Day 7 – Zerod in Julian. Day 8 – 101 mile (Cliff only)

Song of the post – “Friends in Low Places” by Garth Brooks
PCT 101 – Definitions

Taking a Zero – A day where you gain no miles. Essentially taking a full day break to recover.

Taking a Nero or ”near Zero” – Taking a partial day off. Example, Getting into Mount Laguna at noon, staying the night and taking care of essentials ( laundry, charging, taping blisters, etc.) and getting up late morning and hiking out.

Hiker Box – A box (cardboard typically) of hiker cast offs. It can be quite lucrative for hikers coming through, you can find extra food, pain killers, essential clothing. It can also be kinda…uh…gross. 2 hiker boxes back someone(s) thought to donate underwear. Several pair actually. My hat off to the men hikers, because all the donated under garments were ladies.

So I have to come clean. Way back in Campo, barely a mile into the hike , I twisted my ankle. Absolutely ludicrous. I should have just fallen out of the drop off shuttle, a better story. What can you do but shake it off and hope for the best. We hiked for 3 days, and took a Zero in Mt Laguna. Cliff was getting blisters, so we both needed the break.

We hiked for 2 more days, super awesome days, big miles. Toward the end of day 2 I ”tweaked” the bad ankle. We were close to Julian, and decided another Zero (Cliff had developed a respectable case of Hiker’s rash on his legs, so again not all me. BTW, its also called Disney Rash, look it up.) Anyway, my ankle seemed no better, so Cliff went on solo, and I saw a doctor. Thank you Julian Family Medicine for getting me in first thing this morning. Im off my ankle for 5 days (fingers crossed) and have been kicking back at the Julian Lodge. 3.5 stars for JL.

The next few photos are from The Photo Log of Cliff Ketcham, no personal Cliff dialogue provided.

Cliff made it to Montezuma, about 24 miles today. Kudos!! I hope to reconnect with him in the next 4-5 days. Our personal Trail Angel is heading south as I type this. My mom will be here in Julian by Sunday morning. We will support Cliff until my ankle improves, and provide trail angel support to other hikers in the interim.