1/16/2019, Wednesday
After 18 miles, we’ve finished day 2 of our Lone Star trail hike. I’m currently writing this as a steady rain falls and daddy-long-legs crawl over the mesh of my tent. Note that I probably won’t be able to upload this until Friday when we come to a town.
Starting the day early, we had to contend with some heavy mud conditions (no surprise there) for a few miles before getting to my favorite part of the trail yet.
It might not look like a lot but this forest service road was a much needed repose from the muddy, difficult to navigate trail. Plus, it opened our views up a bit which helped mitigate the claustrophobia I was beginning to feel in the pine tunnel. We made good progress, however the hard packed ground rubbed my soaked socks into the soles of my feet causing a blister to begin to form.
At around mile 32 of the trail we saw our first other group of hikers. We also hit one of the hardest sections yet, a clay-filled wash with no discernible trail in sections. On top of this, it had been raining nearly all day.
The clay was very sticky and slippery at the same time. Somehow. Pushing through, we made it to mile 15 where we met my dad. We had some lunch and then finished three miles later at a primitive hunter’s camp.
After a good meal of ramen on the camp stove we tried our best to get a real fire going but everything was soaked. We even tried lighting the fire with the camp stove (I take full credit for this idea) but to no avail. I also dressed my foot blisters with leukotape but the damage has already mostly been done. These next 60 miles should be interesting, but I am ready!
Anyways, the rain has picked up and we’re all tired so we are hunkered down for the night, hoping to get some good sleep for another 18 mile day tomorrow.
More pictures:
A Season on the Pacific Crest Trail 
Great pictures and report. We did the Huntsville section on Jan. 10th and found the part after the spillway at Camilla Lake (from mm 29 to 32) to be a disaster. Looks like you went through 5 or 6 days later. Hopefully the trail will become easier to see as more hikers go through. Y’all guys made great time, especially for the conditions. Thanks for sharing your thru-hike with us.
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