After I had breakfast and packed my gear, I made my way to the nearby water paint and fill up on water that would hopefully get me the nine miles to Scissors Crossing. There should be at least a water cache maintained by Trail Angels there, possibly more.

Scissors Crossing is the name for where two highways meet in way that looks a little bit like scissors from above. Not much around it, but it was one of the more well known stops on the PCT.

Why? Because there was not much to see along the way otherwise. Yeah, the ridge lines and the hills and the desert terrain all around is nice and interesting look at.

But… this particular section had a lot of similar views and endless walking through similar ridge lines and flat desert.

But that is PCT hikers signed up for. Of course, knowing about it and actually hiking it, brings different emotions.

I have no comment on this mile-stone marker. 😇

Some of the desert plants I’ve encountered. Full details on Flora, Fauna, and Feces can be found at: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?user_id=wanderingjimpct

A first person view of hiking along a desert ridge line for you to get a taste of desert hiking:

Did you spot the snake? Not a rattlesnake (probably a green garter snake), but my first snake that I’ve seen on the trail.

Once the endless back-and-forth along the ridge lines that snaked in and out of water washes made from the yearly melting of snow (although all that water is now gone), the trail became very straight and very similar, looking like every other part of the straight trail.

This is what it’s like hiking on the desert floor without a way to see much in the (seemingly) endless, flat, featureless terrain.

After those long straight sections of trail, the first paved road I had seen in quite some time came into view.

That meant Scissors Crossing was close. As I walked near the trail that paralleled the highway, pulled up and the occupants called out my trail name (WanderingJim).

It turned out to be another hiker who had passed me. We had briefly talked about going into Julian (which is a nice town about 18 miles away) to enjoy some of the perks of civilization. He had gotten a ride from a passing Trail Angel and saw me near the road and they stopped to give me a ride (if I wanted one),

I had been considering camping at a nearby RV park, but the long endless desert made me change my plans. So, I would get a ride into Julian and take a Zero Night (my term for sleeping in a real bed, but still hiking multiple miles on the trail the day before and after) at a hotel and get some of that ‘real’ food that I missed in Mt Laguna.

Oh, and get free pie from Mom’s Pies. That was one of the perks of hiking the endless desert and going into Julian: PCT hikers get free pie for dessert. 😃

Mile 68.3 to 77 – 8.7 miles hiked on the PCT

A short day, but ended with Diet Coke to drink and real food to eat. Win, win in my book. 😀