Julian | Day 5 – 7

Day 5 | Mile 47.5 – 63.6

Second day in a row waking up without condensation on the tent and quilt! What a good feeling! It was, however, a very cold night again. We began the day around 8am and got in 12 miles by 1pm. The hiking was fairly flat and easy, bordering the desert most of the day. The desert took up the entire right field of view. (I believe I called it the Colorado Desert in the previous post when, in fact, it is the Anza-Borrego Desert. The Colorado is further north and slightly east)

We rested for about 2 hours around lunch, had some good laughs, filled up on water, and nearly napped. The only shade around was behind a large water tank. The trough to collect water was comically green and thankfully our water did not come there but from the large tank. Another swarm of bees buzzed by as we were about to leave.

Had 4 miles left to do after lunch. The final 0.5 mile was a very steep descent which was tough on the feet and knees. The day was rounded off with a feast and crib.

We hit 50 miles! Woohoo! What a feeling!

Day 6 | Mile 63.6 – 77.1 | Julian

The streak of dry, condensation-free mornings was ended! Darn.

Tough hiking this day through proper desert. Lots of cacti, prickly plants, sand, and lizards. The desert flowers are all in bloom and the colours are incredible; blues, whites, yellows, purples, and the smell is very strong! There are plenty of Monarch butterflies out here as well.

The water source 5 miles in was covered with honey bees. Lando filled my water bladder for me here; thank you, Lando. We arrived at the I-8 overpass around 12:30pm and hung out in the shade to cool down. While we were cooling off, a turkey joined us in the shade.

We hitchhiked into Julian and it took Lando and I about 25 minutes to get a ride. The other 3 hikers out there with us found rides quite quickly and then the traffic became sparse. Finally, a car drove by and the driver and passenger made eye contact with us but… didn’t stop. About 5 minutes later, they turned around and came back for us after they decided we were likely hikers and not murderers (their words, not mine) and brought us to town, right to the pie shop. In Julian, stopping at Mom’s Pie House is a must for PCT hikers as they provide a slice of pie, ice cream, and a drink all for free! It was delicious… Wow….

Next stop in town? The brewery! We grabbed a couple of beers and pizzas to chow down on which were also, so good. Final stop for me was the gear shop. I picked up a new pair of shoes a size up. The descent earlier in the day made it obvious my shoes were too small as my toes were getting jammed on the front. And the only photo from town I have is of the pie. I think that says a lot about my state of mind at that point haha.

At the end of our 3.5 hr town trip, we got a ride from a trail angel who brought us to the RV park just outside Julian to stay the night. They had laundry, showers, water, and electricity to charge up. No laundry for me but the shower was fantastic. Met another hiker there who had dinner with us.

Something that has really impressed me about the trail is the amount of support the trail and hikers receive from volunteers. There are people all along the trail giving their time to maintenance of the physical trail and supporting hikers through rides, water, morale boosting trail magic (look it up!), etc. It is a strong community.

Day 7 | Mile 77.1 – 93.2

The RV park was a few miles from trail and we walked nearly halfway back to trail before getting picked up by a trail angel.

This was by far the hardest day yet out here. We had a 14 mile, up hill water carry on a southern exposed mountain. It was brutal.

With 3 miles left to the water cache, I came across an older guy who was clearly struggling with the heat. I stopped and asked him how he was and how much water he had. He replied he was alright and only had about 1/8 of a litre (125mL) of water remaining. Not nearly enough to make it 3 miles in the afternoon sun. The rule of thumb is to carry 1 litre for every 4 miles, sometimes more or less depending on weather, elevation gain, etc. I had just over 2 litres remaining and could tell he was otherwise ok. I was feeling good enough to make it to the cache, so I gave him a litre and told him to ration it over the 3 miles.

About 30 minutes after that encounter, I came across a newborn squirrel, still alive, in the middle of the path. I picked the little thing up and sprinkled some water on it and moved it to the shade in hopes that it’s parent would come back. Not much more I could do…

After 20 more minutes I ran into a woman coming the opposite direction with 2 horses. Finally saw horses on the trail which was so cool. They were beautiful. I asked what I should do to let her by and she told me to stand off to the side so they didn’t knock me off, haha. She said they were very calm and didn’t spook easily but that they don’t like silver sun umbrellas. I didn’t have one so I was in the clear. They passed and continued on. As they were moving away along the narrow path, I could hear her talking to the horses saying, “Pay attention. This is the time to pay attention”. Made me chuckle.

It was quite the hour.

The older guy did eventually make it to the water cache and thanked me. Said he wouldn’t have made it without that litre. I was just glad to see he was ok.

Lando and I did another 2 miles to camp. The site had a great view but wasn’t flat and was windy as hell. In my journal, I wrote “fingers crossed for a good sleep”… it was not a good sleep.

Still no rattlesnakes! What the heck!