Julian

Sadly, this morning I must report we are postponing our Olympic badminton dreams. We I have found it is too windy to play. Maybe we can pick the rackets back up in Northern California or Oregon.

This morning we got a ride into Julian from the trail crossing Highway 78. In town we be-lined it for Mom's to get some fresh pie and coffee. We then attempted a game of badminton at the library, but failed miserably. The slightest breeze will drastically change the direction the shuttlecock is headed. I am sure the failure was also in part due to our badminton skill set. After much deliberation, we decided that the wind was too big a factor. So it was here that we decided that the badminton rackets would go into the free hiker box.

We have checked in early to a room and will attempt to wash all the dirt off. Our bodies seem to be holding up well all things considered. The balls of my feet have a few small blisters, but nothing to hold me up from hiking. The biggest problem has been chafing from my backpack. Between the dry heat, dust, and sweat my back has been rubbed raw. I am hoping some of the open sores will scab over during our stop in Julian and I will develop rough skin in these areas.

On the trail we have run into about 30 or so other people attempting to through hike the PCT with us this year. A few are back for their second trip and others are returning to complete a through hike after section hiking portions of the trail. Most everyone is friendly and there is an underlying current of camaraderie. I expect this will increase as time goes on and we begin running into the same people again. In general it appears that we are about a day ahead of the group we started with. However, I expected after our stop in Julian we will see people from the starting group again.

Our days are planned around two things, water and heat. We try to plan our stops around water sources where we can camel up. We both usually try to leave a water stop with about 5 liters. Water stops tend to be about 15 miles apart and we are coming to a segment of the trail where we may be 20 miles between water stops. Fortunately for us we figure we can make it 25 miles at full water capacity. The hardest part about carying so much water is the weight.

The heat can really zap the energy out of us and we are much slower in it. We have started to avoid hiking between 1:00 and 3:00 and will try to stay out of the heat between noon and 4:00 if it works out with water and a place to stop. In this next stretch we may try some night hiking when it is much cooler.

All in all we are settling into the routine and enjoying the hike.

Happy Trails!

So far good planning on our part:
Long sleeves, long pants, and wide brim sun hats  proved to be a great idea. At first the people wearing shorts and t-shirts seemed more comfortable and cooler, but over the last 4 days we've also started to see sunburns.

What we didn't expect:
We had no doubt we would become filthy dirty, but we didn't realize how dirty, dirty could be. It only takes a day for the desert dirt and dust to find its way to every crevice. Even wearing long pants does not keep the dirt off my legs, up to my thighs! I washed my hands twice this morning and they were still dirty.

Trail Statistics
Mile: 78
Days: 5
Body Type: Tired hiker
Candy Bars: 2
Bags of Chips: 2
Jars of Peanut Butter: 1
Showers: 2 (one with soap)