Awake in Cibbets Flats (PCT Day 4)

We awake in Cibbets flats. It’s cold. Rachel had a hard time sleeping and acquired my jacket before warming up and falling asleep. 

We rise at about 7:30 and make coffee at our camp to warm up, hands clutching our titanium mugs. We eat our morning muesli, which we usually wait to eat further down the trail. But we need a boost this morning.

When the coffee’s gone we quickly move anxious to get our hearts pumping, eager to warm our muscles. We climb for about .7 miles to reconnect with the PCT and continue our journey north. 

Today is cool. A breeze brushes over the ridgeline we follow winding through the desert brush. We hike for miles without seeing anyone else. It’s beautiful and tranquil. The higher we rise the further south we can see into the mountains of Mexico. 

We refill our water bottles from a stream and marvel at the giant parched trees, their roots holding onto the sand, looking for moisture in a land of little.

We stop to enjoy lunch in a small meadow sheltered from the wind, where the sun warms the brown grass. We eat dried salmon, couscous, and chocolate. I love dark chocolate in “real life”, as they call it. I love it more on the trail.

I lay in the brown grass with my hat over my eyes, blocking them from the sun. There’s been a chill in the air today. And I could fall asleep after lunch, chocolate and sunshine. But we must continue on. 

We climb about 1,000 ft and start to see small patches of snow. Mt. Laguna had several inches of snow about a week ago. We were nervous about this before we left. But most of the snow is gone now. But the wind and air becomes brisk, as patches of snow appear speckled aside the trail.

The smell of pine fills the snow cooled air. We take deep breaths to pull it in. It’s refreshing. We cross paths with two more PCTers, sitting on a log. One has been having blisters, the other is helping him out. They’re planning to get a hotel in Mt. Laguna. We exchange knowledge on foot care, shoes and blisters, and then we say goodbye. Rachel and I are off to Mt. Laguna where a resupply box of food awaits.

We pick up our resupply from the Mt. Laguna Lodge. Plus we get snickers for two. It’s our first “junk food” of the trip. We eat it without tasting and it’s awesome.

Outside the lodge we rendezvous with several other hikers we’ve seen thought the trip this far. There’s one who’s getting a room to let his feet heal up, and a cider to relax. Another is eating down weight from his overfilled resupply his mother has sent him. And a couple take off down the road to find a campsite further down the trail.

From there we must find a campsite. The air in Mt. Laguna is biting and we’re eager to eat and setup camp. It’s cold and we want to be in bed long before the sun goes down. We return to the PCT and find a sandy spot settled in the brush, that sits upon the ridge. It’s warmer up here then it was in town. The sun still shines and we pitch out tent in it, and toss our sleeping bags in to absorb the last heat of the sun. Then fire up our stove. 

When we eat our lentils they are spicy and not quite done. But our bellies are full and we are fine. That’s good enough because nothing’s perfect on the trail, except the scenery. Thus in this way the trail mimics life. We can try to control it, and bend it to our will. Maybe at times we will succeed. But if you yourself are too rigid and refuse to bend, you will be broken.

Tonight we are comfy and in one piece. Our tent is perched between the brush, below the wind. An aunt hill sits two feet outside our door. As the air cool it appears they too are going inside for the night.

We cozy into our sleeping bags, pushing our hands into wool gloves, escaping from the cold.