August 5th

Sunday, August 5th: Todays miles = 20. Total PCT miles = 1,373. Last night was the first night on the trail so far that it has rained. I was sleeping in my tent without the fly on when I heard a loud thunder. I waited for a moment thinking it might have been a plane but the thunder was confirmed by the lightening I saw shortly after. I scrambled around trying to get my tent fly on as quickly as possible. I succeeded just in time! Moments after I got back in my tent it began to rain. It ended up just be a light rain, although, I was hoping for a down pour. A good rain would help this wild fire situation we've been dealing with.

This morning I headed into Drakesbad like I had planned but I did not shower or do laundry as I had planned. I could have but instead I sat, drank coffee and ate breakfast. It was a late start because of that. I made it back to the trail around noon to start my days hike. It was shortly after 3pm when I saw a wild fire....and then another in an opposite direction. The lightening from last night started two new wild fires in addition to the large one that has burned some of the PCT and upwards to 14,500 acers of land so far. Helicopters were flying above all day today dropping water and repelling firefighters in efforts to contain them before they became an issue. Firemen were literally dropping out of the sky! Smoke from the fires flooded in and we were hiking through it for a good 5 miles at least. No one had any information about these two new fires so we just hiked along hoping the wind was not blowing in are direction.

Tonight I am camped with Baboon, Snow White, Mr. C, and Pappa Smirf. Baboon seemed to have a rough day. Something about chaffing and a pinched nerve in his arm. Sometimes when I bend over in pain because of a pinched nerve in my back that I have had for 2,500 miles Baboon will give a little chuckle. After seeing his face today when he discovered his own pinched nerve I'm lead to believe the chuckles may come to an end. Hopefully, for his sake, its temporary. I wish such pain on no one. :-(

Also, I'm loosing a toe nail. I was wondering what that pain was today, then I took off my shoe...