- Date: 22nd May 2023
- Pct day: 17
- Start: Mile 205
- End: Mile 209
- Distance: 5 Miles
- Start name: water faucet
- End name: Nitzys place
- Wake up: 05:45
- Start hiking: 06:45
- At camp: 16:00
- In bed: 22:00
- Shower: yes
- where I slept: bed
Key moments
- woke up to hikers walking past my tent - a reminder to set up camp away from the trail and to wear earplugs
- I accidentally tried out sleeping on a closed cell foam mat - because I passed out for a couple of hours just “resting”. I don’t think I can do sleeping on a closed cell foam mat, turning on my side my head was way too kinked down to the pillow. So perhaps if I get a really nice pillow?
- It was a sweaty night of sleep, it’s hot down at 2000ft. My sleeping bag, while so light, doesn’t give me an easy way to vent, as it doesn’t have a zipper, so is just a big down filled tube that doesn’t quite reach high enough up my face
- so for the couple of hours that it was cold in the morning I was a bit cold and also too warm in my legs.
- So I think I need a new sleeping bag, unfortunately.
- druggist getting up, we moseyed our way to the interstate 10 oasis, apparently just missing some trail magic!
- Somehow I hiked past my friend Alex over the course of the past few days without seeing him - he had been solo hiking and hadn’t been with other hikes all through fullers ridge, which is the section just after San Jacinto. This is a place many hikers have found a bit spooky as the track has been disappearing under the snow. I am agin so glad to have been hiking with Adam and Amelia there.
- It’s so nice to bump into old hiking friends already
- Caught an Uber with my friends Nicole, Jeremy and Kristi, to the “dollar general” store, which I assumed would be a discount / 99c store. A bleak and grim resupply if it is like the good old “crazy Clark’s” or “red dot” of Australia
- It is nothing like the crazy Clark’s of Australia
- It is a pretty large grocery store, which was perfect for resupply.
- We put our backpacks into a shopping trolley like a large child, and meandered around yet another new layout of a grocery store while I started to feel again just how dehydrated I am
- I shopped while hungry and thirsty, which I would later recognise was a mistake
- After hastily packing all this food into my backpack and barely managing to close it (how do people do a 10 day food carrrg, starve!? Look I may have bought too much food yet again), I was able to get a lift to the legendary “in n out” restaurant, which I had been dreaming about for the past 6 days
- We got there just as the store opened, and I was expecting something like a McDonald’s, but it was just this glorious clean store with a team of motivated people who were working in sync.
- I got in and ordered “a double double animal style with animal style fries” - I told the clerk it was my first time here and he said “well you ordered right”.
- The menu here is super simple, with essentially a burger, a cheeseburger and a double cheeseburger. But there’s a “secret menu” you can order from that you just need to know about from other people/the internet.
- I’d been asking people on the trail and my brother james about what my order should be, and that’s how I arrived my order
- boy did I eat some food and have a real moment with this burger. This burger was not just perfect, it was a thing of beauty. All the staff there felt like a cut above the rest of your regular McDonalds, they all wanted to be there, they were all just getting it done, and they were all so kind. I ordered another fries and another burger and then a shake. Then had a lot more Soda and a coffee before I strayed to feel somewhat normal and hydrated again
- Gotta keep on top of that hydration - not just the electrolytes but the constant sipping of water
- More of us hikers surged piling in to the burger place and I felt bad for the people around. We stunk. I saw multiple people get up and move one more set of tables down. Oh dear.
- The in n out burger place is in a large concrete gas station sorta place next to the Indian reservation of Morengo, which also has a casino. It’s like a somewhat post apocalyptic version of an Australian road house stop, but with an 8 lane highway next to it and snow covered mountains and a wind farm and a freight train line.
- There is a place here called “cold stone ice cream “, which is the same as “cold rock” in Australia
- I described the burger I ate at In n Out to some hiker friends, Jeremy and Kristi and Nicole, and I got emotional. I wasn’t just happy for the burger I was happy that the people there were so good at their job - apparently they earn above minimum wage as well, and have good benefits.
- Anyway I think I’ll be dreaming about this burger for a while.
- I showed my hiking friends the random electrolyte mixes I got from the dollar store and they said my trail name should be “electrolyte”, since I’ve been swapping and dealing electrolytes to people the whole trail. I wasn’t loving it at first but I thought maybe “electro” or “elo” could stick. We shall see.
- I decided to stay at a trail angels place, “Nitzys” - a few other hikers were also coming along - Granite Man and Dovetail- a stay at Nitzys includes a car trip to and from the trail and to a wal mart, as well as food and a bed and shakers and clean clothes to change into. An incredibly generous person. It is honestly so humbling to meet someone so kind, and so wise. I’ll be sure to give a good donation of money to her, and to other hikers I say remember to be generous, this is this persons home.
- Dovetail is a real ultralight hiker and I sat down and chatted about gear to him
- He showed me this ultralight inflated for a sleeping pad - I’d seen these ones that were 99g, but he showed me his which was 8g. Eight grams. There’s a dude on reddit making open source ultralight gear - so it’s all 3d printed and stuff. Here’s a link to the “pad pal” version 1: https://www.reddit.com/r/ULgeartrade/comments/vz4q0n/wts_myog_padpal_an_115_gram_electric_sleeping_pad/
Plan from here
- hike out tomorrow with Dovetail and do the water crossing at mile 15 or so
- Dream of in n our burgers
- Pick up my new sleeping bag from Fearhered Friends in Big Bear City (they are very kindly letting me return my previous bag as it just hasn’t been working for me on trail)
Animals sighted
- random dog on trail - maybe a coyote or a wolf
- Friendly trail angel dog - Abigail
Gear thoughts
- getting some foam Birkenstocks or foam Tevas would be nice just for those precious moments of getting into camp and going “ahhhh my feet aren’t in my shoes now “
Physical condition
- pretty not great this morning -
- dehydration and aches, but this all melted away after a shower and some relaxing chilling time at Nitzy’s
- Somehow my right blister seems to not be giving me issues.
Thoughts and Observations
- people are so damn kind
- a good shower and a wash of clothes really boosts the mood
- Need to be consistently drinking water all day
- The in n out burger really lived up to the hype
Some of the bad things
- dehydration sucks. I felt awful this morning.
- Packing too much food is annoying - I think I might need to maybe carry a bit less food next food carry. It happens to everyone but I will get better at it
- My iPhone apparently wants me to reinsert the Australian SIM card that I don’t have to ensure it still works or it rejects it!? Wtf mate.
Quotes of the day
- “You do have the true expression of joy” — Kartri, describing me eating my burger
#pct #pct2023 #pctclassof2023
