Start: 2157
Stop: 2192.4
Today’s miles: 35.4
Total PCT miles: 1909
Today was long, but I don’t think I’ve laughed this much in awhile!
We actually woke up at 5:45 like we said we would, and we were on trail by 6:30 somehow instead of 6:15-but I think it was the sunrise that kept stalling me. It was beautiful, coming up over the horizon with the tiny town lights down below in the valley. This spot up above on the mountain really made for some great views.
We hiked for about 2 miles before getting to the cistern for water. It was tricky, and if Marquis hadn’t been there, once again, I wouldn’t have been drinking any water! He used the string and trekking pole situation again to get his bottle to fill and then used that bottle to fill up the rest. Those cisterns are creepy, I keep expecting to see a dead body floating in it-and we kind of did-a lizard. Poor dude. Anywho-heebeejeebees for certain.. I almost don’t know if I’d stick my arm down in those things in general if I was alone. Ha.. actually, I know I wouldn’t.
We kept hiking. The desert brush and bushes are all pokey, spiky, prickly, or in someway painful to walk by. Poodle Dog Bush leaves a rash where it touches your skin, so when it popped up all over the dang place, Marquis and I walked over to the dirt road adjacent to the trail. At least the road is wide enough to avoid the nasty rash giving bush.
It was hot and the gnats were out in full force-their entire army’s lining up to take turns diving into my eyes and up my nose. I was technically in my headnet before the sun actually broke over the horizon. We were sweating like pigs! When we eventually made it to a road crossing, we decided to try to hitch into Green Valley to get a snack and a soda. When one didn’t stop-we just walked to the gas station in town anyway. We had already got ourselves excited about a cold treat, ya know?
Once there, basking in the air conditioning and picking out drinks-and ice cream for Marquis, the girl working told us about a new restaurant that just opened a month or so ago called “Smoke House” that’s only a mile down the road. So. That felt like a sign, especially since we had to walk down there already. I looked at our app, and if we walked the mile to the restaurant, we could continue to road walk through town, past a lake, make a turn, and then get back on trail. It didn’t seem to be much, if any, shorter than the piece of trail between the road crossings-so, we decided to go with the road walk and avoid the bush attacks and snakes. No regrets.
The food was incredible! And the restaurant was so nicely decorated! I was in love with the atmosphere, maybe even more than the food. Our waitress told us she hand made from scratch the biscuits, Jalapeño cornbread, and a cinnamon bake.. how on earth do you choose from that?! I got a little of everything: biscuits and gravy, pulled pork sandwich, Coleslaw, Mac and cheese, green chili corn, and cornbread.
I am ashamed to say I couldn’t finish it all. I saved my pulled pork sandwich for last and was absolutely dying by the time I got to it-so after a few bites I got a small to go box and stuck it in my pack. It just now ended up being my dinner. We finished up and started our long road walk to get back to trail, and the road through town was super cute. Lots of houses, all different in shape, size, color. All with fences and almost all with dogs. I loved it!
Then, the road went up and started winding around the mountains, went down and around a lake, and then continued on for forever it felt like, especially with overly full bellies and the hot sun beating on us and the pavement. Nothing scratched my legs though, and we saw no snakes. We did see some kind of big cat, Marquis thinks it could have been a lynx or a bobcat, maybe. It wasn’t huge, but it was way bigger than a house cat. I got him on camera.. so, I’m considering it all a win!
By the time we got to trail, after some sketchy two lane highway walking, it was close to 6pm. The trail climbed from the road, and when we stopped to fill up water at the last available water spot for a while, we also got out headlamps. We got to watch the sunset over the mountains and we could see the lake we walked around down in the distance. The deep oranges of the sky mixed with the rusty reds and forest greens of the shrubs we were walking through was absolutely beautiful. All of the colors just seemed so much more vibrant and vivid.
We set up camp on the top of the mountain we climbed up-it’s more like a big hill.. nothing too dramatic. It was dark when we did so, but a faint orange glow was shining behind the city lights below, and the moon is completely full-occasionally making one of us think the other has their headlamp shining for no reason.. lol.
We unpacked and ate our dinners, my pulled pork sandwich was maybe even better tonight after that climb. Now it’s almost 9pm, crickets are singing and I’m about ready to put in my earplugs and use my headband as an eye mask to get some shut eye, 5:45 comes real fast. Goodnight!