PCT Trail Journal: Day 12 Miles 115.4 to 131.6

Miles 115.4 to 131.6 were both hard and gave me a sense of accomplishment. Today was the most I’ve ever hiked in a day: 16 miles! And my feet felt pretty good. My shoulder was hurting way worse.

The sun started coming up around 6 and so did I. I love having coffee in my tent while sitting in my sleeping bag. I hit the trail at 7:30 (that’s pretty good for me!) and climbed up and up. There were huge views of mountains and green fields.

It started getting hot quickly. And felt even hotter when going uphill. I hiked alone and listened to my book. After 4 miles there was a water source 0.2 off the trail. I rested and drank a lot because the next water source was 7.7 miles away.

After 2 more hours of hiking, it was lunchtime. I took another break and rested in the shade. The landscape was cool. There were big boulders and more trees. The sun was burny! The hiking was hard today. All the up and the hot sun. I kept thinking about meeting my love in Palm Springs on Friday.

I lost both my platypus water bottle and pee rag. A nice thru-hiker returned the water bottle. I feel bad about losing/littering my pee rag.

A young guy limped by and he was using a bandana as a knee brace. His knee was killing him on the down. We were 25 miles from civilization. It’s amazing how people are suffering on the trail but they still want to keep going.

After lunch, I hit the last water source for 10 miles. I thought about camping there instead of doing a big water haul. But decided to fill up on water and hike 5 more miles to a protected campsite. The wind started to pick up and I did not want an exposed site.

There was some trail magic and I got sparkling water. It was so good. Thank you trail angels!

The trail climbed up for 2 miles and then gave great views of snow-capped mountains in the distance. I thought that’s where I’m going!

The trail was on the edge of the mountain and had more huge mountain views. This section was a little scary. Parts of it were washed out and it was super narrow. I avoided looking down so I wouldn’t get scared. Sanja told me later that this section made her forget about how bad her back was hurting. 

I made it to camp and felt great. During the day I wasn’t feeling so awesome but after hiking 16 miles I felt accomplished.

I was also starving and I’m sick of all my food already. I get food jealousy easily and am jealous of what everyone else has. It doesn’t help that I have no idea what I want to eat.

My blisters are stirred up a little but not huge and fluid-filled. It’s hard getting bandaids and tape to stick when everything is so dirty. 

Dinner at 5 pm and in bed by 7. This is totally my vibe.

✨3 Things I’m Grateful For

1. Audiobooks
2. Trail angels and trail magic. The smallest thing is a huge moral boost.
3. Help and motivation from other thru-hikers and my friends and family

✨3 Things I’m Excited About

1. Palm Springs with my love 💛. I thought about this a lot today.
2. Food from Paradise Valley Cafe. We talked about it A LOT at dinner today.
3. Figuring out the snow situation outside of LA

🌟How Was Today? Did I enjoy it?

I was struggling during the hike. It was hard and hot. I did a good job taking breaks and that helped a lot. When I got to camp, I felt great though. Like I did a really good job. Today was type 2 fun: wasn’t fun while I was doing it but felt fun later.

⛺How Was My Gear?

My CNOC bag is super leaky at the top big flap. Another hiker says his isn’t. I’m annoyed that I can’t store extra water in it. It just leaks everywhere and makes me filter.

💪How did my Body Feel?

My right neck/shoulder was seriously unhappy today. Lots of pinching and sharp pain. I rubbed it a lot and added topical ibuprofen.

🍴How was my food situation?

I’m sick of everything. I just don’t feel like eating my stuff. I seem to be eating the dried fruit up super fast and get jealous of other people’s ramen. I can’t believe I’m saying that. I don’t even recognize myself anymore.

🤔What did I learn and how will I action it?

I took 3 good-sized breaks today and it made me feel good. I’m going to take more breaks, especially when I’m struggle busing. And I really could use a shower.