Pacific Crest Trail Day 37

There was a climb in the middle of the day when it was heating up. Though it was getting warmer, the wind kept up making it bearable. I powered up the climb quickly. Near the top I was looking at my map to make sure I didn’t pass an upcoming water source when I noticed that I blew right past the 500 mile mark and didn’t notice any signs of it. I was 2 miles beyond when I even realized. I’m not really counting up these markers because there will be 26 of these milestones throughout the trail, but this particular mark brings The Proclaimers to mind.

At the top of the mountain there was a cistern full of water for a rare mountain top water source. Usually you grab it down below and have to carry it up. We were doing great on time, so we took a break where we were able to take in the expanse of the Mojave Desert below us. We will be crossing it starting tomorrow, and it looks very flat and hot. This is one of those notable points of the trail that you hear about ahead of time, so it will be interesting to see how it actually plays out.

Continuing on, the trail was more of the same and mostly passed through the magical oak forests. I kept taking pictures even though they probably all looked similar. Maybe in summation they will better relay the overall experience. I started going slower and took a break in the midst of the forest to relax in its peacefulness.