- Date: 2023-06-20
- Pct day: 46
- Start: Mile 669
- End: Mile 694
- Distance: 25 miles
- Ascent: 5167 feet
- Descent: 4471 feet
- Start name: Spanish Needle Creek
- End name: Manter Creek and Tentsites
- Wake up: 05:15
- Start hiking: 06:20
- At camp: 19:20
- In bed: 21:90
- Where I slept: cowboy camp
- Shower: no
- Best thing: great conversation with a new hiker, the feeling that I’m pretty sure I’ll make it to Kennedy Meadows
- Worst thing: right foot blister
Key moments
- got up and out and moving - unfortunately embraced the quote from Clouds: “every shit on trail feels like an emergency shit”
- Ok so maybe this is gross but this is standard hiking talk - when you’ve got to go you’ve got to go and sometimes the body feels a bit ahead of the mind and you just might not be ready, so like one of the Benegeserit from the Dune franchise I found myself chanting: “I must not fear, fear is the mind killer” while I focus on finding an appropriate toilet spot
- Found a pretty good spot to get phone reception and was able to send off a few messages to Katie and catch up on messages, it’s been not a great patch of reception so far
- Had lunch on a picnic table, which is always a novelty, with Dale and Mariah, and a new hiker I hadn’t met yet, Flora
- Flora and I ended up hiking for a while, and had a really nice chat about the trail and it’s physical and mental parts. We were both very excited to get to Kennedy Meadows.
- Kennedy Meadows marks the end of the desert, and is at about mile 702. It’s a big milestone for hikers as the next section is the Sierras in the mountains, which this year are all up in the air as there’s so much snow.
- Anyway, it was a big mileage day today as we wanted to have a shorter day into Kennedy Meadows tomorrow - followed by at least two zero days (a zero is a rest day where you cover zero hiking distance)
- Mariah and I haven’t really cowboy camped much in the desert - cowboy camping is very popular in the desert, it is where you don’t camp in a tent and sleep outside under the stars.
- A hiker named Larry asked if I wanted any advice for cowboy camping for the first time - I said yes and he said “step one: check for ants, step two: check for mozzies”
- We thought we were in the clear but it seems there are mosquitoes about. Oh well, can’t win them all I guess
Plan from here
- hike to a Kennedy Meadows and hatch a plan and a crew to hike the Sierras
Animals sighted
- rabbit
- Grey squirrels
Gear thoughts
Physical condition
- right foot blister is a bit tender - what I really want to know is how I can prevent this, I guess it has come from doing long days with large weight carries, but I just hope my feet can recover and I’ll be in good shape from here
Thoughts and Observations
- the desert has truly been a gift. I can feel how I have changed through this hike - being more comfortable by myself, and in my own skin, and the friends I’ve made
- It’s hard to believe I will be in Kennedy Meadows soon, I got emotional a couple of times thinking about it today, it’s going to be so great to see a bunch of friends at Kennedy Meadows - so many people hang out there for at least 2 days, it’s going to be great to see the friends ahead and behind me.
Some of the bad things
- right foot blister
- Missing Katie, missing family
Quotes of the day
- the trail is the family
#pct #pct2023 #pctclassof2023
