Miles Hiked 16.8
PCT Mile 522.4
Elevation 3,785 feet
Miles Hiked Today 11.5
July 10, 2026
My decision yesterday proved to be the right one. This morning I climbed a couple of thousand feet on a very steep trail. I’m glad I didn’t try that last night.
I was up and on my way by 6:30 a.m. . The elevation gain climb continued from the previous day. The trail was much steeper than I would expect on the PCT. My pace was terrible. It was averaging about 1 mile per hour.
Late morning, I reached the high point of this climb. That doesn’t mean that the trail didn’t go up even more since it did. At least now there were intermittent flat spots to catch my breath.
In the afternoon, a new way to slow me down presented itself. Blowdowns. That means that there are trees down on the trail, and there were many. It was clear that I wouldn’t reach my mileage target for the day. Climbing over and under fallen trees really slowed me down.
So now I had to find another place to camp for the night. Wahtum Lake seemed like a good place. In my initial planning for this hike, I noticed Wahtum Lake and really wanted to camp there. However, it did not fit into the mileage that I planned to do. Fortunately, it fits now.
I found a nice campsite just a little way from the shoreline. There were no other tents, but that changed as other hikers came in looking for a tentsite. Going to be crowded in here tonight.
