Tentsite (609.2) - Tentsite (632.0) | Mileage: 22.8

We wake up in our tent and it’s all quiet and still because we camped alone and as such there is obviously no one around. And even though I materialized the usual fears when I woke in the middle of the night about what animals or people would be out to get us because we were all alone, predictably we are awake and it is morning and we are fine and no one was out to get us in the night.

We pack up pretty quick and are out walking not as early as we’d hoped but not as horribly late as we’d been the last couple days. In fact it was even early enough that I kept my jacket on though that was exceedingly short lived because the sun came full up in about 10 minutes and then I had to stop and take it off before I totally sweated through it and made it gross.

The first bit of walking was flat and leisurely through a dry sandy semi-forested area which was a huge improvement over the mega hills that had started our days recently. So we walked and chatted and felt leisurely and it was fun and we tried to remember how the Katy Perry song goes that we’d talked about the night before (TGIF) and that spurred us singing and trying to remember other Katy Perry songs (E.T., Teenage Dream, The One That Got Away, Dark Horse, etc.) and also other songs from that late middle school era of music which was a rather entertaining throwback. And Maddie knew them all and I could only remember the choruses and I kept being like omg those were the words? Or omg wait maybe I do recognize that one!

And also we talked about the news and why different news channels have niche programs like SNL or 60 Minutes or CBS Sunday Morning and why the others didn’t copy them given they all seem to otherwise generally try to be the same.

And then that led to us deciding we should occupy our time playing trivia with each other so we see how many famous lesbians we can name and then we see how many public radio personalities we can name and how many spices/herbs we can name. And obviously Maddie was better at all of these things. And obviously we could mostly only name NWSL players and singers which was embarrassing because we should probably know more famous lesbians. And obviously I didn’t know any famous public radio people except Ira Glass because even though I listen to a lot of different programs now I never pay attention to silly unimportant things like the journalists’ names. And obviously we both immediately got bored of herbs/spices and didn’t finish that category.

We went back and forth passing the two Italian guys we’d been seeing and also the mixed gender group of people who we’d seen at the water cache before Tehachapi and who’d called out my hat for being Seattle. Mainly the back and forth occured because we took a very early breakfast break on a rock overlooking some huge desert valley and ate one of the paneer and vegetable pouches and also some trail mix. And the empty pouch blew down into a deep deep crevice in the rock we sat on so I had to clamber down the side of the rock and fish it out with my trekking pole while Maddie sat on top and continued eating because that is our usual division of labor.

And then we kept walking and singing and having run out of throwback pop classics on the radio we turned to our favorite singalong, FLETCHER songs, and sang those until we turned the corner and abruptly halted mid-verse because there was the water cache right ahead with a whole bunch of people stopped to fill their water bottles out of ginormous water jugs that some trail angels go out of their way to keep full. Hopefully no one heard our egregiously off tune singing but probably they all did, oh well. That is why my name is Jukebox I suppose.

And of course we learn from the people already at the water cache that a mountain lion just walked by but alas we missed that which is both good for safety and bad because that would be sooo cool to see.

And then at the water cache this guy is like Katie, Maddie??? And I stare at him for a sec like who is this random man who knows us until I realize OMG it’s Boone. Clearly my facial recognition is subpar. And we’re like omg how did you get ahead of us that means you passed us at some point on the trail. And he’s like yeahhhh uh actually I think it was when I handed you your dirty TP bag. And I’m like OHHHHH NO WAY ooops I totally didn’t recognize you … awkward.

And then we are off walking again and now it is already super hot so Maddie asks me to sing more songs to distract her from the hot and I try but it is oh so hard to think of songs on the spot, and anyway real jukeboxes get told what songs to sing.

But then I’m tired and hot and Maddie is tired and hot so Maddie puts in her headphones and I zone out and we speed walk through the hot sandy desert floor, past all the Joshua trees, past a whole bunch of people, closer and closer to the foothills we see ahead of us. And somehow I feel really strong and fast, probably it’s cause of passing all the people, so I cruise on autopilot and think about how thru-hiking is a lot like running in terms of the mental games and focus and blankness and zone out and all the different phases your mind goes through to occupy the long periods of time that you are just existing in semi-discomfort and exertion.

And then we are in the foothills and the change of scenery breaks my zoned out mental state and Maddie finishes whatever album she was listening to (probably FLETCHER) and we are ready for lunch. So we start and finish a downhill and go around some corners and start going up because Maddie is looking for shade as usual and as usual there is no shade to be found and as usual probably when we do find shade she’ll decide it’s too cold after about 5 minutes and move to the sun.

And we are winding in and out of these huge foothills that below us drop off into a massive valley with more hills on the other side. And we round some turns and finally, finally we can see the Sierras!!! Off in the distance, but the very pointy very snow capped massive mountains out there are definitely unmistakeable.

And finally we find some shade under a tree and there are a few rocks jutting out from the hillside and we sit overlooking the valley and the Sierras. And we start eating couscous but then Maddie realizes the tree is dripping sap and it’s all over the rock she sat on so the butt of her shorts is all sticky and coated in sap. And she has a minor freakout. And I try to get it out with soap and water but it’s only partially successful but I tell her it’s essentially all out so that she will chill out. And also I feel rather self-conscious scrubbing at her butt because there are people sitting nearby who will definitely not understand what the situation is. And we have a bit of service so we go on Instagram and we also text Abby because one of the things we discover on Instagram is that Becky’s not so hot, and we also do some other productive things that I can’t recall.

And then we keep walking and now that we had a break everything is pretty again and somehow these sandy hills have wildflowers growing all up and down their sides coating them in beautiful vibrant colors.

But then we are still walking and now I’m tired and there are still so many miles to go. And we’re going up then down then up again and it’s so sandy it’s like the beachy type where when you try to walk your foot slides backward a bit and it’s hard and exhausting to make forward progress. So I put in my headphones and fall behind Maddie who has turned on her I’m-tired-and-getting-there-ASAP pace which I personally find exceedingly unenjoyable.

So I walk alone with my headphones in and rather loud music to distract myself for probably 3 hours. And these hours really drag. It feels like maybe 6. It goes on and on and on, those sandy hills that all look the same and are all hot and sandy and frustrating and long and steep.

But finally, finally, we are at the water cache that is our camping destination for the night. And my feet are aching and I’m really tired so I sit down on the trail while Maddie zooms about trying to sus out the least windy site. And she finds one behind a juniper bush that seems super exposed but somehow isn’t windy and we sit down. And I plan to never move again (at least for today).

But then Maddie decides maybe this site is too small to fit both of us without one of us being on the slopey part and rolling down the hill. So off she goes zooming around to see if there are any other wind protected unclaimed sites. And she comes back and says maybe she found one and asks me to check it to see if I agree and I am grumpy because I was planning on not moving.

But I go anyway, and I decide it’s fine and anyway I don’t walk to walk back over so I yell across the way at Maddie that it’s good and she brings all our stuff over which is really nice.

But the site is really narrow and clearly too small to fit our tent and we don’t see any bugs crawling around and also there’s still a bit of wind so we decide maybe this will be our first night that we try cowboy camping aka laying our sleep pads directly on our tyvek and sleeping outside, no tent. And I am both excited and nervous. But we see other people doing it, like the people at the spot next to us, and also Nora, who I yell-gesture-directed across the way to help her find our original wind-protected site behind the juniper. So it seems like a safe environment to try it and we’ve heard so much about how everyone cowboys on the PCT.

So we lay out our tyvek sheet and sit on it while we eat dinner and we actually got to the site early-ish for once, like 5:30 so we think we will have time to journal after we eat! But somehow eating takes forever I guess we just expand it to fill the time. And then it’s getting dark so we blow up our sleep pads and lay them out on the tyvek and get in our quilts and we are officially cowboying. And we text Sweet Pea to brag to him that we are actually cowboying. And also to find out how far behind he is and he did an almost 30 mile day so he is only 8 miles behind us so we will probably see him tomorrow. But then idk how we will ever catch back up to him again after Chicago which is sad.

And we lay side by side and watch the stars come out and it feels so new and cool and special to be outside like this. And somehow cowboying instead of being in our tent makes me feel differently about the PCT, like at least in this instant I feel like I am doing something novel and having a totally different experience, that this is not at all like any of the backpacking I’ve done before. It just makes me feel so much closer to the trail and to the nature and to the outside. And there are just so many stars and I’ve never seen this many before and it is so dark and magical. And I snuggle close to Maddie and start to feel sleepy even though I also feel exhilarated and awestruck and so so lucky and I want to lay in my quilt awake and stare at the stars forever and be in this moment forever.