Did I make it? (D-31: 630.8

Did I make it? (D-31: 630.8 - 652)

If you have read the previous post, you know that I still had to catch the 3:30 pm bus today. 21+ miles to go. Just to be in the safer side, woke up early to an alarm (after so many weeks!!) and left camp by 5:30 am. That gave me 10 hours to cover the 21 miles. Suffice is it to say that I made it with plenty of time to spare and took the Kern Transit bus to Ridgecrest. Just a small point: the bus ticket is $3 and the ticket machine in the bus requires exactly $3 & will not dispense any change. Also no card is accepted! Which era are we living in 🤦🏽‍♂️. Luckily, the bus driver was kind enough to give me five dollar bills in change. Apparently he is not supposed to do that either.

Full moon disappearing behind the mountains in the morning

From the trail today:

Trail Magic at the end of today's hike @ Walker Pass (cold beer & fruits)

Data:

Comments

Rajith said…

No photos of the bus!!!

May 18, 2022 at 7:46 AM

Pleasures of being on PCT (D-16; 303.7 - 328.8 miles)

Heading out from the cowboy camping experience last night, I was looking forward to Deer Creek Hot Springs that is apparently very popular among the locals too & tended to get crowded during the weekends, even though one has to hike in a mile or so from the trailhead parking (or hike 308 miles on PCT 🙂). Reached it early enough, but still it was chock full of people - locals & thru-hikers both - most of whom had camped there overnight in spite of it being a No Camping zone. People were lazing around in some of the pools in various states of undress, as it was a clothing optional area. It was way too crowded for me and I decided to head out. But, as I was heading out, I saw a small pool of water with nobody in it and the water was pleasantly hot (not just warm). Pool I "discovered" away from the crowds Close-up of the pool Me in the pool 😋 What a lovely feeling to be in a hot pool, especially after not having had a hot

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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A thru-hike attempt... successful! (D-117: 2642.6 - 2653.6, D-117S (SOBO): 0 - 17.1, D-118S (SOBO): 17.1-30.6)

It is done! Finally, on August 10th, 2022, 117 days after I started at the US-Mexico border on April 16th, 2022, I reached the US-Canada border. Walked 2653.6 miles (4270.6 km) south-to-north through the states of California, Oregon and Washington. No bittersweet moments...just sweet relief to be done 😀. We were few of the lucky thru-hikers this year who were able to go south-to-north continuously without any interruptions. People who started even a couple of weeks earlier and maintained this pace hit a lot more snow in Seirras and a hell lot more in Washington, the latter being almost hike-stopping. By the time we got to Seirras, the snow was much more manageable, and almost all the snow had melted in Washington. People who started later or were slower have had to skip parts of Northern California due to forest fires. Even Oregon and Southern California have some fires starting already. Anyway, reached the northern terminus of the PCT yesterday morning around 8:40 am

A thru-hike attempt

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