PCT day 12 - mile 209 to mile 230

"When I was hiking AT in 2015, I got my legs after a month." Wall-E

"We were walking one day and we can hear rattling, it was afternoon so we though it was cicadas, then we turned around the corner.. and it definitely wasn't cicadas." The Dude and Bugs.

It was a long and unexpectedly interesting day. We woke up in the morning after a night full of noises ranging from neighbours shouting above us, to train horns and helicopters. Tom wanted to get McDonalds in the morning, I wasn't that hungry since I finished eating yesterday's pizza (microwave even had a pizza setting!) but I wouldn't say no to a coffee. We set off from the room at 6:45 and headed towards nearby McDs but unfortunately it was closed, so we went to a Starbucks instead. Uber driver picked us up half an hour later and by 8am we were back on the trail.

I didn't have the best start, my shins were a bit sore from the four mile push through the windy desert last evening, so I said to Tom that I might take it a little bit easier today.

By noon we unexpectedly walked into a big stream flowing through a barren piece of landscape. It was such a welcome change after hiking for several hours through the sand and heat, that hikers were stopping here to have their lunch. It didn't take long until the first person submerged themselve in the stream, and the rest of us followed - it became a PCT baptism in the middle of Mojave desert.

After an hour we were the first to set off from this sacred place, most of people stayed to enjoy the moment for a bit longer. Landscape became rough again, it was really hot and windless, my clothes all of which I dipped into the stream, to get some heat relief were bone dry within an hour.

At 3pm we reached another oasis, by the small stream and under the shade of trees, four hikers greeted us. A German couple which left quite quickly and The Dude with his girlfriend Bugs an American couple in their late 50s from Texas. We had a pleasant chat, topics ranged from comparing the trails (The Dude hiked Appalachian Trail few years ago) to wildlife and American cities. We also agreed that non of us would like to live in London.

After an hour we went back on the trail, which one of a sudden became quite difficult to navigate as this stretch has been flooded few years ago. Hikers were stacking small stones on top of each other to indicate it's direction, the trail must have crossed the stream about ten times. At this point of the day my shins became very tender so I decided to slow down and let Tom carry on by himself. Eventually I decided to set camp two miles before our planned one, hopefully tomorrow I can wake up early and catch up with him. I didn't want to push myself and risk an injury for no reason.

It seems like crickets and frogs will serenade me to sleep tonight, I'll take it over trains and helicopters at any time.

Sieben, acht. Gute nacht.

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