To PCT mile 1004.4 (stats here).
Even with the late time of setting camp the previous night, I was able to get up 5:15am and get moving 6:05am. I was ahead of the other people in the camp, but exchanged a few words before departing.
The day would contain lot of climbing. It started with a small descend to a valley, where I stumbled to Stomper and his gang. This was a surprise as the Iast time I saw them was ways back. It turned out that they had skipped the trail from Kearsage Pass to Sonora Pass, and were now going south bound. This was because of the fire around Mammoth Lakes and the smoke. A reasonable move from the hiking veteran. It was nice to see him and realise how you can adjust to the changing conditions in a wise way, without skipping the trail.
I was able to go past Aston the previous evening as I continued later than him. But he stormed past me after two hours of hiking. Not gonna say that I do not see him again as he told me that he takes some time off at South Lake Tahoe. But surely he is something like 20% faster than I am.
I did not feel that good hiking today. There was a lot of climbing, and the whole hiking thing felt too much like just exercising. Fast hikers went past me and the approaching sound of hiking poles started to irritate me. I tried to distract myself with music but that did not really work. Taking a dumb at a top of a steep climb helped, but only momentarily.
I haven't been acting like a true hiker so far with the creek and stream crossings. There has been so few that require your feet to get wet that I have been taking the time to take my shoes and socks off when that happens. Today, I did that once in the morning, and when there was to be a second time, I went through the trouble going upstream almost half a mile in order to find a place where you could hop through the rocks. Luckily, the trail actually continued to that direction and it happened not to be that much of a back and worth trip after all.
There was one pass to go over today, Dorothy Lake Pass. The trail leading to that was a long, easy climb. The incline was so gradual that many times I had to check that I was gaining elevation at all. If all the climbs would be like this, doing the distance would not be hard at all. The leading climb went through a wetland that was actually pleasant to travel. I met Chris and Jess there, that momentarily had lost each other. Chris asked me to inform Jess about his whereabouts if I see her. It was not that long that I encountered them both together. We had fun chatting.
Today was the day that I broke the 1000 mail marker. As it is exactly 50 days since I started the hike, it makes my pace about 20 miles a day. Only one of those is a complete zero, and a handful are of low mileage because of town visits. This is a bit faster than my rough initial plan, and gives hope of finishing the hike already in September.
Even with the late time of setting camp the previous night, I was able to get up 5:15am and get moving 6:05am. I was ahead of the other people in the camp, but exchanged a few words before departing.
The day would contain lot of climbing. It started with a small descend to a valley, where I stumbled to Stomper and his gang. This was a surprise as the Iast time I saw them was ways back. It turned out that they had skipped the trail from Kearsage Pass to Sonora Pass, and were now going south bound. This was because of the fire around Mammoth Lakes and the smoke. A reasonable move from the hiking veteran. It was nice to see him and realise how you can adjust to the changing conditions in a wise way, without skipping the trail.
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| And some change to the usual non distinctive landscape pictures! |
I was able to go past Aston the previous evening as I continued later than him. But he stormed past me after two hours of hiking. Not gonna say that I do not see him again as he told me that he takes some time off at South Lake Tahoe. But surely he is something like 20% faster than I am.
I did not feel that good hiking today. There was a lot of climbing, and the whole hiking thing felt too much like just exercising. Fast hikers went past me and the approaching sound of hiking poles started to irritate me. I tried to distract myself with music but that did not really work. Taking a dumb at a top of a steep climb helped, but only momentarily.
I haven't been acting like a true hiker so far with the creek and stream crossings. There has been so few that require your feet to get wet that I have been taking the time to take my shoes and socks off when that happens. Today, I did that once in the morning, and when there was to be a second time, I went through the trouble going upstream almost half a mile in order to find a place where you could hop through the rocks. Luckily, the trail actually continued to that direction and it happened not to be that much of a back and worth trip after all.
 |
| Edge of Dorothy Lake. |
There was one pass to go over today, Dorothy Lake Pass. The trail leading to that was a long, easy climb. The incline was so gradual that many times I had to check that I was gaining elevation at all. If all the climbs would be like this, doing the distance would not be hard at all. The leading climb went through a wetland that was actually pleasant to travel. I met Chris and Jess there, that momentarily had lost each other. Chris asked me to inform Jess about his whereabouts if I see her. It was not that long that I encountered them both together. We had fun chatting.
 |
| There starts to be more clouds around here, which is nice. They give shade every now and then and make the pictures more rich. |
Today was the day that I broke the 1000 mail marker. As it is exactly 50 days since I started the hike, it makes my pace about 20 miles a day. Only one of those is a complete zero, and a handful are of low mileage because of town visits. This is a bit faster than my rough initial plan, and gives hope of finishing the hike already in September.
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