We made it to the halfway point today!!!! I didn't think this would be too big of a milestone, but it feels great. It's a HUGE psychological boost to be over the hump. The past couple weeks were a little tough mentally as it felt like we'd already come so far and yet we have even farther to go. That said, the PCT is absolutely amazing, and I don't want it to ever end. I thought it would be awesome, but it is about 10 times cooler that I ever hoped it could be. The journal doesn't convey the fun we have out here. I laugh until my stomach hurts every single day. There have certainly been challenging days, but I've had very few (if any!) bad days out here. Deciding to hike the PCT might be the best decision I've ever made.
Hiking-wise, today was a good day. Anything was going to feel mellow after yesterday's 5000 feet climb off the dock. We did some ridge walking today and a lot of contouring. We had great views of Mt. Lassen, one of Nor. CA's volcanoes. It was humid, and there was a lot of thunder and some rain in the afternoon. This was followed by a double rainbow on our last stretch into camp. We also came across a very healthy rattle snake coiled up in the middle of the trail today. Proving his insanity, Tourist picked it up with his trekking poles. His snake handling skills were unreal. I took tons of pictures.
Tomorrow, we have a 4-ish mile walk to Highway 36 where Mellow is going to hitch a few miles into Chester to resupply. The rest of us have a 21 or so mile day to Drakesbad Guest Ranch, a hot springs resort that offers free camping (I think!) where I'm going to pick up a box. The ranch has been a must do in past years, but it's under new management now so we're not sure what to expect. If it's as great as we're hoping, we'll probably zero tomorrow, our first zero since the 4th of July. We're due for a break! Mellow will either catch us there tomorrow evening or the following morning. I'm hoping Nips and Wildflower will catch up as well.
Off to bed. Cheers, to a great first half and an equally awesome second half! Oregon definitely feels like it's in striking distance. Thanks for all the support......We're definitely hikin' on a prayer out here!
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