Long Day to Bridge Creek Campground

Miles Hiked 45.2
PCT Mile 43.2
Elevation 2,093 feet
Miles Hiked Today 18.1

I was ready to go at 6:45 a.m. .  Although I still haven’t recovered from yesterday’s grueling elevation gain hike, today the plan is to go 18 miles, which is a long day to Bridge Creek campground.

Fortunately, most of the trail today will be either on level ground or downhill.  Still, there are enough climbs in the 18 mi to accumulate another 1,000 ft of elevation gain for the day.

The highlight of the day was climbing up to and crossing a suspension bridge.  I say climb up to the bridge because there was no clear path to it that I could find.  It was a rock scramble up to the bridge and then the bridge crossing.  That in itself was kind of scary.  Being a suspension bridge, it swayed as I crossed it.  The slats were spaced so that I could see down to the raging creek below.

After crossing the bridge, again, there was no trail that connected with the PCT.  I climbed down a mountain of rocks to get down to the trail. That was certainly kind of dicey.

As the day grew older, I became more fatigued and took numerous breaks. Finally, I reached the Bridge Creek Campground a little after 6 p.m.  Ben was there as well as a few other hikers who had set up tents.

I’m sure there will be other days as long as this one. Hopefully, when that happens I’ll have my trail legs and it won’t be as difficult as it was today.