Trail Day 108: Tentsite near dirt road (mile 1845.9) to tentsite near trail junction (mile 1871.7)

25.8 PCT miles

I was still exhausted when I woke up this morning and was going to start the day with a long, uphill climb. It was still surprisingly warm and smoky. Thankfully, the higher I climbed,  the more the smoke thinned out.

Along the PCT are white or silver diamond-shaped tree markers, marking the path the trail takes. Sometimes, people have written things on them. I passed one that pointed out a viewpoint of Crater Lake.  I looked out and saw some trees, but no lake.

Near the top of my uphill climb, I took a break at the junction of a trail that would take you up Mt. Thielson. It was a super cool looking mountain. I was also looking out over only slightly hazed out vistas instead of smoked out vistas. There was even a cool breeze.

There are views today. 
Mt. Thielson. 
The PCT. 
More views.


Then, I headed down to my only water source for a while, Thielson Creek. It was a gorgeous creek with little waterfalls and a backdrop of Mt. Thielson. I had not been enjoying hiking the past few days, and this little scene reminded me why I was here.

Thielson Creek.


I had more relatively smokeless hiking for a while, reaching the PCT highpoint for Oregon and Washington, which was about 6,000 ft lower than the California high point. After that, I had several more miles of fun, smokeless hiking.

View from the trail with Mt. Thielson in the distance.
The PCT. 
High point marker.
Blue skies? What is this?


Then, the smoke hit again. Thick smoke that irritated my eyes. I wasn't expecting to hit it so soon as I still was pretty far out from the next fire closure. Suddenly, hiking wasn't fun anymore. The smoke irritates my eyes and gives me a headache.

I headed off trail to a small stream, the only water source in a largely waterless stretch of trail. While I was refilling my water supply, I thought about having to do another month of walking through this kind of smoke every day. I didn't like that thought.

Smoky stream.


I realized there would be no point in it. What in it was worth the physical and mental discomfort? I wouldn't be enjoying the trail. Heck, I couldn't even see the trail. I came to the sad realization that I might have to skip over the several hundred miles of trail that contained fire closures. I figured that I would see what the smoke was like between here and Shelter Cove Resort. If it was thick the whole way, I would skip.

I made my way back up to the trail a little disappointed. I was going to do a big push today and camp at the upcoming water cache. However, with the realization that I might be skipping a lot of trail , I wasn't motivated and decided to camp at a trail junction a 2 miles further. I took my time getting there, set up camp, and was surprised to find I had 4G. When I got on the internet I found out that another section north of me had been closed due to fire and another closure was expanded.  Damn.

Smoky sunset.


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