Short entry tonight because we hiked past our bedtime. We slept worse than usual last night because of the wind. It had been strong for most of the day but died down after dark…only to start up again early in the morning. At least we weren’t using our tent. We booked 3 miles to the fire tank this morning, the last reliable water for 33 miles. Lots of folks we’ve been seeing lately were there, including Carrie and Dave, another hiker we’ve been on a similar schedule with. Dave hikes the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim many years, which is something we want to do after visiting on the road trip out here.
We loaded up with 5 liters each and set off across the north slopes of Granite Mountain on a 9 mile trek to the Scissors Crossing water cache. The desert floor spread out to our north. It was a long, shadeless slog and the wind played havoc with our sun umbrellas. After 7 miles of up and down we crossed the desert floor. It was like standing in front of an oven. At least it was pretty level…it was a novel experience to see all the desert plants but by the time we hit the cache under the highway we were completely wiped out and at the end of our ropes.
Get it? “Scissors” Crossing!
We spent 5 hours in the shade napping, reading, replenishing water, cooking food and chatting with the other hikers. We met a few guys who set out right around the peak of the afternoon heat…after drinking a few PBRs that had been left by the cache stocker. Talk about gut rot! I can’t even imagine how they got up the steep switchbacks into the hills. We met a few new folks including Craig, the creator of the online PCT schedule planner that I used to lay out food for our entire trip. I knew that he was on trail this year but thought that we would miss him since he started before us.
After a nice long rest to get our heads back on straight we set out around 7 to tackle the steep ascent into the San Felipe hills. Even this late in the day it was still warm. The sun set soon after and we hiked in the semi-dark. The moon is so incredibly bright out here that we hardly needed headlamps, even on the narrow winding cliffs. Tomorrow we have about 10 miles to the next cache and then another 10 to the next reliable source. The day after that we’ll reach Warner Springs and catch a ride back to Lake Morena for the annual PCT season kickoff…with about 700 other people. We will hopefully be able to grab a shower sometime along the way. Between the sweat and the fine, sandy dirt we are filthier than we’ve ever been before. Our feet and legs are black and there’s dirt ground into the lines of our hands…no easy water means no bandana bath!
– Posted from the PCT