Zero & Easy Days (D-19 @369.3 & D-20 369.3

Zero & Easy Days (D-19 @369.3 & D-20 369.3 - 383.9)

Whole of yesterday was spent in Wrightwood town. It was my first Zero day i.e. 0 miles covered on the trail. Just spent the whole day taking care of pending chores (somehow things pile up in-real-life when you are on the trail even when you are unemployed 😀), buying food resupply, cleaning everything, and finally, met up some fellow hikers for dinner. BTW, I did pick up the replacement tent poles from the post office (thank you, Tarptent) and returned the damaged poles back to them. Also, shipped ahead a package of stuff that I was not using right now and might need only later in the Seirras. No point in carrying extra weight for the next 300 miles.

Jensen's grocery store in Wrightwood to which I made multiple visits

Started out reasonably early today from town and immediately got a ride which another hiker had flagged down. Luckily the lady in the car had space for both of us and she dropped us off at the trailhead & I was back on the trail!

This was the main goal for the day - Mt Baden-Powell summit @ 9400 ft. After an initial 4+ miles of gentle climb, the next 5 miles were steady uphill. However, fresh & rested legs and low morning temps meant I reached the summit within 4 hours of starting without too much extra effort.

Monument to Baden-Powell who was the founder of Boy Scouts

Both the rattlesnake and I were surprised to come upon each other on the trail. It was presumably warming itself in the sun in the trail when I lumbered along.

You can see the rattler here.

Lots of snow patches still on the trail. A lot of the patches covered up the trail and a few times, it was difficult to make out where the trail was.

Had a short day today though. Stopped early around 3:30 pm after about 8 hrs of hiking. Will get back to regular 9-10 hr days tomorrow onwards.

Tent site for the night

Data:

Tried a different setting in the watch to see if the distance numbers match the "official" numbers more closely. Looks like it did. Maybe "Max Battery mode" is not a good idea.

Goodnight from the Pacific Crest Trail!

Comments

Anonymous said…

Looks like sufficient rattlers now on the trail to make up the average ;) hope weather holds and safe/ fun speed until the next town- do u already know which one that is going to be?
Anurag

May 7, 2022 at 8:09 PM

In-town & Trail Activities (D-45 @ 903.3 and D-46 4.3 miles plus 906.7 - 924.5)

I am still surprised how busy in-town zero days can be. You think that you have a lot of time to take care of everything that you had planned to do while hiking earlier. Yesterday, in Mammoth Lakes, first I had a large breakfast (very important thru-hiker activity) & then visited 3 different stores to research and buy new shoes & glove liners. Old ones were completely gone. Post that, went to the big grocery store to buy the resupply food till the next stop & as usual, got overwhelmed by the number of the items available, picked up excess items, realized I can't carry all this, put back a lot of stuff and still ended up with extra food to carry. Next stop was the pharmacy to get blister-care bandages, then a decent sized pizza lunch and then back to the room to sort and repack. Speaking of blisters, I have got 2 till now and I had to prick one of them with a needle a few days back and then cover it up. First time, I had to sterilize the needle in a flame and the...

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A thru-hike attempt

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