Adrenaline for breakfast, anyone?

Adrenaline for breakfast is served by the ice capped ridges. I’ve never hiked in snow conditions before and i’m overthinking the risk of me slipping and.. you know.

I find out my fear song is ‘Waterloo’ by Abba- I sing it bad and loud and it gets me down the what seems like ski slopes in reasonable time.

I didn’t expect to be so scared of… some snow?!

Snow has always given me feelings of childhood- not too long ago in (one of) the winter covid lockdowns I was living alone and loosing the few marbles I had. I looked outside into the full moon night and realised it had snowed! In england! So i rushed outside and.. made a snowman 😀

Remembering this as i stand alone and a bit TOO nervous in the middle of an unknown mountain/forest/place/i thought this was the DESERT?! I realise exactly what i need to do…  build a motivational snowman! It’s a bit tricky as the snow is actually mostly ice, but it makes me laugh and i’m able to carry on cruising down the switchbacks.

Casually, the next 24 hours serves a swift change from potential frostbite, to potential sunstroke and burning desert floors! The PCT really has it in for us, I think to myself and laugh. We often throw around the term ‘crushed some miles today’, but we must not forget the miles can crush us! We’re dancing with mother nature, afterall.

We all rest under a highway bridge and briefly escape to a local fast food resteraunt, which soon floods with Coachella attendees. Anytime i’m slightly lost on trail this weekend i’ve been joking in my pretend american accent “is this the way to Coachella?!” It seems we have indeed found it.. and it is like a fancy dress party. The 2 themes being festival atire vs hiker trash. Overwhelmed by the people watching possibilities and the amount of milkshake i just consumed, I nap in true hiker trash style, right in front of the resteraunt and surrounded by packs. The disconnect from ‘normal’ society has came thick and fast.

We then venture off underneath the starry skies to get weird and NIGHT HIKE.

Day… I don’t know.

I set siesta up underneath some spacious tree shade, with a rare desert creek flowing well within arms reach. My sweaty clothes are hanging from the branches to dry and my lunch is cooking. I have apetite for warm lunch!

I can actually do this, I decide to myself. The routine is already getting familiar, I have an idea of how to adapt to the ever diverse altitudes and temperatures of the desert, and I feel so, so calm

Peace out for now, lovers