PCT day 37 – Making up the miles
It turned out to be the windiest night ever. Even windier than a couple of nights ago. We were in windy central. I wake up several times in the night because my hips and knees are so painful, way more painful than in the day. We were all up early to make up for yesterday and hiking by 6:25am, after Growler had fixed her shoes...
There was an unexpected arduous uphill to start with, it was like walking on deep sand on a beach. The wind was freezing, until the sun came out, then one side was hot and the other side was freezing. It was freezinghot. The wind was so strong that it pulled the snot from your nose and the water from your eyes.
We hiked the 7 miles uphill to where we had planned to camp the previous day - there is no chance we would have made it! Cool Breeze saved me from an angry snake...
We then started on the big uphill of the day, I dread the ups and make them out to be a huge deal in my head, then when they turn out to be ok I'm always pleasantly surprised. It's working so far!
We took a break with Space Kitty and Goulet when we though we were at the top but we were only about 3 quarters of the way so we had a bit more of a climb – that did not make me happy! It then flattened out a bit and when we had done 16 miles I had a huge strop. I though my crew were breaking but when I got closer it wasn't them. My feet hurt, my knees hurt, my hips ached, my hips hurt where my bag sits on them, my shoulders were killing me, I was hungry, I had enough sun, I still had 12 miles to walk. Not happy. I caught up with Growler and I thought she said we would break at 1:35, it got to 1:37 and I threw down my poles, threw down my bag and threw myself down. Then I did the only sensible and reasonable thing a 32 year old could do - I cried.
I was quite happy being in my strop when I saw The Untraceables coming and I had to be cheery. Then Paparazzi came by, I hadn't met him yet so we had a little chat, he's not called paparazzi for nothing! He wanted to take my picture - I never want to see that picture!
I pulled myself together and carried on walking. I met growler walking towards me - she had stopped at 1:45 (as planned!) and got concerned when I didn't show up!
We carried on. Walking along a dirt road for a long while and I leapfrogged with Bender along the way. I walked with paparazzi for a bit, he set a good pace and we had a nice chat about our various travels. Then I saw Growler and Cool Breeze resting - mumma cool breeze was going to meet us at walker pass tonight but wires got crossed and Cool Breeze got grumpy and she is now meeting him at Kennedy Meadows instead.
We had a 5 mile downhill to complete a 28 mile day. My legs were completely numb, and I went into a bit of a trance behind Cool Breeze, he was walking normally and I was running behind him. If he had stopped I would have smacked right into the back of him.
When we arrived at Walker Pass we had unexpected trail magic from TwinkleToes in the form of hotdogs! It was a very welcome treat. There are lots of people here. Jesse, Julien, Dana, Limey, Bangarang, Bender, Foothawk....
I was freezing so Bangarang gave me his layer of Puff. Puff to the power of 3. And he was sat there in his shorts and t-shirt!
I actually don't know how I will be able to walk tomorrow...
