Trail Day 46: Tentsite (mile 737.6) to tentsite (mile 755.1)

17.5 PCT miles

I woke up this morning feeling much better than I had yesterday.  Hopefully that means I am starting to adjust both to the hiking and the altitude. Even though I was feeling better, I still got up later than I wanted to.

Eventually,  I got moving and headed down the trail.  It would go downhill through the pine forest for a couple miles.  Occasionally,  I would get a glimpse through the trees to the snowy mountains and the grassy meadows. The mountains with snow were already much closer than yesterday, so I should be coming to them soon.

Morning views.

I got to the bottom of the downhill section and headed off trail to a creek to refill my water supply. I had considered camping at this location last night, but I just couldn't make it.

I saw a fellow hiker, named Happy, that I had met yesterday. He had camped there the night before and was getting an even later start to the day than I had gotten. He was able to point me to the water but told me there might be “gold” in there.

I walked down to Diaz Creek, which was a fairly large creek. On the bottom of the creek there were shiny flakes of something,  but I doubt it was gold. I also thought I saw a fish while I was filling up my filter bag. When I returned to the campsite, Happy confirmed that he saw fish in there too. The previous evening he had seen them jumping out of the water to eat insects.

This way to Diaz Creek.
Diaz Creek.
"Gold."

After refilling my water supply, I started back on the trail which was starting heading back uphill. I was now headed towards Cottonwood Pass and would be doing about 8 miles of uphill. I was not looking forward to that.

I headed up through more pine forest, again getting glimpses of the snow,  mountains, and meadows. Eventually I made it up to Mulkey Pass, one of the first bailout points into Horseshoe Meadow below. The trail would rim around Horseshoe Meadow (where you can catch the road to the town of Lone Pine) and I would eventually pass two more exit points into the meadow.

Going up.
View from the trail.
Trail junction.
Horseshoe Meadow.

The path around Horseshoe Meadow had a couple of seasonal streams that flowed over the trail. There was a lot of water in those seasonal streams. There was a lot of water outside of these seasonal streams as well and the trail was flooded a lot.

I started to see patches of snow near Cottonwood Pass, some of which I had to walk over. Thankfully none of the patches were too extensive.

High altitude meadow near Cottonwood Pass.

After Cottonwood Pass I headed for Chicken Spring Lake.  I was curious about this spot because it was frozen in all the previous pictures I had seen from hikers this year. It was not frozen anymore. There was still snow on the adjacent mountain as well as some on the trail. There was a small snow bank i had to climb, but that was about the extent of my snow adventure for the day.
Chicken Spring Lake.
Mountain adjacent to Chicken Spring Lake.
Snow obstacle.

After Chicken Spring Lake I continued to get nice views of the surrounding mountains. Eventually I hit a sign designating the border of Sequoia National Park. A few miles after that I found a spot to pitch my tent. It was about as far as my feet and legs were willing to carry me today.
View leaving Chicken Spring Lake.


Entering Sequoia National Park.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

FT2018 Day 44: Campsite near the Aucilla River (mile 734.2) to Ring Dike Campsite (mile 760.8)

Image
26.6 FT miles I had meant to get up really early this morning. There were only two places in the St Marks National Wildlife Refuge where you could camp, and there was one that was supposedly one of the best, if not the best, campsite on the trail. However, it was over 26 miles away. Some of those miles were going to be road walks, so those parts would go quickly. On the other hand, if we encountered swampy areas, it might be a very long day. A little before dawn I yelled over at Sugar Rush to see if she was awake, which she was. We packed up in the dark and, just like last night, went crashing through the brush trying to stay on trail. There were some parts that were clear and other parts that were not so clear. When the sun came up, things didn't necessarily get better. We started to realize why we were having so much trouble last night. Even with daylight we couldn't always track the path on the ground and had to search as a team for hidden blazes. The river made...
Read more

AZT 2019 Day 44: Campsite near Umbrella Tank (mile 768.4) to Utah-Arizona border (mile 788.7)

Image
20.3 miles Just like the past few mornings, it was difficult to get up again. Unlike the past few mornings, I could actually see snow on top of my tent. It was supposed to rain or snow on and off the majority of the day again. That was not a motivating thought to get me out of my sleeping bag. I had also finally used the hand warmers that I had purchased back in Flagstaff, and they were still warm inside my bag. Somehow, I emerged from that bag and packed everything up one last time. I was only about 20 miles from the Utah border and on schedule to finish the trail today. Most of the items I had on me were damp or wet. It didn’t bother me packing them up as I knew I would be warm and dry tonight. What did bother me was having to put on my wet, cold, dirty shoes. After I did that, I had wet, cold, dirty socks as well. In Flagstaff I had also picked up toe warmers, so I stuck those inside my shoes and hoped that they would help. The view looking out of my tent. My camps...
Read more

AZT 2019 Day 19: Campsite on saddle (mile 332.5) to Vineyard Trailhead (mile 348.3)

Image
14.8 miles I woke up early again today. I figured if the trails today were anything like the trails I ended the day with yesterday, I would need more time. The plan for today was to get to Roosevelt Lake by noon, then wait out the afternoon heat and do a few more miles near sunset or just after dark. Sunrise. Roosevelt Lake had a store that accepted resupply packages. I had a general resupply sent there and my mom sent a box of treats as well. The store also had a bar/restaurant attached. To top things off, people had reported their wifi to be amazing. I figured it would be a good place to spend my time and money. They apparently didn't want hikers hanging around to charge their electronics or wiping themselves down in the bathrooms, and also sent hikers to the ranger station to refill water, but I figured I could work around that. The hills themselves weren't too bad as I started my day. I rolled up and down the grassy hills with views of the lake. Overall, t...
Read more