To PCT mile 815.6 (stats here).
I slept well. There were no noises, the night was not cold and first and foremost, the soil was soft. I am beginning to think that maybe air matress would be a good thing to have after all. With the thin Thermolite I need to turn from side to side quite often as the ground feels too hard.
Because sleeping was good, I only got going 7:10am. This must be the latest time so far here, if not taking into account the town days. The quiet couple from the previous day were right behind me, and we kept leap frogging each other the rest of the day. The start of the day was easy, but I lacked in motivation. This seems to happen if I have no clear goal for the day. It seems that I am still to find my hiking zen, where just being is enough.
I saw my first bear today. It was a small one and totally unafraid of people. I was with two other hikers just watching as it went around a tent site, looking for food. That gave the day some nice change but the climb to Pinchot Pass was still hard. The pass itself was not that strenuous, only few patches of snow that you could get mostly around. I was there in good time so I thought that I could maybe get also to the next pass, the famous Mather Pass, if I would be fast for the rest of the day.
I went down Pinchot fast and descended to a beautiful valley. You could see lots of marmots there. I kept leap frogging the silent couple and there started to be some exchanged smiles in this which was nice.
At one point there was a sign on the trail that there was free hiker food available at an unmarked ranger station, so I went there. It happened that a ranger was about to leave his post and wanted to get rid of his remaining supplies. There was also a family of hikers, and the father was getting oxygen from a bottle. The elevation was seemingly too much for him, and he had trouble breathing. Me and other hikers got to wittness as he was taken out from the trail by a helicopter. I talked with the daughter, who obviously was a bit shaken. She offered me heavy duty deet for the mosquitos. I need to get that, the stuff really works.
I got some coffee-hot-chocolate-mix from the ranger. I have to say that coffeine really kicks in after a long break. Even as the ranger station episode wrecked havoc to the plan to getting to the next pass, I decided to try. The motivational effect of having the silent couple ahead me also helped.
There starts to be a lot of creek crossings. One time there was no obvious way to get over by jumping through rocks and logs, so I took my shoes off. I am not ready to wet my shoes at this point yet when jumping mostly suffices.
I made good progress but the time just ran out. Mather Pass is said to be one of the hardest or at least intimidating of PCT passes, so I did not want to go there when dark. I set up my cowboy camp a mile before the pass, in 11500 feet, surrounded by snow and alpine lakes (or pools). It would be an interesting night.
I slept well. There were no noises, the night was not cold and first and foremost, the soil was soft. I am beginning to think that maybe air matress would be a good thing to have after all. With the thin Thermolite I need to turn from side to side quite often as the ground feels too hard.
 |
| Still not enough macro pics. |
Because sleeping was good, I only got going 7:10am. This must be the latest time so far here, if not taking into account the town days. The quiet couple from the previous day were right behind me, and we kept leap frogging each other the rest of the day. The start of the day was easy, but I lacked in motivation. This seems to happen if I have no clear goal for the day. It seems that I am still to find my hiking zen, where just being is enough.
 |
| Quite a docile small fella. |
I saw my first bear today. It was a small one and totally unafraid of people. I was with two other hikers just watching as it went around a tent site, looking for food. That gave the day some nice change but the climb to Pinchot Pass was still hard. The pass itself was not that strenuous, only few patches of snow that you could get mostly around. I was there in good time so I thought that I could maybe get also to the next pass, the famous Mather Pass, if I would be fast for the rest of the day.
I went down Pinchot fast and descended to a beautiful valley. You could see lots of marmots there. I kept leap frogging the silent couple and there started to be some exchanged smiles in this which was nice.
At one point there was a sign on the trail that there was free hiker food available at an unmarked ranger station, so I went there. It happened that a ranger was about to leave his post and wanted to get rid of his remaining supplies. There was also a family of hikers, and the father was getting oxygen from a bottle. The elevation was seemingly too much for him, and he had trouble breathing. Me and other hikers got to wittness as he was taken out from the trail by a helicopter. I talked with the daughter, who obviously was a bit shaken. She offered me heavy duty deet for the mosquitos. I need to get that, the stuff really works.
 |
| So you can get rescued. |
I got some coffee-hot-chocolate-mix from the ranger. I have to say that coffeine really kicks in after a long break. Even as the ranger station episode wrecked havoc to the plan to getting to the next pass, I decided to try. The motivational effect of having the silent couple ahead me also helped.
There starts to be a lot of creek crossings. One time there was no obvious way to get over by jumping through rocks and logs, so I took my shoes off. I am not ready to wet my shoes at this point yet when jumping mostly suffices.
I made good progress but the time just ran out. Mather Pass is said to be one of the hardest or at least intimidating of PCT passes, so I did not want to go there when dark. I set up my cowboy camp a mile before the pass, in 11500 feet, surrounded by snow and alpine lakes (or pools). It would be an interesting night.
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