Day 22: Mile 350 – Halfway through the desert

Miles traveled: 21

Mile marker: 368.2

Water is spread all over my sleeping bag. The stars spill over the sky. I walk over and quickly run a finger over Dad’s sleeping bag. His is wet too.

There’s no way I’m sleeping so hot in this 10 degree sleeping bag that I got mine and dad’s all wet!

I toss and turn, hoping to fall asleep again. A faint glow illuminates the horizon: the lights of the city. The moon illuminates the other part of the sky.

The alarm goes off and the earplugs come out.

As I do my normal morning routine of compressing my sleeping bag three times (why is that so hard?) to try to get the air out along with all my other morning tasks, soon I’ll be the only one left getting ready. It’s not even half past four!

Oh yes. That’s the other thing. We got up today at 4:00 am We have a big climb ahead of us and I didn’t want to get caught up in the heat of the day trying to climb thousands of feet.

It’s still dark as I carefully pour my Abuelita’s hot chocolate into my seven-ounce water bottle. The rest of the group chats by the bushes. I should have said leave at 5:00, not get up at 4:00!

Finally I step over the rocks and down to meet the group.

“How do they prepare so quickly?” I say as I adjust my headlamp to the red light to avoid hurting anyone’s eyes.

“I only give myself five minutes to pack my bags and then I rush to do it,” says one girl.

I know that face!

«Poppy? Hey! I haven’t seen you in a while!» say. Poppy and Seaby (pronounced SEE-BEE) started the same day as Dad and I. I haven’t seen them since the first week!

Dad guides us along the way. We all continue in line, a row of red lights going up the hill. Soon, some of those red lights turn white. There are a lot of rocks to navigate in the dark and I need all the light.

Apparently, Bumper got up at 3:50. That explains ten minutes of waiting for me.

I shouldn’t have worn my fleece to begin with. Be bold, start cold, they say. I’m already warm as we climb the hill.

“Hi Katy, are you feeling lighter?” Rafiki asks from behind me.

«Uh, yeah. I do,» I say.

«Here.»

I turn to look at him and he holds up my water bladder. Oh no! He puts it in my mesh pocket, between my shoes. I was in such a hurry to get ready that I didn’t fold it like a burrito on my mat. Instead, it was folded like a ham and cheese wrap and pulled off the mat. Thank God it didn’t explode.

Seaby and Poppy come out to take off their jackets. I’m waiting for Dad to take his off, but he moves quickly up the hill as we circle around her.

The birds sing to each other. My calves hurt. This activity is very demanding on my body at 5:00 am!

I’m burning when I finally pull out of the way to take off the fleece. It will take me forever to catch up.

I’m pushing hard uphill. Well, with all my desire in the darkness of the night, before the sun wakes up.

Rafiki says something from ahead. Is there a snake?

I soon met up with the group. Dad is waiting for everyone to catch up to him as he takes off his fleece.

A row of rocks indicates 350 miles! I’m halfway to the desert! That’s what Rafiki yelled!

We continue up the path, skirting the ridge. The light begins to shine in the sky. I’m behind again, but soon I catch up to the group and others close in behind me.

Across the V of the grassy valley, an orange light shines on the gray clouds and hill peaks.

Goes from peach orange to blood orange. The air is now warmer and more comfortable.

A yellow lightning bolt touches the horizon. Then, a fiery yellow tip appears. I have to squint into the light as my eyes struggle to resist the flaming brightness of the morning upon waking.

The sun slips through the clouds and makes its full entrance, burning like a goddess.

We continue walking along the rocky path. We are surrounded by low bushes. The golden glow of morning transforms into a blue sky and bright sunlight that casts long shadows.

Today is leg day. That means I’m huffing and puffing, climbing a hill to get to an opening. Dad and others are waiting there. We started with dad, me, Seaby, Poppy, Bumper, Savannah, Lucie and Rafiki (who had already walked ahead of us).

As we continue to travel more kilometers, the landscape becomes a giant green wall with folds of a ribbon. It stretches from my left to my right.

The bushes are all shades of green. Bright green, dull green and white. Red, yellow, purple and white flowers on rough bushes dot the slopes around us.

As I have a slight interest in going to New Zealand, I am very happy to meet Poppy again. She and Seaby are from there.

«What’s it like there?» asked.

«It’s quite cold. Christchurch is growing and there are a lot more families there. You can go hiking, surfing and rock climbing.»

I’m thinking about taking the test to get that work visa there. We’ll see.

As we walk, some burned trees highlight the impeccable blue sky. Here we enter the alpine forest.

Rafiki is under a tree, so we all join him. Here, Seaby and Poppy continue walking while the rest of us sit and enjoy a snack.

It’s hot now. I try to hide under the shade, but I have to try very hard not to sit on the edge of Rafiki’s orange mat.

We continue forward. It’s all uphill and it’s hot. The space behind my knees is tight. My calves burn as I walk. Dad has gone ahead, leaving Rafiki, Bumper, Savannah, Lucie and me. I’m leading the group, so I finally propose that we take a break when we can.

I soon see a healthy sized log under some trees. We piled up, looking like the apitomy of ants on a log.

Lucie joins in a moment later. Last night he stubbed his heel on something. Your path today has been painful. I hate that I went from nausea from a hot five mile walk after McDonald’s yesterday to having a heel injury today!

My back is soaked with sweat. When the wind whispers, my back immediately becomes cold. The group chats for about ten minutes on sweaty backs. It’s funny, here on the trail we spend a lot of time talking about things that don’t matter.

But we have time for it. It’s the relationships in which we are allowed to talk about nonsense for so long that bring us closer.

«Do you want to continue?» I ask, knowing we should hit the road.

«No,» Bumper says.

«Do you want to go or should you go?» Savannah says.

I get up and put on my backpack. “We should go,” I say, more assertively.

We continue climbing among the pines. The wind gives us the sweet smell of pine as we walk.

Dad is sitting under a tree with other hikers. «Oh!» He says, «I found this!» He holds a phone charger.

«Thank you!» say. I’ve been needing a new charger since I started the tour! Mine is too long and doesn’t always work. The trail provides!

“There will be a good resting point soon,” Dad says.

We passed several beautiful red snow flowers. I even found four in a row! I’ve never seen so many before!

We go deeper into the pines. A passage appears.

“Is there a view?” Savannah asks.

I take a step up and look toward the broken pine trees. «Hey,» I say.

Lucie approaches me. «Mmmm. I’ve seen better,» he says with his calm, dry Czech humor.

«I love your directness!» I laugh.

We’re about 13 miles out and we’ve located Dad’s nice resting place, where he had lunch the last time he went up the PCT. There is already a circle of hikers here. We join them. I take off my shoes and socks and enjoy a hot meal of potatoes and udon for lunch.

We are on a cliff overlooking a dry and infinite world. Like being at the end of the world.

We continue forward. We walked along a path covered in pine straw and lined with some good-sized rocks. There are patches of small purple flowers. There were pine trees scattered everywhere, looking like naked Christmas trees.

We reached a dirt road and wandered around until we came across a large piece of yellow logging equipment: a front-loading grapple (I think). The tires are almost as tall as me!

We continue until we reach our water source. I look down a steep hill and make a curve. Oh man! This is 200 feet deep in about a tenth of a mile! We left our backpacks at the top before descending.

Getting back up is a slow process. The first half of the curve is steep, and in the second half I push hard to finish the climb sooner.

Giant piles of logs line our path as we walk. We pass two retention ponds that are closed. I wish I could jump! These help create snow for the nearby ski resort.

Finally we arrived at the campsite. Connor is here! It’s too windy at camp and Dad doesn’t want to stay here. The wind cuts through our shirts as it blows wildly.

We contemplated staying in a tunnel of giant logs. The floor is made of cracked pine mulch, so we decided to move on. We run into two bikers who direct us towards a small dip that we can save from the wind.

We continue walking until we reach the ski lifts. “What’s going on here?” Savannah suggests. We explored it, but it’s right next to a road. Dad walks up the hill and looks for a potential spot. He waves his arms around. Good place!

We walked up the hill and found our spots on the gravel. Dad and I set up our tents, but Bumper’s cowboys, Savannah, Lucie and Trul are camping.

My feet and calves are absolutely dirty! The desert is so dusty. The ground is gravel, so it is not the best place to install it. At least we’re out of the wind!

Rafiki accidentally got ahead of us chasing a balloon, so we’ll catch up with him tomorrow. Another day less and tomorrow we will go to Wrightwood!