PCT 6 – Warner Springs

Day 6: 18 miles
Total miles 109

The temperature last night was ideal for sleeping…the wind rattling the tarp and SweetPea’s snoring made sleep a bit tough, but it was a ok night of sleep. We got rolling around 6:00, but weren’t in too much of a rush since we didn’t need to go more than 18 miles today. Lid cooks breakfast each morning, so his routine takes more time than ours. But we just hung out and chatted until we were all ready to go at 7:45.

The walking today was quite nice and easy. The first half of the day we were following the contour of the mountains for miles. We could look ahead or behind us and see the cut of the trail for miles. The mountains are quite dry with just shrubs and cacti again. Many of the cacti are blossoming now, so there are bright splashes of color along the trail.

At our first water of the day (about 9 miles in) we encountered our first trail magic. Minty Fresh who hiked the PCT last year was there with hot dogs, chips, beer and soda. It was such a nice treat and he was such a friendly and positive guy. It was nice to hang out and talk with some of the other hikers.

The afternoon was filled with a lot of walking through dry grasslands. The walking was flat and super easy. We came across Eagle Rock, which as you can guess from the name is a rock formation in the shape of an eagle. It was pretty cool and we got our photos taken there.

From there, we only had a few more miles to Warner Springs where we will need to pick up our next mail drop tomorrow morning. There is a Community Center here which provides services to hikers. Since we got in after 4:00, the food service was done, but there is a community room we could hang out in with computers and a TV. There are tons of hikers camping around the Community Center tonight awaiting packages at the post office tomorrow morning.

This evening has been a lot of fun, as we have gotten back together with a group of hikers we met the first day and had been hiking around until a few days ago. It is a really great group of people, with diverse backgrounds and a range of ages. Everyone has a great sense of humor and we have a great time together. Hopefully we will continue to hike around them for awhile.

Tonight we are hammocking again (Yeah!). It is a pretty exciting hang for us, because we were able to hang both of our hammocks using only one tree and nothing else. Pretty cool.

Luckily the wind has died down and the temperature is pretty nice. We’re looking forward to a good night’s sleep!