PCT Day 5

    

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PCT Day 5, 17 May 2022 (Tuesday)

Season 1, Episode 5 - “The One That Was Clingy”

Start Location:	Julian	Destination:	Barrel Springs
PCT Miles Day 5:	23.8	Cum PCT Miles:	101.1
Non-PCT Miles Day 5:	0.1	Cum All Miles:	104.3
PCT Miles Remaining:	2,551.5
Elevation Gain Day 5:	4,588	Cum Elevation Gain:	14,540

 

I don’t have much to say today.  I got a ride back to the trail from Julian and then it was another long day of hiking in the blazing hot sun.   It was, however, the longest day yet, miles wise; and the greatest amount of daily elevation gain yet.  There was a great water cache at the right point of the trail, so I was able to drink all the water I wanted again today.  Oh yeah, I passed the 100 mile mark today. Not bad for five days of hiking.

Funny tidbit, I miss fresh fruit so much that I bought a can of cling peaches in Julian and carried it in my pack all day.   It should be noted that 4 out of 5 long-distance hikers do not recommend caring canned goods in your pack on a long, hot day of hiking.



The trail on Day 5, north of Julian was like this most of the time, clinging to the sides of hills and mountains.



Desert mountains on the left, forest mountains on the right



The famous Third Gate water cache



Cholla Flowers



Barrel Springs, a great source of water

 

 

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PCT Day 4

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PCT Day 4, 16 May 2022 (Monday)

Season 1, Episode 4 - “ The One Where Dan Got Hitched For The First Time”

Start Location:	Wilderness campsite	Destination:	Julian
PCT Miles Day 4:	13.6	Cum PCT Miles:	77.3
Non-PCT Miles Day 4:	0.1	Cum All Miles:	80.4
PCT Miles Remaining:	2,575.3
Elevation Gain Day 4:	1,070	Cum Elevation Gain:	9,952

Today was the shortest day yet, because the destination was Julian, a little less than 14 trail miles to Scissors Crossing, where most people catch a ride.  The good thing is that Julian is a good place to resupply and get some good food.  The bad news is is that my daily mileage average is now less than 20.  To get to Julian I hitched a ride with several other PCT hikers; it was the first time in my life that I ever got a hitch.



A prickly pear flower.



A red diamond rattler, one of the largest I’ve ever seen.  This one was courteous enough to give me an intimidating, adult rattle.  A Navajo Indian saying: “There is nothing as eloquent as a rattlesnakes tail” (Hint: A synonym for eloquent is persuasive.)  Well, this sucker, or should I say injector, persuaded me to step off the trail onto a steep hillside and go around.

 

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PCT Day 3

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PCT Day 3, 15 May 2022 (Sunday)

Season 1, Episode 3 - The One Where Dan Got His Mojo Back… At Least For Today, And Probably Tomorrow"

Start Location:	Mount Laguna	Destination:	PCT Wilderness Campsite
PCT Miles Day 3:	22.2	Cum PCT Miles:	63.7
Non-PCT Miles Day 3:	0.8	Cum All Miles:	66.7
PCT Miles Remaining:	2,588.9
Elevation Gain Day 3:	2,402	Cum Elevation Gain:	8,882

 

First, I’ve had terrible cell phone issues the first 9 days (it’s Saturday the 21st right now), which I’m hoping to get fixed in the next week or so.  It’s almost impossible to deal with this while on the trail.  Also, Wi-Fi has been scarce or very bad.  So, it is taking me quite a while to do these daily posts.  I am hoping to catch up eventually.  I don’t have time to update all the stats right now, I’ll go back later and do it.

I felt good again today, which is a good thing because I did over 22 miles today.  It was fairly easy terrain and the temperatures varied quite a bit from very hot to just warm, and there were breezes throughout a lot of the day.   I saw two snakes today, a king snake, and the other I think was a garter, but it slithered away so fast I couldn’t really tell.  There was also finally trail magic today.  There was a local who had cold drinks and some fruit and fresh water.  It was nice to get that later in the day, especially since I am dry camping tonight.  I think the hikers starting in March and April get much more trail magic, and I was wondering if there was even going to be any this late in the hiking season.  Tomorrow I go to Julian and it will be a relatively short day compared to what I’ve done the last three days.

Garnet Peak



Mile 50 marker



Approaching Kwaaymii Point from Pioneer Mail Picnic Area.



From Kwaaymii Point, the most expansive views on trail so far.



It’s possible I drank something that was bad for me, but it’s also possible I drank something that was good for me… I guess. What came out of the tap didn’t look nearly as bad as the tank itself. And once purified, it actually had no strange taste.

 

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PCT Day 2

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PCT Day 2, 14 May 2022 (Saturday)

Season 1, Episode 2 - “The One That Was Better Than Yesterday”

Start Location:	Lake Morena	Destination:	Mount Laguna
PCT Miles Day 2:	21.5	Cum PCT Miles:	41.5
Non-PCT Miles Day 2:	0.8	Cum All Miles:	43.7
PCT Miles Remaining:	2,611.1
Elevation Gain Day 2:	3,948	Cum Elevation Gain:	6,480

Surprisingly, I actually woke up feeling fairly good. I guess all the liquids I drank at the end of the day yesterday absorbed into my body. Today was another very hot day, in the 90s, it was also a slightly longer mileage day. But, it didn’t seem nearly as bad as yesterday. Even though today also had greater elevation gain, I think the biggest difference was that there were good sources of water along the way. I drank at least twice as much water on trail today as I did yesterday. I cruised at a pretty good pace the last few miles into Mount Laguna, so that’s a good sign. It’s another long day tomorrow, we’ll see how it goes.




Just a bit further to go (though it's really 2,632 miles)



Morena Buttes, left, and Corte Madera. These are good day hikes in San Diego County.



First under the bridge walk, Buckman Springs Rd.

15:55 minutes per mile and a 104 heart rate, that's what I like to see.  Gotta love the flat spots.



This is the kind of day where rattlesnakes like to shimmy into the short shade of the shrubs and grass. And sure enough, this juvenile southern pacific rattler appeared near the end of the day. It was courteous enough to warn me with a juvenile rattle.



It feels good to be in the mountains.



Call me a wimp , but this is where I stayed on my second night. It actually makes it easier to get an early start on Sunday.

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PCT Day 1

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PCT Day 1, 13 May 2022 (Friday)

Season 1, Episode 1 - "The One Where Dan Starts Hiking"

Start Location:	Campo, CA	Destination:	Lake Morena
PCT Miles Day 1:	20	Cum PCT Miles:	20
Non-PCT Miles Day 1:	1.4	Cum All Miles:	21.4
PCT Miles Remaining:	2,632.6
Elevation Gain Day 1:	2,532	Cum Elevation Gain:	2,532

First of all, I'd like to thank Randy L. for the ride to Campo. And thanks to Pam R. for coming along to see me off. 

I am posting this on Monday, May 16 because this is the first connection I’ve had in four days.  The Wi-Fi connection I have is pretty bad so this is probably going to look messy.

Ok, so far, so good…kind of.  My goal was to hike 20 miles to Lake Morena in 9 hours.  But that’s when I thought it was going to be 85 degrees. It ended up being at least 95 degrees, so it took a bit longer…it took 9 hours and 7 minutes.  There also was no water on the trail today (there was water off the trail, but it would've been three total miles to get to the water and back to the trail).  I was definitely tired when I got to camp.  Everyone I saw today was suffering, and for many of them, it was actually their second day on trail.

 

The truth is today was kind of brutal.  From Mile 15-18 there is a pretty difficult climb out of Hauser Canyon.  On paper it doesn't look that hard, but when you've already hiked 15 miles in extreme heat on the first day of the PCT, you are low on water, and there is almost no place to hide from the blazing sun, those three miles going up the canyon are punishing.  I was around a bubble of about a dozen hikers--all much younger than me--and everyone going up the canyon was stopping for mini breaks about every 1/3 mile, or whenever they could find sufficient shade under a larger rock, which was rare.

I passed several, seemingly not very fit, hikers throughout the day that I was sure would end their PCT hike either today or in the next several days.  Hiking long miles in hot weather with little water is not easy, even for very fit hikers.  After watching videos and reading blogs/journals/posts, people are enticed by the allure and adventure of hiking the PCT, but easily underestimate the physical difficulty of hiking in these conditions.  The few really despondent looking hikers I saw today, definitely were not prepared.

 

While trying to sleep, I had pretty severe calf, hamstring, thigh, and abdominal muscle cramps.  A sure sign I got dehydrated today, although, after getting to Lake Morena, I did drink about a gallon of water and soda at the Oak Shores Malt Shop.  All in all, it’s the kind of day that makes every first time long-distance hiker ask two inevitable questions: What the heck am I doing and was this the best decision?

At the PCT Southern Terminus in Campo, CA



Pam and Randy



The obligatory and iconic Mile 1 marker. If you don’t take this picture PCTA will revoke your long-distance hiking permit… But somehow, I managed to botch this pic.



The, also, obligatory Mile 3 photo indicating you are right on track.

Still not lost



Is that me after only 12 miles, or is it the smell of burnt Manzanita? My finger is pointing at you Manzanita.



Typical Day 1 trail



Landscape on the way to Lake Morena

BTW: I am updating this blog using only my cell phone, so please excuse any typos and formatting messiness. I debated a bit about how best to keep a PCT journal, and decided creating my own website using Google's free Blogger tool was what gave me the most flexibility to create a blog that would be organized and, hopefully, easy to follow. Since I'm not trying to make any money on this blog, I didn't really want to pay for something more professional like WordPress. While Instagram is easy to use, I couldn't really organize it the way I wanted. I wanted to use the Trailjournals.com website, but it's way too hard to add photos using a phone, or for that matter even, a desktop computer. So, my conclusion was that a messy, unprofessional website of my own creation was the best option. Hey, don't let perfect be the enemy of good enough.

 

L

I'm Supposed To Update My Blog Using This?

 

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