Day 8- April 27th

After some R&R and staying up a little too late yesterday (11pm), we took our sweet time getting moving today. Banjo and Focus left at around 7, but at 8 Focus came back and told us they had been waiting for a ride for almost an hour with no luck. Hooray for sleeping in! 

We were finally all packed and ready to go just before 9. As we were almost to the road, a lady asked us if we needed a ride. We didn't even need to pull out our fancy hitchhiking sign! Her name was Crissy and she took Claire and I, as well as another hiker named Dudley, back out to the trail.

Dudley, Crissy, Claire and I

Dudley had apparently started on the 19th, (the day before us), but had pushed himself too hard out of the gate and developed a big infected blister. He had stayed at the RV park for 3 days taking care of it. I'm just happy that Claire and I have been going a nice way everyday but pacing and letting our bodies adjust to the trail with no injuries so far.

The trail started as a big climb out of the valley where Scissors Crossing is, but even though we had a later start, the morning was much more temperate than the past few days. 

We saw even more new and interesting cacti today!

This was one of my favorites:

Something interesting I was thinking about yesterday and today: there's a lot of small reptiles and insects (snakes, lizards, geckos, butterflies, beetles, crickets, ants, etc) that are out here pretty much uninterrupted by any human traffic almost all year. Then, within the span of 2-3 months, there's hundreds of giants constantly stomping through their lands. I wonder what they think about this phenomena.. Why are these giants here? With the increasing amount of thru-hikers on the pct each year, I wonder if these reptiles and insects teach their young about giant season, and how to safely play outside and avoid being squashed...

These are the things that I think about. I mean, when you think about it, we're walking alllll day long. What do you do when walking for 9-12 hours and talking gets boring? You think. A lot. About everything. Whoa man it's crazy how much you think...

Well tonight I'm thinking about pain.. Today about 7 or so miles in, my right quad started killing me. I stretched it and stretched it but the pain persisted.. For Claire it was the same thing but for her right knee and calf. 

There were not many shaded places to rest today, as the whole day we were constantly climbing up an exposed ridge. Whenever we did rest the winds would blow us so cold that when we started again we were painfully creaky, and all of our pains seemed to multiply. (Speaking of multiplying, Claire now has two blisters instead of one, and I've jumped up from 2 to 5!)

 Up until now I've refused to take any Vitamin I... (Ibuprofen). Claire said I should take some to help my inflamed quad. When changing into my PJ's I discovered a huge swollen bump on my upper quad. It hurts super bad and I'm not really looking forward to tomorrow. We have 18.3 miles left to get to Warner Springs. 

Currently we're camped next to an awesome  water cache called third gate! Some awesome people bring up all this water for these 100's of hikers so that the 32 mile waterless stretch is only a 14 and an 18! 

We could stay here and rest tomorrow but A.) there's another high wind advisory for tonight and tomorrow with gusts up to 55 mph, and we're at the very top top of the windy canyon! B.) that would mean depleting too much food, and since we'll need two days for the 18.3 miles, we have to get going tomorrow and just take it nice and slow. 18.3 miles of downhill for a bummed quad is however not my favorite thought...

There's not much else to say about today, it was windy and cold but also sunny and sun-burn-giving. Not my favorite day so far but hey, we climbed for 14.2 miles in the most arid environment I've ever been in, not bad eh? 

One last bit of bad news: (I hope I'm not bumming you guys out, but today was rough) Our stove is breaking. As in the new stove we bought in Mt. Laguna 4 days ago! This is only the second time we've used it.. :/ it looks like only one side is burning causing the metal to warp on that side. If it warps anymore it could be dangerous and leak out some propane. 

My plan is to call the store I bought it from on Friday when we get to Warmer Springs, and either have them send me a new one up trail or at least refund my credit card so I can get a new one. Third time's the charm right? 

But not to worry, Claire and I always carry enough "dry food to last until the next town in case things like this happen. It's just such a bummer because hot food is so good! 

Not all bad news though! We caught up with some friends today that we hadn't seen for awhile. We caught up to Banjo and Focus. And then we got surprised by Patrick and John, who we had last seen on day 4 when we left Boulder Oaks on our 16.77 mile day! 

 John's trail name is "Beast of Bourbon", and after we all had a swig, he explained the story behind that as well as how his goal after the PCT is to get on the show Survivor. He's been trying for 6 years! 

Last must know: Claire and I ate a LOT of food tonight, a huge 4 serving of super good rice, a 4 serving of idahoan potatoes, and a packet of ramen noodles with some extra condiments.

Well that's about it, this is probably the longest post to date, hope I didn't bum you guys out. We are in good spirits just a little sore, and there are better days to come! 

Thanks for reading!