We have passed the 100 mile marker! Yay! Before we did that though we had a long, hot hike out of the valley we camped in. Early in the hike I wasn’t really with it yet and thought Jake was walking back towards me on the trail. He was actually just doing a switchback, I was obviously very tired. A decision was made early in the day to get up earlier tomorrow to avoid hiking in the crazy heat.
Our mid morning destination was a well stocked water cache a short hike off the trail. We made it there no problem and were able to get plenty of water. We climbed back up the hill to find some shade and take an hour long snack break. Jake found a great spot that had a cactus at the entrance which I carefully went around. I got all set up, took off my shoes and found I had stepped in part of the cactus and it was stuck to the bottom. Fortunately it was easy to get loose with just a stick.
We were attempting to hike for another 2.5 hours after our snack stop but ended up finding a good spot 30 minutes before that goal. It’s tough finding shade in the desert so when you find something good enough you take it. We stayed here through the hottest part of the day. Taking a nice two hour lunch was luxurious and much needed.
Hitting mile 100 right before we got to camp for the night was very exciting. Knowing we were camping at a spring was the icing on the cake. We met a few hikers at the spring, all very nice. A couple of them happened to be from Philly and were discussing the best cheesesteaks. Not exactly what you want to be thinking about as you go to make some sad ramen in your tent.
PCT Hike 