As I type this I'm sitting in Warner Spring Monty's(another wonderful trail angel) living room soaking my feet in Epsom salt and water trying to get rid of the blisters that have plagued me for the last week.
We are here. We've made it 100 miles from the border and the thought of doing that 26 more times comes every once in a while but this is our first great milestone.
Kelley and I left kick off after dinner on Saturday after a huge rain and wind storm had hit the night before. We were trying to beat the massive group that planned to leave early Sunday morning. It was the first time hiking the PCT at night and it was incredible though we had a minor navigation error. I thought as I fell asleep that night, that this is really it, we've started this major journey. We woke up to the sunrise the next morning and busted out 22 miles to a campsite where we found a note marked "aviator girl and girl from Seekonk, I'm at site 25." Our friend, Ray, had showed up earlier and was hoping we'd make it that far. We showed up to find many familiar faces, and eventually worked out names. As we chatted and made dinner another 8 hikers trickled in and set up camp. The following morning we woke up to an almost bare campsite, (those Damn early birds) but we weren't the last ones. We packed up and headed out. One thing about the desert I've learned is that it is NOT flat. This day we spent most of on the side of a cliff till we caught up with Ray and got to the next water source. A tank in a field with a sign that read "not potable water. For horse consumption only." I only got two flies in my water bottles. After that we met up with our friend , Pockets, and headed down to an awesome sandy wash to sleep. I took off my socks that night to realize my pinky toe had grown a blister the size of my pinky toe. I almost got the trail name 6 toe. After some foot surgery it was time to start the next day . Pockets pulled something in her leg and was out for the day so Kelley, now "in a pinch", and I headed out to one of the hottest and most windy days we had seen yet. We also were on a 24 mile waterless stretch and had to carry over 6 liters(12lbs). We finally found sanctuary under an overpass with about 20 other hikers trying to beat the heat of the day. We stayed there till the sun went down then headed out from there. Along the way we met Bipolar, the pct trail nurse, and he was looking for a girl all day that had 12 blisters. Unfortunately he had found her. He gave me a ton of tips for treating my blisters and then sent us on our way. We set out the next day and were almost blown off the mountain by 80 mph winds that stayed with us till the afternoon. We took a small siesta to get out of the sun then finished hiking in an oasis of trees and cool sand. We had hit 100 miles that day and my reward was the last jolly rancher in my pack (thanks aunt julie! ). It only lasted about 5 minutes but it was one of the most satisfying things I had experienced. Today we rolled in to Warner Springs, the first major trail town (with a population of 203), and headed to the post office for our first resupply packages. Then it was off to the community center where we got to see a ton of friends who we had met along the way, including Ray, Emylee, and Phil. Our amazing trail angel picked us up from there and let us shower, do laundry and is now cooking us dinner!
