PCT SOBO DAY 134 – She believed she could so she did. Twice.
25th November 2016
Tent site - Mexico
11.3 miles
1440ft up 963ft down
I didn't sleep well. I had that nervous feeling, like when you know something big is going to happen the next day. I woke up several times, and I had really weird dreams. I'm not sure if that's because of the light sleep or the cheese.
There was a bunch of gunfire in the night, and we are pretty close to the Mexican border so it was a little unnerving. Catwater had said last night that she was most nervous of people out here. I just didn't think about it. Sometimes that's the best way.
I hiked 10.3 miles without stopping. Through a burn area, past some discarded clothes, past a few people who stopped to high five me for being almost done. My fuel for the day was haribo and adrenaline.
I had a message from my 2015 friend Ladies Man. He was going to meet me at the border. Awesome! I had a nervous butterfly feeling in my stomach. It's really nearly over.
I walk along. Not thinking of much. I have a song from Wicked the musical stuck in my head. I reach the mile 1 marker and sit to wait for Catwater to catch up so we can hike the last mile together. I don't think I can quite get my head around the fact it's nearly over.
We hike on and soon we see a bunch of cars in the distance. There it is. The Mexican border. As we go up the hill (heavy eye rolling here) I can see Slide Rule (Catwater's husband), Ladies Man and The Ravens! Mama and Papa Raven had come to surprise us again! There were also a couple of bewildered tourists who came just to see the monument I think.
They all graciously gave us stinky hikers great big hugs. What an awesome celebration. There was champagne and Ladies Man even brought me an American thanksgiving dinner. It really was amazing that he came all the way down here just to see me. I felt quite overwhelmed. Of course no one can replace my mum and dad, and it would have been nice to have seen them, but as it goes this was a fantastic substitute.
We signed the book, chatted and caught up on life and the universe, reminisced and reflected. And of course we had a photo shoot!
When I stood here in April 2015 and looked north I had no idea if I could walk 100 miles, let's alone 2,650. I had no idea what lay ahead of me. I didn't think I would ever be stood here again. I didn't think in a million years that I would be stood here again just 18 months and over five thousand miles later having completed my second thru hike of the PCT.
But here I am! A lot of people questioned my desire to do the same trail again but, as I have found out, going south is a very different experience to going north. I will at some point try and put it into words but I've loved every minute of it.
Then it was time to go. The Ravens left and so did Ladies Man and as Dan drove Catwater and I away from the monument I wondered if I would ever be here again.
Never say never, right?