Trail Day 92: Tentsite (mile 1448.8) to tentsite (mile 1478.4)

30.6 PCT miles

I had another predawn start this morning. Again, I needed to put in pretty big miles today, and I would have a big uphill climb at the end of the day, which would take more time.

The air was still incredibly smokey. Even in the dark I was moving through warm air that smelled strongly of forest fire. Luckily,  there were also small stretches of cool air that did not smell of forest fire.

All the smoke made for an interesting sunrise. Instead of lighting up the whole sky, the sun was just a red circle in the sky. Even after it had fully risen, you could barely see the surrounding mountains. It was so thick and smelled so strongly,  that after awhile it really started to bother me (mentally not physically).

Red sunrise.
So much smoke.



Thankfully, the trail started to head down a series of gullies towards McCloud River. As I went down in elevation,  I came below the smoke layer.

I would spend most of the morning/early afternoon heading downhill.  The PCT crossed numerous pretty streams and the green vegetation got thicker.

A pretty creek along the route.
This plant near another creek had huge green leaves.
The PCT. 


When I reached McCloud River, I stopped for a late lunch and a short nap. After that I crossed the river and started heading back uphill, dodging the overgrown and plentiful poison oak that was lining the trail.

McCloud River.
Do not touch.


Then, I kept heading up and up. I started listening to my audiobook to distract me from the heat and the length of the uphill section. When I hit the top, I started heading downhill again, heading for the next campsite, which was still 2 miles away.

When I was almost at the site, I was passed by Milkshake, a fellow thru-hiker I had been seeing for the past couple days. She was headed to the same campsite as I was.

We reached the site, set up camp, and ate dinner together. Later, some of the rest of her group showed up, but I didn't interact with them much. They rolled in at 10 pm and I was in bed.

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