5/19/17: Mile 230.2 to Mile 253.6

We awoke at 5 and set out on a gradual uphill climb all morning. It started out pretty easy and nice, especially while the sun was still below the mountains surrounding us–this meant we were walking in the cool shade. However, soon the grade seemed to increase a bit and we were walking in the sun and it grew hotter. We rose to about 8000 feet by mornings end and we were definitely feeling the elevation. We were breathing more heavily and our leg muscles were burning. At some points I had to stop after each switchback to catch my breath! It wasn’t actually that bad or difficult in the larger scheme of things, but the PCT is such easy and gradual walking that this felt tough in comparison.

We entered the San Bernardino mountains and also entered an area where there had been a wildfire in years past. It was crazy to see some huge trees fallen or charred black.

We finally reached the water source we had been aiming for all morning around 10:15. There were nice picnic tables in the sun and we met Justin, who is from New Zealand and had broken his pinky toe the previous day!!! It sounded super painful to walk on but he was in surprisingly high spirits and also grateful for painkillers. Wolf Bird and I took a longer break than usual to cook up some ramen. I had extra and wanted to get rid of the extra weight and also of course wanted an excuse to pig out. We had a nice long break and filled up on water as well. 

For the next 6.5 miles I listened to music, which I haven’t been doing too much so as to save phone battery. It was a nice change and the miles really flew by. It was really beautiful scenery with some snow covered mountains not too far away and huge trees surrounding us. It is so refreshing to walk amongst trees after long treeless desert sections. We passed the same couple of groups throughout the day–Gourmet and Sonya and Flame and a French guy Protein, as well as a bigger group of about 6, three of whom we later discovered were sisters hiking together. Two of the sisters hiked the AT together as well, same year as we did in 2013!

We took our next break at a forest service cabin. This is a cabin you have to reserve to stay overnight at, so there were a few families there. The cabin had a roof and four walls but open doors and windows (no glass)… But the families were all tenting right next to the cabin and even on the cabin porch, rather than staying on the floor of the cabin which we found a bit strange. We ate some snacks at the picnic tables there and took advantage of the very clean outhouse at the cabin. We ran into a group of four guys who were PCT hikers at the cabin. We’d seen them the last few days, they are younger, probably 22 or so I’d guess. One of them was complaining to Wolf Bird about the lack of trail magic so far and how he’d been hoping there would be some at this cabin. He then said he hoped there was some about 6 miles up the trail as he’d heard sometimes there are sodas there. We were really surprised and put off by such an attitude. To expect people to bring you sodas or snacks on the trail is just ridiculous! The whole reason it is called trail magic is because it feels so magical and unexpected when it happens! It is a humbling experience when someone goes out of their way to help hikers and this hiker’s the entitled attitude really made us sad. I think he is also just setting himself up for disappointment. 

Anyway, we then hiked about 4 more miles to get water at a faucet in the woods. A pct hiker from 2003 owns a ranch and installed a faucet on his property for hikers–so incredibly nice. We chatted with the big group with the three sisters and a few others, Land Mammal, Fat and Sassy, Cedar, and Beave. Right after we got water we passed by a private zoo right next to the trail! They keep animals that are trained and used in movies I guess. We saw a tiger (we think), a bear and a mountain lion in tiny cages. It was crazy and also sad to see them caged up. The mountain lion was pacing frantically which was kind of scary. 

We then walked a nice leisurely three miles (although I was carrying a lot of water so it was heavy) to a random couch in the woods. A hostel puts it there with some pamphlets And info to advertise hikers to stay with them in the upcoming town. The group of four guys we’d seen at the cabin were there and looked sooo dejected and depressed. We later joked that it was probably because they had expected trail magic and there was none. There were remnants of old soda cans and snacks by the couch so they had probably seen those and gotten upset that it was gone by the time they got there. 

We hiked on without a definite plan of where we would camp. Many people were planning on camping about 3 miles up the trail so as to make a shorter day into town tomorrow. If we also headed to that campsite that would be a 26 plus mile day for us, which would be our longest yet. We were both feeling good but I was hesitant about walking so far so soon after having shin splints. They have been feeling so much better lately (only sore in the morning and better the rest of the day, and same for Wolf Bird’s heel) so I didn’t want to risk making them worse. We decided to camp somewhere in the next mile or two. There were any tent sites listed on the PCT app we use to navigate the trail so we just had to hope we’d find a flat spot that wasn’t listed. We found some flattish spots after about 0.6 miles, but they were far from perfect. It’s not much fun sleeping on sloped ground, but we were worried there wouldn’t be anything better further down the trail since it looked to be all downhill from the elevation profile. We went back and forth about whether to stay and then once we decided to camp in that area I was incredibly indecisive about which specific area was least sloped. Wolf Bird helped to convince me it didn’t matter that much and also was very sweet and got out my sleeping bag and pad for me. We cooked some dinner and set up camp and enjoyed a little extra time than usual to lounge before bed. We went to bed excited for town tomorrow!