Day 75, Rainy Day Blues

Part 3, Northern California, Day 75

Rainy Day Blues

Miles: 27.27

Total Miles: 1135.90

The thunderstorms aren't what bothered me today, it was my ailing body. I hurt. It's probably because of all this hiking. 

I slept bad last night because I kept waking up and going outside to check the skies. When I finally packed up around 6 am, the dark clouds surrounded me. I hiked fast. 

The trail this morning was thick forest. After a few hours if became somewhat monotonous, but no biggie. The real offense was given by the mosquitoes. They have returned! 

Not quite as bad as the Yosemite section, these skeeters are sneaky. Stop once, and I'm covered in mozzies. Here's a pic of the most filthy, disgusting pond I've seen so far. 

Here's a pic of a giant fungi. 

The sky was black behind me, so I spent the morning trying to out-hike the storm. I had very low morale this morning. The weather constantly sucks, and my feet and shoulders and back were beyond painful. The shoulders and back have become the worst of the pain. I have pain all over my back, including the vertebrae, and after a few hours of hiking, I lose feeling in my arms and shoulders. 

To add to the weather, pain, and boredom, I didn't see one PTC hiker. Nobody. I felt very lonely today. I wasn't just hiking fast to outrun the storm, I also hoped I'd catch up with another thru. When I got to Richardson Lake, I performed some trail surgery on my sleeping pad. 

I used the squares as a cushion between my shoulders and my straps:

It helped a little, but not much. I saw a large group of off road drivers camped at the lake and they asked me questions about the thru hike. It was actually nice to see people. 

There was major air traffic today. I'd never seen so many helicopters, jets, and single engine planes on the sky at one time. I wonder what the deal was. 

I ate lunch by a stream and befriended this big frog. The frog was super cool. I named him Alduin World Eater:

The whole morning I was thinking of ways to improve my hiking health. I need to drop some pack weight for sure, carry less food, and consider changing packs. I'm worried about my back, shoulders, and feet, and doing permanent damage to them. 

For the time being, the PCT is also the Tahoe Rim Trail.

I ascended Barker Pass and hiked parallel to Lake Tahoe:

There was thunder all around me, and the sky finally opened up and the rain poured down. 

I talked to a hiker going South named Santos. He's a south bound thru hiker! The first one I've seen so far. He left Canada last April. 

The rain wasn't so bad. It was actually a beautiful rainy hike. I entered the Granite Chief Wilderness. 

The sky was too dark for pics, but I tried:

The next 10 miles was an exposed ridge walk very high up; not where I wanted to be in a storm. I hurried on, though the storm had nearly moved passed me. It was such a beautiful hike.

Here's Lake Tahoe in the distance. 

Here's me trying to put on a brave face despite my shoulder pain. I was dead on the inside:

Below is my favorite picture of the day:

My goal is to make it to Sierra City and rethink my inks, so to speak. I need to reevaluate my pack configuration. I've also decided to lower the zeros and dial up the miles for NorCal, so I need to get my house in order here. I can easily lower my food weight. I carry way too much. One great thing about NorCal so far is that the trails have been so mellow. 

I hiked to Whiskey Creek and camped. There's a few other campers here, and it's kind of nice. When the hell did I get so lonely out here? I'm losing my edge; too many zeros. 

I'm prepared for rain again, since thunderstorms are forecast everyday for the next 20 years, it seems. Hopefully tomorrow will be less painful.