PCT Day 33

Miles: 0

 

Photo: Walking Down From Wrightwood


I tried walking this morning and my feet still felt a bit funky so I thought another zero would be a good idea. My mind wants to keep going on to crank out big miles, but I need to listen to what my body tells me. I also figured the next town that will be worthwhile to zero in won’t be until Tehachapi (200 miles from here) so I might as well take advantage of the good rest now while I can.

It wasn’t another day of just kicking up my feet and resting. I tried to be a bit more active, alive, and present. First was a gear shakedown with a group of friends I had met briefly back at the I-10 near Cabazon (Spider-Man, Ryan, and Kitchen Sink). For those who don’t know, a gear shakedown is going through your entire backpack to evaluate every piece of gear within it to see if you can justify why you carry it. If it’s not needed, it’s thrown away, given away, or shipped away. The shakedown was for the appropriately named Kitchen Sink. It was us just basically bullying him for 2 hours about his life choices and his backpacking gear. It was extremely hilarious seeing some of the stuff he was carrying along with him since Campo. It was all in good fun though and we were able to trim a decent amount of his total base weight in the process.

 

Midway through the day I had to relocate to a new trail angel’s place since the home I was staying in booked my room for someone else. My fault for thinking I was gonna be good to head out this morning I suppose. At the new house, I got to meet with another friend that I hadn’t seen since Mission Creek (Darcie) and then later another friend that I hadn’t seen since before Big Bear (Sitcom). After I got settled in, Sitcom and I went to grab food and met up with Spider-Man, Kitchen Sink, and many other hikers. The highlight was hearing Sitcom’s trail name origin story. His life can be turned into a sitcom since his trail experience so far has included an encounter with a mountain lion near Mount Laguna, a bear encounter before Big Bear, losing his cell phone during a hitch, not having his proper/warmer sleeping bag for the first 260 miles, and wearing out his shoes to the point where he tried to buy someone’s Croc’s on trail. Apparently that was just scratching the surface. Makes me reflect a bit on my trail experience so far and appreciate that it’s a lot tamer and I guess ”normal”. I am gonna make sure to not hike near him when I try back on trail though. Just to be safe…





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