12th May 2025

I woke freezing cold, thank you air con. I had slept reasonably well considering there were six of us in one room. Some sort of replica of a hostel dorm whereby several of the sleepers picked the short straw and stayed on the floor.

We made our way back to McDonald’s and loaded up on breakfast items to fuel our hike. Drizzle and Chapstick declared their intent to complete the McDonalds challenge (only consuming McDonalds from Cajon Pass to Wrightwood) meaning we had plenty of food.

Today we would come across our first fire closure on the PCT. Due to a bridge fire, 14 miles have been closed with no recommended walking alternative. Some of our group with injuries decided to hitch around this whole section and go directly to Wrightwood, our final destination for the day and where we had booked an AirBnB for 2 nights. 

We parted ways as they awaited a ride from Trail Angel Chris while Dan, Drizzle, Chapstick and I headed back out past route 66 to rejoin the trail. We found ourselves walking through incredible rock formations and lush green foliage. A freight trail curved its way through the hilly landscape, the noise of which echoed throughout the valley.

A few miles in we stopped. Drizzle had suddenly developed a deep purple bruise to the back of her calf which felt tender to touch, was hot, swollen and red. The lump presented like a hematoma (ruptured blood vessels), but also met criteria for a deep vein thrombosis. Unsure about her condition, we descended back down the way we came, me carrying Drizzles rucksack on my front, Chapstick calling his friend who happened to be an ER doctor, and Drizzle calling trail angel Chris to see if she could get a ride to Wrightwood.

After ensuring Drizzle was safe, the rest of us continued. It was a long climb up, switchbacks softening the elevation gain per mile, but despite this the day consisted of simply travelling up. The blisters on my feet soon gave me grief and a pain in the arch of my right foot flickered on and off. We came to a water cache, an area where trail angels help enable hikers to get water where there is a dry stretch, leaving gallons in a protected space. Several chairs had been plonked in this desert living room surrounded by cactus.

We continued on up and with the pain I continued to struggle. I put music on to help relax myself and to distract from the chaos below. At one low point I found myself muttering “only six miles to go” over and over with each step until the pain wasn’t the key focus and from here walking became easier. The real moment of uplift was passing the 350 mile marker and with it the knowledge that we were half way through the desert section of the PCT. This felt huge.

Eventually we reached the dirt road which we followed down and at the bottom Chapsticks sister, Pharmacist (honorary trail name), and her dog MoMo, drove us to the AirBnB in Wrightwood. The accommodation is beautiful, a cream, wooden house surrounded by pine forest right next to the town centre. Drizzle and heavyweight were waiting for us. Luckily Drizzles lump had gone down with ice, elevation and rest.

We put on a load of laundry and handed out onesies provided by the AirBnB host. I had one of the best baths of my life before dressing in my Christmas onesie then headed out to town in search of pizza. As Dan and I passed the grocery store, several people called out our names and beckoned us over. The couple who we had left this morning, Gollum and Mama Medicine, and Goldie who we hadn’t seen since Julian. We caught up commiserating with concerns about injuries and fears of not being able to return to trail. This appears to be the most common anxiety among hikers: fear that an injury is a trail ender.

We picked up the pizza to go and headed back to our home for two nights, vegging out on the sofas. Storm and Forget-Me-Not joined us for a drink. It’s been really nice having a house to spread out in and to sit together in a well furnished environment.