The Unpolished Princess

Start: 1594.7

Stop: 1618.6

Today’s miles: 23.9

Total PCT miles: 1470.8

I accidentally set up camp 1.3 miles short of our actual planned spot.. not 100% sure how I did that, other than just not paying attention to the actual mileage completed and only watching how close I was getting to where I thought we were supposed to camp. To be fair, both spots were listed as: Tentsite (5) & Stream. So, I didn’t think there were two exactly the same so close together. Oh well..

I slept great, and woke up to the sunrise.. and naturally pressed snooze and turned the other way to get just a little bit more of that good sleep I was having. I finally deflated my sleeping pad at 6:30, and Margot did at the same time, so she must have been waiting for me to go first. Haha.

We packed and were on trail by 7am. Today was another gorgeous day. Cooler temperatures, very few bugs, sunny and blue skies. The trail felt mostly exposed and going around these massive mountains, some rocky, some green and lush.. some with very steep drop offs all around. It was eye candy all day long.

I only stopped to eat lunch and to dump rocks out of my shoes a couple times.. otherwise, all day I was walking and just mesmerized by my surroundings. There were only birds and chipmunks around, and very few people. Margot and I ate lunch by a stream and then the two of us leap frogged each other all day.

There was over 5k feet of elevation gain throughout the day, but so much of it I didn’t even notice because of being distracted by the sheer beauty of it all. I’ve already hiked a lot of the PCT’s High Sierra section, since a lot of it is merged with the John Muir Trail and Andrea and I backpacked that trail in 2018-so I know what beauty is coming my way, but I didn’t expect it to already be getting so gorgeous now. I don’t know why?

Tomorrow we get to Kennedy Meadows North, in 18.5 miles instead of 17.2 (whoops!) and Margot will get her bear canister there. From there, we will get into Yosemite National Park within a few days. At a road junction, Margot and I will split again.. she will go into Yosemite Valley-she plans to try to get a Half Dome permit and to zero in one of the most incredible parts of the park. I’ve been to that area several times already, and I want to hike Half Dome with Andrea, so I’m going to keep moving ahead. Hopefully we reunite a few days after that, but I’m not sure if we will. That makes me sad. Even still, we’re several days away from that reality, so I’ll try not to think about it.

I do think I’m ready to roll over and snuggle into my quilt. I hope I sleep as good tonight as I did last night. Fingers crossed! Sweet dreams!

Start: 1577.4

Stop: 1594.7

Today’s miles: 17.3

Total PCT miles: 1446.9

I damn sure did not want to wake up this morning, but once I did I realized how hot I was-I was literally sweating so much my shirt and my hair were stuck to me. I guess I got over that chill I had the last couple days. I went to pee and then had to stand outside on the balcony until I started to shiver. That room was a sauna.

I came back in and started packing. Mostly done, all but my tent packed, I went to stand outside again, and Margot said I could just leave the door open for a bit because she was hot, too. Thank GOD. When I had looked at the thermostat, it had read 76 degrees. There has never in my life been a reason to have a room that hot before. I’ve refused to spend the night at friend’s houses over them keeping the temperature on 74. Yikes.

Finally, it started to cool off some and I could breathe again. I finished packing and I ate a burrito bowl thing I still had in the mini fridge.It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t terrible either. Once we were all set, we checked out of the room and walked to the general store for coffees. I also got a breakfast sandwich there. If I had known they sold them, I probably wouldn’t have eaten that other frozen thing-probably.

We made our way down to the end of the resort road to the main highway road. At that intersection, Margot pulled out her sign and I stuck my thumb out at the first vehicle coming towards us-and-they stopped. Two guys out fishing fit us in the backseat of their pickup and took us to Carson Pass! They were so nice, asking about the trail and all we’ve seen and gone through. They were wonderful!

At Carson Pass, we talked with the same volunteers from Saturday. They are complete angels. The one said, “I don’t want you to think I thought you looked unhappy Saturday, but you two seem so much happier today.” Gosh, they’re nice. We told them about the resort and how it refreshed us. They told us the weather for the next week or so should be fantastic, though cooler at night since the seasons are changing. We said our goodbyes and started down the trail.

There were tons of day hikers and weekend backpackers, lots of folks with cute dogs. Gazelle passed us at one point, and we met Rainbow, a guy in his tramily that wears a rainbow tutu.. super fun and happy guy. The trail was gorgeous, maybe even on the level of Washington for me in the way of views and huge vistas with nothing but more beauty to see as far as the eye could go.

There were tons of lakes in the distance and rocks.. and even some snow to cross.. although it was one patch of maybe 50-75 feet, and at an angle that wouldn’t be dangerous if you slipped.
I was loving the views so much, that I almost didn’t even stop for lunch. Actually I probably wouldn’t have if Margot hadn’t caught up to me and asked. I was glad she asked then, at such a scenic overlook.. because whatever I was or wasn’t doing, food or no food, I didn’t want to leave yet.

After we ate, we continued on. The trail climbed upwards but the views were so magnificent on this ridgeline, that I hardly even noticed. I mean I was of course breathing hard, but I didn’t mind the work to get to the tops of the climbs..I was just staring around in amazement, so happy I didn’t do this section in pouring rain and clouds-obscuring my views.

We got to where we were going to camp and filtered water.. then decided to hike a little over a mile more, since it was only 5:30. The spot we settled on is in the “corner” valley of a climb between two mountains-I was shocked there was spots at all, but we’re both pretty comfortable here. We set up our tents and ate our dinners outside.

It’s beautiful and chilly. I’m glad we’re farther up this climb than we could have been a mile back. That should make tomorrow a little easier in the morning. I’m so far behind my goal as far as getting to certain towns by certain dates, but safety comes first, and being hypothermic for 3 nights while climbing these climbs in rain would have been disastrous. Nothing made that more clear than hiking it today in all its pristine beauty. If this trail does nothing, it humbles you.

Ok, time for me to get some sleep. Well, ok, time to ball up in my quilt and get my hands warm. I can’t wait to see what views I get to see tomorrow! Goodnight y’all!

When I woke up to the skies being light outside our closed blinds windows, I was mad. I just knew it was pretty out there and we booked this room for nothing!

Then, Margot opened the blinds and it was absolutely down pouring out there. So much so, that we decided to not go outside, to either the general store or the mile walk to the restaurant. It was coming down in sheets! I was suddenly very grateful for the amount of random food I bought from the store yesterday. Once my Synthroid settled for its allotted hour-I ate a microwaveable breakfast burrito. Was it great? No. Did I care? No.

We watched TV and laid around. Sometime in the afternoon the rain seemed to stop so we ventured out to the store for a drink and then carried on walking to the restaurant. Margot and I got a hitch most of the way there, which was great because it started raining again. So much rain!

When we walked in, we were quickly seated. I still had a little of my Mountain Dew left, and Margot still had some of her coffee, since we caught the ride there and didn’t finish our drinks on the way. We thought nothing of it, because the hostess that sat us said nothing about it and she had looked at both of our drinks.

Once we were sat, our drinks were on the table, and our waitress came over and very apologetically said we couldn’t have outside drinks on the table. I said, “oh, sorry, we walked here, can we sit them on the floor?” As I sat my mountain dew bottle on the floor by my chair. She said, “sure,” and walked away.

Then, she came right back, “actually, im so sorry, but I was told you can’t have them inside at all and I have to toss them..” so, I said, “ok,” and drank the end of my bottle before handing it to her (we’re talking a 24 ounce bottle here, clearly of Mountain Dew), and as this is happening, I hear chairs screeching and a man yelling, “you can’t do that!” My back was to him, but Margot looked mortified and all the people around us in the restaurant were staring in shock..

I didn’t see it, but Margot said he charged like he was going to smack the bottle out of my hands, and the waitress blocked him. What the hell? I would have literally lost my mind if this man touched me or anything I was holding. If it were such a huge deal, they should have told us at the door to either throw our drinks away or finish them outside. It was insane. If it weren’t the only restaurant open we would have left, it was that intense and uncomfortable.

The waitress kept apologizing, and it was pretty awkward. I don’t know why I didn’t just step outside to finish it, but either way-I had paid a ridiculous $4 for that drink and was going to drink it all, and it just didn’t cross my mind that it would be such a big deal.. I’m sure he thought it could have had alcohol in it or something, but that was also a little nuts to me. How gross would that have been? Lol, anyway-very odd situation.

I ordered the pulled pork sandwich, and the pork was luke warm, so that really sucked. But otherwise it and the fries tasted good. I did get a glass of wine when Margot got desert. We stayed a while since we had to walk back in the rain, trying to prolong the inevitable. The man never apologized for acting psychotic, but the waitress did profusely, probably thinking we wouldn’t tip her over that. Of course we tipped her well, and I would have regardless.

Anyway-we did indeed walk back in the rain, only half heartedly trying to hitch. I wanted to meet my step goal, and I knew not much movement would happen when we got back. I was right: besides doing laundry and each of us showering again-we pretty much lounged on our beds and watched TV in sweet, dry bliss-while the rain came down outside. It’s the perfect way to spend a zero.