Day 6

Ranchita Bodega (mile 101.2) to mile 119.6

PCT Miles: 18.4 (29.4km)

Total Miles: 119.6 (191.4km)

I had my first slow morning today. Mike would drive me back to the trailhead at 9, so I could chill until then. I called Maike 💜 and used the last chance to top up the batteries of all the electronic stuff. I decided to bring just enough water until the next water source (my backpack is super heavy with the food).

A bit before 9 Mike showed up and brought me and two more hikers to the trailhead. Selfie time!

My little toe was feeling great and I walked on quite a good pace for about 4 hours. At some point, there were some very curious cows on a mud path. It was all a bit wet with some puddles here and there. I tried to jump over one of the puddles… I slipped and ended up falling on my back on the ground. Everything’s fine, nobody’s hurt but my whole back and my backpack were now covered by a mix of mud and cow’s juice. I hiked 3 miles smelling like cow and completely dirty.

After one and a half hour having to deal with

myself covered in that dark brown blerbh, there was a creek and I could wash everything. I wore everything back wet, which was actually quite refreshing. In less than an hour everything was dry again 🥵.

The path today was much more beautiful and less exposed than the previous days. There was a lot of oak trees providing shade and the ground was much softer. There were also some parts of desert 🌵 of course.

Even though I was pretty pissed with the cow’s juice situation, my overall mood was very good today. There will be a stretch of 12 miles without water and I’ll have to dry camp tonight. That means that at some point I was carrying my full capacity of water: 5.5 liters. This is the heaviest my backpack has ever been!

Even though the last miles of the day were uphill, everything was fine. I found a nice camp spot up in the mountain and I have just watched perhaps the most beautiful sunset of my life. Look at this sky!