PCT Day 23

Miles:  226.2 - 239.9


Photo: Crossing Over Mission Creek + Me & Jupiter

Today was all elevation gain. From 3131 ft - 7949 ft. The first half of the day consisted of crossing back and forth across Mission Creek. It was the most unkempt section of the trail thus far. I got off trail many times. Navigating felt like a puzzle game. Every time I got lost, I stood there scouting out for the next cairn or wood post. Sometimes I found them, sometimes I didn’t. Whenever I didn’t, I just looked at my guide. Lots of fun!

While I was relaxing in the morning, I saw a hiker in the distance. A hiker that looked REALLY familiar. I immediately thought “That looks like Jupiter…” and then 20 seconds or so later I met @jupiterhikes! He is a big inspiration of mine, so it was extremely cool to actually meet him on trail. We chatted for a little bit about my foot problem, he was thinking of taking a zero soon, I asked if I could get a photo with him, and then I told him to enjoy the rest of his hike. I didn’t want to keep him for toooo long since I know he likes to keep a steady pace. Maybe I'll catch him again in Big Bear!

I wanted to do a bit more miles today, but my water bladder developed a pinhole leak sometime yesterday. It made me really paranoid because tomorrow morning I need to do a 16.7 mile water carry if I don’t rely on the small caches. I attempted to patch it three! separate times over the course of the day while testing each attempt with a mock water carry. It ate up a lot of time. When I finally sat down and focused on doing the repair properly, it started holding water without any leaks. What ja huge relief! Thanks to my Dad being snappy, I’ll have a new bladder by the time I’m in Big Bear. I don’t want to rely on a patch for something as important as a water bladder, even if it is working for now. 




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