PCT day 5. Flowers, flowers, and more flowers

Mile 63.8 to 76.3 = 12.5 miles

3872 feet to 2251 feet but up and down all day. High 75, low 41. Winds south light up to 15 mph occasional gust on the ridges.

I started this day with the goal of making it to Scissors Crossing, staying at the Stagecoach RV junction campground.

Last night was interesting. The winds were calm for the most part, with the exception of random 20-30 mph gusts that would come rolling down the canyon and blast through the campsite. These gusts would come in anywhere from 20 minutes to over an hour apart. I could hear them coming well before they reached camp. It would start off sounding like a distant jet way in the sky, then gradually build steam coming down the canyon. In between these gusts camp was quiet. Absolutely silent. Not a single sound was heard. Take a minute and count how many sounds you can hear in your house at night. The refrigerator running, air conditioners, traffic, birds….. it was dead silent this night in between the random wind gusts.

The theme for this day was up and down, constantly! I hiked out of Rodriguez Canyon, into Earthquake Valley, to Scissors Crossing, near Julian. Tomorrow I will begin the ascent out of the valley, and eventually up into the snow covered San Jacinto Mountains. I must mention how lucky I’ve been so far. I haven’t had to carry water up until today. I carried 2 liters, but could have gotten by without. There’s been running water every 2-5 miles so far! There are flowers everywhere out here. At times, it smelled like I was walking through a botanical garden, and there were lots of birds chirping their songs. Adding the fact it was 75 degrees with a slight, pleasant breeze, made it a perfect hiking day. I’ll now let the pictures do the talking.

We were going to have to hitchhike for the first time except we came across an elderly gal day hiking, photographing the wildflowers. She spoke English as a second language, German first. Luckily, Oli from Switzerland speaks fluent German, and they chatted for awhile on the trail in German. She agreed to give us a ride from the trail to the Stagecoach campsite, 3 miles up the road. She loves photographing wildflowers and I gave her places to go in Colorado this summer.