PCT day 81 – Hot and humid

We set the alarm for 5:30 but didn’t leave camp until 8:15. The idea was to get the big 3000ft climb out of the way early in the morning to avoid the heat, especially as it was supposed to be over 100 degrees today, and get in a 25 mile day. But we were lulled into a false sense of security by the early morning clouds and we thought it was going to be the same as yesterday. 

I set of first as Cool Breeze was doing his morning faffing and he will catch me up anyway. I had been walking for 3 hours before he caught me, I was listening to the podcast Serial on the way up – podcasts it turns out are great because they take your mind off what you’re doing and you seem to go faster. By the time he caught me it was getting really hot. The sun had burnt off all the cloud and it was so humid. We stopped and had a snack and a nap and we ended up being there for 3 hours. 

We fell asleep for a bit in the shade and ended up in full sun, hot and sweaty and dehydrated. We still had 1000ft left of the climb. We carried on 2.5 miles to the spring and tanked up on water. 3 other people came by. By the time we had left the water source it was 4:30. 10 miles in 8 hours! The day was not quite going to plan! So we decided to try and do 8 more miles to a camp site as the terrain was fairly even. The clouds had started to form and we were granted a bit of a reprieve from the heat although it was still really humid. 

We got to the camp site at 7, ate dinner – don’t leave your tortilla packet on your hot sweaty leg because you get a tortilla packet transfer tattoo that won’t come off! 

The clouds were gathering in the distance and it looks like there is a storm approaching.   

18 miles today. We’ll try harder tomorrow…