PCT 2023 - Day 19 - 80’s style!

The one with the 80’s mountain disco, the desert wind and an awesome trail Angel!!

📍 Location: MM 200.5 to Banning

🏔️ Elevation:, currently 1875ft (so a big descent from yesterday).

🥾 I actually walked: just under 10 miles.

💰 Money: $64 on resupply in Walmart (including rain pants). $15 on In and Out Burger (Omg! This was yummy), then $40 for the trail Angel house with Mitsey which included dinner, a place to sleep, a shower, washing of clothes and a lift back to the trail head tomorrow. She is an absolute gem and so is her rescue dog, Abigail.

⛑️ Health: I felt great today until we got to the road. We had to trudge for 3.6 miles through a wind farm whilst walking on hot sand. I was near on horizontal as I pushed against the wind and was exhausted by the time I reached the I10 Interstate.

☀️ Weather: Cold for about 20 mins then the heat started! Luckily it was windy so we didn’t notice it as much….. until I stopped and then it hit me! I much prefer the cold weather (never thought I’d say that!).

🍲 Food: Breakfast bar (I know, I should be eating more!), snickers and nuts for lunch (please no lectures, I know it’s terrible). Once I got to town I had a massive cheeseburger, fries and a coffee. Then cookies, then Pizza and salad followed by banana split. My appetite is just very strange at the moment.

💤 Sleep: Last night I slept on and off all night. I was cowboy camping next to DinkyDi. As we laid there we watched the swifts flying above our heads whilst we chatted. When darkness came the stars were so bright and the full moon was shining down on us as if someone had forgotten to turn the light off. It was so much better than my last cowboy camping experience.

🐍 Snake count: Still 7, although people were taking about snakes at dinner tonight and quite a few rattlers are out and about.

👨 People update: Jean Pierre aka Two Speeds has hurt us foot and we are all quite concerned about him. Our lovely trail Angel Nitsey is going to pick him up tomorrow and lion after him. The PCT has blown me away with the kindness of strangers.

THE LONG WINDRD VERSION:-

☀️ 7am - The sunrise was anothe beauty today. I will never tire of the stunning views first thing in the morning.

🐜 All packed up, some people have very wet sleeping bags (my Tyvek Bivvy is a god send)., “Have you seen this?” Says Di as she points to something moving on her groundsheet. “I think it’s a tick” she says. It’s gross, whatever it is. I snap a quick video and photo and Di checks herself over for bites. “All good” she smiles and we haul our packs on and set off down the mountain.

🥾 and we are off! Just 9 miles until the I10 and I hope to see my first Walmart today!

🎵 this downhill is tough on Di’s knees and her shoulder is aching. My hips are also feeling the strain so we need a distraction. No one else is around so I tap “Now that’s what I call 80’s” music and we sing our way down the mountain. It’s amazing what a bit of Blondie, KC and the Sunshine Band and a spot of The Bangles am an do for your moral! I’m sure people could hear us singing for miles! “I’ve had the time of my life….. 🎶

🥾 We finally reach a water spigot which is located on a dirt road. We can see and hear the Interstate from here and it doesn’t look far. Disco Daddy checks our PCT app and declares “3.6 mile road walk from here”. It didn’t look that far but the app is never wrong.

🏝️ 1030am We reach the Cabazon change and take photos of signs to Canada etc. Spirits are good and we are still walking together. Shortly afterwards the trail take us off road and leads us for about 2 miles through a desert wind farm. By this stage, I was way at the back and had trouble standing upright! Not only was the wind terrible but we were trudging through deep sand! Driftwood was all over the place and it felt as if we were walking in a dry sandy beach. In the middle of my misery I spot three weird statue things (see photo). I saw some of these on day one and I’ve still no idea what they are or who put them there.

🙌 1155am - I finally reach the highway underpass to a round of applause. It looks like it wasn’t just me that found that section challenging! The underpass has a weird vibe. Cardboard is pinned to the walls and hikers have signed their names or written little massages. There is a hiker box with discarded food and empty water bottles. A large group are here with some familiar faces such as Joey and Jeanne.

🚗 12.10pm - Disco, Di and I head up to the road and it’s good timing as a station wagon turns up with a badge on the side saying “PCT TRAIL ANGEL”. The lady is called Nitsey and she loves hikers. She offers seven of us to go back to her house where she will feed us and run us around to get our chores done… for $40. Disco, Di and say yes, but there is no way I am sitting in the boot of the trunk of this vehicle. I sit in the front and the dog sits on top of me! I’m now covered in dog hair but I don’t care. I’d rather be safe and clunk the seatbelt together. We start driving and Nitseys phone pings. She picks it up and starts reading as the car swerved into the next lane. I grab her phone and say “shall I play secretary?”, and read out the message to her. It’s a hiker wanting a lift. I swiftly respond and Nitsey thanked me. Just as I put the phone down it pinged again. “Would you get that for me” she said. And that’s how it went for 5 miles! I’m a trail Angel secretary with a big hairy dog sitting on my lap and six hikers crammed into the trunk!

🍔 We stop at “In and Out” which is a bit like Burger King and I suddenly realise how hungry I am. I also need coffee! We all eat, then pile back into the station wagon for round two!

🛏️ We reach her pad which is a one bedroom house on an estate, but the backyard is rather unique. She has beds, charging stations, hammocks, portaloos etc all laid out well. There are loaner clothes for those wanting to use the laundry facilities and a hot shower available. This lady has a heart of gold and just doesn’t stop.

🍺 We all pick our spots (us oldies are in a little corner out of the way, whilst the youngsters can drink beer and be merry!). We settle in and the Nitsey offers to take us to Walmart so that we can buy food for the next section of our hike.

🏬 Walmart is HUGE! I’ve never seen a supermarket so big! It’s actually a bit overwhelming and I wish I had made a list of things I needed. We have 1 hour .

🍕 Back at the house we are treated to an endless flow of hot pizza, ice cream with bananas. Life is good.

🌙 I fall asleep listening to the hum of the highway, the gentle snores of Disco Daddy & DinkyDi and the goats who are next door and sound like they’ve lost their mum.

This has been such a fun and unexpected day!

See you tomorrow and thanks for reading my rambles.Read more