Miles hiked: 21.1
Gratitude of the Day: I’m thankful for early morning sunrises in the backcountry and cool breezes as you walk up an incline without any shade.
Last nights camp spot looked amazing and seemed all well and good... problem was that it was a high point and the wind did nothing blow the tent all over the place. So, at 12 in the morning I got up and packed everything up and cowboy camped in the same spot. (Cowboy camping is basically sleeping under the stars). After making the change I was able to get 4-5 hours of sleep and woke up to the orange glow of the sunrise over the valley below me.
Best made plans usually never work out... so originally my plan today was to hike another 15 miles to just 7 miles outside “scissors crossing” (this is the jumping off point of the PCT into the town of Julian where I have a hotel reserved to resupply and rest my legs). After getting going in the morning, surprisingly the legs and feet felt wonderful. The trail was super cruise-y down to the Sunset trailhead where I topped off my water for the next long stretch and there was a cooler of “trail magic” (people leave goodies for hikers”. This cooler had apples, chips, and strudel breakfast cakes... I nabbed an apple and a breakfast cake. The off I went. 2 miles later I was taking a break, making coffee and enjoying the sun and a strudel.
Oddest thing I’ve seen on trail so far was about 15 miles in a there was a guy camped out and he was sitting under the shade of a bush playing a Nintendo Switch. Besides really seeing that, it seems my hiking pace is either too fast or too slow for those around me so I spend most of the day by myself listening to music or a podcast. This is definitely not the norm for me, I’ve always hated the thought of listening to something on trail, but there’s really only so much “in your head” you can do for 10 hours a day. I got to see some blooming cacti and this awesome yucca that wasn’t quite bloomed out but looked like a huge asparagus.
After that I pushed on and instead of stopping early I ended up hiking all the way to Scissors crossing. It seemed that the nice breeze most of the day and the legs feeling well pushed me all the way... 21.1 miles!!! My first 20 mile day in the first 5 days... oops. But as with anything everything happens and works out for a reason.
I was able to message a couple I’ve met on the trail that was already in Julian, they gave me a number of a guy that would come pick me up off the Highway and to continue the amazing happenstance, one of the hikers that they were hanging out with was renting an Airbnb in Julian and allowed me to take a shower and wash my clothes!!! I’m a new human!! After a shower in which I had to sit down in so I could wash off the caked dirt from my feet and legs, we all walked over to the Italian restaurant and had the most wonderful meal. Who know that a salad could taste so good! I got to meet some pretty amazing people as well: Otter (trail name), Seeke (Germany), Lauren (Canadian), Florian, (Germany), Korolina (Czech Republic), Joscelyn who oddly enough her and I follow each other on Instagram starting last year because we both had planned on hiking the trail last year and Landon her spouse.
After dinner, now I’m sleeping on the back patio of the Julian Market, which allows PCT hikers to camp and use their back yard/patio to sleep.
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