Day 27: Into Agua Dulce — Messenger Flats to Serenity Oasis — 450 Miles

Miles hiked: 24.3

Mile marker: 454.7

I thought the desert was supposed to be hot. But here I stand, shivering to the bone as the damp cold penetrates my layers. My fingers burn with cold in this slightly windy morning. I should’ve packed my rain pants and gloves with me. I envy those around me who have them.

We’re surrounded by a cloud. This explains why my sleeping bag was wet this morning.

We said we are going to leave at 6:30. I’ve packed most of my bag. When I woke up this morning, I grabbed my day clothes and shoved them into the bottom of my sleeping bag. My water filter is already in there — if the water filter gets too cold and freezes, it will break the threads in the filter and therefore damage the threads inside. Most of my bag is packed as I step out of my tent into the slight breeze.

Gosh, this is so cold.

Dad mixes his hot chocolate and coffee drink as I finish packing my bag. It’s light out as we, among other hikers, get ready for the day. The privy is much better than the very smelly one at Little Jimmy’s campground. It’s warm, there is toilet paper and hand sanitizer, and it doesn’t smell so bad!

Bumper and Lucie take refuge under the roof of the privy as we all pass them. Lucie joins us as we walk to the trail, but Bumper is still packing. We don’t realize this as we walk across the dirt road and back onto trail.

Yesterday, Savannah, Lucie, and I cut through the tough brush. Whoops.

I was hoping to warm up in the first few minutes of the hike. My hands are stuffed into my pockets as I walk and sometimes jog to keep up with Dad. His pace is so fast. We walk on an easy path, going up and down and avoiding a big rock from time to time.

The sun is bright, but not standing over us. The clouds hang low in the sky.

“Where’s Bumper?” Dad asks.

“He wasn’t ready when we left,” Lucie responds.

“We said 6:30!” Dad says.

We’re all paused on a ledge, staring at the clouds hanging in front of us. The sun peeks out from behind a cloud.

“Sun, glorious sun!” Dad sings.

He’s right.

He holds his hands out to the sun, and Lucie and I follow suit.

The sun feels like standing in front a cozy fireplace after being outside in a hailstorm. The warmth floods me wherever the sun touches.

A moment it’s here, and the next, it’s gone.

Bumper rounds the corner with a big smile on his face and his camera rolling. He’s a vlogger — so I call him my trail twin since we both wear blue, have the same hair, and share our PCT stories online.

We continue on. Through the view of the trees are hills and valleys, the sun catching every crack and crevice of them. The clouds close to us are opaque and ghost like, while the ones far away are solid and defined.

It’s getting warmer now. We pause by a rock to delayer. Lucie flies by as she’s talking to her family on the phone. That girl always has service.

I’m walking alone for a while, something I’ve been doing more of lately as I think hard about the freedom I have in life to do what I want. Not everyone has that. I learned a lot of things the past few years living in North Carolina, and one of them was breaking free of needing accolades to be successful.

I catch the others and walk with them for a few minutes.

“Dad was here!” I said, gesturing to a giant smiley face written in the white sand.

A few minutes later and we’re at our next water source. We look on our app and decide we should get water here for the next 14.5 miles, which will take us to our campsite.

We take our packs off and grab some water.

Bumper sits on the edge of Rafiki’s mat.

“You look like the bobsled!” Lucie says. We’re just practicing, I guess. She’s referring to our image of what we’ll do if we get Norovirus.

Lucie begins to put on her pack. “I need to keep moving before I get sleepy.”

So true. We all follow suit and press through the next few miles. It’s warmer, windy, and very much downhill. My knees are hurting as I make the descent.

I see a little town and wonder if that’s where we’re going. It looks magical! Then again, civilization has a special spell over me.

We walk down several switchbacks. Finally, we arrive at a little shelter where Dad is napping on a wall with his feet propped up on the post.

“How long have you been here?” I ask.

“About an hour forty. I was pushing it to see how fast I could go. Glad to see that I still have it!”

He’s so fast.

I eat a bagel with chicken salad and cheese here, a snickers bar, and try to get through my cheezits. It’s windy and sometimes cold. I lay out my sleeping bag and shirt to dry. Before I know it, we’re up again and moving forward. Only ten miles left!

We cross some train tracks and walk onto the path. It’s white and the grass around us is straw colored. It’s different than the shrubby stuff we’ve had to go through today.

There a bush so vibrantly green that it cuts against the dull colors of the landscape. There are piles of grey wiry grass everywhere.

I follow the crew down and we find a cave. It’s not so exciting, but a good shelter if you needed it! Now back up the giant hill that looks like a slide.

Fluffy white clouds are pulled over a giant layer of sandy hills. I pass several plants where flowers the color of a yellow highlighter are blooming on what looks like green licorice. These other delicate flowers that are the most precious deep pink and light pink are everywhere around us.

Rafiki catches up with me and I spot a bush with green feather fluff blooms. I look up and there is a wind tunnel! It’s decorated with graffiti. The middle is curved and filled with water, so I walk toward the edge. As we go deeper, it grows darker. I feel like I’m wearing those drunk glasses! It’s like an optical illusion in here, and I can’t walk straight!

We hike a while longer before coming to the amazing rocks. They are layered with different types of rocks and go on for quite a while. Apparently some of Star Wars was filmed out here.

With Rafiki and Dad ahead, Savannah, Bumper and I wander around what feels like a very public park. There are signs posted everywhere to stay on trail. It feels so odd to go through something so accessible.

We finally hit a road. We walk for what feels miles miles (only one) before we get to a grocery store. We eat tacos. I’m so mad because I tear through my dinner only to find out later there is a bar with toppings! I may go back tomorrow.