Day 21: PCT demands it’s pound of flesh

May 10, Day 21: Mile 266.1-286.7

Miles Hiked: 20.6

Gratitude of the Day: I’m thankful for the ability to pick myself up and keep pursuing my goal. 

Back to the trail from Big Bear Lake. After getting things packed back into my pack, it seemed so heavy with all the food and the 4 Liters of water I was having to carry out of town. First stop was the post office to send a resupply box to the Acton KOA that I’d hopefully reach in 11 days if I do 20 mile days, which is the plan. I left the Airbnb at 8am and walked down to the post office to mail my package. From there a trail angel named Michele was kind enough to give me a ride back to highway 18 where I got off trail the other day.  It was 9am and I was standing back on the trail.  

The PCT isn’t alway glamorous and today it felt like work. My legs were tired, having a couple days off in town not stressing under a 35lb backpack. And then there was my mood, about as gloomy as my legs felt. Either it was the weight of my pack or the recent death of Aunt Laurie that weighed heavily on my mind, today I did not want to be hiking, but I pushed on.  By 12:30 I’d somehow covered 10 miles, it went by in a blur and I hardly remember much of the morning. I sat down at the water source, had lunch with several new hikers I hadn’t met. Then started back down the trail still in a mental fog… that would soon change. 

About 1/4 mile from lunch, I was laying face down in the dirt of the trail, I had stepped on a rock wrong and my left ankle twisted out from beneath me, and now I was cursing and laying in the dirt. After checking to make sure I wasn’t hurt and or bleeding, I thought to myself the damn trail is taking its pound of flesh from me today. Low and behold, around the next bend again I was face first in the trail again… F@ck!  Same thing, rock got me again.  I picked myself up, and now I was determined that the trail would not beat me today. I sucked it up, “embrace the suck” as hikers tend to say and keep on down the trail. Finally at 6pm I’d hit my goal of 20 miles for the day. The rest of the trail family are behind me, they may make it here tonight or perhaps I’ll see them tomorrow at the Deep Creek Hot Springs, 21 miles ahead of me from where I’m sleeping. I’m looking forward to a long soak in the springs tomorrow and hopefully a better day overall. 

Meet: Katie, trail name Navigator or Navi. She is a 23 yo from Omaha, NE and has probably done more badass things than you. She’s studied abroad in Africa, getting to study big animals while there. Her last jobs was a researcher for grizzly bears in Montana. She’s quiet, introspective, and smart.