July 10th, 2021
Mile Marker: 1227
Miles Hiked Today: 22
We woke up this morning to a gentle sunrise and birds chirping. My favorite way to wake up.
Planner and I started hiking around 6:30 and almost instantly could tell it was going to be a scorcher. Today wasn’t a dry hot like the desert, it was a humid hot where we felt like we couldn’t stop sweating.
The day was filled with rolling hills up and down. It felt like a morning where we turned on cruise control and just kept easily walking.
It’s like we are heading back into the desert where we have to pay closer attention to the water sources. Our water carries aren’t nearly as bad as southern California but the further the season goes the drier the creeks become. The advantage now though, is we have our trail legs and covering 25 miles seems a lot easier.
The water spots are typical meet up spots for most people in the group. Where we can make sure everyone is following and doing well. We are now starting to pick out good water spots that we can all meet at for lunch. Today we planned to do 14 miles and then siesta at a spring.
It was around noon when we stopped and all of us crushed food and water and found nice shady spots to curl up and nap. I found myself annoyed at the pecking flies but managed to fall into a light sleep.
Going back into the heat after the glorious Sierras is hard. Sweating like crazy makes us chafe and have incredibly dirty outfits.
Around 4 pm we decided it was time to head back out for another 12 miles.
While hiking I thought a lot about disconnecting from my phone today. About how I rarely have service and almost enjoy it. Whenever I do have service I almost get annoyed at the constant buzzing and flooding of notifications. Life seems more simple when I don’t have the distractions of a phone. It’s interesting to think about the time before everyone used to have one.
We met at a spring 7 miles later to have dinner with the crew. Joe and Goldie were planning to stay at that camp site and the rest of us were planning 5 more. That was until we realized that Belden was going to be closed Monday and Tuesday where Planner and I resupply boxes were located.
Just like always, it’s impossible to plan anything on the PCT. Our plans, in what felt like a snap of a finger, changed. We were now no longer planning for 3 days of food but for 2 more days to get into the town of Quincy for a resupply.
I was thrilled about this because it meant more food I could eat. For whatever reason, I was ravenous and felt like I had not packed enough food for the 3 days.
Since we now only had 40 miles to go, we decided to camp where we were and then hike the remainder in between the next two days.
Flexibility at its finest. It’s nice knowing I didn’t have 5 more miles to hike into the night and now have a full(ish) belly.
Its time for good sleep because tomorrow is going to be a full, full day.
Iz and Oz
Izzy + Ozzy 