Days 42 & 43 miles 589-636

Day 42

Start: 589 End: 610 Total 21

I woke up and was out on trail pretty quickly. I passed a bunch of way nicer campsites after I started moving. It was a beautiful morning with rolling green mountains and spring flowers and green blooming everywhere. 

I had a bit of a mental struggle this morning, my mind was racing everywhere and was creating problems that didn’t actually exist. I stopped about an hour  in and meditated while being still as my morning walking meditation was seemingly impossible. I brushed my teeth and stretched and felt better and kept moving. 

My mind started to relax as the day went on and a few miles in to the day began a section of downed trees. There were hundred of downed trees which made for a fun yet tiring obstacle course. Some were easier to get around then others and some required a lot more problem solving. There was one I had to scale and balance my way across with a good 6 foot drop on either side then go up the hill and make my way back down to the trail. 

After this section the trail hit a dirt road with an abonfomed cabin and many no trespassing signs. The trail followed the washed out dirt road for a mile or so before rejoining the trail. 14 miles in for the day was a side trail leading to a spring where I would take my lunch break and get enough water for the rest of the day. 

At the intersection of the side trail and the main trail I saw two other hikers Brock and Amy. Amy said there was some comments about this water source that a homeless guy was hanging out there asking people to buy cigarettes and making people feel uncomfortable. She said Brock went down alone to fill up water and he was no where around. 

I went down to the spring and was a bit on guard but also saw no one. I got some water, aired out my feet, and took a nice long lunch break. I tried to take a siesta but sleep wasn’t coming so I packed up and went back out on trail. 

The trail went through a lovely pine forest and it was such a nice break up from the desert. The miles were pretty easy but I felt so tired. I took a break after only an hour of walking. I ate another snack and tried to get myself pumped up for the remaining miles. I kept going and stopped at various times to take silly videos of myself for this idea I have for a fun silly video compilation and o felt better. 

I saw a good rock and went up and stood in front of it, putting the weight of my pack on it without taking it off my body. I still had 2 miles to go and it was getting pretty tough mentally. I thought about putting a podcast on but the. I thought I could just exist with the toughness of it and observe it and use it to practice mindfulness so that’s what I did. 

It was a lovely easy woods walk until I got to the road where .2 down was a campground with a nice spring, campsites and a privy. I made my way down, got water from the spring and set up camp in a nice pine needle campsite area. There was not another soul there, I had the place  to myself! I made dinner and did some journaling then went to sleep. 

Day 43

Start 610 end 636.5 total 26.5

I woke up around 6:30 but it felt so cold outside I stayed in my warm bag until the sun poked its way through the branches around 7. I packed up, used the campground privy (a luxury) and was off. 

The nice wooded section continued for a few miles and there were a bunch of awesome tent sites after the campground. The woods soon turned back to desert and I began to descend with awesome views and big rocks. 7 or so miles in I came to a dirt road where there was a large water cache. 

Brock and Amy were there. They had camped 4 miles back the night before. I asked them where they were heading and they said right there. Brock had a posion oak rash that wasn’t healing so they were gonna get off to take care of it. I noticed Amy had Altras so I asked her if she experienced any Achilles pain. She said she did years ago when adjusting to the shoe but doesn’t have any problems any more. She said now she can’t wear anything but zero drop shoes. 

Their ride soon came and he offered my a gatoraid which I graciously accepted. Then I too was off. The next section was largely uphill and it was the most desert section of the desert thus far. There was no shade anywhere, just miles and miles of Joshua trees. It was super neat. I found a little patch of shade and had a lunch break there. 20 minutes and I was back out on the trail. 

It had gotten so hot though I only made it walking for one more hour before I decided to take a siesta in the shade of a Joshua tree. I woke up an hour later to some ants crawling over me and all around me, red ants! Ah! I brushed them off me and decided that was a good enough break and got up to get going again, but not before one bit me on my calf. I have never been bit by an ant before but man did it hurt, and itch. Oh well just keep going I guess.

I had one more big climb and was rewarded with an awesome view. I got cell service to check in with my friend who was picking me up. I sent a couple other messages, got news that my car at my brothers house wasn’t starting- but that’s a future problem, and I received a text from the Jeffers. He mentioned that at mile 623, a dirt road, there was a man lying in the dirt who claimed to be a thru hiker, that he was just taking a break, but did not have the looks/proper gear to be a thru hiker. He was burnt to the crisp and asked which way the trail went. The Jeffers sent this the day before. He didn’t know who I was with but wanted me to be on guard since he gave him funny vibes. I look at my mileage, I was at 630, with 3 miles to go to where I planned on camping that night, the water cache. If this guy was anywhere he would be hanging out there I bet. I texted Jeffers back that I was alone but would be in my guard and if he was there then I would push on that night. 

I was a bit worried since this was the second notice of some person out of the ordinary out here. Nothing too alarming was said about this guy but anything out of the norm like this puts one on their toes, especially when you’re alone. I hoped he wasn’t there as I wanted to be done for the day but I prepared myself in case he was. 

3 miles later I see the water source and a brown figure moving about. I stopped to pee so I could just fill up water and get out of there. As I was approaching the cache a man appeared out of a nook in the Joshua trees, frightening me even though I knew he was in the area. His appearance surprised me. I had this idea of the type of person that would be homeless on the PCT, older, big beard, wrinkles. But this was a younger man in his late 20s, longer brown hair, handsome even with a face burnt to a crisp. He had a big jacket on and leggings. He apologized for startling me and asked if I had any sweets to sell. I apologized and told him I did not. I asked him if he was hiking the trail, and that he was just taking a break right then and he said yes, he started at highway 58 (where I got back on in Tehachapi). I asked him if he was doing alright and if he had everything he needed. He said he was doing good but had run out of food. I told him good luck and I had to go because I still had a lot of miles to do, I lied and told him there was a group behind me that maybe could help him. But there was no one behind me, or in front of me, a day at least in either direction. I told him I had some miles to make and went off to fill my water. He seemed nice enough and that was a tough position to be in, out here with no food, even if he did it to himself. I felt bad and turned back to him, I don’t have any sweets but I have a spare cliff bar, I said as he came back and I tossed it to him. He appeared to be very grateful and went back into his nook and devoured it. 

I hurried along to the water cache and began filling my bottles. I would want at least 4 L. I could feel his eyes watching me from where he was sitting. The container was nearing empty but none of the others had the easy fill nozzle on it and I wasn’t sure the best way to get the water out of the others. He called out to me “You want me to lift one of those jugs for you” meaning to put it on the little wooden stump. I told him no thanks I could handle it. “It sure gets cold out here at night don’t you think” yeah it sure does, I called back to him. I had about 3.5 L but the water jug was nearing empty and I was beginning to feel more and more uncomfortable. He seemed nice enough but I sure as hell wasn’t gonna stay there and find out. Good enough I thought “ you be safe “ I called out as I turned toward the mountain and began the 4 mile and 1500 foot climb. 

I didn’t know his story or what his plan was. Human to human I hoped he would be warm and have enough food. But I didn’t feel like I was in a position to be able to help this guy. Maybe if I was with a group but I didn’t want to put myself in any risky position by being nicer to him or hanging around him longer than I needed. It just felt off. I mean we are all homeless out here. The only difference outwardly  between him and any other hiker is thousands of dollars worth of gear. I’ve worked with plenty of homeless people as a social worker and many have good hearts and are good people that just made wrong decisions or got a bad hand dealt. And there are also plenty that are struggling with mental illness or drugs. 

I hurried up that mountain checking back often to make sure he hadn’t decided to continue up. There was water down there and the sun was setting. Likely he would stay there as I doubt he had a headlamp to risk going up at night. Still I was on edge that he might continue up. It was a beautiful hike up with the wildflowers and sun setting but I kept going. I passed a number of good campsites and went to one a bit further just in case.. I got to it just as it was getting dark, the sun had been gone for a little bit. There were no really good hidden sites but I chose one that I thought wouldn’t be super obvious. I set up facing the trail and got my knife out and open and kept it next to me. I made dinner in a hurry with the fading light and afraid of turning on my headlamp and being more obvious I just got in my bag and layed down. I would be pretty hard to see from the trail at night without someone using a light, but still I layed still and listened to the sounds of the night. 

A couple times I thought I heard something and it woke me from my sleep and made my heart pound. Ive slept alone the majority of the time I’ve been out here but this was the first one I felt actual fear.