it. I used tweezers to pull it out, but geez, gimme a break!

The trail continued up and up, at one point becoming so steep and barely clinging to the mountain. A fall would have been certain death, and it was very windy now. I was filled with adrenaline and it was fun. Finally, I reached the end and my  destination, the 3rd gate water cache, a water cache for PCT Hikers maintained by very kind people, and without it, this would have been a 40 mile dry stretch.

There were many hikers there, maybe 20 and all sitting together chatting. I said hello, and they asked where I came from, and when I told them they were in awe. They had all come from Julian, clean  clothes, showered, and I was sweaty, covered in dirt, and came from across the San Felipe Valley. I went and filled my water, but felt really out of place near them. 

I've been hiking fast and the bad part of that is whenever I've met people, I eventually leave them behind. My pace is my pace, and I don't want to mess with that, but I'm sort of sacrificing the social part of this hike, which is fine, but I still felt a bit bummed watching this new group interact. This one hipster, the groups apparent leader started bragging about how each morning he eats a chia seed mush for breakfast. When I heard that I knew it was time to go, and Once I hit the trail, I immediately felt better. I belong on the trail, and we are here to hike right? and I was jealous of his chia seeds....

Even though I already had my biggest hiking day ever, I hiked up another mountain in search of a camp site.

Below is the valley and mountain ranges I spent all day crossing.

I found a sweet spot to camp, windy but very high up. I'm loving this hike so much, each day is more epic than the last! I know I'll eventually find some fun people who hike at my pace, it's a long summer, and it's only day 5. 

Tomorrow: Mile 100!!!