Day 6
Of course we didn’t take a zero on Day 6. Jacob tried walking for about 0.7miles in town (ironically the exact distance to the brewery), said he was going to be okay for a little hiking, and then we tried to waste some time for the sun to get a bit lower. This may have involved some foosball and Cashmere may have won. A couple of hitches later, including from the sweetest lady, Kathy, who gave us oranges from a friend’s tree and said we were the 1st hitchhikers she has ever picked up, and we were back on the track.
Our trek up the St Fernandes hills was great. There were lots of new cactus species around to admire, a bit of a breeze and we’d left it late enough that we didn’t even get too hot.
On the way up the hill I reflected on all the magnificent people doing so many different little things to help us hike the PCT. My occasionally cynical perspective of humans as inherently selfish (a common feeling of environmentalists) was gone and I glowed in the appreciation of others. I need to remember this! The people picking us up hitching. Businesses giving PCT hikers free food, discounts, and setting up hiker boxes for them to leave and take stuff. Trail angels putting water caches in extra dry sections of trail. Mom making us granola, Barb sending us re-supply, our friends helping us set up this website, the US park service keeping the trail tidy and marked. I could go on and on. And funnily enough nobody even asks why we hike, somehow they already understand.
Anyhow we pushed a little harder than we probably needed to, had dinner along the trail with an amazing man:
Gabe was seriously injured as a marine in Afghanistan. He had spinal injuries among others and was in a wheelchair for years. Now he is better (though the pins in his feet still bother him sometimes) and last year he hiked the entire Appalachian Trail. Now he is doing the PCT. Next time you are feeling bad for yourself think of Gabe!
After dinner we hiked a few more miles and found a campsite just after dark and fell asleep.
Day 7:
The next morning we got up at 5am and hiked all over ridge crests and down the windy trail (the PCT takes its sweet time to get places) until finally we reached Mile 100!
Yay, only 26 more of those to go…
We didn’t know if we were excited, terrified or what. Another mile along in the heat and relentless sun and we descended to a reliable water source and “trail magic”. What is trail magic you ask. Well all these nice people go to trail junctions and give hikers treats. In this case the treat was chocolate chip pancakes! (And beer before it ran out, which didn’t matter since it was Budweiser and we are snobs.)
We rested for awhile, considered stopping for the say and then low and behold we walked another 5 miles. Another 20 mile day and we were fine…except for my blisters
Day 8:
After falling asleep the previous night at 8pm we slept in to 5:45am…late for us! We got up, walked the 4 or so miles to Warner Springs, including by Eagle Rock
And we arrived at the Warner Springs Community Centre, a wonderful place where hikers can camp and donate small amounts of money for cooked breakfasts, lunch, showers and laundry, all of which we got involved with. They also have foot massage baths. We will wait here until Monday when the post office opens again to pick up some packages (including bigger shoes)!