“We don’t let things slide over here at the PCT, no fun or funny business”

said a hiker to my left. 6 hikers sit to my left in fact. This is the Hiker Hut of the PCT.

The discussion centers around the phone plans and the slow wifi here in the Hiker Hut. I don’t have data out here in Warner Springs, California, or anywhere so far along the PCT since about mile 3, so this slow wifi is what I’ve got. It took several hours to upload Instagram photos, and I’ve been spending much of the day around here retooling my pack after learning how heavy my base weight really was

…

Now stories of rattlesnakes and the tumbles they’ve caused (detouring up or down steep slopes to avoid a rattler that won’t get off the trail).

I’ve had one of those detour moments myself. Way back about mile 70. It was terrible and terrifying, but I got around well enough, and avoided any tumbles.

Civilization is a siren call, but Warner Springs is primarily so satisfying because I hiked here from the border. Bucket showers are satisfying when you walked 109 miles to earn them you see.

I feel so many things on trail, and all of them so intensely and purely.