Ingrid and I started at the Penny Pines trailhead in Mt. Laguna on a frigid Saturday at around noon. We were going to do 7 miles the first day, 14 miles the second day, and 7 miles for the final day. It was 36 degrees when we started walking. Brrrrrr!
Immediately blocking the trail was a family of 9 people. I called out "Excuse Me, Excuse Me" as I tried to navigate around them. Some got out of the way and some didn't. I bumped into a couple of them. Hello, Big Backpack here, make way.
We got going at a nice pace and admired the view. It's always neat to see the desert floor from Mt. Laguna.
Suddenly, we heard some whooping and hollering and we stopped in our tracks to see what was going on. The family behind us was screaming out into the void, I guess trying to get an echo on their voices. I said, "Geez I'm trying to have a wilderness experience here." Then Ingrid yelled, "Shut the fuck up!!" The wind carried her voice away and the family didn't hear her. I laughed and we continued walking.
It was quite chilly so we kept a brisk pace. The frost-lined trail sparkled in the sun. Ahhhhhhhh, back on the PCT, where all is known and comfortable.
We made 7 miles by 4pm. It was WAY too cold to set up camp and sit around till bedtime so what did we do? We kept walking! We walked through the sunset and stars started twinkling about, blinking at us in the frosty air. Our breath puffed out in great plumes of steam. Here and there, we stumbled on a rock as night closed in. Our pace slowed so we wouldn't fall. Our headlamps gleamed in the night, cutting a path through the blackness.
At about 7pm, we spocked out a sweet campsite on the far side of a small meadow and behind some bushes. There we set up tents and ate our dinners then immediately crawled into our tents to get warm. So very cold. I lay shivering under Nancy's quilt, which I had borrowed to see if I would like quilts instead of sleeping bags. I wasn't warming up so I got up and put on every stitch of clothing I had. I also had hand and feet warmers going. Still cold. Not just cold but COLD. I laid there in the dark thinking about dying of hypothermia. Then I wondered if Ingrid would mind if I went into her tent and snuggled. I remembered I had Nancy's silk liner so I busted that out. That's what did the trick. Next thing I knew, I woke up and was toasty warm. My thermometer read 20 degrees.
For breakfast, I had grits and bacon with molly mcbutter. However, I accidently grabbed regular grits instead of instant grits so when I took a bite, it was like chewing on gravel. In the cold weather, my stove took so long to heat up that I didn't want to put the grits in the pot to simmer. Next time I will get instant grits. I can tell it will be really good if I can get it to cook! We got our crap together and started walking. There was a brisk wind blowing which made it feel like -5 degrees. Thank goodness it wasn't raining or snowing. The skies were clear and cool.
We moved at a steady, brisk pace and I envisioned I was Ms. Pacman gobbling up the miles. Coming down into Rodriguez Spur, we heard alot of gunshots. I was thinking, okay it's probably an outdoor shooting range so it should be somewhat contained and safe. Wrongo! As we turned around a bend, I saw there was a lone pick-up truck with a couple of dudes shooting into the side of a small hill that happened to face the PCT. I picked up my pace a bit. It sounded like they were shooting a variety of assualt rifles. I imagined an errant bullet zinging it's way into my shoulder and I cringed at every shot I heard. It was a tad scary.
We hit Rodriguez Spur at about noon and we thought, what might happen if we finished it all today? Spending another night in the freezing cold did not appeal to either of us. So.....we kept walking.
The PCT is very frustrating in the descent into Scissors Crossing. You can see across the desert floor to exactly where you need to be. If you could just cut straight across instead....I reached my hand out toward where the car was parked. But we walked parallel to where we needed to be for a good couple hours. Finally, the PCT dropped us onto the desert floor. I could feel my pace wavering, alternating between really really slow and pseudo fast. Ingrid would be by me and then she would fall way back. We were both hurting. The sun set and we walked in the dusk. I kept thinking, I'm almost done with Section A, I'm almost done with Section A.....
Then there was Ingrid's car and we were coming out of the pipe gate. I howled like a coyote and did some yipping into the night air. Ingrid said, "Tina, are you fuckin' nuts or what?" I said, "If I'm nuts, then so are you!"
We walked just shy of 19 miles to finish at 5:30pm. Thank goodness we didn't have to sleep in the cold again that night.
Section B starts this weekend.
