The trail runs thru a town (D-24 444.3

The trail runs thru a town (D-24 444.3 - 468.2)

Agua Dulce is one of the few or maybe, the only town, in which PCT runs on the main street literally. It is very small, pretty and once again, a hiker-friendly town. Had breakfast in one of the three restaurants on the main street. I realized that perhaps the longing for regular food is more due the fact that it is not available on the trail, and perhaps less due to hiker-hunger. But, as I have said before, everything tastes so much better when you are hiking 😀.

My breakfast place!

The trail runs the whole 2.5 mile length of the main street

Before I entered Agua Dulce, I went thru a tunnel below the busy Antelope Valley Freeway (Hwy 14) and then through the Vasquez Rocks park. A few pics:

Graffiti-filled tunnel below Hwy 14

After a long climb for pretty much the rest of the day, reached a nice open ridge

And a few miles after that, reached my campsite for the day near the top of another ridge. A very windy site, but nothing better was available within the next 2-3 miles.

Data:

Comments

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

Over the last 116 days, I have had plenty of time to think about what's good or bad about this thru-hike and just in case, one of you is thinking about doing a PCT thru-hike, here are my thoughts about why you shouldn't or should do it. Why you shouldn't do a PCT thru-hike - It is very tough physically and mentally - There is less than 50% chance that anyone starting it will finish - Almost everyone seems to have negative physical effects including weight loss, muscle loss, days & days of tired legs & feet etc - You will definitely get scratches, bruises and cuts, if you are lucky. If you are unlucky, major sprains, muscle tears & other hike-ending injuries. Btw, most people who stop do so 'cos of injuries. - You will trip & fall down multiple times (when the avg number of steps is 50000 - 70000/day over uneven paths, the law of large numbers takes over and some of those steps will lead to falls) - It is an expensive activity, with a bulk o...

Gratitude (D-114: 2577.8 - 2592.1 - Nero @ Mazama)

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... 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 morn...

A thru-hike attempt

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