PCT mm 597.6 – The desert is waning

Yes, I walked through more wind farms today, but hallelujah there are trees.  I woke up very early as planned and headed out just before 5 am.  I was able to sit on a rock outside my tent to eat my cold everything bagel with cream cheese.  These bagels are not nearly as good as the oat ones I got in Agua Dulce last resupply.  I also discovered that the coconut oil leaked again and doused nearly everything in the bag.  I guess coconut oil is just not meant for hiking unless you have a really good container to keep it in.

The first eight miles to the spring went pretty quickly.  It took an hour to fill six bottles and eat my other bagel.  Next water is twenty miles and I doubt I have a 28 in me today.  I’ll probably camp a few miles short and make a morning spring run like today.  Both people and animals frequent Springs, so I tend to shy away from camping near them when possible.

The morning before and after the spring consisted of wind farm after wind farm again, but smaller than the ones of the previous few days.  At one break I counted 56 turbines in one field and 10 of them were not working.  A failure rate of almost 20% seems high to me.

It started getting warm around noon and the campsite I was going for that said it had great shade was still two hours away.  About 1:30 I finally found something suitable and stopped early.  I did not get too hot, but I got hotter than I wanted to and went through more water than I wanted to.  I added some electrolytes to a liter just to make sure.  I ate and napped there until 5:30 and then headed out again.  When I got to the campsite I was headed for, it did have better shade and more shade from oaks instead of pines.  Every time I nap under a pine, something gets sap on it.  This time it was my pants and a tiny bit on my shirt.

I had charged my phone last night from the battery and had the battery charging on the pack while I walked.  I don’t think it charged much while walking, but during siesta, I set it out in the sun and it fully charged the battery, so I think I might have a workable system for the remote areas now.

When I set out again, I was tired and sluggish.  I was using the umbrella, but it wasn’t so hot that I felt in really needed it, so I put the umbrella away and got out the poles.  I must admit that my pace seems to pick up a bit when using the poles.  I think I will start using them in the mornings and evenings when I don’t need the umbrella.  I tried the umbrella and one pole thing this morning and I didn’t like it.  I think it’s one or the other.

I only have 4.5 miles to go to the spring, but I got tired and it was after 7:30 so I stopped to camp at a gap which is quite windy.  I hope the wind dies down a little so I can get some good sleep.  I can tell I did not get enough last night.  You need plenty of food and sleep to hike well.  I’ll try stopping early and not starting so early tomorrow to see if that gives me more energy.  I’ll also try to take my siesta a little earlier, too.