Day 10 - PCT 2024
Trail Miles Hiked: 10
We arrived at the trail head at 3:25pm and we called for a shuttle that came very quickly! As we pulled up to Ranchita Bodega, we knew it was our kind of place! There’s a huge Yeti statue out front and the store is incredibly hiker friendly. Snax grabbed a cold beer and I looked for cider but they didn’t stock it. The lady working, Wonder Woman, called her friend to see if she could stop to grab some Angry Orchard ciders for me! I was thrilled! We all sat out front on the patio and enjoyed our beverages while eating snacks. The three of us decided to rent the cottage on the property for the night rather than returning to trail. It’s all about experiences, so we’re happy to have a bed for the night and do our resupply shop in the morning rather than being rushed this afternoon. No other hikers showed up today so we have the place to ourselves this evening.
Total Ascent: 2,305.4 ft.
Total Descent: 2,398 ft.
My new quilt is wonderful. I was warm for the first night on trail. For those wondering it’s a Jacks R Better High Sierra Sniveller 0 Degree Fahrenheit Quilt. It’s so fluffy and warm, I don’t know if I can go back to my old Enlightened Equipment quilt now; it just doesn’t compare. I picked the worst spot to set up camp though as I didn’t get the morning sun. I was hoping the sun would dry off my tent but I had to take it down and put it in the sun. I need to choose better eastern facing spots.
We hung out at camp longer than I thought. It was nice though. A relaxing start is much nicer but the desert was hot today. Leaving later means hotter hiking temperatures. My thermometer was registering 32 degrees in the sun and it definitely felt it during our climb out from mile 91. Thankfully the climb was mild in comparison to yesterday and by mile 97 we were on the descent on the other side of the mountain with much more of a breeze.
Impulse decided to try to make it 18 miles to Warner Springs so he left before us. Snax, Failure to Launch and I wanted to make it 10 miles to the shuttle pickup right on trail for Ranchita Bodega but the last store shuttle was 4pm. Due to our later start, we had to hustle on trail.
The heat made it almost impossible to hurry and we stopped for a couple morning breaks. I pulled out my umbrella for some shade on our second stop. I’m not hiking with the umbrella yet because the tall shrubs on trail would likely destroy it. The afternoon clouds and breeze allowed us to make up for lost time. I passed by a cool cave too!
I passed by mile 100!! I stopped to celebrate with a little trail dance. 💃 There’s a really interesting blog here about making the first 100 miles a success. Although as a new thru-hiker, at times I definitely carried more food than I needed, packed some of my fears in items, and wore the wrong shoes, the sentiment of these tips helped me get this far.
I even got to pet and hold a baby goat! This was definitely the highlight of my day. I’d love to have goats. It made me miss my animals a lot though. I know they’re well taken care of!
My new shoes seem to be treating my feet well despite my blisters. I decided to put my New Balance shoes into the hiker box at Ranchita Bodega. I hope they serve another hiker well considering they’re almost brand new.
We’re about four days out from the San Jacinto mountains and we hope to have the snow melt some before we get there so we’re not rushing. We’ll be back on trail tomorrow.
