Trail Day 95: Tentsite (mile 1526.7) to tentsite (mile 1559.0)

32.3 PCT miles

I did not have a good start to the day. My original plan for the day was to get up as early as possible and see how many miles I could do in a day, since the terrain was going to be easy for a while.

Unfortunately, I was still exhausted from yesterday, so when my alarm went off, I reset it twice  to a later time. My mood was foul as well. I was pretty unmotivated to hike. I had been stressing out about various things (e.g the upcoming fire closure/road walk, my low battery pack) and it made me want to go home. My mood cleared after I started hiking. I felt much better in general when I finally got going for the day.

I passed a series of lakes, stopping at Toad Spring for breakfast and to fill up on electrolytes. Then I kept going down the trail and when I hit Deadfall Lake I happened upon a man in his underwear.  He apologized and explained that he and his buddy were the only ones out there. However, as I continued down the trail,  I bumped into a steady stream of day hikers. Hopefully he put some clothes on by the time they reached him.

Sunrise over Toad Lake.


I also passed a lot of southbound thru-hikers. It used to be a rare occurrence,  but the in the past couple days I have been coming upon more and more southbounders.  I must be coming upon their “bubble.”

The trail was mostly flat and alternated between forest and rock slope. On one of the rock slopes I saw something on the trail that made me pause. It was a scorpion. On closer inspection, it was a dead scorpion, but it reminded me that I need to make sure my tent zipper is closed all the way tonight.

The PCT.
Dead scorpion.


I kept hiking until I came to a creek, then I stopped for lunch. I could have stayed there all day it was so pleasant.  My sleeping pad and clothes stuff sack (which I use as a pillow) were set up in such a manner that I was the most comfortable that I have been on the trail.

Lunch spot.


Eventually, I willed myself to keep moving. It was pretty hot and I wasn't looking forward to baking in the afternoon sun again.  To my relief, a thunderstorm rolled in. The thunder and hail weren't particularly nice, but the cool air was a welcome relief.

It rained/hailed for a couple hours, then was dark and overcast the rest of the day. It made for a very nice hiking temperature and I was able to tick off the miles.

Rainy afternoon on the trail. 


I ended the day by going down into a valley,  headed for a tentsite a little ways up the other side. As I descended I noticed how wet the ground was. It looked like this area got hit harder than the section I had been hiking in when it rained.

It had gotten dark by the time I started heading up the other side, but I saw I would occasionally be walking over large patches of hall still on the ground. When I got to my tentsite, I made sure I put my rain fly up for the night, in case it was a wet night.

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