Oh, My Blistered Feet! - (Starting Trail Mile 328.1, elevation 3385)

I slept in until 5:30 am as a treat to myself.  Wanting to see the beautiful night sky, I had again slept without the rain fly on my tent.  However, this meant a damp sleeping bag in the morning.  I will have to spread it out on bushes during my mid-morning break to dry out.  My bag has water resistant treated down filling, but still should not be left wet all day.

I made my way to a water source, and visited with other hikers as I filled my water bladder and bottles.  I still carry excess water since finding that most "seasonal" streams are dry.  I do not want to run out of water, so I error on the side of caution, even though I have to carry those extra pounds. One liter of water weighs 2.2 pounds and I often carry 4-6 liters...you do the math!  Heavy!

As I leave my camp, I cross under "Rim of the World Scenic Hwy", State Hwy 138.  I also cross Cleghorn Road and start climbing right away.  The entire day will be up and down.  I was glad I filled up with water as I crossed several dry seasonal streams.  By 7:30 am, it is already 85 degrees, so I know it will be a hot day.  I'm hoping to get most of the hiking done in the earlier part of the day.  I'm mostly hiking on my heels.  The balls of my feet are hurting and I have the beginning of a new blister on the ball of my left foot, going up between my big toe and second toe.  I will need to get off the trail for a few days to get this healed up before continuing on.  Luckily, I have a fairly short 13.6 mile day ahead of me.  I don't stop to take many pictures as it all looks the same.  I'm on a hiking mission today! The last six miles is mostly downhill into Crowder Canyon.  What a relief, as going downhill is easier on my sore feet.

13.6 miles to go on sore feet

Another day in the hot, exposed sun

I'm planning on meeting Marv at a McDonald's across the freeway (I-15, the Barstow Fwy S which winds through Cajon Canyon).  I see a sign that tells me that once I reach the freeway, I have an additional 0.3 mile to hike until I reach McDonald's.  My feet are killing me, so I'm thrilled as I turn a corner in the trail to see Marv standing by the truck on the backside of a weigh station (saving me from hiking that additional 0.3 mile).  We go to McDonald's and I go into the bathroom to wash the worst of the dirt from my hair and body and change into the clean clothes that Marv brings me.  Other thru hikers I've met from Czechoslovakia, who are also eating here, comment and tease me on my "fresh" appearance.  As I've said before,"thru hikers" do not smell good and the entire McDonald's is filled with this odor to the distress of regular folks who have just stopped in to eat and do not realize they are at a major crossroad of the PCT.  If hikers hit here during the heat of the day, they will hang out in the air-conditioning until if cools off before hiking on.  It was wonderful to eat something other than trail food.  I devour a grilled chicken sandwich and a large fry and drink lots of ice cold tea.  Who knew that ice could feel like such a luxury?!

My big fry next to Marv's small one

 We travel back to where Marv has the RV parked.  I get to sleep 12 hours and have a leisurely morning, soaking my feet in Epson salt water and enjoying my morning coffee.  Marv gives me a day to rest before we hitch up and move to where Marv has a customer scheduled.  I will heal my feet while he completes this job and then return to the trail.  There are still problems in the Sierras.  The snow is melting, but hikers are still post-holing in large sections of the trail and there have been more injuries.  Then, as the snow melts, the rivers become more dangerous.  I elect to go further north and start hiking south while I wait for conditions in the Sierras to improve.