When we arrived at pioneer mail picnic grounds on the evening of 4/20 Matt wasn't sure whether or not he should continue or take the next day off due to a knee injury that was bothering him. He was about to cook breakfast the next morning and told me to hike ahead. Didn't see him that day (yesterday) or today so he must be taking it slow. I'm sure my turn will come to fall behind at some point.
Finding a place to sleep at night was difficult though and site selection was important because it was very windy. Ryan had already picked a spot about a mile back so I was on my own at this point. I ended up sleeping behind a small California Juniper on a desert wash in the bottom of large flat valley. It was far from ideal. I had laid down all of my gear when I realized I was sleeping right next to a large black widow with the classic red hour glass back. It wasn't the best nights sleep I've gotten out here... I ended up sleeping only for a few hours before waking up at 4:30 am to push on to the next water source and tackle one of the more notorious hikes of the pct, the climb between scissors crossing water cache and third gate water cache.
It was hot, and tiring. I was walking slow due to my blisters and a sore hip that I think is largely due to tightness in my hamstrings and glutes. I'm making a point to stretch more, but in the end the pass wasn't so difficult and I had put in 16 miles by 1pm. I took a 2 hour nap at third gate and then Ryan showed up and we hiked on for a ways before cooking dinner on a ridge at sunset. Once again he camped about a mile before I did and it seems like we will reach Warner Springs tomorrow. That'll be 109 miles in 6 days. Not so shabby of a start. Hopefully we'll see Matt there as we haven't heard from him.
It was hot, and tiring. I was walking slow due to my blisters and a sore hip that I think is largely due to tightness in my hamstrings and glutes. I'm making a point to stretch more, but in the end the pass wasn't so difficult and I had put in 16 miles by 1pm. I took a 2 hour nap at third gate and then Ryan showed up and we hiked on for a ways before cooking dinner on a ridge at sunset. Once again he camped about a mile before I did and it seems like we will reach Warner Springs tomorrow. That'll be 109 miles in 6 days. Not so shabby of a start. Hopefully we'll see Matt there as we haven't heard from him.
Another interesting note is that we have begun to catch up with slower hikers. Almost everyone I saw today was a new face and all had started in the couple days preceding out start. I want to rest my body a bit in Warner Springs in order to be able to keep bagging good miles. I've dreamt about my dog every night since I've left, but overall I've slept well enough to keep chugging along and am greatly enjoying the simplicity of a foam pad and a lightweight bivy sack.
Cumulative miles so far: 95
Day 1: 20
Day 2: 18
Day 3: 17
Day 4: 22
Day 5: 18
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