Waking up in a real bed is euphoric… with AC blasting and the blinds all closed, we slept in a bit this morning and lounged around on the couch while finishing up laundry and other chores. We left the Air Bnb around noon and headed to our next stop - Big 5 sporting goods.

We had high hopes. New trail gaiters, new shoes for mackenzie, water bladders, and more. We were surely disappointed. No shoes, no trail gaiters, and no water bladders. After making our rounds to Marshall’s, Famous Footwear, and a grocery store, we managed to get what we needed. We then headed to a nearby Dennys to wait out the heat and consume our body weight in breakfast food.

We stayed at the Dennys until 4:30 PM. Rick, a local veteran that flew A4s and A6s for the Navy’s air to ground operations testing facility picked us up and drove us the 30 minutes out to the trailhead from Ridgecrest. Truly a wonderful person to meet that had great stories and abundant gratitude for his job, family, and experiences. The people we’ve met on the trail that haven’t even hiked the PCT have provided so much without asking for a single thing in return. Closing in on 40 days on the trail I’ve learned one thing for sure - there are so many wonderfully kind and generous people on this earth.

After getting to the trailhead, we had a 14 mile night hike. The temperature was hot but the sun was setting and thus the weather cooling. We were all so thankful to be on the trail. The views were incredible and the hike itself was very manageable… until about 1:30 AM. Our dogs were barking.

We made camp around 2:30. The two marked spots were already taken when we arrived so we all had to get a little creative. Spoons and Tumble set up their tent on a slope while Mackenzie and I are cowboy camped on a shoulder of the trail. I have a sense the mosquitoes will be our unfortunate alarm clock far too soon… it’s officially Mackenzie’s 25th birthday as well as I’m writing this now on the 25th in June. I’m sure this wasn’t what she expected for her 25th birthday.

Tired souls…