October 23

Distance: 24.2 miles | Ascent: 3290′ | Descent: 4700′

Mile marker: 2181.6

Lunch: J – chicken parm (A), A – chili and rice (B)

Dinner: J – spinach couscous (B), A – curry couscous (B)

---

We both got good sleep last night and woke up to a very autumny campsite.

We’re trying to recover from our intense, self-induced lack of sleep. Fortunately, we found our friends at the campsite in the morning. It was good to see everyone in fairly good spirits. We have a little pack of hikers now. Our distances will all be about the same, dictated by the water sources in this especially dry section during an especially dry year. We all hit the trail at different times, but we would all see each other throughout the day multiple times and end up camping with most of them again.

As for the trail and hike, today was a pretty mundane day. It wasn’t challenging, per se. It wasn’t spectacular either. It was the epitome of the desert. Lots of scrub. Lots of old burn zone with reminders that this used to be a lush forest. Long water carries.

We had our first encounters with Poodle Dog Bush (PDB), a plant that we’ve been warned causes intense and long-lasting rashes. All our friends took an alternate road-walk to avoid a PDB-riddled section of trail, but we opted for the trail, hoping our long sleeves and pants would protect us. We have become sticklers for staying on-trail, venturing close to “red line purist” territory (the PCT is red on our maps, while alternatives are other colors). The PDB on trail actually wasn’t too hard to avoid, although it did smell funky.

We both listened to audiobooks almost all day to help pass the time. We were still tired, sure, but that excuse can only be used so often, right?

A spring about 12 miles out of camp seemed to come out of nowhere. Springs are odd things. In the dry desert, water just flows out of a hillside. We were quite grateful for it.

As for the trail, it all looked the same, for the most part. Without our map and our dot of the GPS moving slowly over the ridgeline, it would be tough to believe we were moving.

There was a small cave along the hillside next to the trail. Against our wishes, we didn’t go inside.

The trail crossed a road next to a Forest Service fire station. Fortunately, the tap was still on outside where we could refill our water bottles for the next dry stretch. Without man-made water resources sporadically dotted throughout, this section would be impossible without serious risk of dehydration.

We climbed the last hill at dusk. The fading sunlight cast an eerie purple glow on the hills. A sliver of the moon was visible for just a few minutes between two ridges.

We got to camp in the dark. Many of our comrades joined at the same tentsite after we were soundly asleep.