PCT day 29 - mile 620 to mile 644

Me: Is that a bullet shell?
Cucumber: Yes it is. Welcome to America.

I woke up and carefully opened the tent to check if my rattlesnake neighbour from last night was still here and indeed it was still chilling in the previous spot, did not move a millimeter. I reckon it was sent by the snake federation as a reward for snake overload the previous day, to protect me from bears and bobcats.

The day, especially compared to the previous one was fairly uneventful. Three fairly big ascents (Pinyon Mountain, Wyleys Knob and Skinner's Peak) throughout the day, followed by few miles of easy and shaded walk in the forrest, followed by last few miles of boring dirt road walking. The wind blew all day long, especially up high it was very strong and nearly knocked me down few times.

Highlight of the day was crossing through the mile 630, as that was so far length of the longest continuous walk I did - South West Coast Path in England, followed by 500 mile long Camino de Santiago in Spain. Now they both got overtaken by Pacific Crest Trail, time will tell by how much.

There was only one water cache today, all the other water sources are dry for the next 20 miles, after which there is another cache maintained by local people. I can't imagine how would it be possible to walk this section without their help, thank you!

Plan for tomorrow is to hike eight miles  to the road, get a hitchhike to Lake Isabella or Ridgecrest to resupply and eat then hit the trail again in the afternoon. My original plan of squeezing food portions and walking straight to Kennedy Meadows has failed, I run out of snacks! Seriously though 0.6kg of Caramel Mountain trail mix I bought in Walmart that I thought will last me for long time was gone after three days, needles to say that's my new favourite nibble.

It's 9pm I'm all wrapped up in the sleeping bag and I can still hear and see people with headtorches pushing miles through the night, everyone seems to be tired of the desert and wants to get to Sierra Nevada section as soon as possible. Can't blame them, it's just around the corner in less than 60 miles.

Only water point within 35 mile radius:
Rattlesnake friend enjoying the sunrise:
Crossing mile 630:

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