August 23rd, 2024
Mile Marker: 1509.2
Miles Hiked: 25
This morning Journey and I woke up around 6 AM but took our time getting around and out of camp. Twilight was out bright and early around 6:30.
We rolled out at 7:30 and were so happy to see blue sky. We knew it wouldn’t last long as Journey’s father gives us weather reports every morning and rain was on the agenda.
(We are so grateful for the morning reports, looking forward to them every morning! 🤗)
So we soaked up the sun and moved along. Our first water source was off the trail, only known by looking at comments and no water icon on the map.
We then had nine miles to our next source which had gradual terrain. Majority of the day was bumpy but nothing extreme.
Around 9 AM the heavy clouds rolled in and started sprinkling. I was not in the mood for cold rain today and that’s exactly what we got.
It would rain hard for bits, then slow down, then rain hard again, then stop for a little.
Around 1:30 PM we found a big tree with great protection from the rain and a dry spot underneath it.
Since it had stopped raining we decided to stop here and eat a quick lunch. Both of us realized that our hands were no longer working properly as they were so cold. We couldn’t open a tuna packet so Journey had to use his pocket knife and me my teeth. Ugh I hate being so cold.
With the cold rain we kept moving all day and by 2:30 we only had 8ish miles to go to get to camp, 25 miles later. We were moving quick all day.
We came to a river where the bridge was broken. I then looked at the comments and realized there was an alternate way we could go that had a new bridge we could cross. We were too far past so we decided to ford the creek and continue on.
Little did we know that the other side was not taken care of at all and we had to bushwhack our way through the trail.
And I mean through down trees we had to crawl on our hands and knees to branches smacking us in the face. I was about to lose my cool then we came to a log where someone carved in the wood “Why”.
It made Journey and I both laugh and agree why. Why was the trail not maintained or at the least why was it not labeled properly on the app. Just why?
Also, this person had spent some time carving this in… we assumed after they had their own meltdown.
We finally got through the bushwhack and the rain started coming down harder than it had all day. Wonderful.
The rain stopped after a while and as we continued on we came out on a road that leads to a couple different trailheads.
While walking on the gravel road a man came by on a mountain bike and asked if we were doing the whole trail, how long we had been out etc. we told him it was hard and then continued on.
He rode off, came back, and asked if we needed a beer or anything and we said thanks but that we had everything we needed, not wanting to stand and wait for him.
We then walked on a half mile and the sun decided to come out and we stopped by a river to lay out our clothes and start soaking dinner.
After a good break we headed back out and saw the man on the mountain bike again, he was looking for us and handed us Swiss chocolate, then asked us more questions about the PCT and CDT. He said we were amazing and hoped the chocolate could power us up the mountain.
Journey and I figured he could tell how miserable we looked earlier and wanted to bring us something. How kind and uplifting this was and so tasty!
We made it to camp at a campground about an hour later and made an okay spot. Not a person in sight then after an hour or so, car after car started to pile in. We then remembered it’s Friday and people were probably coming after work.
We discussed post trail during dinner tonight and I realized that what I need after trail may be different than what I originally thought.
It’s getting cold tonight as we can feel it already but are snug in our sleeping bags way earlier than usual and hopefully can get some good sleep too.
Iz and Oz
Izzy + Ozzy 