Today began with the final push back to the trail. The morning view brought back some morale. In the daylight, we were able to easily navigate the rest of the way back to the trail and were so relieved to finally be walking on trampled, smooth, ground after not having a trail the entire day before.

Once we got on the trail, we walked up to a cluster of wooden cabins that had been there for some time. It had a weird vibe to it with a shower that no longer works and a massive fireplace in the center. There were a few bottles of liquor and graffiti all over.

We stopped for a bit at a water cache, ate, and finally laughed about our adventurous hike this morning and the day before. A British guy that goes by ‘LOTHAR’ (which stands for loser of the historic American revolution) heard we hiked the ridge line and named our group the MC ridgeliners for ‘Mission Creek Ridgeliners’.

After that, we had super easy hiker and morale was high. We managed to hike an additional 20 miles and really enjoyed the fast walking and open views. We made it to Highway 18 and got a ride from a trail angel by the name of Jess. She’s a PT for thru-hikers and shared all sorts of stats and info on injuries and types of trauma. It was enlightening. All three of us in the car had left leg pains. She then told us that because the PCT has a consistent slope towards one side for these first couple sections, the injuries tend to be in the left foot.

We booked an air bnb for the night and are headed back on trail mid morning to keep hiking. I feel my body starting to adapt to this crazy active lifestyle. I’m excited to see where it takes us.

Happy bed…