Saturday Day 80

1195-1211

June 23, 2018

I know myself pretty well. When I woke this morning at 6, I could feel that the hiking energy was not in place. I of course tried to shrug it off, telling myself: you’re in town, get a good cup of coffee when the java place opens and you’ll be fine. So I packed up slowly. Everyone was gone, except Cowboy and myself. They all went for breakfast at the Moose Cafe. I just wanted coffee.

When I was done packing, I walked over to the Country Store one more time to use their WiFi. I waited there until the coffee shop opened at 730. I had noticed that the coffee shop had some really cool steel doors. When I ordered the barista told me the building used to be an old Wells Fargo bank–not sure if you can see them in the photo.

Anyway, I sat outside and enjoyed my latte. A couple who had driven up for the weekend chatted me up about the hike. They drove up their “hotrod” with a group of 14 others. I don’t know what kind of car it was but he did offer me a ride to the trailhead, although he did say he wouldn’t have anywhere to put my pack. Oh well. It’s the thought that counts.

I finished my coffee and walked the 1.5 miles back uphill to the trail head. Sierra City elevation was 4182, the trailhead was at 4576 and I knew I had a few miles to grind to start…. all the way back up to 7193–in about 6 miles. It was a long hot climb. Nothing really felt great today. My knees were the worst. Everything just felt sluggish. RacerX and Dan caught up to me when I took my first lunch break. They were talking about doing 25-30 miles today. I pretty much told them I wasn’t going to make 20 miles for sure. So we chatted and I let them go about their fast-paced walk.

Around mile 1203 there was a reroute of the PCT. I’m still unsure how I managed to get on the trail that I did, but it clearly wasn’t the reroute. When I finally found myself on the reroute, the trail markings were still off and I found myself waking through a group of weekend campers parked literally on the trail. So I walked through their site. I can’t tell you how badly I wanted to ask for a cold soda, but I was already frazzled by the erroneously marked trail I didn’t stop to talk.

Once back on the “new PCT” I took a tumble. The trail around Tamarack Lake isn’t quite worn in and some of the bushes have only been partly cut back. I managed to perfectly kick a branch or root sticking out into the trail and before I knew it, BLAM! I was laying in the bushes. I think my knees took the brunt of the fall as I have a few new scrapes on them. Somehow I landed face up, with my pack in the bushes providing comfort. Other than that, I was a little dusty but everything else was in tact. Seriously, it was not my day today.

I trudged on for the rest of the day. I wanted to make it to at least mile 1211. I of course had to laugh when I saw the comments on the site I had picked out: Absolutely destroyed by cows. Seriously!!!! I just wanted to finish my day and that was what I had to look forward to. To that persons credit, yes it appears as though some cows may have used this space at some time. I found plenty of space further into the trees with adequate space for my tent minus cow patties. Day done.

It was shortly after 5pm when I got here. Tired, hot and just about hungry, I knew that I had nothing left in the tank to keep going. With the reroute, my personal detour, and the road walk I’m still unsure how many miles I actually walked today but I’m gonna call it somewhere around 16. Oh, and I did actually pass my own 1000 mile mark today. Maybe that’s why I was so warn out. Yay, me!

I’m hoping tomorrow goes better. I’m 75 miles from Belden and I’d really like to make it there by Wednesday night. 18 miles a day is the plan from here until then. Gonna hit the hay early tonight so I can hopefully get an early start tomorrow before it warms up. Good night.