This morning, I learned of a few ways that I can decrease my camp tear downtime. By watching others in the morning, I’ve adopted waking up right before sunrise, grabbing water and food bags before tearing down camp. Then, I can filter water and prep lunch for the day while I wait for breakfast to be ready.

We had a quick 5-mile climb to the top of Blood Mtn, which was not nearly as bad as people made it out to be. Apparently, coming southbound is more challenging. At the top, I split tuna packet juice all over my pants, which Bo gratefully cleaned off for me as a family watched nearby chuckling to themselves.

After lunch, we descended a rocky 3 mikes into Neel Gap. Where we saw the first road and heard the first cars in days. Once at the Mountain crossings store, we did a couple of days resupply, ordered a pizza, got a shower, charged devices, and got my passport stamped. Bo enjoyed the sausage and pepperoni from the pizza, and we chatted with other hikers as they came and went.

We met another thru-hiker, “Hottness,” who made a lovely quote: “I haven’t seen women!” She was telling us how excited she was to see women hikers out here because all she has seen are men, which made us all crack up! I chatted more with “Views” (from Ohio) and Mille (who has received a trail name and is now called “Pig”). They are doing a section hike to Knoxville, TN, to see how hiking with a dog is different from hiking by oneself. We caught “Baby Talk” at Mtn Crossing and got to chat some more before she took off for camp.

Bo has continued to be very protective of me, which is a side of him I haven’t seen before, but I am grateful for. If you’re an older gentleman, with a hat and/or beard… good luck to ya! We chatted with an older gentleman on trail, and all was going well, until he took a few more steps towards me, resulting in Bo barking, raising his hackles, and getting very mean.

The pad of Bo’s foot is bothering him, so we plan to put on his booties for tomorrow. After we finished up at Moutain Crossings, we put another 4 miles behind us before calling it a day. We joined Micheal once again at the tent site, where we both learned how to hang our first bear bag, the PCT way, which involves using a stick and tieing a clove hitch around it to secure it in the caribiner on the food bag. It’s definitely hard to hold tension on the rope while securing the stick, but we’ll get better at it!

I’ve learned that comparison really is the thief of joy because I caught myself comparing my hike to other people’s–especially when it comes to pace and set up and tear down times. I have no idea what I am doing or where I am going until the day of, which I am learning is the whole point: to be completely engrossed in the moment and take things one step and one day at a time. I also recognize that hiking with a dog is very different from hiking alone. In some ways, Bo speeds me up, like when we’re doing Mtn climbs, and in other ways, he slows me down when he takes his sniff breaks. He’s stopping and smelling the roses, and he’s helping me to do the same.

Day: 5

Date: 4/09/2025

Miles: 12.55

Camp: Baggs Creek Gap Tent Site

At Mile: 35.5