Pacific Crest Trail - Day 45 - Nero in Acton
Start: Mile 440.3 - Backcountry camp
End: Mile 444.3 - Acton
It’s so cool to see a yucca in full bloom. These things seem prehistoric somehow. They chill for a few decades then rapidly grow a huge stalk, flower, then die. It’s definitely working from an evolutionary standpoint - we’ve seen them in a wide range of climates.
A brisk misty 4 mile walk to Acton where we sent a resupply box before we got on the trail in March.
Hiker Christmas! They charged us $10 per box to pick these up :/
A guy pulled up in this black Crown Victoria and asked us if we needed a ride into town. He casually mentioned that his car was an old cop car and the doors didn’t open from the inside. We opted for an Uber.
A pretty good illustration of the range of packs on trail. The small one on the left is being carried by a guy named Jackrabbit who is going for the fastest known time (FKT, for you noobs) on all three major American trails in a single calendar year - also known as a calendar year triple crown (abbreviated CYTC, if you’re a cool through-hiker). He’s currently averaging an incredible ~34 miles per day and came blowing past our campsite in the morning while I was admiring and taking the picture of the yucca above like a total sloth.
Some people get their base weight (essentially your pack without food and water) down to ~5-6 pounds by foregoing fancy luxuries like a tent and sleeping pad. Here’s Jackrabbit’s setup from the previous night spent in a Forest Service pit toilet dodging weather on the ridge before he came blowing past us the next morning.
New tires! I have high arches and was experiencing heel pain presumably from plantar fasciitis surfaced by a lack of arch support in my original shoes. I attempted to remedy things a bit with some KT tape under the insole, which was surprisingly effective. I ordered high arch support SuperFeet insoles for my new shoes and they fit like a glove without trimming - pretty stoked to hike with better foot support.
I can fix him - fancy oil slick edition.
We stayed in the backyard of the 49er Saloon in Acton. Their burger was easily the best we’ve had on trail to date.
Laundry! They had a killer manual laundry setup.
Found a brand new Talenti jar in the hiker box. We’re using these to cold soak our meals (mainly instant rice and dehydrated beans).
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Many places along the trail have hiker boxes where you can take or leave items like that penny dish at the gas station. It‘s such a simple idea and kind of a wonder that we don’t just have these things in all of our communities.
You can find some pretty interesting items in these things, like my new Talenti jar above! They make these little valves to empty the remaining fuel from one canister into another - essentially meaning you never have to buy fuel if you have one and check hiker boxes. We don’t have a stove so we aren’t carrying fuel, but it’s a good tip for those who do.
Is that Vanna White?🧐
We ate another burger and ran some errands, picking up some food for the next stretch (after a handful of beers, we’ll see how that goes), and bouncing our resupply box up to a place ~80 miles away that’s apparently pretty sparse on resupply options.