- Date: 2023-06-11
- Pct day: 37
- Start: Mile 498
- End: Mile 535
- Distance: 37 miles
- Ascent: 3585 feet
- Descent: 5593 feet
- Start name: sawmill campground
- End name: Cottonwood Creek and Faucet
- Wake up: 06:00
- Start hiking: 08:20
- At camp: 02:15
- In bed: 03:00
- Where I slept: tent
- Shower: no
Key moments
- clouds rolled in overnight and as I went to the bathroom at the campsite I could barely see through the thick fog/clouds. Quite surreal feeling.
- had another lazy morning, felt really nice to take my time
- Nubs, who was feeling unwell after having a stomach bug on trail, was in much better spirits this morning, we hiked together to the 500 mile marker, it was quite dramatic as we walked through mist and clouds
- I played the proclaimers “I would walk 500 miles” on my phone and stopped at the first time they said “and I would walk 500 miles” - because although I want to walk 500 more I’m not there yet, mate.
- came across these cool sections of lush woods that were green and had misty clouds rolling through them, but only in sections - you could see where there was mist and trees, the grass was so green, and otherwise it was dry and brown
- Heaps of chipmunks and squirrels kept scampering out of logs and other hiding spots along the trail. they are very cute, and it felt like a scene out of a movie, or something
- It was a much gentler day, slowly descending into a place called “hiker town”
- Hiker town is a little hiker oasis that is right next to the trail, apparently has been here for 20 years
- It has little themed small rooms (bank, saloon, jail, other western themes) with beds, and the owner of the property, Richard, was apparently in the film industry for some years
- these spots are really cool as hikers all come together and hang out, charging their devices and chilling out in the shade
- I put some battery banks on charge and then got a ride to the local market, downing a Gatorade and a Dr Pepper before realising that Dr Pepper has caffeine in it.
- It’s a cute little market that is expensive but is stocked full of hiker food, and also a kitchen doing Mexican food and burgers. It’s also part of this two building plaza that is the library, community centre, and real estate.
- I got a burrito and hung out with two other hikers, Lost Keys and Cliff Bar.
- Cliff Bar hiked another hike called the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) last year and apparently had budgeted to have about 80% of his calories from cliff bars. He bought 1300 cliff bars
- He ended up not loving them much so would leave like 50/60 bars in biker boxes along the trail. Imagine coming across a box full of hiker stuff and 50 cliff bars. Would be cool.
- We headed back to Hikertown, and my friends the Cowboys (Tiptoe, Double Check, and Clouds) were going to head off to hike the aqueduct at night in about 20 minutes
- Buzzed from the caffeine and snacks and burrito I felt I could do this. I felt like I was in “ultra marathon mode” and could feel the excitement of pushing through the night to do big distances.
- About the aqueduct: it’s a 16ish mile long stretch of very flat trail that follows the LA aqueduct, carrying water to Los Angeles. It’s a very sun exposed section of trail that is normally hiked at night or in the early morning to avoid the heat.
- We’ve been having cooler weather so it could probably be done during the day, but the tradition is to hike this thing at night
- I had just done a 20 mile day and was somehow just feeling like I could tackle the aqueduct.
- Sometimes you can’t question these feelings too much and you’ve got to go for it
- Unfortunately Nubs couldn’t join as he was still not feeling super great after his stomach bug, but would hopefully have a good night of sleep in a bed.
- Double Check, Tiptoe, and Clouds and I got our stuff together and marched out onto the trail
- we were going to do a aqueduct disco, and Tiptoe had put together a collaborative playlist on Spotify, which meant we could all listen to the same music together on our own headphones, like a silent disco, which is super cool, and we could all add songs as we went
- I had brought some glow bracelets, so we could have some glow stick fun while walking
- The aqueduct was, perhaps unsurprisingly, rather large - it starts as an open body of water flowing down to some pipes, then the PCT follows a large pipe for about 5 miles
- We started the silent disco as we walked on the pipe and my song “Dreams” by Timecop1983 started playing - it was just let dusk and we all set out together. It was a very special moment. A good moment to share.
- The PCT literally walks along the pipe for the trail - you can walk alongside it on a road if you want, but it’s pretty rad that the designated track is the pipe. It’s half buried in the ground and about 1 or 2 metre across or so it’s quite large
- It’s actually kinda hard to walk on the pipe - it’s covered is large rivets and occasionally there’s a maintenance access port and also sometimes random rebar sticking out
- So like, don’t fall over or you might impale yourself.
- Also at one point we went over a higher maintenance point that you had to climb over and the ground fell away from the pipe so you were suddenly a few metres above the ground, which felt a little spooky, but that section is only about 20 metres long
- But also, don’t fall over there
- the PCT turned into a dirt road and then a concrete road and we had basically a road walk for the next 10 miles. You could turn off your headlamp and pretty much walk by starlight
- I was still feeling good but I could start to feel the beginnings of my body protesting “what the hell why are we still walking “
- Walking on the road is surprisingly tiring, the repetitive moments hurting your feet and knees and hips
- I’d recommend doing it at night in a group - we came across a few cars driving on the road, including police, I never felt unsafe but I just reckon it would have been spooky to do it alone
- I kept a steady stream of snacks - peanut butter m&ms, belvita breakfast biscuits, and candy, keeping an ultra mindset of “an eating competition with some hiking”
- Soon we all started to feel quite tired and had a second dinner at midnight. I was close to my first 30 mile day and had already passed my biggest ever walk, 44km, about 28 miles
- We all started spreading out and walking ahead, I could see everyone’s headlamps bobbing in the distance at times
- We were approaching a large windfarm, and it felt surreal to see these enormous blades of the wind turbines turning in the distance over a small hill. As we got closer you could hear them - the gears turning, the wind moving over them. They sounded like small jet engines
- We finally made it to a campsite, under a bridge, Tiptoe came up to meet me at the campsite junction and showed me the way to the campsite
- It was 2:15am and we were all stoked at a big day, but also worried for how we’d pull up the next day
- Going to bed I could feel how sore my feet were. I don’t want to do big days like this I think, it just opens you up to getting strange injuries
- but It was really fun though
Plan from here
- sleep in, have a short day the next day
Animals sighted
Gear thoughts
Physical condition
- so very very tired
Thoughts and Observations
- it’s nice to share moments together with people on trail, but I’m also figuring out that for me, I don’t need to be with a group the whole time, but I really enjoy meeting so many new and interesting people
Some of the bad things
- my god my feet and everything felt stiff and sore
Quotes of the day
- the trail is the family
#pct #pct2023 #pctclassof2023
