Thursday 9 May 2019

PCT 2019 Day 5 May 8/19

Daily mileage 24
Total mileage 109
Hiked from 6:00 am to 5:00 pm

A day of snakes.



My little wind sheltered camp site worked out just fine last night.  A few gusts got in there and shook the tent but overall it was a good night.

I got rolling with a single mission in mind: get to the water cache 6 miles up the trail. I had enough to get there, but only just.  Again, I cannot thank these trail angels who haul hundreds of gallons of bottled water up a remote dirt road  enough.



I was cruising up the only long hill of the day when I saw something silver stretched across the trail.  Snake! But there was no rattle attached to the end of it so my anxiety went down immediately. If anyone knows what kind of snake it is in the picture I would love to know.

So then it was on with the task of completing the climb.  The day was neither hot nor cold.  The wind did kick up a bit but not as bad as the last couple of days.

Over the top and down the other side to Barrel Springs.  I was the only person there, so I took a prolonged break that included a big lunch and just general down time.
Old mine shaft. How did these old timers know this was the right place to dig?

Then it was off to cover the last 8 miles into Warner Springs.  The profile looked pretty benign so I was thinking of an easy cruise.  Silly me. None of the hills were large, there was just a bunch of them.
100 miles in the bag




As I was mindlessly wandering up one of the hills, I saw something black poking out from behind a bush.  This one definitely had a rattle on the end of it and it was a big one. Luckily it was fairly flat terrain so I could walk around it.  It showed no inclination to move otherwise.


The rest of the hike into town was without incident. I had decided to stay at the only hotel/resort rather than tenting it.  The call of a shower was mighty indeed.  So now I am at the Warner Springs Resort for at least one night, likely two.

One thing about a small place like Warner Springs is that there is but one restaurant in "town" and it closes at 5:00 pm. I got here just after 5 which is why I am enjoying a couple of delightful frozen microwave burritos for dinner.
Home for the night

2 comments:

  1. Jack you must be in better shape than you're letting on. 20+ miles out of the gate is pretty darn impressive. Keep her goin!

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  2. I'm a PCT section hiker (trail name Raven) following your blog and noticed your question about the pinkish snake earlier in the day. It's a rosy boa (https://www.desertusa.com/reptiles/rosy-boa.html) - I saw a few when I went through Southern California. If you end up flip flopping to do the Sierra Nevada later (August) due to snow, maybe I will see you on the trail! Good luck!

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