PCT Days 16 – 18

PCT Day 16

Well, today was the lowest point of the trail….literally and emotionally.

We resumed our descent after breaking camp early this morning. The downhill started to take a toll on our knees, ankles, and spirit.

After about nine miles we finally reached the first water source in over 20 miles…a water fountain that flowed like a pee stream in the wind.

Here, we met a day hiker that recognized us as tired hikers said he drop beer and soda under the overpass, a mere four flat miles away.

These four miles were the hardest flat I have hiked in my life. We traversed 100 plus desert temperatures, sand, and 60mph winds. It took 2 hours and we found shelter under the shady overpass next to a cooler filled with ice cold beer and soda.

From our oasis we took an Uber to In and Out to meet our friends to binge on guilt free burgers. Rachel and I weren’t the only ones beaten by the elements. Our friends decided to stay at a hotel down the way in Banning and we joined them.

We all ate Mexican food and drank cheap beer for dinner before an early and much need bed time.

PCT Day 17

The alarm went off at 0530 today. We rolled out of bed around 0700, watched some soccer and slurped coffee.

We thumbed a ride from Tom outside our hotel. He was a Vietnam veteran that did 20 years in the army and San Diego county sheriffs office. He picked us up because we “looked like Germans.” We had a great time chatting with him on the way to the trail. He was concerned we didn’t carry enough equipment for self defense and offered a “lightweight” hatchet. We respectfully declined.

We picked up where we left off yesterday and so did the wind! Thankfully it was at our back for part of the day. We hiked from the desert floor to the white water river. We relaxed by the water and took a dip before hiking another six miles to our campsite. Tonight we get the absolute luxury of camping by water.

PCT Day 18

Our sandy beachfront campsite turned into a sandy tent overnight. It made for a salty start to the day.

From camp, the trail meanders through a washout so it’s more of a “choose your own trail” rather than a defined route. When the trail regained proper form we climbed about 5K feet over ten miles. Today was hot and had surprisingly little wind.

We reached a nice creek to siesta at and for the first time we took actually napped. This power nap supplied us with energy to climb another thousand feet to a nice ridge campsite amongst some Jeffrey Pines.

I developed a healthy rip in the crotch of my pants today and Rachel is selflessly repairing them. I owe her.