PCT 2018 Thru-Hike: Episode 4 - Back on Trail

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PCT Gear List Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaQqPbu1Fa0

PCT Gear List - https://darwinonthetrail.com/2018/04/19/darwins-2018-pct-thru-hike/

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Tags: UL Hiking Gear,PCT,Pacific Crest Trail,PCT Thru Hike,Thru-Hike Gear List,UL Backpacking,Zpacks,Enlightened Equipment,CNOC Outdoors,UL Backpacking Gear,Vargo Bot 700,Hiker Trash,Hiking,Backpacking,Pinhoti Trail,Adventure,Long Distance Hiking,Zpacks Duplex,Zpacks Arc Blast,Baden-Powell,Alpine Start

Video Transcription

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well my test of doing my five-mile hike was unsuccessful and I actually got off trail again I went to go see a doctor in the next town over and they diagnosed me with a strained tendon so not a sprained tendon but a strained tendon in my leg right next to my shin today it has officially been eight days off of the trail this is my seventh zero and I think here for eight days still here in Wrightwood see behind me it's feeling a lot better I've had some compression a lot of rest ice on it and my plan tomorrow morning is to hit the trail again so not only did I injure myself Racer X got the exact same injury in a shin and he was here in Wrightwood for a couple of days and he is actually flying home to Washington and he's going to be off trail for about two weeks and the people that I was rolling with Fox Trot fat pack they're definitely quite a ways away hanging up right word I guess has been okay spending a lot of time with the coffee shop I got my hair cut which I guess I needed to do but I'm definitely 100% ready to get back on the trail

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today is Friday April 27th I had been off the trail for eight days and today I'm back started off this morning at the base of Mount baden-powell and I'm just about to the summit the shin feels pretty good so far not giving me any problems it's just kind of weak I am so happy to be back out here [Music]

so far so good on the dish n just like a little twinge in there but I really think that it's just because my leg and my ankles so weak I've been off of it for eight days [Music]

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well I am about 12 and a half miles in for the day and my shins not bothering me while I'm hiking like climbing hiking on a flat or descending but man when I stop there's definitely a lot of aching in there so um I don't know how much farther that I'm gonna go today I don't know if I'm gonna do 15 or go 18 whenever I get up over this mountain mountain Williams and there's supposed to be another parking lot and I think that I'm gonna hang out there for a minute maybe rub out the muscle and just can't see how it's doing [Music]

well I decided to stop at fifteen point three miles for the day first day back on the trail and the first 10 miles everything was feeling really good my shin was feeling fine no aches no pains there's a lot of climbing a lot of descending today and by the time I got into here I'm not gonna lie my my shin hurts quite a bit pad works wanted I have a task Mountain energy bar New Mexico the gypped up cuz you gotta have that fat protein so how coffee's good you know I actually really enjoy cold coffee on the trail not just because a weight savings not caring stove but I don't know I just like having a cold coffee it's easier to drink I can get my caffeine and make faster it wakes me up faster so check it up boom coffee is served I like cold coffee not for breakfast no matter what I'm eating bar oatmeal ever always dip it in peanut butter you gotta have those extra calories [Music]

I just started a two to three mile road walk it's a detour that goes around the endangered species yellow leg frog habitat so it's like I'm back on the penalty trail again walking down these roads but it's not bad at least they're beautiful a lot of awesome pine and big mountain pass roads so they're nice the the shin is already kind of twinge in a little bit today you know the thing that I'm really trying to think about is is it because it's weak and it's trying to strengthen back up is it because it's still injured you know not only is my shin hurting me but from yesterday doing 15 after being off trail Freight is you know my hip hurts a little bit my knee hurts a little bit so I'm getting those average leg aches and pains that hikers get almost done with the reroute been on this reroute for almost five miles now the last miles really only been on Trail aside from that it was on nothing but Road and then kind of like a little paved path that went through a campground there was supposed to be water on at the campground but I guess they turned the faucet off but the good thing is there's a stream that's flowing through this reroute so I'm not without water the shin is starting to feel surprisingly okay today I did put on an ankle brace that I found in a hiker bucks back in Wrightwood and I threw it in my pack just in case I needed it so I am wearing that and if you like that's kind of helping I've also taken quite a bit of ibuprofen and Tylenol so I could also be hoping that ice reroute it's really beautiful it's kind of sad not to be on the PCT but um it's a beautiful non PCT part yeah 401 well it's about 130 I just got done taking a 45-minute break prop my feet up ate some lunch and I'm at 15 miles for the day already doing better than yesterday definitely still sore still a little painful in that area while I've been hiding it hasn't really been bothering me it's really only when I stop so I think that I told myself that when I got here to this parking lot this is the last time that the trail crosses highway 2 so I told myself that when I got to this parking lot if it was just unbearable to hike and it was painful that this was gonna be it I was gonna get off but it's not unbearable to hike it doesn't really bother me when I'm hiking so far so I'm just gonna keep going

still trying to listen to my body but right now my body is telling me it's not so bad as long as I put it up and Asajj it out I keep getting rest and keep treating it the best way I can my body's telling me it might be okay [Music]

apparently I am hiking really close to a gun range that keep hearing shotgun always makes the hike interesting yeah being out in the middle of nowhere and hearing gunshots not really knowing which direction they're coming from every time everytime I'm on a trail to constantly hike next to there's no one constantly hike next again gun ranges always makes the hike that much more interesting today ended up being a 22 mile day and it was pretty good I got into camp just a little before five o'clock so 22 miles with a bum shin before five o'clock on the second day after having eight days off I feel pretty good about that it's not hurting whenever I'm hiking anymore it really only kind of hurts and it stiffens up whenever I stop hiking but the good thing is when I stop hiking I've been putting my feet up and kind of draining that bad blood out of there to put some good stuff back in so I stopped at a campsite at Mile 20 to up here on this Ridge and camp next to a couple other hikers I was kind of hoping to be alone tonight actually last night was really great being by myself out on the trail was actually the first night that I'd camped alone since I've been on the trail so I kind of wanted to camp again tonight by myself but I'm also happy to have the company so I'm gonna be cruising at this moderate pace that I've been rocking pretty much all the way until acqua.dolce I've just really been kind of slowing down taking my time a little bit more not pushing so hard watching my step going slower on descents going slower on the climbs and I guess it's paying off hopefully the shin will continue to be like this and really only be sore and tight whenever I stop as long as I'm not getting any pain while I'm hiking I'm pretty happy with got out of camp pretty early this morning earlier than what I typically start hiking you should go to put like 6:00 a.m. and start hiking by 7:00 today for some reason I woke up about 5:30 and started hacking about 6:30 so I took my time had a beautiful sunrise and then I'm hiking a pretty big dry section starting off today not a lot of water however this morning I did find a bit of a trickle from a spring that was supposed to be dried up but I'll take it trickle is fine there's a lot of poodle dog Bush out here for some of you that are not familiar with what poodle dog Bush is it's a thing out here in the southwest or California or whatever so you East Coast folks it grows in burn areas so I'm hiking through this big old burn area not recently burnt but burnt some time ago and it's a pretty poisonous plant that you rub it up on your skin it creates a pretty gnarly rash like worse than poison oak and worse than poison ivy and stuff can make you super sick and it's all over the place out here [Music]

well I just filled up water at the Mill Creek fire station crossing the Angeles forest highway or angels forest highway or however you want to pronounce it and now I have like a 20-something mile water carry

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by the way the new pad is great it's really awesome to have a pad that doesn't leak and have to wake up at 2:00 3:00 in the morning and blow back up long time coming but it's good to happen [Music]

you

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