Miles Hiked 31.4
PCT Mile 537.0
Elevation 3,917 feet
Miles Hiked Today 14.6
A through hiker came in to the campsite late the previous evening. This morning he was gone by 5:15 a.m. . These through hikers don’t fool around. They’re one goal is to get north to Canada as fast as possible. Glad that’s not me. I’m content to be cruising on the PCT.
I went to sleep really early last evening so I was up early and ready to go at 5:00 a.m. . By the time I packed up my campsite and got on the trail it was 6:15 a.m. . The trail this morning was quite easy. No big elevation gains and a lot of flat trail. That enabled me to make good time. By 11:00 a.m. I covered nine miles.
Of course, the hiking gods would have none of that. My making good time on the trail was not in their plan, so they threw in some blowdowns (fallen trees) to slow me down. I can’t say it was as bad as the trail and Washington, but it was bad enough to slow me down from what had been a fast pace.
In the afternoon, I was trying to figure out where I would camp for the night. The only campsite within my range was a trailhead. My navigation app, Far Out, had comments about the trailhead that were unflattering. Apparently there was toilet paper blowing across the trailhead and a lot of garbage on the grounds. That really is a shame that people don’t take care of their natural resources.
I for one had no interest in camping at that particular trailhead. Instead, I found an undocumented tentsite just before the trailhead and decided I would stay there for the night. It was early, just before 4:00 p.m., so I felt a little guilty about quitting so early. However, I had hiked almost 15 miles for the day, which isn’t bad.
