A month off the trail, so as I get ready to renew the journey I have a lot of apprehension. The section of the trail that I did last was the hardest I had done. Partially probably because it was indeed hard but also because my health was a bit of a worry and there was some pressure to get it completed and make it to Sonoma pass to begin the trip back to see the doctor. But the apprehension faded quickly as a started the hike away from Sonoma Pass and towards South Lake Tahoe. After taking 30 days off I was pretty sure I was not going to see any PCT hikers. Everyone that I knew was way ahead of me in Oregon by now. That turned out to be true. I did not see any north bound PCT hikers all the way to South Lake Tahoe. However, I did see 3 south bound PCT hikers and a couple of hikers that were doing the section of the PCT from Interstate 80 to south Kennedy Meadows. Had to laugh because nobody really wants to do the 700 miles between Kennedy Meadows and the Mexican border. The desert scares everyone!! Today I did see 4 couples that were doing the very popular South Lake Tahoe to Tuolumne Meadows sections. Not sure why this section is so popular but perhaps simply because the start and the end point are both easy to get to and its a leisurely 2 week hike.
It did not take me long to realize I had lost my trail legs and any other trail body part that I had acquired. After about 4 hours my lower back was screaming at me and I had to stop often to give it a rest. After awhile my brain kicked in however and I asked myself why my lower back never hurt before even at the beginning. HUM… maybe something was not right. Turns out I did not have the backpack adjusted correctly and the weight was not resting on my hips as it should. Rather, the pack was too far away from my back and was slanted and pushing into my lower back. After adjusting the straps so that the pack was angled properly and tight to my back then the lower back pain went away. However, a couple hours after that my hips were aching, tired, and weak, and so I knew everything was as it should be :). That issue would resolve itself by the next day as my legs and hips got back into trail shape.
It was a fairly hot day and so just after noon I stopped to add some electrolyte tablets to my water bottle. I added the two tablets into the bottle, sealed it up, and proceeded to eat a snack. After about 5 minutes I started to feel these little drops of water falling on my head. Rain??? How could it be raining?? I looked up and not a cloud in the sky. Then I realized the tablets dissolving in the water bottle caused enough pressure that the water was being forced out of the drinking tube. I had created a water fountain that was showering me with water. I find a lot to laugh about on the trail and it is generally something stupid I have done. Now everything was really back to normal.
