PCT - Day 6 4/24/18 - Past 100 miles!

Trail miles: 18.7 from 82.4 - 101.1
Miles hiked: 19.5

I finally slept a bit!  Well for about four hours, but that is way better than usual.  This was thanks to putting music on my headphones before sleeping. I woke up at 4:30am with Busta Rhymes playing in my ears.

Trail in morning light

Packing up my cowboy camp is so fast. I just throw everything in my backpack and get moving.

PCT water is gold

I cranked out nine miles to a water cache before 9:30am. I filled up with 4 liters and listened to a touching story from a veteran named Hollywood who’s out here hiking the PCT after over ten tours of duty in Iraq.

sharing water with bees and a turkey

At the water cache others mentioned seeing a rattlesnake on the short trail from the PCT to the cache. I mentioned that I hadn’t seen a rattlesnake yet.  As fate would have it, thirty minutes later I was hiking and scanning the ground when suddenly I hear a loud rattle and hissing. I instinctively retreated backwards and nearly fell down into a ravine. I spotted the rattlesnake sitting on a branch of a shrub about eye level. The Iraq veteran and his buddies showed up and after he led the careful step & jump along the edge of the trail near the ravine edge, I then followed, as did everyone else. Three minutes later, our group stopped again due to another rattlesnake in the trail.





The sun got really hot at 11:30am, so I dove under a small bush and caught a tiny bit of shade and tried to wait out at least an hour or two of the most brutal sun while listening to music and eating junk food and occasionally looking over my shoulder for rattlesnakes.

Afternoon trail

I felt strong for a good portion of the day. I did almost 19 miles today and I feel like I could’ve done more. Both of my small toe blisters have turned to calluses too.

I am currently very gross.  I haven’t showered in several days, and other than washing my socks, boxers, and shirt in a plastic tub without soap, I haven’t done laundry yet. I am looking forward to my first zero day, but I still have a few days before I arrive in Idyllwild.

Mile 100 

Today I passed the 100 mile mark and I’m encouraged about how my body seems to be adjusting to trail life again. This first hundred miles was much nicer to my feet than the first hundred on the CT. I think I have my Brooks Cascadia shoes to thank for that.

Tonight at camp, after filtering and using chemical treatment on our water, I just hung out with Katie, Brent, and Ranger and shared lots of good conversation including telling Ranger our terrifying experience with two rattlesnakes today.

Ranger and I bonded immediately.  He’s in his sixties or so and is also a veteran.  He is hilarious and a total hiking machine.  I love trail family.  These people are so special to me.

dusty trail flowers

Tomorrow I’ll head into Warner Springs and pick up a resupply and hopefully find a way to wash my clothes and take a shower. Tonight I sleep with the sounds of frogs that are probably feeding on the flies at the spring.  The flies took over as the sun went down and the bees retreated to the hive and the wild turkey retreated to who knows where.

The map showing Adam's progress is now on its own page. Click on "PCT - Track Adam" or on the tab under the Header picture.