To PCT mile 1085.7 (stats here).
As usual, I got up 5am. What is not usual, I started the day with having a decent sized dumb. I was a bit surprised as I have not been eating that much. It is nice to do that when watching a magnificent sunrise on a top of a mountain, though.
The beginning of the hike was a nice long downhill and I kept a fast pace. I went past Bandit that had just woken up, as well as Coyote. They are fast hikers and I was pleasently surprised that I can somewhat match their speed. Coyote has a PB of 2:42 for marathon and Bandit is 24 after all. After having my first break, doing 6.5 miles in 2 hours, they caught up with me and we continued hiking all three together. It was really nice to chat with them. And as they were really fast, that gave a push to me. Usually when alone this time of the day, I am very slow. Now we kept a fast pace, even uphill and I felt good about this. We talked about running, sports and everything. At 13 miles, we went across a highway and encountered a group of hikers gathered by a large cold container. Day hikers had left it, initially full of sodas, some cheese and cherries. I was happy to have my share.
After the break we continued maintaining the fast pace. At a steep climb Coyote trailed behind a bit, and we continued with Bandit until the next break. I really needed to push myself in order to keep up with him, but for once I was happy for the extra effort. There was a promise of a free soda at the upcoming visitor center, so a bit haste was in place anyway.
Once we were close to the visitor center, there started to be lot of day hikers. It is a common custom to say hello to everyone. One group asked me if I really am a PCT hiker and commented how small of a pack I have. I admitted that it is maybe now too light, with too little food. They immediately offered me some snacks, a bag of pieces of granola bars and apricots. I happily accepted. It seems I do not need to worry about the food after all. Especially as at the visitor center we got a soda, a twinkie and a mandarin.
I spent about 1.5 hours at the center and then departed with Coyote. Bandit had already gone, and also Coyote visited the toilet after a moment so I eventually continued alone. I met with a group of women who also ended up donating me few Clif bars as they were ending their day trip and had too much food. Because of the forth coming independence day, we talked briefly about politics. As most Californians, the really disliked Trump and apogolized him for the world. Surprisingly, another american hiker that was approaching heard us, and loudly announced his support for Trump. I took this as my exit que and left the others to continue the discussion. I was not sure if the guy was serious or not.
I would arrive to South Lake Tahoe early next morning. All the people I met today were saying that it would be really hard to get lodging from the town. The day ended with a climb and at the top, I stumbled into Bandit who was making his camp. We agreed to try to meet the next morning and hitch to town together. After that, I continued a bit and met with Coyote who was also looking for a camp site. He had lodging already in town arranged as friends of his family live there. I was rude enough to enquire him if I could possibly camp at their lawn. We tried to get cellular reception in order for him to ask about that, but were out of luck. He was kind of enough to give his number if I needed to ask that again the next day.
We made a camp around 7:30pm when it was only 5 more miles until the highway to South Lake Tahoe. This was a bit further on the trail that I had intended, but I had no objections on having a short downhill hike the next day.
As usual, I got up 5am. What is not usual, I started the day with having a decent sized dumb. I was a bit surprised as I have not been eating that much. It is nice to do that when watching a magnificent sunrise on a top of a mountain, though.
 |
| My cowboy camp in the morning. |
The beginning of the hike was a nice long downhill and I kept a fast pace. I went past Bandit that had just woken up, as well as Coyote. They are fast hikers and I was pleasently surprised that I can somewhat match their speed. Coyote has a PB of 2:42 for marathon and Bandit is 24 after all. After having my first break, doing 6.5 miles in 2 hours, they caught up with me and we continued hiking all three together. It was really nice to chat with them. And as they were really fast, that gave a push to me. Usually when alone this time of the day, I am very slow. Now we kept a fast pace, even uphill and I felt good about this. We talked about running, sports and everything. At 13 miles, we went across a highway and encountered a group of hikers gathered by a large cold container. Day hikers had left it, initially full of sodas, some cheese and cherries. I was happy to have my share.
 |
| Coyote trailing me. |
After the break we continued maintaining the fast pace. At a steep climb Coyote trailed behind a bit, and we continued with Bandit until the next break. I really needed to push myself in order to keep up with him, but for once I was happy for the extra effort. There was a promise of a free soda at the upcoming visitor center, so a bit haste was in place anyway.
 |
| And still more lakes! Or are these ponds? |
Once we were close to the visitor center, there started to be lot of day hikers. It is a common custom to say hello to everyone. One group asked me if I really am a PCT hiker and commented how small of a pack I have. I admitted that it is maybe now too light, with too little food. They immediately offered me some snacks, a bag of pieces of granola bars and apricots. I happily accepted. It seems I do not need to worry about the food after all. Especially as at the visitor center we got a soda, a twinkie and a mandarin.
I spent about 1.5 hours at the center and then departed with Coyote. Bandit had already gone, and also Coyote visited the toilet after a moment so I eventually continued alone. I met with a group of women who also ended up donating me few Clif bars as they were ending their day trip and had too much food. Because of the forth coming independence day, we talked briefly about politics. As most Californians, the really disliked Trump and apogolized him for the world. Surprisingly, another american hiker that was approaching heard us, and loudly announced his support for Trump. I took this as my exit que and left the others to continue the discussion. I was not sure if the guy was serious or not.
I would arrive to South Lake Tahoe early next morning. All the people I met today were saying that it would be really hard to get lodging from the town. The day ended with a climb and at the top, I stumbled into Bandit who was making his camp. We agreed to try to meet the next morning and hitch to town together. After that, I continued a bit and met with Coyote who was also looking for a camp site. He had lodging already in town arranged as friends of his family live there. I was rude enough to enquire him if I could possibly camp at their lawn. We tried to get cellular reception in order for him to ask about that, but were out of luck. He was kind of enough to give his number if I needed to ask that again the next day.
We made a camp around 7:30pm when it was only 5 more miles until the highway to South Lake Tahoe. This was a bit further on the trail that I had intended, but I had no objections on having a short downhill hike the next day.
Hey big feet! Its Meatsticks! I'm in South Lake Tahoe and am staying with a nice Finnish lady in Meyers right off trail. If you're nearby, come and hang out!
ReplyDeleteAh! Would have been so cool, too bad that I did not read this earlier. I am now 35 miles out of Echo Lake. Damn, I hope we meet again!
Delete