Day 36, The Mist

Part 1, The Desert, Day 36

The Mist

Miles: 19.44

PCT Mile: 600

Unfortunately, today was not fun. The weather seems to be confused this month. Either that, or I'm just unlucky. Actually, these storms are balancing out the cool temps in the Mojave, but gimme a break.

I woke up at 5am, but stayed in my tent until 6:45 because the wind was howling. I guess that's what I get for camping under a wind turbine. When I crawled out of my tent, fog covered the land. Little did I know, this would be the theme of the day. I loaded my heavy pack and took off. 

I noticed more back pain this morning. The pain behind my shoulder is spreading down my back, so I messed with my pack straps trying to find a solution. I think I'm carrying more weight than my pack should hold.

At 8:30, I got to Golden Oak Spring. Just three weeks ago, this spring was cattle contaminated, but has since been fixed. Good thing, because there's no water for 25 miles in either direction. 

I filled only 3.5 liters for the next 25 miles since it was cold out and my back hurt.

There were wind turbines everywhere, which made me cringe, since their presence means wind is inevitable. 

I was hoping the fog was just a morning thing, but I was wrong. Soon I entered a large burn zone. It was cold, foggy, windy, and very unattractive, and it was hard to get excited about the trail. I hiked on hoping to move past all this.

There was also the return of Poodle Dog Bush:

It was only around 10 am, but I was hurting and had no energy. I searched for a place to stop, but the wind was blowing cold mist at a fast rate, and whenever I stopped I started to shiver. My right heel started to hurt badly, so I started limping, which caused my right calf to hurt. There was nowhere to stop. I tried, but only stayed briefly, because by now I feared it would rain. So I kept moving.

It was an ugly burn zone. The constant fog masked any views to be seen, so not only was I in pain and cold, but pretty bored as well. 

At noon, I needed to eat, so I sat down at the next best place. I could only stay there for 15 minutes before I started to shiver, and I had all my layers on.

This would be the biggest problem today; needing to rest my feet but not being able too. It didn't help that the trail was uneven today and covered in cow shit. Fresh cow shit was everywhere for 19 miles, but I saw no cows...I did see this huge squirrel though. It was pretty big and not shy at all. Maybe he was responsible for all the shit.

Today's hiking probably would have been pretty if it was just misty out, but the constant wind was pushing it into me all day. I had my rain jacket on to keep from getting soaked, and the jacket turned into a sauna during every uphill. 

I was hurting bad by now, and I thought rain was imminent, so even though it was 1:30pm, I was looking for a sheltered camp spot to hole up and rest my feet inside my tent. There were no camp spots. For 10 miles, there was nowhere good to camp, or rest, so I had no choice but to hike up into the mist. It was very slow hiking, since my leg was numb with pain.

Warning: foot shot!

Here is the callous that's been bothering me. 

I had to sit down on the wet ground every 15 minutes just to continue on. I'd settle on the next acceptable flat ground to camp on, but there was no flat ground. It started to lightly sprinkle, which added to my anxiety. It was very strange today, I saw not one soul up here. The weather is really making me anxious too. I keep telling myself it will pass, but it's eerie with the white out mist and wind. I just want to hike in the summer sun.

I finally got to a dirt road with some creepy hunting cabin.

At least there should be flat ground near a road. I did reach this marker though, but I was in too much pain to really enjoy it: mile 600.

Right here at mile 600, I saw a grove of oaks on the hill, so I dropped my pack and looked for a wind protected flat spot. I found a great spot, hidden from the road.

I storm proofed my tent, in case it rains tonight.

I made camp at 4pm. I need to rest my feet, plus the weather sucks. There is a spring in 2 miles, but I have water, so I'm taking the good spot and I'll just read in my tent for awhile. I made ramen again, cause it's simple and I'm tired.

I'm already bored and the weather is making me very anxious, since I'm all alone and days from anywhere. I don't even know where I am, but it's in the middle of nowhere. It's supposed to thunderstorm tomorrow. I'm so sick of this weird weather. Hurry up Summer.