PCT Day 5

I wake up when the sun starts rising, and a spider takes a morning stroll on my quilt. It's still very windy.

After the sunrise, I start walking. Everyone else had already left. The walk is beautiful again.

After around 15 km, my feet start hurting. The plan is to walk to mile 71 and camp there.

At the only place where we can get water for today and tomorrow, we hear that in the area around mile 71, there is a mountain lion with her babies. That does not sound good.

We rest near the water source for about 1.5 hours. The sun is just too hot right now. For lunch, I wrap a Snickers in two tortillas. Martin offers me crushed chips to put on top. I try it, and it is delicious.

It becomes a long day since we did not find good spots for our tents. In the end, I walked 29.35 km. My feet are hurting, and I am very tired.

At least we got down into the valley. From there, it is only a few kilometers to a road crossing (Scissors Crossing). From there, we will get a ride to a small town called Julian. We have to go there for resupply and will stay for a night in the Julian Lodge, sharing a room.

I am already in my tent, getting ready to sleep when Martin approaches. He says, "Swantje, we got a trail name for you: 'Mountain Lion.'"

Nice name. And since I have been thinking of mountain lions a lot lately and how to deal with one if I had an encounter, it fits to me.  I ask Martin what made them decide to call me Mountain Lion.
He says, "This morning when I left camp, I looked back and I saw the silhouette of a mountain lion in the distance. I was so happy and started to take pictures when suddenly the mountain lion got in an upright position, and I realized it was you."
I laughed. And that is why I am now the Mountain Lion.

Sunrise:

On the way again:

Some plants:

The sniggers / tortilla / chips wrap:

And finally I could set up my villa and sleep.