Day 37 - PCT 2024
Miles Hiked: 13.1
Total Ascent: 738.8 ft.
Total Descent: 2,710.6 ft.
I slept warm last night. I replaced my crappy thermal pants with SmartWool thermal pants back in Big Bear during this latest stop, and they’ve already proven worth the money. I should have bought the long sleeve top as well. Noted for the Sierras. The group last night suggested I let my quilt do its job by limiting what I wore underneath so I opted to just wear thermals and that seemed to have worked. I suppose I lack experience camping in colder temperatures so we’ll see if this continues working as the nights go on. One thing I’m incredibly grateful for is my down booties. My feet have never been cold.
Everyone was getting up and ready to head out around 7. I decided to get up and start packing up but I wasn’t in a hurry. I wanted to enjoy breakfast at the picnic table. A luxury we don’t usually have. The sun came out and I could tell it was going to be a beautiful day. Kathryn slept in. I bugged her around 8:30am to see what time she wanted to head out. We didn’t start hiking until closer to 10am. Wish I had just laid around instead of packing up. Kathryn’s not a morning person whereas I am so it’s a bit of a tough start hiking with someone on opposite schedules. I think this is why I prefer hiking alone but meeting up later. She’s fun to hike with though.
We’re still days away from Cajon Pass. I should have enough food to make it but hiking slow sucks for food carries. My feet are getting blisters again. Particularly from wet feet.
Today was cruisey in the morning for the first 6 miles or so and then we came upon our first creek crossing. It was flowing steadily and the water was cold. There were some sketchy logs that people have jumped across but Kathryn and I both felt it would be safer just walking across. The water was crotch deep and we were soaked. Luckily it was hot outside. We had two additional water crossings of the same creek, those only knee deep, and a ton of smaller stream crossings. My leggings dried quickly but our feet stayed wet for hours. Now my big toe is forming a blister and I think I chose the wrong size of shoes. It’s beyond frustrating. They seem great when my feet are dry but this is the PCT. Wet feet galore! So it appears I’m back to square one in the shoe department. Or maybe I just need to size up. I don’t know!
Kathryn noticed her ditty bag missing out of an outside pocket of her backpack. I was hiking behind her all day but didn’t see it drop. We continued on just over a mile and a half when two hikers passed us. They mentioned seeing it hanging on a branch (likely got snagged) back before the last major creek crossing. Unfortunately they didn’t grab it so Kathryn decided to run back to get it. I sat by a stream and was on pack watch so she didn’t have to carry her backpack all the way back. 3 mile return trip, and we still had an additional 3 miles to hike to camp. Because we left so late this morning, we didn’t roll into camp until after 6:30pm as the sun was disappearing behind the mountain. We were both exhausted the last mile to camp and I took a spill, twisting my knee a bit. It seems okay but you never want an injury. Unfortunately, getting to camp involved crossing the creek again and my shoes got soaked. With the lack of sun now, my shoes won’t have time to dry. Hopefully they’ll dry in the morning sun. Poor unhappy wet feet.
