The Desert’s Last Hurrah? (PCT Day 44)

Here we are again in the desert. No doubt about it today. Sand surrounds the tent. It’s before 6am when I wake up. The air is cool and comfortable, perfect temps for climbing a hill. But Lupine is still sleeping and our fellow hikers are still quiet.

I lay still, enjoying the cool morning air. I wish this could last forever, but I know it won’t. I watch the shade recede on the opposing hillside and know it will be hot soon.

When Lupine rustles, I ask her if she wants to get up and beat the heat. She does, but she first needs ten more minutes. She rolls onto her side, and I release the air from my pad, then pack my gear. 

After breakfast and coffee we set out into the desert. We have about 1,500 ft to climb this morning. It turns out not to be too bad. The air is as cool as it will get, and my eyes are charmed by the mix of gold and blue, sand and sky. Joshua Trees are spread across the landscape. I stop to take several pictures. 

At about 4 miles in there is a picnic table next to a dirt road. We take a break there with Chef and Sriracha. Lupine jumps up when an ant bites her, and I help her apply some cortisone cream, leaving a smear of chocolate from the melted bar I was snacking on. Chef finds this hilarious and we’re all laughing.

As we sit I notice another hiker approaching. “Is that Puffy?” I wonder aloud to my friends. As the hiker closes in, I recognize it is indeed Puffy the Trail Slayer. 

I comment, “now that’s a familiar face I’m happy to see” and Sriracha agrees. Lupine and I last saw Puffy before Deep Creek. He was hiking with Shaman, who Puffy informs us has gotten off trail to allow some achilles tendonitis to heal up. After some catching up, we all continue hiking, naturally spread out due to variations in speed and stride.

As we hike, the sun becomes more appresive with every mile. Several miles in the trail turns steep and sandy. I can feel the heat radiating into my feet, as they dig into the sand with every step. The trail points straight upward, no switchbacks to ease the upward trajectory. Occasionally we pass a cropping of Joshua trees and I sidestep from the trail into their shade, to momentarily cool myself and slow my breathing. Everytime I stop I feel it takes a couple seconds for my lungs to catch up with me. Then upward again on the hot, loose sand. A fellow hiker passes me, wearing a thin red hoody  I recognize him. He passed me a couple weeks ago, before we reached Big Bear. My muscles begin to tire as my feet dig into the sand. Small bugs cling to the sweat on my shirt whenever I stop, so I simply try to push on through.

The trail crests a hill then begins a two mile descent toward our next water cache. I can spot the hiker in red, and Sriracha ahead. We pass a group of trail maintenance workers, clad in hard hats and Americorps t-shirts. They are hot and sweaty, we thank them for their efforts. We could not hike this trail without them.

Finally at the bottom we spot a hiker under the shade of a Joshua Tree and Chef and Puffy further past him, also in the shade of a Joshua Tree, along the side of a large stone. Sriracha’s getting water and settling in as well. So is the hiker in red. We raid the water cache, and also find the Trail Angel has left a box of battery packs to charge our electronics. I snag one then return to sit next to the other hikers in the shade. We learn the other hikers name is T-Rex. We all sit lounging in the shade, snacking and chatting. 

A couple wanders up from the dirt road just below us, next to the water cache. They offer us vodka sodas. None of us accept, but accept their offers of cold water and some cashews. They ask us questions about our trip. Another hiker arrives, her name is Poki, and she’s just in time for cold water. She sits down next to us, and introduces herself to Lupine, happy to see another woman hiker. There have been few upon the trail. Sriracha asks the nice couple to get a picture of all of us, hanging out under the trees.

Eventually another hiker arrives, named Smoky. He’s dissapointed he missed the trail magic. 

As the air cools we all decide to disembark back onto the trail at around 4 pm. The trail before us snakes around a steep canyon. I fill my bag with 4 liters of water and push up the steep hillside, rounding around the massive corners before the trail then turns to switchbacks. I am tired. My back is feeling weak and fatigued as we finish our 2,000 ft climb. 

We snag a beautiful view of the mountains then continue slightly further to cook dinner while watching the sunset. Chef, Sriracha, Lupine and I camp together, making plans to go into Kernville tomorrow for a resupply and recuperation. 

The wind is busy tonight, whipping through the trees and randomly grabbing our rain fly without prediction, and snapping it in the air. I struggle to fall asleep and when I finally do I only snag about 4 hours.