PCT 22 – Leaving Agua Dulce & city thoughts

Daily miles 18
Total miles 474

After spending the last two days with Sweetpea’s family in the burbs of Los Angeles,  we are back on trail.   We had a nice visit with both her parents and her sister’s family in Valencia.    They were kind enough to come pick us up from Agua Dulce and cart us all over town trying to find shoes,  a new hiking skirt,  resupply,  and a package that mysteriously ended up back in Agua Dulce.  We were fed wonderfully and fortified for our next section of the trail.

SweetPea was able to find some new shoes.   She is back to wearing Brooks along with Beardoh.   We have both give Altras a fair go,  each having multiple pairs over the last year,  but their sizing inconsistencies have left us both looking for Brooks shoes again.  At the soon-to-be-defunct Sports Chalet,  sweetpea was able to find shoes as well as a new hiking skirt.   The hiking skirt search has been a long search,  and the one she found is both comfy and nice looking.

SweetPeas parents dropped us off is Agua Dulce around 9 am and we retrieved our bounce box,  dealt with its contents and then focused on making a couple repairs to Sweetpea’s pack.   She had a couple spots where the stitches were stressed at the hip belt,  and thankfully the Sauflie’s have a sewing station at their place.   We were somewhat shocked to get in and out of their place within an hour,  but thrilled nonetheless.

Walking today was pretty nice.   We did have a couple climbs,  but the temps were not terribly hot.   We had a breeze for the majority of the day,  so during the warmest times,  just finding a shady spot for a couple minutes rejuvenated us.

During the day,  we must have seen around 25 hikers,  most of which we had not met before.  It seems as though we have ran into another bubble.   By the end of the day,  we had hiked past most of them,  as we had our dinner in the area where many were planning to make camp.   We ate around 5:30 and then hiked on for a couple miles.

We took lunch at the one water spot for the day.   It was a spring that seemed to be flowing at the speed of 1 liter per 3 minutes.   This built up quite a line for water since there were so many hikers on the trail in this section.   A rattle snake was right off the trail near this spot,  so we could here his rattle going for over 20 minutes.   When we were ready to leave,  he was coiled up about 5 feet off the trail and rattling.

Time in a full-on city is quite interesting after being out in the woods for a few weeks.   The high presence of anxiety is evident as well as the speed at which people feel the need to operate.  It is a bit of a bummer to us,  and we are happy to have found a place where things roll slower and more graceful – out here on the trail.

Tonight we are cowboy camped under a nice blanket of stars.   Just us with no other hikers around. The air is still and quiet. No trees to hammock from where we decided to stop and that is alright,  since we got in some decent miles and the spot is nice.