Day 26- 400 Miles And A Lot Of Road Walking

May 28, 2016

Little Jimmy Campground(383.9) to Tentsite(411.8) 27.9 Miles*

* Missed pct trail miles due to endangered species trail closure. Actual daily mileage: 24.9 Miles

I woke up this morning very well rested. It was cold out last night, but the wind wasn't too bad. I actually slept warm for only the second time this whole trip. It made a huge difference to my day. I woke up and felt like crushing some miles. The first two miles flew by. Before I knew it I was at the beginning of the endangered species closure. I chose to do the seven mile road walk instead of the twenty mile alternate trail route. I picked the road because I didn't want to walk twenty extra miles for a five mile closure. I also didn't want to carry an extra days worth of food to do the trail alternate. The road walk wasn't too bad. The views were pretty, there wasn't a lot of traffic, and I had a decent sized shoulder to walk on. 

View from the road

Sweet tunnel I walked through

Random chair lift off of the highway

Only sketchy part of road walk

The seven miles went by quickly. Once I rejoined the pct it began to get very hot out. I managed to miss a reliable water source and I was starting to get nervous about finding water. I was down to 1L when I got to Camp Glenwood. I wasn't 100% sure I could get water there. When I walked up to the lone cabin off of the trail I saw four backpacks up against the cabins wall, but I didn't see any hikers. This was strange because it was a private cabin that hikers don't have access to. Upon further investigation I discovered that the cabin's owner was doing trail magic. He invited me to join the others and cooked me two hotdogs! I didn't pack enough food for this section and those two hotdogs helped to bridge the gap. 

Thanks for the trail magic Brad

After filling up my water bottles and eating lunch I took a lot of breaks hoping that my group would catch up to me. I had no such luck, I wouldn't see them for the rest of the day. I'm almost out of the high desert and the terrain is starting to look more desert-like with every step. I hit a ten mile stretch that was covered in poodle dog bush, but luckily it was easy to avoid. 

The last of the high desert terrain 

Early in the day I hit another milestone, the 400 mile mark. Once agin the marker had already been made. Whoever is making them is doing a great job. I couldn't even "Yodafy" it. There wasn't anything I could think of doing to make it better. 

400 miles in 26 days

I leapfrogged with a bunch of new faces today. I'm so used to being in with my group that I momentarily felt out of place. Neon, Toogle, Aaron, and Wolf did a great job of making me feel welcome. We are camped at the same place tonight. We had a great dinner together and everyone was in their tents by 7:30. I'm looking forward to getting to bed early. I hope to do another 24 mile day tomorrow. There is another long stretch of poodle dog bush and a 20 mile dry section. Unless I want to carry five liters I need to hit 24 miles so I can camp at a water source. I miss my trail family, but I also enjoyed meeting and hiking with new people. 

Somedays, I grow tired of life, and long, for the next great adventure

- Atticus