Miles Hiked: 32.7
PCT Mileage: 1634.6
Today I woke up at 5am to Trail Diva packing up. I was up until midnight last night and felt so sleepy still. I was paranoid about bears and had to keep getting up to go to the bathroom. Since I was already awake and had no chance of falling back asleep, I packed up my things and started hiking around 5:20. Homebrew got on the trail at the same time as me and I was happy to have someone to share the morning with. We chatted and the first eight miles flew by. It was nice and cool in the morning. The trail went through a mountainside with lots of dead burned trees. It was sad to see but there was still a lot of green since most of the underbrush had already grown back. We stopped for breakfast at a stream. I ate a banana, celery with PB, and some of my loaf of bread. It was filling.
After that, homebrew took off and I didn’t even try to keep up. I decided I was going to hike my pace today and take all the breaks I needed. It would be nice to make thirty miles but I wasn’t going to try too hard today since I was feeling so rough yesterday. Luckily today, it seemed like I felt all better again. My feet didn’t hurt as bad and I had energy for once. The trail went through Marble Mountain Wilderness Area today. I thought it was one of the prettiest parts of the whole trail. Everything was green and there were so many flowers everywhere. The purple asters were particularly plentiful today. They are some of my favorite flowers. I hardly saw anyone on the trail at all today. I was hoping Midnight might catch up or that I would run into Trail Diva but it seemed as though Midnight was far behind and Trail Diva was far ahead. I did enjoy some of the alone time to recharge my social battery. Despite appearing as an outgoing social person, I think I’m an introvert at heart. I really need to get some alone time to feel like I have energy to socialize. Sometimes I get so tired of being around people all the time I just crave some moments to myself. I got some today! I’ve been happy to be hiking with other people for so long lately but I really needed a day to be alone and do my own thing on the trail. Once thing I’ve been noticing lately is that it seems like everyone else is in a rush to get to Canada. I am feeling depressed that the trail is ending so soon. I want to slow down a bit. Every day is too good to be true and I just can’t believe how happy I’ve been out here this summer. I don’t want it to end. I also feel super emotional about almost accomplishing something that seemed like an impossible goal at one point. Getting my triple crown. There is still a lot that can happen between here and Canada though. This is the first time I feel like slowing down at the end of a trail.
Ten miles into the day I ran into Trail Diva and Homebrew as they were leaving Fisher Lake. I stayed there to dip my feet in the water and watch some of the newts swimming around. I wanted to get in the water but I was feeling too anxious today. Water is one of my biggest fears. I left shortly and picked up water at a cold stream. It was hot and exposed. I kept dipping my hat in small water sources and dumping water on my head to cool off. I wished the streams were bigger so I could dunk my whole head in one.
For lunch, I took an hour long break at a nice flat campsite. I ate my loaf of bread and some chocolate. Then I did some stretches and straight up layed in the sun and closed my eyes. It felt so nice and not a single person passed by in the whole hour. A rare thing on the PCT it feels like. After my break I had a lot of energy so I hiked the next few miles through bright green over growth really fast before taking a break at the base of marble mountain. I considered climbing it but decided it was too hot. Instead layed down for 30 minutes. It was awesome.
After my break I had more energy once again. I cruised six miles very quickly to a lake. The lake was super pretty and I wanted to get in but it was muddy and shallow. I took an hour long break to eat dinner and still didn’t see any of my friends. I decided to stay another half an hour. Trail Diva and Homebrew came. I was surprised to see them. I thought they were ahead but I walked by while they were napping out of sight. I was glad to see them because I had discovered that my Spotify account was logged out today so I had nothing to listen to. I wanted their company for the last six miles to camp. It was nice.
Today was one of my favorite days on trail so far. Just a genuinely good day of hiking. I should be crossing the Oregon border in three days and I’m so excited!
Happy Trails!
-Early Bird
Des Hikes Thru 