Ups & Downs, down & up

A couple of weeks back I was hiking with Idaho, and she said something to me that I remember clearly because I found it so fitting. She told me:

“Every day the trail kicks my ass, and licks my wounds”

Today again, this was very much so.

Last night I did there were no screaming teenagers, so that was something. Also there was ‘bear-alert’ for the area. There were bear-vaults in which you could store your food at the campsite. A quick survey among the thru-hikers resulted in a pretty unanimous agreement that there would be no bears out tonight. I believe they are quite rare in the area, but mostly because the campsite was super crowded and the many people there were making lots of commotion. We figured this would probably scared them off. None of us stored there food in the bear-vaults. And as far as I’m aware, everybody was still okay this morning.

The days hiking started out with a mellow descent. It was real nice, enabling us to have long conversations while hiking. This is something the terrain does not often permits us very often. At the bottom of the descent we met a bunch of other thru-hikers already taking a break in the sun. Since it was early I didn’t really care to break for too long already, and so I was the first one out to start the next climb. It took me about an hour and was tough, but just when I felt the climb was starting to break me, I reached the summit. Thad and I had a short chill-out session before heading down again on the other side of the ridge.

At the base of the hill we arrived at the lunch spot, a nice pick-nick area. Mentally and physically we prepared for something I think all us had been dreading; a three-mile road-walk. Because PCT passes through a brooding place of the endangered Mountain Yellow Legged Frog, a part of the trail had been closed off. And so the alternate required us to hike 3 miles along Hwy 2. It was very hot, the tarmac hard on the knees, and the fast and loud driving cars and motor drivers put me on edge. After 3 miles, which felt like the longest 3 miles on trail so far, I decided that road-walking sucks. I’m fairly certain the others would agree with me.

We were directed via another campsite onto the Buckhorn trail, the rest of the alternate which would lead us back to the PCT. The trail dropped into a gorgeous and extremely lush pine-forest, with incredibly tall trees. It was a real relieve to catch abundant shade after walking in the burning sun, and all of us were loving it.

At the base of the forest valley, when we had the last major climb of the day on schedual I was drained. Super sluggish I made my way along the hillsides, climbing out of the forest I had been enjoying so much just a minute before. A hiker sometime ago once said to me; “Whenever you start to feel confident, that’s when the trail throws something new at you“. How come my energy was gone all of a sudden I don’t know. But it was torture. My legs felt like jello, and I just didn’t seem to be getting any closer to the high-point of todays section. I was the Pacific Crest Snail. Thankfully we took a break at the next water-source. I chugged down a liter of water, had a sugar rich bar, and a handful of cranberries, and set out for the second half of the climb. Gradually I started feeling better, welcoming the cool breeze after dripping with sweat in the burning sun.

During the second half of the afternoon my spirits where lifted; we’d reached the 400 mile-marker! Four-Hundoooow! I got to celebrate with Natalie & Jimmy.

The last miles to the campsite were hard. It had been a long and hot hike, and we were heading towards a 24 mile day. In camp everybody agreed that today had been real heavy. We were all famished and devoured our dinners. Tomorrow it’s Jimmy’s birthday, and we’re planning on ordering pizza along the trail (there should be a an intersection along the trail where this might be possible).

It started straight off
“coming here is hell”
That’s his first words
We asked what he meant
He said ‘where ya from’
We told him our lot
When ya take a holiday
Is this what you want?

So have a nice day
have a nice day
have a nice day
have a nice day

Have a nice day – Stereophonics