A day of firsts (D-15)

Today I saw the first rattlesnake on this trail, at least, the first that was not afraid and ran away to hide before I could identify or see it properly.

(check out the video in the Insta link: https://instagram.com/nomad.oogway?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y)

A couple more snake sightings. The first one ran and his away in the bushes (the black thingy is the snake)

The second one is a common garter snake, I think. It just stayed by the side of the trail and played dead.

Also crossed a couple of nicely built bridges on the trail today.

And, for the first time ever in my life, I "cowboy camped" in the wilderness i.e. sleep without a tent over you. I was searching for a campsite for the night and dusk was almost there. A couple of other hikers also were looking and they found a narrow reasonably flat area - essentially, a creek bed - near the trail. So all of us decided to camp there and there was no space for putting up a tent in any of the spots. So, had to ditch the tent. Luckily there was hardly any wind & it wasn't too cold either and it was really nice to see the starry night sky.

Data:

First day ever to hike 27 miles too 🙂

Comments

Umeshwari said…

Eventful day with the snakes. I like where you've camped

May 3, 2022 at 8:41 AM

Why you shouldn't (or should) thru-hike the PCT? (D-115: 2592.1 - 2613.1 - Nero @ Mazama, D-116: 2613.1 - 2642.6)

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As the last town day on the trail ends and a few dozen miles left to the end point, I would like to speak of gratitude. Every so often on the trail, there are moments of "why the heck am I doing this?" and that's when I have to compel myself to remember that this is an option and an opportunity given to me. I am fortunate enough to be able to hike on this trail for a long period, which is essentially a vacation (albeit, a physically & mentally demanding one). Not everybody gets the option of taking such a long vacation from work, family and other commitments. It may be a cliche, but I am full of gratitude for this. I am also deeply grateful to a bunch of people who made this hike possible and I would like to use this post to mention those people. Ravin & Deepika opened their home and hearts so that I could do all the preparatory work before the hike. They were generous to a fault and I used (& perhaps, abused) their generosity. Even during the hik...

A thru-hike attempt

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