Mountains poking through the cloud cover.
PCT Map Miles 437.1
Miles Hiked 375.9
Elevation 4,183 feet
Miles Hiked Today 18.4
The picnic area in which we camped turned out to be okay, though noisy. The area is in the middle of nowhere and that seems to be an attraction for car racers. I slept well in spite of the street racing.
Nothing special about today. I started hiking about 6:30 AM. The goal was at least 15 miles. Late morning, my trail angel and sister, Angela, was able to locate REI’s phone number. I gave them a call when I had a signal while hiking. The jist of the conversation was they would do nothing about the broken zipper since the sleeping bag is out of warranty. I can’t blame REI, but it’s still frustrating to have a sleeping bag worth over $300 that’s worthless because of a zipper.
Mike left a half hour before me this morning, and I caught up with him at a water source. I didn’t see him again until we made camp. The hiking was usual. There was a 1,000 foot elevation gain late morning and a bunch of smaller elevation gains throughout the day. Steve was behind me. I thought he would catch up but he never did.
I decided to go for a ranger station to camp. They allow camping and it positions me for Acton tomorrow. I made it to camp about 4:30 and Mike and Steve walked in about 15 minutes later. Mike got behind me when he stopped for lunch off trail. We had dinner together and then jumped into our tents to get warm. It was windy and cold, so everyone in camp was in their sleeping bag trying to stay warm.
Acton tomorrow.