Day 6, 17.11 miles

I got up nice and early as planned, used all of Trouts leukotape to wrap up as many toes as I could. The Climb On worked its magic overnight and a few of the open, pruny blister sites had smoothed out and dried overnight! The ones that didn’t got a nice wrapping of tape. I’m going to buy some leukotape for myself when I get in Warner Springs in a couple days, as well as another pair of XL socks.

Alon was ready to go a few minutes before I did, and he headed out to the street to hopefully get a ride. As I was finishing up getting my pack together, I saw Ed, (who had given Claire and I a ride into Julian in 2016), pull up to Alon. He said he’d pull the van up to the back of Carmen’s to take anyone else that needed a ride. Just like on the way up, it was Alon and I (Alone, haha) on the way down. My ultimate goal is to record Alon saying “Sometimes I feel so... alone.”

Soon we were on our way down! Ed had been given the trail-angel name “Ghost” this year because he always seems to pop up and/or disappear out of nowhere to help hikers out with whatever they need.

Two pack, Ed, and Alon

Alon and I parted ways as I wanted to get as far as I could before the sun came out in full force. It was forecasted to hit 80° today and that’s HOT when you have no shade all day in the desert.

There was a lot more cactus on this side of Scissors Crossing than the other, and now in two fun new shapes! 

The trail hugged one side of the valley and started to climb, up up and up! Sometimes gradual, sometimes steep, and every now and then flat or down for a tiny bit. I kept seeing hikers that were just ahead of me, sometimes it would look like they were just around the next corner and I was just a 1/4 mile behind them, but then I’d turn the corner and see more like a mile of trail in between us! 

Check out this crazy trail!

Something I’ve learned as a long distance hiker is you can’t be picky with your shade in the desert. Some people would see this:

and think, “There’s no way I could sit on that”

We see it and think this:

A perfect chair with a back, foot rest, and pack holder!



On one of those crazy corners I spotted Andre! (Truth is he was taking a leak, hahaha) He had hitched out of Julian last night and camped under the highway at Scissors Crossing to get an early start. It was almost noon, and the day had turned super super hot, and was almost ready for my long break. 

I decided I’d slow it down during the hot and dry sections of the desert (which is kind of all of it), and start taking an extended midday break in addition to short ones whenever I need to. Claire and I used to do this in 2016. I like the idea of going 15 miles for three days a lot better than battering my feet for 20+ miles for two and then recovering for a whole day!

I told Andre of this and he very much liked that plan.  I set out ahead of him to find us some shade. I shortly arrived in a wide, dry creekbed in the saddle of a ridge. Here the ground was relatively flat and there were a few small bushes around, but not big enough to lie under for shade.

TADA!! Not the most beautiful but not bad for my first time “building” shade!

As the sun got higher and moved to the ther side of the bush, so did I with my rain fly and trekking poles. I moved my build three times in about 3 hours, and this was my favorite:

 Andre set up his rainfly plus footprint for some shade as well:

While we were on our break we briefly saw Candyman and his hiking partner Sweat, who’s name I had forgotten earlier. We also met these two hikers from North Korea. They are so cool! I mainly talked to Minjoo Kim, partly because her hiking partner only spoke Korean! He is a buddhist monk that lives in a monestary in North Korea. He meditates everyday and is very quiet. (I made him laugh twice though)!!

Minjoo Kim on left with her own shade lean-to

Companion in silence on right (probably meditating)

I did some blogging and tried to sleep a little without much success. I think I napped for about a 1/2 hour though! I decided to hit the trail a little after 3, I had been there for just over three hours! The temperature either wasn’t as hot or the sun wasn’t as directly overhead, and the nice breeze way up in the ascending high ridges felt good.

The trail kept climbing and winding with more of the same terrain. Last time Claire and I did this 14 mile climb without a big break in the middle, my left ankle was hurting bad by the end and I had developed a giant lump on my right quad from the angle of the grade on the trail! This time because of the break I feel great except for the ever-present blisters.

Some of the areas that I applied leukotape to actually re-blistered under the tape :( There are so many different factors out here in terms of taking care of your feet. I’ve learned that no one knows everything, and it’s best to find what you think works best and for your feet to grow stronger. For me what works best is popping those suckers right when I feel them! (Verdict is still out on the leukotape.)

Anyway, enough boring stuff. About 2 hrs after I started hiking again I got the third gate water cache. Fond memories of camping and conversation here in the past. This time I saw two hikers that I knew but aside from that just headed down the steep spur trail to fill up my water.

This is the one water cache that the PCTA itself has deemed reliable throughout the season. We aren’t to rely on any watercaches in general, but on the PCT water report, this one is usually reported as being stocked 300-500 gallons. Again, these people do this on their own time with their own money and are not paid. We are so thankful for these angels.

While I sat there eating half a family sized bag of frosted mini wheats, this tiny guy was munching down on his favorite flower:

I love these little guys

After getting three liters for 10 miles of hiking to the next water source and one night of dry camping (not camping near water), I headed off to make a few more afternoon miles. I absolutely love hiking between 5 and 8am but especially between 5-7pm our her win the desert. The temps are always perfect and the lighting is fantastic

It’s so satisfying to look back down on the trail after a big long climb and traverse

Well, that’s about it for now! I’m camped next to a few ther hikers on a SUPER windy ridge! I’m super close to some trees and shrubs which are making this constant squeaking noise but it’s better than being blown over on an exposed section of cliff! :)

Thanks for reading!