A Return to the Trail (PCT day 59)

Today marks our return to the trail after a week off for recovery. Last night we rode back to Kennedy Meadows with Sriracha and his wife and their two dogs. We camped at the general store, and I barely slept, which meant Lupine barely slept as well. Sorry Lupine.

After a week off trail, I’m anxious to get back. But I’m also worried. I feel like my back has been slow to heal, still slightly slanted to the left. As I lay in bed, I can feel an aching in my nerves, pulsing in my right leg, lighting up the circuits in my glute and low calf. I flip flop trying to get comfortable. It’s no surprise we both sleep poorly. I worry, “Is this a foreshadow of what’s to come?”

We start the morning by saying goodbye to Sriracha’s wife and the pups. We eat some baked goods Sriracha picked up at Kohnen’s Bakery when driving through Tehachapi. My favorite, a raspberry cream cheese danish. As we prepare to leave, the general store dogs are frolicking around looking for scraps, playing with each other, and chasing balls as someone throws them for them. Sriracha and Chef leave first. Then a short while later, Lupine and I don our bags and walk down the road to catch the trail.

My bag feels soul crushing. It’s weight pushes down on my hips and I feel bolts of electricity in the back of my calf with every step. I am in pain and we have just begun. Fuck.

What does this mean? Should I even be hiking? I don’t want to turn around, but if this pain continues, it may steer the course. When we reach the trail, Lupine asks me how I’m doing. I tell the truth even though I fear letting her down, “It doesn’t feel good. It hurts.”

We discuss, and I have a little breakdown. All I want to do is hike, and it feels like my body is getting in the way. I want more than anything to continue, but I fear how my body will respond. We decide to continue further and monitor how I’m feeling. If I continue to be in pain or it worsens, the decision will become clearer. I reason that my body has been pretty sedentary for the last few days as I’ve rested. I know that sedentariness can often make my muscles tight, and can often worsen sciatica symptoms. Maybe I just need to loosen up a little.

We continue to walk. I started my day with two ibuprofen, and a back brace. I’ve never used a back brace before but I hope that it will help to provide some extra support as I continue to heal. As we walk I do feel as if my muscles begin to slightly loosen up. The pain in my lower calf diminishes slightly, and moves to my hamstring. Lupine turns around and comments on my posture. She says that I’m hunched forward, and I explain that my pack is difficult to stand upright with. We unpack my bag then repack it again shifting the weight to stack higher, rather than all my gear being stuffed down low. When I try it on, I notice an improvement. The weight feels better distributed and lighter on my hips. I feel optimistic that this will help. Lupine eyes my posture and gives me some feedback before we continue.

As we hike my pain slowly diminishes and becomes more manageable. I feel relieved and optimistic as we walk through some trees and enter a campground. At a picnic table are two PCT volunteers checking permits. We recognize them as the same folks we saw in Campo on day 1. We chat with them about the trail, and show them our permits. They stamp them with the date which allows us 36 days to finish the Sierras. We then continue down trail, into the trees as a river passes on our left, going the opposite direction.

After so much desert it’s amazing to see water. We’re not making great time but we choose to stop at the stream anyways, allowing me to rest, and we soak our feet. It feels amazing, soaking our feet in the sun.

We hike for a couple more miles upward through pine trees. Lupine stays ahead of me and I spot her in the shade near some giant boulders. Sriracha’s there as well and I stop to rest my back. We chat about how beautiful the scenery is then I escape into the bushes to use the bathroom. When I return Lupine and Sriracha are both gone. I hike down the trail, and allow several other hikers to pass. I’m hiking fairly slow today and take frequent breaks to rest my back.

Ahead I spot Lupine. She’s spotted a rattlesnake and waited to alert me. She’s a very nice lady. The snake rattled at her and Sriracha but must have moved on now as I cannot see him. I pass on by and we continue.

We cross paths with a Ranger who looks at our permits. Then we continue as the ranger turns around as well, backtracking to find her trekking pole left behind.

She cannot find it, and I remember Sriracha left his trekking poles with his wife this morning. I wonder if he found it. The ranger isn’t too worried and says the pole originally came from a hiker box anyways.

Lupine and I fill water from a small stream, where a burn once went through. Several other hikers arrive to fill water as well. We continue climbing out of the burn and the landscape levels out. We spot Chef alongside the trail resting. His shin is still bothering him and he said he could feel a popping noise all day. It doesn’t sound good. We stop and chat with him, snacking on some food. After a few minutes Lupine continues hiking. I hang out a few extra minutes then continue as well, as Chef reclines back into the sun.

As I hike, all of a sudden the trees open to a meadow below, with rubble of rocks accenting the trail as it winds it’s way down to a stream, cutting through green grass. Mountains stand in the distance. Ah, it feels good to be in the Sierras, I think to myself.

As I wind down closer to the stream, tucking into the shade, I see dozens of people camped along the cliff above the trail. I descend to a bridge and cross it looking around for Lupine and Sriracha. I spot them walking along the stream toward me. We rendezvous at the bridge and decide to backtrack to camp on the hill above the other campers. It’s windy but still in the sun.

We see Chef on our way up and we all head up to pitch our tents. Just as we go to bed, the wind stops, allowing us to drift off to sleep.