We planned on a rest day today. Most people call those a “zero” where you hike “zero” miles.
We did fourteen and a half.
We met Bill Roberts, a trail maintainer from Saied Valley who built a number of the bridges on this section of trail.
Shared our campsite with Bearly Alive (her trail name comes from being bluff charged by a bear).
The weather was forecast to have a high around 50-60. so far the warmest on the trail has been in the 50s. It reached 90 at some places.
The good is that this means the ice is melting faster and we have plenty of water. The bad is that is really hot. As we gain elevation we will cool off more.
Yesterday we did almost thirty miles. Averaged with today we are still at our average of around 20-22 miles a day.
Win is such a strong hiker I’ve joked her tail mane should be “the machine.” All I’ve done recently is keep spotting rat snakes on the trail.
That has been fun.
This section of the trail was in the worst shape of the PCT so far. Lots of blown down trees and overgrown trail, and it was a steady climb of about two thousand feet of elevation.
Made me glad we had water. And that explains why the trail guys are putting in so much work. The hikers are arriving.
Yesterday on trail we met only two section hikers. Today we passed a number of Thru-Hikers and missed others we had been told about.
The trail is suddenly not so empty.
Tonight we are sleeping in a pretty forest glade with a stream yin the background. Tomorrow should be an early but perfect day.