First 210 miles

Day one: 20.6 miles. I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to pull off a 20 on my first day of hiking after having done nothing for 6 months after the AT yet somehow I did. The PCT in general (actual trail wise) has been significantly easier than the AT. Although, the whole desert- no water thing is a bit more challenging. After the first day I seemed to average around 17-22 miles a day, which I'm not complaining about. The miles go by much more quickly than I'm used to. I stopped in Juillian to resupply around mile 70-80 then again in Idyllwild, mile 151. Now I'm at mile 209.5 and relaxing in Palm Springs. The day before the descent to Interstate 1 the crew I was hiking with and I decided that we would like to do a 6.7 mile side trail to the summit of Mt. Jacinto (10,834ft). I'm glad I did. It was a hell of a view! After we got back down to the valley I was so anxious to get to Palm Springs that I decided to hike the 4 miles to the highway in the high noon sun. I call those 4 little miles the Valley Death March. The sun was SO hot. It was 103 degrees and I had been suffering from dehydration for days already do to the lack of abundant water. Eventually I ended up taking off my shoes because my feet were rubbing so badly trying to walk through the sand and I finished the miles just in my socks, although it may not have been smart because the hot sand ended up burning my feet a little. I've been here in Palm Springs since Tuesday night and will be heading back to the trail sometime on Monday. Despite the pool and the available food and water I'm actually very anxious to get back to the mountains. I ended up buying a new sleeping bag because the one I took on the AT wasn't warm enough for out here, especially the night it snowed 8,500 feet high. I'm hoping that my new zero degree bag will be worth the money. As long as I can get a solid night sleep without shivering all night I'll be happy. So far this trail has not let me down. The views are almost constant. The trail itself is graded...mostly. The real challenging factors seem to be the climate. In this desert section there are extreme highs and lows and it shifts the moment the sun goes down. I'm hoping that in the trail to come there is a bit more water. The first few days of trail I was treating water that was in dirty tanks meant for horses. I affectionately dubed it horse water but appreciated it nonetheless. I'm going to try and keep an updated blog depending on my cell phone service but there are no guarantees.