August 8, 2017
Mile 1505.2 to Toad Lake Junction (mile 1529.1)
Pacific Crest Trail Thru-Hike: Day 95
We slept on trail last night, or nearly on trail, and so woke up early before anyone could walk by. Today was the first day we were hailed on, so that was fun! It was on a ridge and I looked up and realized oh! That is a very stormy cloud! I felt a few sprinkles, took out my rain gear, hiked sweating to death in my raincoat for about a mile before it started raining, followed by hail. It was on a very exposed piece of trial, without trees or anything sticking up much higher than our heads, so I booked it real quick the few miles to the saddle where we started heading downward again.
When I got to the saddle I stopped to wait for Alex, listening to Bon Iver cover Peter Gabriel’s Come Talk to Me. As I looked around at the mountains and the clouds moving across the sky and felt the sprinkling water pattering on my forehead and cheeks, I smiled, looked up, and let the tears run down my face with the rain.
I dropped two things on trail today, a packet of trail butter and my toothbrush. They both fell out of my hip pocket when I was pulling out my phone to look at how long the (what turned out to be very, very long/hot/exposed) climb would last. Luckily, Ted was right behind me and grabbed them! I was sitting next to trail with the swarms of non-biting black flies (still disgusting even if they don’t bite), drinking water and waiting for Alex to catch up after his bathroom break. When Ted caught up, he said he had started thinking about eating the Trail Butter if he didn’t run into me soon. I told him it was delicious and tried to give it to him but he smiled, handed everything back and hiked on. Ted didn’t need to add any more weight to his pack with all that toilet paper.
Alex and I decided not to push ourselves as far today because we can hike further, easilier (?) when our packs are lighter from less food. It was so nice ending the day when it was still light out. WE are kind of on a ridge with threats of rain, camped under four pine trees. The only option for more camping was to go backwards downhill or upwards. So we stayed put. The temperature is, for the first time, cool enough that I have my down jacket on (my fleece got wet from the rain today).
We are trying to cold soak as many meals as possible because of a worry that we have a low fuel canister, currently semi-cold soaking Pad Thai to see how it goes and rolled oats overnight for morning breakfast.
The road behind us. We came from the bottom of that valley!
