Down down down some more! I never thought in my life I'd ever hike down for two days straight! One might say, "Down is the easy part!" But no, it's not. Maybe on an easy 10 mile day hike where the 5 up is so hard that the 5 down comes as a relief, but a 23 mile descent over two days is brutal to the knees!
Today we passed mile 200! Woot woot! 2 down, 25 to go!
We also spent a lot of the day hiking with Josh, the one who was "rescued" by Manny at the top of Jacinto the night before last. He was loving at a similar pace as us, since his quads were in a lot of pain. It's common for the knees and quads to ache on 2-day descents..
Wow it's been two full days since we were at the top of this!
Claire's knees were hurting yesterday. This morning they felt pretty good for the first few miles. The pain kept increasing, and the only way off the mountain at this point is down. After about 6.5 miles they were hurting her with every step. She could barely walk!
We had been moving so slowly that we drank up all our water that we thought we had "over-stocked" for this portion. We were barely crawling and it was 1:03pm, the hottest part of the day!
We had stopped under a boulder for shade, Claire was wrapping both knees in our ACE bandages. She had about half a liter of water left, and I had none. We were still 4.8 miles from our next source. I knew something had to be done.
I strapped on my pack nice and secure, and hoisted hers up onto my stomach, her straps being held by the back of my shoulders. I was going to double-pack it as fast as I could to our water source, relieving much of the weight from her knees.
I left her with her umbrella, phone, and half liter of water and away I went. It was unideal to split up but I figured that it would be a worse idea for the both of us to go at a crawling pace and to drink up all her remaining water twice as fast. There were a few other hikers in front and behind us, and we now had cell coverage in case she needed to call me.
Now let me tell you, those 4.8 miles miles were the longest I've ever hiked in my life, but I was FLYING!
Yes I had 50 lbs on my body instead of 25, yes I could barely see the trail because of the other pack blocking my vision, yes this was one of the hottest days we've had and I had no water; but no way was I going to let that slow me down.
I went so fast, that not only did no one behind me pass, but I passed 5 hikers on the way down! Not wanting to stop long enough to explain, I blew past all of them with a wave.
About half way down, the last person I passed had a little extra water to spare. I only took half a sip, but it felt like a gallon of water! Like I said earlier, this was the longest 4.8 miles of my life. I thought so many thoughts it felt like 2 days!
That being said, surprisingly I got down that mountain in 2 hours flat! That's 2.5 miles per hour with probably 50 lbs!
There were 6 or 7 people at the bottom, and as I literally cameled up at the fountain, I explained to them what had happened. I secretly wanted one of them to knight me with the trail name "Tu-pack", (a genius name with a striking resemblance to rap artist 2pac,) that I had come up with on the way down. But since you aren't supposed to name yourself, and no one was as genius as I, the name was not suggested.
Claire sent me updates on how far she had left, and she had rationed her tiny amount of water so that there was no need to bring any up to her. I arrived at 3:07pm, and she shortly after 4:00pm
(A re-enactment)
Needless to say it was a crazy day! We walked 12.11 miles, a lot more than either of us wanted for Claire's poor knees, but we had made it to the water source, and our next re-supply/ rest area is just 5 miles ahead!
We decided to camp here because we don't want to push her knees any further today. Our camp site sure has a beautiful view:
Speaking of beautiful views, check out Claire's farmer-dust-tan!
We are planning on getting plenty of rest tonight, and then getting to Ziggy and the Bear's place, (5 miles ahead), relatively early tomorrow. Ziggy and the Bear are probably the PCT's most active trail Angels. For two whole months, every single day for 60 days, they let any and all hikers stay at their house and take refuge from the brutal winds in the area.
They supply showers, computers, water, shade, hiker boxes, charging stations, they even have a little store for hiker resupply. They go to the nearby town of Cabazon everyday around noon to pick up packages that hikers have sent to them via the post, and they even take orders from all the hikers before they leave and bring them back lunch from a select fast-food restaurant. (I've heard there's an In N' Out in Cabazon and I reaaaaaally hope tomorrow is In N' Out day!)
This is just what I've read in my guidebook and heard from other hikers. Either way we are excited to experience their Trail Magic, and we are excited for Claire's knees to get the rest they need!
-Thanks for reading
I like Tu-pack, but I still vote for StridingWindbag.
ReplyDeleteI LOVED the pictures you took on Mt.Jacinto! VERY beautiful. And I liked the picture of Claire hiking on the way up...seeing it made me want to burst out singing "the hills are alive with the sound of muuuuusic!" Hope you two sleep deep and recover well. Hugs!