Start: 115
Stop: 128
Today’s miles: 13
Total PCT miles: 315.8
I still haven’t decided how I feel about today, like it was beautiful, it was challenging, and then, by 6pm I was completely over all of it, until I had dinner and was back to being happy again. What a Rollercoaster.
I slept phenomenally. I got up around 7:40 and packed all my gear, then went to eat over by Pebbles and DownUnda (Margot got her trail name today!). Pebbles was mostly packed, DownUnda was maybe halfway, and Silky appeared to still be asleep. Eventually everyone got moving, me and pebbles first, around 8:50.. my latest morning on trail so far I think.
It didn’t matter, we only had 13 miles to do, so the late start seemed like a fantastic idea. The day started with a huge climb, the only real climb of the day.. and it was 6 miles up this mountain. There were switchbacks and it was mostly wooded with small patches of overgrowth to walk through.. the issue: 110 blowdowns to climb under, over, across, or around in that 6 miles.
I thought we were making good time until I realized it was 11:30 and we were hardly half way up the climb. Sheesh. Early on Pebbles and I decided to wait for the other two to catch up, to hike mostly together, because some of the blowdowns were the size of small houses and hard to maneuver.. and also because DownUnda is 5’2” and we wanted to make sure she could get across it all. I ended up being pulled over and helped across at least 2-5 myself, so I was glad to be together.
That’s how Pebbles came up with Margot’s trail name.. she’s so tiny, she’d frequently just take her pack off and slide under the trees that the rest of us wouldn’t even consider going under.. she also lived in Australia for a few years and had a bit of an Aussie accent-so, DownUnda fits perfect. The second he said it we were all like, “YESSSSS!! That’s the one!” Pretty fun highlight of the day.
We had lunch less than a mile from the top, because it was already 1:30 and we still weren’t there. Yikes. We all headed out from lunch at different times, DownUnda first, then me. The views at the top of that climb were unbelievable! And then it was almost 2 miles of hiking around the bowl of this mountain, though melting snow and lots of water. Parts were tricky, with the melt giving way and causing a post hole or 8.. but for the most part, it was just so stunning I didn’t care.
Then came the descent, 5 miles of switchbacks that were more exposed and overgrown than wooded and had 45 blowdowns to go over. The overgrowth was annoying, leaves and bushes smacking you in the face, plus the sun was unrelenting and the trail itself was sloped and rocky with roots too, so when you could see it, it was uneven and annoying. I ended up falling 3 times.. once as a slip attempting to get over a blowdown, once to my knees in a weird trip. And then the last one about sent me over the edge.
We were just past the junction I thought we were camping at.. and the trail started going uphill. Everyone else was going to the campsites just past the junction, not realizing there was campsites at the junction too.. it’s what I get for not explaining beforehand better, and for not checking my phone as we got close. It was overgrown, I hit a rock and I kid you not-I like dolphin sprung through the air somehow-both legs together, in the air, and I came down hard on my left shoulder and the left side of my face. Where were my arms? No freaking clue.. because they were most definitely not reached out to brace my fall..
It hurt so bad that I just laid there. I sat up some, not moving much, seeing my phone, sunglasses, bandana, chapstick, trekking pole all strung out in front of me. Everyone came to check on me, I was fine, just hurting and mad and on the verge of tears. I told DownUnda to keep going to scout out campsites, and then asked Pebbles and Silky to step over me and keep going too. Silky said I had 15 minutes to catch up to them or she was coming to find me.
I only say another minute or two, forcing the tears back, and then I got up and started following them. We crossed the bridge that goes over this fast moving river, with no real safe way to get water from. We went through another overgrown switchback and I was seconds from losing my mind. And then I got to everyone and DownUnda had saved me a spot for my tent. She’s so good to me.
I rested a minute before setting up my tent. I was too exhausted to set up anything else and just left my pack by my tent and when we realized there was no water at this site, Pebbles and I took all of our bottles and bags and walked back down past the crime scene of my fall to a small snowmelt stream running across trail. Both DownUnda and Silky offered to go instead of me, so I could rest, but I was so thirsty I didn’t think I could wait for them to come back with my water. I was also a little bit lightheaded, too. Like the adrenaline from the fall wore off and I wasn’t left with much else.
We filtered and filled our bottles and refilled the bags. We both drank a liter down there, too. I was utterly spent. When we got back and we all sat around making dinner, my mood started to perk up. My shoulder has a bruise and a knot already formed. So, that should be fun. We’re all tucked in bed now and tomorrow will be an early day, because even though there was snow today-there’s apparently bigger, trickier snow tomorrow, and we want to all get up this 3 mile climb to it and do the snow business together.
I think it’s going to be better than what we were originally told. Today on trail a man passed us coming that way and said he had no trekking poles, no microspikes or ice axe and got through it without any real issues. He said he’d fall but then just get up and keep going up to the trail, he never felt like it was too dangerous to cross. That really made me feel better.
Ok, it’s bedtime. It looks like I’ll be sleeping mostly on my right side tonight, thanks to my new sore shoulder. Good times. Goodnight!