13.9 PCT miles, plus 0.3 mile to campground
When I woke up this morning, it was still cold and windy. The thermometer inside my tent was showing that the temperature was somewhere in the 40s and my tent was still being shaken by the large wind gusts.
I procrastinated for a while in my warm sleeping bag, hoping the winds would die down before I had to pack up my tent. I remembered that I had signal there and checked the weather on my phone. The Weather Channel app gave me weather for the closest town, Acton, but it showed that it would be consistently windy all day. I had no more excuses, I had pack up in the cold wind.
I started hiking in full cold weather gear, including my puffy jacket. That changed pretty quickly as I both started generating heat by hiking and started losing elevation. I really wanted to be warm, but since I could see the desert I was heading down into, I knew at some point I would be wishing for the cold pine forest again.
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| The view of Soledad Canyon Rd., my destination for the day. |
The section I was going to be walking today was another burn area. It wasn't even open until about a month ago, when trail crews finished making the trail safe to walk again. The surrounding forest was still closed though, and you could only camp at the North Fork Ranger Station, which was also maintaining a water cache for PCT hikers. I was going to walk straight through this section today, and spend the afternoon at a KOA (Kampground of America).
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| Good morning, hiker. You weren't going to leave poodle dog country without saying goodbye, were you? |
I started walking through some shaded areas of the trail, but lost that luxury pretty quickly. I zoned out a bit while hiking and eventually ended up at the North Fork station. In addition to the water cache, it also had pit toilets and picnic tables. I snacked there for a while with Kevin and Hanna, before starting on the trail again.
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| Water cache at the North Fork Ranger Station. |
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| The North Fork Ranger Station. Still closed to pretty much everything except PCT hikers. |
From there, it was only about 8 miles to my destination for the day, but the miles started to drag again. I was back in the desert. There was absolutely no shade. The views were gorgeous, but the heat was radiating off the ground again and my thermometer was reading 90 degrees. I just slowly watched Soledad Canyon Rd get closer.
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| Remember when you were cold this morning? |
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| Pretty, but hot. |
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| Wistfully looking back up in elevation. |
I could see it all day, but the PCT tends to snake around and hit every every little peak and foothill in between. So, I very slowly inched my way to my destination.
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| Soledad Canyon Rd. 6 more PCT miles to go. |
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| Scorched earth. A big thanks to the hard working trail crews! |
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| Burn area. |
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| Burnt tree and wildflowers. |
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| Soledad Canyon Rd. The KOA is across the street from the blue building. Two more PCT miles to go. |
I was really happy when I reached the road. I figured out how to get to the nearby KOA and paid my $15 to camp for the night. It looked like it mainly catered to RVs, but there was a large grassy space with picnic tables and trees for hikers to set up their tents.
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| Almost there! |
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| Hmm, I guess I'm crossing railroad tracks again tomorrow. |
There was also a mini convenience store. I picked up a cold Gatorade, an ice cream and a bag of chips. Later I would go back for another ice cream and a bag of skittles.
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| Livin' it up at the KOA. |
Along with the spot to camp I got to use the amenities which included a lounge with electrical outlets and a TV, a shower with both hot and cold taps, and flush toilets. I relaxed, showered, charged my phone, and drank lots and lots of water since it came from the faucet. No filtering tonight!
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