5:00am – Wake up, wish I could continue sleeping but know there’s another big day of miles ahead, so I start packing up. Do everything possible from the coziness of my sleeping bag, then when absolutely necessary I get out of the sleeping bag and finish packing up.

5:45am – All packed, time to start hiking. I was up on an exposed ridge, instead of in a dark forest, so I could see enough to start hiking without my headlamp.

6:00am – Eat a builder bar while hiking. I’m pretty sick of these but they have a lot of protein and calories for their size so I make myself eat them.

6:30am – Chew a piece of gum to make up for not brushing my teeth this morning.

6:45am – There’s a rainbow!! This is my first rainbow of the entire trail.

7:00am – Hiking. Finished a climb and starting a descent.

7:30am – Top off my water, not because I really needed any but because my shoulder was hurting and I wanted to take my pack off for a minute.

7:45am – Meet up with Carrots and Bugs, am convinced to pull a big day to stick with their group and reach the terminus a day earlier than I was planning.

8:00am – Eat a Powercrunch bar while hiking.

8:30am – Still hiking and chatting.

9:00am – More hiking, now with some bushwacking.

9:45am – Finally time for morning break! Breaks are pretty short during a big mileage day. I filtered water and ate brunch: granola with a chocolate breakfast essential.

10:15am – Begrudgingly start hiking again. Need some music for the big climb! I make myself wait 1-2 hours in the morning before I put headphones in to ‘appreciate nature’ or something. Some mornings I put in my headphones exactly 1 hour after starting to hike, and other mornings, like today, I can go a lot longer if I have friends to talk to.

11:00am – Still climbing, finally getting some shade.

11:30am – Starburst energy boost and ‘view appreciation’, which is when I take a quick standing break to ‘appreciate the view’ and catch my breath.

12:00pm – Finally at the top of the climb and my stomach is growling. Eat a nature valley biscuit (they’re really tasty).

12:30pm – Still hiking, almost to lunch spot.

12:45pm – Lunch and water filtering with Bugs, Carrots, Guillermo, and Abear. 17.5 miles done for the day. I have pb&j tortillas, dots pretzels, and a couple starburst for lunch.

1:45pm – Back on the road again.

2:00pm – Hikers on a ridge! Is it a great view? Could be, but there’s cell service so we’ll never know! This was my first cell service in about a week, so I spent 15ish minutes updating and downloading things.

2:30pm – More hiking.

3:00pm – Hiking and chatting with Guillermo.

4:00pm – Quick cold ramen because I felt really hungry. We got news that the alternate we were planning to take backwards from the terminus was closed due to fires, so we’re trying to figure out how we’ll get off trail after tagging the terminus.

4:30pm – Peanut butter m&ms while hiking our last push to camp.

5:30pm – Hiking with Bugs and Carrots. Can see smoke in the distance.

6:30pm – ARRIVE AT CAMP!! 29 miles today, 13 hours since leaving camp this morning.

6:30pm – Set up tent, blow up sleeping pad, air out sweaty clothes, and organize all the things.

7:00pm – Filter water for the night and the next morning, attempt to clean myself a little.

7:15pm – Dinner with Carrots, Bugs, Guillermo, and Abear. The best part of any day on trail (second only to laying in bed for the night). I had Annie’s Mac n Cheese, my favorite trail dinner, with a cosmic brownie for dessert.

8:15pm – Journal, check what’s coming up the next day on Farout app, finish organizing things in tent, and then finally go to bed around 8:30-8:45ish.

Rinse and repeat this day after day! Sometimes it’s fun, sometimes it’s boring, and always it’s hard. And there you have it folks, an average day on the PCT. 👍