PCT Day 9-Zero Day!

In the middle of the night, I woke up needing to turn off of my hip (I’m a side sleeper), and my arms were so sore I couldn’t lift myself up to roll over! My goodness, I guess my body was really hiding a lot of stress from myself during those snow filled days!

I took some ibuprofen and fell back to sleep, after wincing and yelping out in pain. I woke up again at 10am to my phone going off: mom calling. She could hear in my voice yesterday of how stressed I had been and how exhausted I was, so she was just checking in. During the scary parts of those last few days, I never told her I was worried, otherwise she’d just be sitting there worried, too. But now that I was safe, I let her hear it all.

I was super stiff and all of my muscles ached. My brain felt like it was still in a fog, not completely sure it was allowed to relax completely or not. I was slow getting anything done. I walked to the gas station a little ways a way and got some drinks, then came back to eat some left over pizza. I turned on a Law and Order SVU marathon for background noise as I moseyed through my gear, opened my new pack, and set to reorganizing my life.

I was in contact with Dusty, the hiker yesterday that was wanting to figure out a game plan. After lots of research, and even more giving up half way through and starting again-reading every single comment on FarOut and looking at snow on Postholer.com I decided I wanted to jump ahead to Seiad Valley, California, and hike north from there.. slowly.. to give the snow more time to melt. There is a small chunk of miles starting in Seiad valley that are snow free, and then only three areas saying there’s snow for 5-10 mile stretches, BUT every single one had comments saying “snow free campsite!” And “snow on trail but the road is dry!” So, fingers crossed this isn’t a complete bust.

I organized everything and made a list of stuff in needed to get today. I was going to also swing by the post office-but-lo and behold-it is indeed Sunday. Looks like I’ll have to stay here tonight regardless and get a later leave in the morning. The post office opens at 8:30, and the bus half way to Seiad Valley also leaves at 8:30. The next one is at 9:30, which I’ll try to make.

I walked to the dollar general on the other end of this 1.5 mile stretch of town. The walk was a pretty one, each of these mountain houses on Main Street covered in gorgeous flowers.. I’ve never seen so many homes on par with being beautifully well manicured. About half way there, I was miserable. I was wearing my long sleeve sun shirt, because I don’t have another shirt, but I also had on my black wool sleep leggings, because my legs still needed a break from each other, specifically my thighs. Dang those things love to be close to each other.

It was 88 degrees, I was actively pouring sweat and having to laugh at the fact that yesterday my feet were numb in snow. So weird. The dollar general had most of what I wanted: nail polish (don’t judge me), shampoo/conditioner/dial soap so I could really feel clean, food for breakfast and lunch.. the only thing they didn’t have was bandaids. Annoying.

I left there and headed to the grocery store, about midway back to my motel room. I got bandaids and peroxide there, my one gash on my right hip looks a little sketchy. And then I walked across the street to a brewery. Mainly because it was sweltering hot and a cold beer sounded delightful. Inside, I saw a couple that was clearly thruhiking. They were talking to someone about how scary Grizzly Peak was!

They invited me to sit with them, Jelly and TakeCharge, and when I said my name they immediately knew about me on that ridge line! Someone had reached out to them to see if they were anywhere near me to be able to get to me so I could hike out with them! But they were already too far ahead to turn back. They were going to wait where they were for me though, to make sure I was safe and ok if I attempted to go over yesterday morning. Just, wow. A true network of angels were at work for me and I had no clue how far they were reaching to get me to safety. I was almost in tears again.

They showed me pictures and videos and I was relieved I backtracked. They were getting picked up today to get a ride in to Redding, to rent a car and go explore the Redwoods for a bit, to give the snow time to melt. Not a bad idea, at all! We sat and chatted for a good long while, then, close to 5pm, we all departed.

I made it back to my hotel room, showered again with all the good stuff and finally felt clean. I put on deodorant-the one thing I just KNEW to leave at home.. because, while I’ll stink regardless out here, the chaffing my pits decided to unleash on me is next level irritation. So, for now, until some of the chunk disappears (which it BETTER BE on its way out the door, crappy thyroid or not), I’ll be toting deodorant religiously.

I painted my nails and cut them, too. Finalized my gear, got stuff situated to ship.. watched SVU and worked on this blog. The time flew by. Before I knew it, it was after 1am! So, I turned everything off and tried to make myself sleep. I tossed and turned a lot, but it wasn’t too terrible. Tomorrow is a busy day of post office visits, bus rides, and hitch hikes. Let’s all pray it goes smoothly!