Day 4 – To Julian and Beyond
Originally published on Mason Hikes the PCT 2017.
Mileage: 27.5 miles, currently at mile 91
Day four started off like any normal day: completely alone at 6am in the middle of the desert. I had the equivalent of a penthouse suite campsite with all the amenities though, so life was good. I needed to do a quick 13 mile hike to get to the highway, at which point I was going to try to hitch to Julian for some free pie.
The hiking was mostly uneventful, but I’m constantly struck by the amazing colors in the desert. So much red, yellow, orange, and so many shades of purple are a beautiful sight each day.
When I got to Scissors Crossing, I was surprised by Ed, the trail angel, who said he could bring me into town. A short drive and tour of the town later, I was set up in Julian looking to get me some pie.
Now when most aspiring PCT thru-hikers hear about Julian, they likely think pie, but to be completely honest, that wasn’t even close to the best thing about that town. Hands down, that title has to go to Carmen’s, which is apparently a restaurant sometimes. When it’s not, it’s the greatest hiker hangout you can imagine with (limited) free beer, free laundry, free lodging, free hikerboxes, free pup dog pets, and free paint footprint artwork on the deck!
While hanging out at Carmen’s, I got my first real taste of the PCT community. Until that point, I had been hiking alone, camping mostly alone, and had a lot of time to myself, but with about 25 hikers coming and going throughout the day in Julian, there was a lot of conversation to be had about our trail adventures! We swapped rattlesnake, horse trough, or any other type of stories as well as unneeded or prematurely hated food. I was the delighted recipient of a ton of Carnation instant breakfasts and a ton of tuna packets. Yay!
The plan once leaving Julian was to hike as far as I felt capable and then call it a night, but I kept running into hikers I had met in Julian who told me that the water supply in 14 miles was a good stopping point. It turns out that this was a terrible idea and was a much longer haul through the dark than we thought. We started as a group of five but eventually faded into just me and Witherspoon (because he brought so much stuff the first day) night hiking for what seemed like an eternity. It was a tough hike, but everyone eventually made it and we had a twelve tent fiesta to end the night. Hooray! 🎉