Day 22: Mile 350 — Halfway through the Desert

Miles hiked: 21

Mile marker: 368.2

Water is dotted along my entire sleeping bag. The stars spill over the sky. I reach next to me and quickly swipe a finger over Dad’s sleeping bag. His is wet too.

There’s no way I sleep so hot in this 10 degree sleeping bag that I got mine wet all over plus Dad’s!

I roll over and over, hoping to fall back asleep. A faint glow lights up the horizon: city lights. The moon lights up the other portion of the sky.

My alarm goes off and the ear plugs come out.

While I do my normal morning routine of compressing my sleeping bag three times — why is this so difficult — to try to get the air out along side all of my other morning chores, soon I’m the only one left getting ready. It’s not even half past four!

Oh, yeah. That’s the other thing. We’re up at 4:00 AM today. We have a big ascent coming up, and I didn’t want to get caught in the heat of the day trying to climb thousands of feet.

It’s still dark as I carefully pour my Abuelita’s hot chocolate into my seven ounce water bottle. The rest of the group is chatting by the bushes. I should have said leave at 5:00, not get up at 4:00!

I finally step over the rocks and go down to meet the group.

“How do you guys get ready so fast?” I say as I adjust my headlamp to the red light to avoid hurting anyone’s eyes.

“I just give myself five minutes to pack, then rush to do it,” a girl says.

I know that face!

“Poppy? Hey! I haven’t seen you in a while!” I say. Poppy and Seaby — pronounced SEE-BEE — started the same day Dad and I did. I haven’t seen them since the first week!

Dad leads us on the trail. We all follow in line, a string of red lights going up the hill. Soon, some of those red lights turn into white ones. There’s a lot of rocks to navigate in the dark, and I need the full light.

Apparently, Bumper was up at 3:50. That explains ten minutes of their waiting on me.

I shouldn’t have worn my fleece to start. Be bold, start cold, they say. I’m already hot as we hike up the hill.

“Hey Katy, do you feel lighter?” Rafiki asks from behind me.

“Uh, yeah. I do,” I say.

“Here.”

I turn to look at him and he’s holding my water bladder. Oh no! He shoves it into my mesh pocket, in between my shoes. I was in such a rush to get ready that I didn’t fold it like a burrito in my mat. Instead, it was folded like a ham and cheese wrap and slid right out of the mat. Thank goodness it didn’t bust.

Seaby and Poppy pull off to take their jackets off. I’m waiting for Dad to take his off, but he’s moving quickly up the hill as we wind around it.

The birds sing to each other. My calves hurt. This activity is very demanding on my body at 5:00 AM!

I’m on fire when I finally pull off the trail to take my fleece off. It’s going to take me forever to catch up.

I’m pushing hard up the hill. Well, as hard as I want to in the black of the night before the sun is even awake.

Rafiki tells something from ahead. Is there a snake?

Soon, I run into the group. Dad is waiting for everyone to catch up while he takes off his fleece.

A row of rocks reads 350 miles! I’m halfway through the desert! That’s what Rafiki shouted!

We continue up the trail, snaking around the ridge. Light starts to glow in the sky. I’m behind again, but soon catch up to the group with others bumping in behind me.

Through the V of the grassy valley, an orange light glows over a grey clouds and peaks of hills.

It turns from peachy orange to blood orange. The air is warmer now, comfortable.

A yellow hew touches the horizon. Then, a burning yellow tip surfaces. I have to squint at the light as my eyes strain against the flaming brightness of the waking morning.

The sun slides over the clouds and makes its full entrance, burning like a goddess.

We continue walking on the rocky path. We’re surrounded by low shrubs. The golden glow of the morning shifts into a blue sky and bright sunlight that casts long shadows.

Today is leg day. That means that I’m huffing and puffing, pushing up a hill to reach an opening. There, Dad and others are waiting. We started with Dad, myself, Seaby, Poppy, Bumper, Savannah, Lucie, and Rafiki (who had already walked ahead of us).

As we push to make more miles, the scenery turns into a giant green wall with folds of a ribbon. It stretches from my left all the way to my right.

The shrubbery is all shades of green. Bright green, dull green, and white. Red, yellow, purple, and white flowers on scratchy bushes scatter the slopes around us.

Since I have a slight interest in going to New Zealand, I’m really glad to run into Poppy again. Her and Seaby are from there.

“What’s it like there?” I ask.

“It’s pretty chill. Christchurch is growing and there’s a lot more families there. You can go hiking, surfing, rock climbing.”

I’m thinking of trying out for that work visa there. We’ll see.

As we walk, some burned trees pop giant the flawlessly blue sky. We’re getting into alpine forest here.

Rafiki is under a tree, so we all join him. Here, Seaby and Poppy continue walking while the rest of us sit back and enjoy a snack.

It’s hot now. I try to squeeze under the shade, but I’m having to try really hard not to sit on the edge of Rafiki’s orange mat.

We continue on. It’s all uphill and it’s hot work. The space behind my knees are tight. My calves burn as I walk. Dad has gone ahead, leaving Rafiki, Bumper, Savannah, Lucie, and me. I’m leading the group, so I finally propose that we take a break when we can.

I soon spot a healthy sized log under some trees. We pile on, looking like the apitomy of ants on a log.

Lucie joins a moment later. Last night, she hit the heel of her foot on something. Her walk today has been a painful one. I hate that she went from the nausea of a hot five-mile hike after McDonald’s yesterday to an injured heel today!

My back is soaked in sweat. When the wind whispers, my back is immediately cold. The group chats for about ten minutes about sweaty backs. It’s a funny thing, here on trail, we spend a lot of time talking about things that don’t matter.

We have the time for it, though. It’s the relationships where we’re allowed to talk about silly things for so long that bring us closer together.

“Do you guys want to keep going?” I ask, knowing we should hit the trail.

“No,” Bumper says.

“Want to go or should go?” Savannah says.

I get up and throw my pack on. “We should get going,” I say, more assertively.

We continue walking up through the pine trees. The wind gives us the sweet smell of pine as we walk.

Dad is sitting under a tree with some other hikers. “Oh!” he says, “I found this!” He holds up a phone charger.

“Thanks!” I say. I’ve been needing a new charger since I started trail! Mine is too long and doesn’t always work. The trail provides!

“There should be a good break spot coming up soon,” Dad says.

We pass several beautiful red snow flowers. I even found four in a row! I’ve never seen that many before!

We climb deeper into the pines. An overlook presents itself.

“Is there a view?” Savannah asks.

I step up and look down at the broken pine trees. “Eh,” I say.

Lucie steps up next to me. “Mm. I’ve seen better,” she says in her quiet Czech Republic dry humor.

“I love your candor!” I laugh.

We’re about 13 miles in and spot Dad’s good break spot where he lunched last time he hiked the PCT. There is already a circle of hikers here. We join them. I kick off my shoes and socks and enjoy a hot meal of potatoes and udon for lunch.

We are on a cliff that overlooks a dry and endless world. Like being on the edge of world.

We continue on. We’re walking along a path that is covered in pine straw and bordered with some good-sized rocks. There are patches of small purple flowers. There a pine trees spread out everywhere, looking like naked Christmas trees.

We hit a dirt road and wander down until we come across big yellow logging equipment — a front end load grappler (I think). The tires are almost as tall as me!

We continue on until we reach our water source. I look down a steep hill and switchback. Oh man! This is 200 feet down in about a tenth of a mile! We leave our packs at the top before descending.

Going back up is a slow process. The first half of the switchback is steep, and the second half I push hard to be done with the ascent sooner.

Giant piles of logs border our trail as we walk. We pass two retention ponds that are gated — I wish I could jump in! These help create snow for the ski resort near us.

We finally reach the campground. Connor is here! It’s too windy at the campground, and Dad doesn’t want to stay here. The wind is cutting through our shirts as it blows wildly around.

We contemplate staying in a tunnel of the giant logs. The ground is made of broken pine mulch, so we decide to move on. We run into two bikers who direct us to a little dip that we can get out of the wind.

We keep walking until we reach the ski lifts. “What about here?” Savannah suggests. We scout it out, but it’s right by a road. Dad goes up the hill and scouts out a potential spot. He waves his arms around. Good spot!

We hike up the hill and find our spots on the gravel. Dad and I set up our tents, but Bumper, Savannah, Lucie, and Truls cowboy camp.

My feet and calves are absolutely filthy! The desert is so dusty. The ground is gravel, so not the best to place to set up. At least we’re out of the wind!