PCT 2015 Day 14: Not My Best

• Start: 181.2
• End: 209.5
• Miles: 28.3
• Camp: Ziggy and the Bear

Today was not the best on trail. It started well enough with a beautiful hike above the clouds over the top of Fuller Ridge. It was very cold, but good incentive to hike fast and warm up. 2.5 miles later I hit the campground where everyone who left Idyllwild in the morning had pitched up, but few were left at the time I passed it.

After that it started to go downhill. Literally. The elevation profile of the day is in the photos, and not much else because after Fuller Ridge I wasn’t in photography mindset.

Downhills are hard on the knees, no matter for 20 miles, and the PCT switchbacks mean the view is largely unchanging during the downhill. Add to that a broken up trail where I slipped on sand every few steps (I love sand…) and spiky bushes which tried to eat my umbrella so I couldn’t carry my shade with me. I curled up under one of the spiky bushes at mile 197 and rocked a while hoping that I’d magically open my eyes on level ground. No such luck. But thankfully there was trail magic in the form of oranges and avocados at the water tap at mile 206.

The last 5 miles were all soft sand and high winds though. Baaaah.

But the evening ended well at Ziggy and the Bear’s. They are trail angels who allow hikers to cowboy camp in their back yard, provide water, shade and showers. And do pizza runs and hand out ice cream sandwiches. On hiker priority list, they covered the top 5 easily. Sababa, Nell, Spider and I were one of the last groups to arrive, which meant my friends were all here to say hi when I walked in, which was also pretty nice.