Day 11
Start: 0745 - Paradise Cafe
End: 11545 - somewhere on the alternate route
Miles (today) - 15 (10 trail, 4 alternate, 1 off)
Miles (cumulative) - 168
They say Turtle Don got his name because one day on the trail he pointed at a turtle and said, "Everyone may be passing me but I can still pass that".
Well, I think Turtle Don could have passed me today.
My left heal isn't in the best of shape - there is a weird blister/callus thing going on that I'm not quite sure what to do with. Most of the morning was spent trying to decide what was worse - the pain on my heal or the way I smell. I could barely bring myself to put on my oxi-not-so-clean white hiking shirt this morning. You know it's bad when you make yourself sick! (Thank goodness we only have 16 or so miles to go until Idyllwild - we'll definitely be doing laundry and maybe even taking a zero day there.)
I was able to ignore my heal pain for a while, and during that time I decided my smell was worse. However, I knew something was amiss when I was unable to keep up with Nick.
Nick waiting for me to catch up
As the day wore on my ability to ignore the heal pain evaporated - suddenly, the heal pain was much, MUCH worse then my smell. Then it started to rain (cold rain again, why does it always have to be cold rain?). It rained so much that we didn't take a break for lunch (a break I desperately needed). Then it started to snow. Yes, you read that correctly. It snowed. Then the snow turned back into rain. Then we had to walk downhill on rocky terrain for endless miles while it rained. Then I tripped and fell into a yucca plant (not recommended). Before I knew it, I was merely shuffling down the trail - the lack of any break and all the downhill walking really made the blister mad. I thought of Turtle Don and how he could probably move faster then I; this made me feel sorry for myself and caused tears of frustration to appear (dammit, I need to get a grip - I can't be shedding tears every time things get a little difficult!!)
The pine cones were huge!
Nick enjoying the snow. How he wasn't freezing at that point is beyond me
When I finally met up with Nick again I pulled myself together (or tried to). It's safe to say that today was not my favorite. Mostly because of my inability to walk normally, partly because of the weather (Snow? Really?), and partly because of the alternate route we have to walk because a section of the PCT is still closed from a 2013 fire.
The closed section of the PCT
By the time we made it to a decent campsite, my hands were completely frozen- so frozen that I couldn't even do simple tasks like unfasten the hip belt on my backpack. It was ridiculous how useless my hands were - anything requiring the least amount of grip strength or dexterity was completely beyond me- and I just started laughing uncontrollably at the whole situation/day. (Yes, I have gloves. No, I wasn't wearing them. I had accidentally packed them with my sleep system, which meant they were in a special bag at the very bottom of my pack and I didn't want to stop in the cold rain to dig them out. Yes, I know it wasn't the smartest decision.)
Since it is still raining, windy, and cold, Nick and I broke a camping rule and ate in our tent. I think we're safe, though - we shouldn't have to worry about bears here and the weather should keep other wildlife home (although with the day I'm having.....) LOL :)
We didn't see any hikers all day - where is everyone?