- Date: 2024-05-16
- Pct day: 11
- Start: Mile 144
- End: Mile 152
- Distance: 8 Miles
- Start name: camp at mile 144
- End name: Paradise Valley Cafe
- Wake up: 06:30
- Start hiking: 07:40
- At camp: 12:00
- In bed: 22:00
Key moments
- Alex and I decided to have a later start to the day - although this meant it was hotter when we started, it was definitely worth the extra rest we gained
- It was a hot night and I slept in my sleeping bag liner, I also think my sleeping mat has a small hole in it, as it is slowly leaking air over night. And my pillow doesn’t hold air anymore - this ain’t too bad, as it has lasted me since 2019, so I think 4 years of heavy hiking use is pretty good.
- I had a sweet breakfast: 2 packets of Quaker maple sugar oats with two sachets of Swiss miss chocolate powder. It was syrupy! Followed by some strong instant coffee
- I think the combination of sweet and caffeine made me have a really good morning! Also the extra sleep in. My right foot blister felt much better and after Alex and I started to walk at different speeds I turned on “cheat mode” and started listening to music
- I started to move much faster and had one of my best mornings on the PCT
- I also bumped into another PCT hiker who had the same shorts as me, a Korean hiker with the trail name “Iron Legs”
- We stopped at mile 145 for water at “Mary’s” - a trail Angel who has provided water and a shade my area and seats in a “hiker oasis”. Unfortunately this is the last year she is doing it, we managed to even see her, she was very humble.
- I bumped into some other hikers at Mary’s oasis and had a flip through the log book and saw some of my friends names who are a few days ahead.
- Everyone is pretty psyched for the “José burger” at Paradise Valley Cafe - reportedly the best burger on trail
- I was feeling great and pushed on at quite a pace for the remaining 6 miles. I haven’t felt this good since the start of the hike. I think I might be starting to get stronger
- as I finished the hiking trail to the main road I saw some other hikers on the side of the road in chairs - some trail magic! From a guy named “Magic Man”, a very nice gentleman who was offering super cold coke and orange crush and Mountain Dew and Twinkies. In exchange for some conversation and signing his guest book, he’s just happy to see hikers from all around the world and chat to him. I asked him where I could leave a donation but he just said not to worry about it, he loves doing this. I’m so thankful for him, it is so very kind, and I’m starting to see why people say the PCT isn’t just about the hike, but the people on it.
- I hiked the one mile up to Paradise Valley Cafe and found some hiking friends there, and I ordered my Jose burger and some quesadilla. And a Dr Pepper. I had been craving it, ever since Alex gave me a cherry flavoured electrolyte powder.
- they kept refilling our soft drinks and I think I drank about 2L of fluids
- a random dude came up and started chatting about the PCT then pivoted to libertarian anarchy, then crypto currency and trying to get some guy named Ron Paul to speak at an event before finishing on some crypto currency earrings, which he wanted to give us. I declined.
- We hatched a plan to organise a house to stay in town and Beth was on the phone sorting out options - 5 of us then made our way into town.
- We got a ride with a guy doing a section of the PCT, a dad with a few kids and a full time job taking some time off during the week to get another section of the hike done. He does trail Angel work during hiker season - he said he just goes to where some hikers appear from the trail and organises some sandwiches and cold drinks. These people are amazing.
- once we got into our house We all changed into our rain clothes and put a load of wash on. I called Katie and when I came back there were two super options, one was hot with low pressure, the other was lukewarm with high pressure. A really conundrum! What would you pick? Honestly I was just happy to get clean. But next time I’d go for pressure over heat.
- We were all so happy to just hang out at home and give our feet a rest.
- I went into town to see Graham and Jeremy, and get some pizza, and managed to see a friend, Max, who I hadn’t seen since before I started the PCT.
- Graham might be heading ahead for a short while
- Jeremy was heading out again, potentially in flip flops
- Max is about 2 days ahead of me, but due to the way this sort of the PCT works we were both taking rests in this town so it was nice to hang out again
- Apparently this next trail section, from Paradise valley cafe to Idyllwild is some of the most stunning - I am looking forward to it.
- there is a cinema here in Idyllwild, I’m hoping I can see a movie tomorrow!
Plan from here
- resupply in town
- Rest feet
- Drink coffee
- See a movie
- Make a plan for the next two days
Animals sighted
- horny toad lizard
Gear thoughts
- need a new pillow
- Will buy a foam pad to experiment lying on for rests and for sleeping, instead of my inflatable one
- I picked up my ice axe!
- Camp shoes are handy for town but I don’t think I need them for hiking anymore
- AirPods trump wired headphones
Physical condition
- much better
- Blisters healing up
- Still some blister under my right foot, but it’s healing up
Thoughts and Observations
- it is better the get up every and get moving before the heat of the day sets in but it is also hard if it means you don’t sleep as much
Quotes of the day
- it was so hot there, I thought I was actually going to die, there weren’t even goats there man — Graham (not talking about the PCT, but another hike in Europe)
#pct #pct2023 #pctclassof2023keptnrrfilling out started cha
