Legs and Borders

"Embrace the suck" Hiker's proverb. If yesterday was Squirtle wet, today was Blastoise smash wet mainly due to the rain falling on us all day. Water was coming from beneath and from above, it was like a remake of 'Waterworld' with Kevin Costner (I just realized I never actually seen that movie). There was a lot of elevation gain throughout the first part of the day, path was going up and down like a rollercoaster, one section included walking next to a river on a snow chute for couple of miles, I put the micro spikes on here as it was very steep. It started to rain about 10am just after first big river crossing that had to be walked through, I managed to catch up with Guy at that point and we walked together for the rest of the day. We must have crossed, hopped or walked over or around fifty streams and rivers during the day. Often trail itself was used by the water to find its way downhill and occasional meadows were like walking on a sponge. We arrived at the ca...

"I killed few rattle snakes before, skinned and cooked them with white wine and onion. They taste just like clam" Travis aka PepTalk. Very wet day, it was either walking on slushy snow or through rivers and streams. Snow melt is now in full effect and big portions of the trail are either running or stagnant water puddles. It was actually first day when I completely gave up on keeping my feet dry and were walking straight through all the water ahead of me. Guy with whom I camped last night set out really early, it must have been quarter past five, I heard him leaving and never saw him again today, he mentioned a couple of times how much he misses his wife and since he has just few hundred miles left to go (he is not hiking the entirety of PCT) that must keep him motivated. He's 66, what a Guy! I lost a couple of miles by walking on the wrong trail, before I checked it on my GPS I was already mile away, haha. The only other person I've met for the entire day was Travis ...

"I wrote down the names of everyone I've lost, been hurt by or haunted by in my life on a piece of paper. After, I folded the paper in half and wrote: "Don't follow me to Canada. You won't make it". I folded it more and shoved it in a corner wall of bus station hut in Mammoth". Lost and Found. Another day another pass, this time it was turn for Donohue, it wasn't anything new or more difficult than the previous passes but the accumulation of them day after day poses a significant threat to willpower, luckily it all went fine. Also rest of the day was fairly easy, a gentle descent into Yosemite valley. I've seen a coyote crossing the trail 20 meters in front of me before midday, once it spotted me it started to move away looking back at me, but it wasn't in any particular rush or panic. LVery respectable creature and not that much smaller or different looking than a wolf. After that I stumbled upon Guy (I already met him few hundred miles befo...

"We are so regimented that some people are calling us The Military" Ninja, member of the Duplex Tramily. Decent miles today, mainly going uphill. Views were great as well, I'm stopping for breaks in those picturesque spots knowing that I won't be seeing them anymore in a week's time.. It's kind of sad, on one hand mountains are kicking my butt but on the other I don't want them to end. There's something timeless and regal about those peaks, they don't give a damn about us mere mortals. I've been walking alongside the Duplex Tramily for a couple of days now, they consist mainly of English and German hikers, so you have the mixture of German precision and English timekeeping, it sounds dreadful I know, haha. By the looks on their faces I can see that they are not enjoying themselves very much, but they stick together because 'Sierras are a difficult section and it's safer to walk here with other people', perhaps they are right I won...

"Mother Mather and father Muir had a baby Selden who hasn't quite hit puberty yet. Selden is a very good looking child though". Mountain Goat Easiest pass yet, the difficult passes requiring working the timetable around them are coming to an end, in fact I'm camping few miles before the last one called Silver Pass. Thank God! This week has really kicked my ass in every possible way. First of all it was really cold in the morning, I woke up at 5am and started walking at 5:30. There were many stream crossings along the way before the pass, I was hopping the stones as usual, until one quite average looking stream appeared, stones were covered in ice (I didn't notice that) and were wobbly. I stepped on one, slipped tried to step on the second one slipped again and boom! I was down in the water, everything on me was soaking wet. I stood up, walked through the water to the other side, immediately opened my backpack to check if the sleeping bag and puffy jacket got wet, ...

"Overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer" Darkest Dungeon. And so it happened, I injured myself and I only got myself to blame for it, but let's start from the beginning. I camped last night very close to the Mathers Pass regarded as the hardest pass on the PCT route, I woke up early and started the ascent at 5:30am. Reached the section everyone struggles with after half an hour - it was initially a very steep 75+ wall of snow, if you make a misstep and slip there's nothing to stop you on the way down, especially when you don't have an ice axe.. After the snow wall, you have to scramble the way between rocks for about a hundred meters before reaching the trail again, except there's mainly very fine grit and most of the rocks are loose (the drop angle remains the same). I actually managed to unintentionally push a head sized rock down the slope, luckily I was there so early no other hikers were below. After you manage to go through those two sketchy parts...