We woke up and we had some major condensation because of the rain fly because of the high winds from last night. My sleeping bag was all wet and it was still very cold out.
It was still nice and windy when we were ready to hike, making it even colder out! We climbed and climbed and climbed. We climbed over 5000 feet today!
We entered an old burn area, from a fire in 2013. We encountered a lot of Poodle Dog Bush, a plant poisonous to the touch with effects similar to poison oak:
Touch this and you'll be hurtin' for a while...
We climbed up and up all day, for 17 miles. We climbed up so high that at the end of the day, we climbed DOWN onto the top of a ski resort called Mountain High!
Like I said earlier, we both had some hard downs today. Claire has blisters on both sides of both of her heels, both pinky toes, and a big blister in between her big toe and second toe on one foot. It was not the best of days for the sore and cold Claire..
I threw a mini tantrum like an 8 year old boy when I couldn't find some things in my pack. I also had a good hour straight of zombie walking, an occurrence that happens when you're tired and sore and unamused and you just hobble at a slow pace, with not even enough energy to keep your face looking alive.
That being said, the magical PCT roller coaster doesn't keep you down for too long! After climbing for 17 miles and freezing our butts off at 9000 ft elevation, we came down a few miles into Blue Ridge Campground, just below Mountain High ski resort. This is what we saw:
These guys saw us trudging over and invited us to come eat. Tony made the best flame-grilled chicken of my life! We had Coors Light, chicken, sun chips, gummy bears, life is good!
We set up the tent in between servings of chicken, and then day around the fire talking for almost 3 hours! All four boys work at Equinox (a fitness gym) as personal fitness trainers.
It's cold up here tonight, just below freezing. At 10:00pm, we reluctantly left the fire to clamber into our freezing tent. We'll warm up soon in these sleeping bags!
Today we put 20.17 miles behind us. Tomorrow it's an easy 2.17 miles to the highway where we'll hitchhike into Wrightwood for a resupply, some food, a couple packages from my family, and hopefully some trekking poles for Claire! (She had ordered them online when we struck out in Big Bear). We'll most likely be back out on the trail tomorrow afternoon after our town errands.
-Thanks for reading!
Thanks for your honesty about how everything is not all sunshine and rainbows all the time. It's easy, as a reader, to just see the wonderful pictures you take and idealize everything. But it is good to be reminded that everything worthwile requires overcoming some challenges. I am sorry about Claire's feet. Hopefully the package in Wrightwood with the footprints may offer a bit of relief. After freezing and hurting all day (and dealing with a tall crabby zombie boyfriend) the lovely Claire still manages a smile. Hugs!
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