Day 10: Catch Up!

So tired. What an eventful day. We left the sandy desert behind for now and headed up into the san jacinto mountains, the first real test of endurance on this journey. Records were broken today: our daily mileage record (22.8 miles), our elevation record (6463 feet), and my personal backpacking record (last time the 10th day ended with a broken leg and an airlift). But was it hard. The San Jacinto mountains relentlessly demand your full attention, as much because of the slightly treacherous, wind blasted, winding trails as through the stunning mountain views, which never failed to take my breath away. A lot of the trees here fell victim to wildfires, their husks the only thing remaining, giving the landscape a very desolate feel.

Late in the afternoon, Coyote and i split up, as i still had to filter half my daily water, a time consuming process. I didnt catch up to him until i made it to the campsite. I arrived dirty, sweaty (even for pct norms), deeply tired after all the elevation and fallen trees strewn across the path that i had to climb, and ravenous with hunger. Coyote was waiting for me, together with two others I didnt know. They cheered me on as i got in. Apparently they’d been watching me for a long time coming up to the campsite. The first was Tripod, someone I had heard of many times before. 

The second was Sunshine. In her right hand she carried a wooden staff and upon closer look I saw the map of the entire Continental Divide Trail was inscribed there. This, together with her scarf and bandana, made her seem like a sage, traveling around the land, performing wonders wherever she came. She looked like a character from a fantasy videogame, in the best possible way. After the introductions, she said: ‘I thought of a trail name for you: Catch Up, because of how you were catching up and because of the color of your shirt’. I like it.