PCT SOBO DAY 39 – The herd
22nd August 2016
Tent site - tent site
29.3 miles
3302ft up 2303ft down
Brr. It was cold last night. But I slept well and when my alarm went off I was reluctant to get out of my cosy nest. But I had to get moving. It's still dark at 5:30, not getting light until about 6.
I start the day with my puffy vest, gloves and my buff covering my ears. It's really cold. I passed a coupe of tents with no sign of movement. They are probably waiting until it warms up! Eventually I had to put my hands in my pockets to keep them warm. Luckily the trail was smooth and it was gently rolling with no major ups or downs. The good thing about it being cool is it means I walk faster so before I knew it I had done 6 miles in 2 hours.
A woman passed me, shortly followed by a young boy. 'Are you a northbound PCT hiker?' he asked. 'No I'm going south. You're going north' I told him. I walked on leaving him standing there looking confused. Once he was out of sight I quickly checked my GPS, just to check I was still going south.
The sun teased me by shining through the trees, then the trail would turn and take me back into the cold side of the forest again. It wasn't until 3 hours in to the day that I was able to get rid of my warm clothes.
I ate a lot of food early on. My cereal bar, twix, 2 packs of cookies and a pack of skittles. So when 12 o'clock came around and I had done 15 miles I decided to stop by a lake for half an hour and eat that packet of tuna I have been carrying for days. I passed by lots of lakes today, and this one certainly wasn't the prettiest but it was the one that was there when I wanted to stop. I didn't take many pictures of the lakes because, well how many pictures of lakes do you need?
I changed out my socks and emptied the dirt from my shoes. One nice thing about this morning being cold, and slightly frosty in some places, it that the dirt was flattened a bit and didn't cloud around you so much.
The trail this morning was quite boring, flat trail through trees, so I plugged myself into some podcasts. I'm longing for some decent wifi so I can download some new ones.
After 8 hours and 20 miles I stop again and sit on a log. I make a plan for the rest of the day. 9 more miles to a camp spot and uphill most of the way. The mosquitos have been on and off today and where I was sat they were most definitely on.
The trail emerged from the alive trees and went through a big burn area of dead trees. And it was hot. The sun was beating down and there was no protection from the tree stumps. There is something weirdly beautiful about it though.
And the trail continued to go up for the rest of the day. I stopped at Charlton lake, a little side trail off the pct to get water. On my way up to the camp site I passed a whole bunch of northbounders. One guy, German I think, called Heartbreaker told me there were a lot of people in Shelter Cove. The I passed a huge group, about 10 people hiking together. I think I've hit the herd.
I get to camp and set up, the dust is gross. My legs and feet are really painful and I am very aware that they are there, but they are also difficult to control, it feels like someone else is controlling them.
My eyes are really sore – irritated by all the dust and I can hardly keep my eyes open so I can't write any more.
