PCT 2007 Day 37 – Rodriguez Cross Spur – Sandy wash

PCT 2007 Day 37

Day 37 / 5-1-07 Tarp
Rodriguez Cross Spur – Sandy wash
18.3 miles; 86.7 total miles; 1921.9 trip miles
Scattered showers and 70-80, windy
Day 7 with rain

I woke up at 1 AM feeling really wet. My legs had sweated so much my foot box of my sleeping bag was soaked. I had to unzip it, turn it inside out and lay it over me like a quilt, so it would dry.

At 4:30 the alarm went off and then 5 minutes later I saw a flash of lightening. At first I thought it was a camera flash. Then I heard the thunder. Everyone was up at that point. We saw a handful of more flashes then it started to rain lightly. I did a rush pack job to ensure my stuff didn’t get wet.

I was hiking by 5:20 AM and had to use my headlamp. I quickly caught most of those who started ahead of me and final fell in with Wounded Knee and Ultra Bright. We hiked on to Scissors Crossing where we met Deacon cooking breakfast. There was plenty of water at the cache.

Wounded Knee and Ultra Bright had planned on hitching into Julian to wait out the heat of the day. It doesn’t appear that its going to be an issue any more. As I went to the bathroom, I spooked a large snake next to the Scissors Bridge. It was probably a rattler but it moved too fast. We walked to the junction of S2 and Rt. 78 and within 10 minutes had a ride to town.

Once to town we realized nothing was open and had to hangout. I got a snack at the deli and sent email. We attempted to get pizza but the only two pizza places in town were closed. We finally settled for a family style restaurant. Mind you Julian isn’t a large town. I had a BBQ chicken sandwich with fries. At one point I picked up a folded up sheet with birds of California on it. I should have looked at it more since I have identified 80% of the perching birds on it. We headed for the library to print the latest water report. Someone collects all the information about the springs, rivers, and caches left by trail angels and posts it online. I also checked my email.

We tried to get a hitch back out of town for close to a half hour until this guy taking the trash outdoors at the church across the street asked where we needed to go. He agreed to give us a ride even though it was twice as far as he thought.

We hit the trail and our 9 mile uphill about 3 pm. The climb wasn’t steep but it traversed this mountain side for a long while. The reason it was so long is because of the dozen upon dozen of gullies the trail had to go into. We got to the top and found Glacier, Fuzzy Bear, and Jukebox camped. We thought we had 3 more miles to go (my mistake) but pushed on. It was really only six tenths of a mile. We are camped in a sandy wash.
I put my new tarp up with Ultra Bright’s help since it’s quite windy still. I figured with the rain and current wind I wouldn’t chance it raining on me and my down sleeping bad. It’s also a full moon so it’s super bright.

My feet felt hot today but no blisters. I did get one on the corner of my pinky toe on my right foot. It seems fine and I don’t feel it. My hot spot I get is on the front middle of my right foot.

Tomorrow we have to climb out of this wash first thing, after that I’m not sure what’s coming.

Scatman 2011- This was one of those days where just because there’s a town there and you’re still used to the convenience of them you get drawn in.  I had absolutely no reason to go into town but to get pizza.  What did happen was I formed a bond with Wounded Knee and Ultra Bright and we would hike together for quite some time off an on throughout the trip.  Ironically I now work with Ultra Bright but then again we live in the same city and share the same passion.

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Scatman

Get out there!

You can check out my Appalachian Trail or Continental Divide Trail journals too!