25 April - Day 5 - Desert Blooms & Hobo Camping

25 April - Day 5 - Desert blooms & hobo camping

Sunrise Trailhead (Mile 059) to Scissors Crossing (mile 077).
Total PCT Miles today: 18

Charles here.

Sean breaking camp while Charles makes breakfast.

Broke camp under darkening gray skies. Still no rain.

Came across a young thru-hiker (I won't name me him since I didn't get his permission) leaning against a post - his knee duct taped. Turns out he had fallen with his heavy pack and wrenched his knee & twisted his ankle. Despite the pain ( and the crushing disappointment that his hike might well be over for this year) he was showing real composure and even a wry sense of humor. I checked his knee for swelling, for signs of meniscus tear, for any sign of a break. None of the above as far as I could see. So there was hope it was just a minor sprain. Ankle was also twisted but zero swelling. Once his ride out was confirmed, we headed on.

My feet were bad. But we needed to get in more than 20 miles if we were to hope to get to Warner Spgs for our ride on the 27th. Descending zigzag into stunningly beautiful mountain desert, we put up our umbrellas (cool ultralite reflective ones) that let us pass right thru the day's heat. Sean and Chris took lots of cool cactus shots.

But my feet are now blistered beyond use. Need to heal up. All our best efforts are doing some good but the damage of the day's hike makes things much worse. Time to give up on the "plans" and take time off to heal. Frustrating.

Ended up camping under a hwy overpass as a rain storm blew in. We are true "hiker trash" now. Geez.  As the wind whipped sand through our tunnel, and we tried to cook, another thru-hiker arrived -- Golden Ray. He communicated with us by writing in a notebook, as he's deaf. Other thru-hikers (or section hikers) camped beyond the bridge among the trees.

Chris peeking out of his swank accommodations. Charles's kitchen in the background.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone