Day 20, 21.25 miles!!

Wow what a day!! It’s days like today you can’t ever replicate, and that’s why I love the PCT. Even compared to 2016, everything was different, in its own way. It’s these days where you find yourself WAY out in the wilderness when you create the best memories and the experience is freshest in mind.

Although I went to bed after 9ish, I slept hard and my body woke up at 4:30am and assured me I had had enough rest. We were still in the hills a bit, so the morning was actually pretty chilly compared to last night. I got everything ready and was ready to hit the road by 5:30, and I told Julian that I’d see him down trail as he still had some morning business to attend to.

The morning was so beautiful as always!

Mr. Peanut, is that you?!

Within the first few miles I was starting to realize that the pain I felt in my right leg wasn’t just morning stiffness, but probably a developing shin splint... I soon made the decision to stop to rest and make an effort to stop the pain. I remebered that Claire had sent me some Biofreeze in my birthday box! I rubbed some on that and it seemed to help, as well as taking a few ibuprofen. 

Julian was so quick this morning and soon caught up to me, even having time for a little snooze upon passing me:

Not too baaaaad

I told Julian that I’d catch up and that he should go ahead. The biofreeze and ibuprofen helped, but I knew my shin was still unhappy. I stopped at a water source that had some shade, and I decided I’d stop and hang for awhile. 

For some reason I was feeling extra sad.. I don’t think it was related to the shin, just missing Claire really bad. I went to go get some food from my bag and saw the circle I cut out of the birthday card she sent me, with her message on the back:

Anyways, reading what she had wrote, I became overcome with sadness! I checked my phone and I had a little service! I called her and we talked for a few minutes and I felt a lot better. 

It’s crazy how emotions are so exaggerated and amplified out here on trail. You’re tired both mentally and physically. The option to talk to friends and family isn’t there most of the time, not to mention the physical dostance you know that exist between you and your loved ones. If on top of that you’re an extrovert and there are no other hikers around to talk to, well, you do the math.

After the encouragement from the Bee’s Knees, I was ready to conquer the day! I had a new burst of energy, (plus I had eaten as well, that always helps.) As I was leaving I met a hiker I had never seen before named Josh.

I ran into Josh again while crossing this cool bridge and he took my picture

At this point (11:30am), I had already gone over 12 miles, and had one thing on my mind, Aztec Falls! Julian has been talking about this place nonstop, and I was so excited to see it! In Big Bear, we looked it up on Google Maps so we knew exactly where on the PCT the unmarked spur scramble-trail departed.

I told Josh about it and he was down to join! The descent down was really really sketchy and slippery. We rockclimbed and root-slid and bushwhacked but in a few minutes we were there!

So pretty!

Julian was there along with a couple other hikers, Brandon and Cameron, who had spent last night there after and were still hanging out! Because I had been hiking hard all morning and it was high noon and in the high 80’s or low 90’s, I went straight in!

I decided to stick to the ~15 foot one, and skip the ~35 foot one on the other side of the creek. Brandon however had other plans:

With steeze...

We jumped and swam and swam and jumped and ate and swam and the siesta was the “besta” one I’ve had so far on the trail! Right at 1:45pm we got our clothes and backs together and dried off so that we could hit the trail by 2!

Josh and someone scrambling back up!

At this point we were only about 9 miles from Deep Creek Hot Springs! It was waaaaaaay hotter than I wanted it to be still, so I took multiple shade breaks and snack breaks on the way when I could. My mentality was that I’d get to the hot springs later so I wouldn’t be in them when it was hot out!

300 Baby!!

The trail traversed the canyon wall, many times the trail was etched out on a literal cliff:

Wouldn’t want to slip there..

Deep Creek waaaay below

One really cool thing about today was there were so many butterlies! This one butterfly would land on a flower in front of me about 10 ft downtrail, wait for me to almost catch up, and then hop/fly down to another flower! I tried to catch a picture of him but this is the closest I got, haha:

While I was at another water source, sitting on a rock next to a wooded cliff side, I was mesmerized by one butterfly in particular. Have you ever seen a butterfly glide?! This one flew way up high above me, stopped beating its little wings, and glided down the mountainside, under branches and around different parts of the tree, almost as if it had set up a slalom/course and was showing off to its friends! So cool :)

Another break spot before the hot springs 

It was just about 6pm as I came around a familiar corner and saw a great sight, Deep Creek Hot Springs! I stopped by the river upstream aways, to make sure I filtered enough water since I didn’t want to have to backtrack and do it later. (It’s never a good idea to get water from just downstream a popular swimming spot)

Complete with 40ft slack line :)

I of course went straight to the slack line, trying to make it across but not quite succeeding. The river was chest deep and I was trying to not get my hair wet in the event of falling in. On the third try I fell so off-balanced that I fully submerged! It’s really important to not go to sleep with wet dreadlocks, and since I don’t have a towel or a hairdryer and electricity, I stood in the pools for quite some time wringing it out.

Between that and sitting on some hot rocks while the sun was setting, and of course the nice warm breeze blowing through, my hair dryer almost completely! I’ll try the slack line again tomorrow when it’s hot out..

My great flat rock chair!

I had the place all to myself for a little while, soaking my feet and shin in question. Julian and Cameron and Brandon joined me soon after, and Julian showed off his balance with what I call “slack-drinking”

Just water folks, he doesn’t want an SUI 

(Slacking under the influece)

The day was so hot that all the chocolate in my trail mix melted which was a small bummer, but it also meant that this ready-in-60-seconds microwave meal was ready to eat!

A great (1/2) dinner! 

The night is warm and I remain here on the flat rock, writing my blog and debating another soak or to head back to my tent for the night.. I think I might stay here in the morning, have an early soak, and then rest my shin, relax in the shade, and try the slack line a little more before heading out later in the afternoon. It’s not everyday you run into a place like this!!

Thanks for reading!