To PCT mile 2622 (stats here).
The night was not too bad and I did not get cold even though I worried about that during the previous evening. The sleeping bag was only a bit damp. I used some toilet paper to dry it. The weather was gloomy and wet so I ended up getting up only at 6:45am and hiking 7:45am. This time everybody else except Booty and Heiny started hiking before me.
The start of the hike was going up some 1000 feet. When I got high enough, the small drizzle turned into snow. There was a lot of fog and the surroundings were surreal. The temperature was relatively low but as there was little to no wind, it felt not that cold. You could not go that slowly though, and I was unhappy about the fact. I was fearing that the brisk pace would agitate my leg.
I kept leap frogging with the group that had shared a camp site with me the previous nights. I kept seeing Big Boy, Clean Turkey, Patient Zero, and Quinc (or something like that, he had a weird trail name). Booty and Heiny I only saw once when they went past me. It was fun to share the trail with these hikers even if I did not feel to belong to the group. They obviously had hiked together for a long time. They also provided me some badly needed pacing as I could not go too slowly. It was too cold for that. I was not able to use my hiking poles, and I tried to rub my hands together every now and then to get them warm. My handicapped right index finger that I broke back in 2014 had started giving trouble. It usually does when it gets cold. It was swollen, red and inflexible.
The rain stopped after I had my second break. The previously mentioned group joined me for the break around a fire ring. People laughed when I sucked the water for my chocolate coffee from my bladder, too lazy to open it and just pour the water. Sharing a break with people is usually great and I was happy about the human contact. I ended my break before the others, but they went past me when I took a shit break short after.
There were a couple of times when the sun peeked through the clouds. I did think about stopping and drying out my wet tent and sleeping bag, but then resolved waiting a bit more so that the weather would improve even more. This was stupid thinking as you should do the drying the instant you got a decent chance. There might be no other. And the weather did not improve, in the contrary. I ended up not drying out my stuff at all.
The days hiking consisted of ascending to a valley, and then obviously climbing out of there. The weather improved again after some climbing, but the sun did not reappear. The temperature got cooler, but the great views and the ability to keep a decent pace without too much feet trouble kept my spirits high. I met Early Bird few times. She was continuing to try to fill her 2000 miles by walking to the border for her second time. She told me that the views were so much better when she did it the first time few weeks before. I thought they were quite nice also now.
I really did not have thought about it but it seemed that I could hike all the way to Harts Pass today. It would mean some hiking in the dark but I was okay with that. There is an established campground at Harts Pass so it felt like a good option. The weather remained good and I was there around 8:30pm. I was amused to notice that all the hikers from the group that I've met now consistently were again there.
With the aid of Cold Turkey and some another hiker I was able to find a nice, tranquil spot for my tent. It was chilly but as there was no rain, setting up my tent went well and I was happy about the day. It would only be 1.5 days to Canada if nothing surprising would happen.
The night was not too bad and I did not get cold even though I worried about that during the previous evening. The sleeping bag was only a bit damp. I used some toilet paper to dry it. The weather was gloomy and wet so I ended up getting up only at 6:45am and hiking 7:45am. This time everybody else except Booty and Heiny started hiking before me.
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| The calm morning mist made the atmosphere eerie. |
The start of the hike was going up some 1000 feet. When I got high enough, the small drizzle turned into snow. There was a lot of fog and the surroundings were surreal. The temperature was relatively low but as there was little to no wind, it felt not that cold. You could not go that slowly though, and I was unhappy about the fact. I was fearing that the brisk pace would agitate my leg.
I kept leap frogging with the group that had shared a camp site with me the previous nights. I kept seeing Big Boy, Clean Turkey, Patient Zero, and Quinc (or something like that, he had a weird trail name). Booty and Heiny I only saw once when they went past me. It was fun to share the trail with these hikers even if I did not feel to belong to the group. They obviously had hiked together for a long time. They also provided me some badly needed pacing as I could not go too slowly. It was too cold for that. I was not able to use my hiking poles, and I tried to rub my hands together every now and then to get them warm. My handicapped right index finger that I broke back in 2014 had started giving trouble. It usually does when it gets cold. It was swollen, red and inflexible.
The rain stopped after I had my second break. The previously mentioned group joined me for the break around a fire ring. People laughed when I sucked the water for my chocolate coffee from my bladder, too lazy to open it and just pour the water. Sharing a break with people is usually great and I was happy about the human contact. I ended my break before the others, but they went past me when I took a shit break short after.
There were a couple of times when the sun peeked through the clouds. I did think about stopping and drying out my wet tent and sleeping bag, but then resolved waiting a bit more so that the weather would improve even more. This was stupid thinking as you should do the drying the instant you got a decent chance. There might be no other. And the weather did not improve, in the contrary. I ended up not drying out my stuff at all.
 |
| Hiking up from the valley was great, you got warm from the exercise and the clouds started to give way for the mountains. |
The days hiking consisted of ascending to a valley, and then obviously climbing out of there. The weather improved again after some climbing, but the sun did not reappear. The temperature got cooler, but the great views and the ability to keep a decent pace without too much feet trouble kept my spirits high. I met Early Bird few times. She was continuing to try to fill her 2000 miles by walking to the border for her second time. She told me that the views were so much better when she did it the first time few weeks before. I thought they were quite nice also now.
 |
| At over 6000 feet and experiencing grand views. Not too many of these lately as the weather and visibility have been bad. |
I really did not have thought about it but it seemed that I could hike all the way to Harts Pass today. It would mean some hiking in the dark but I was okay with that. There is an established campground at Harts Pass so it felt like a good option. The weather remained good and I was there around 8:30pm. I was amused to notice that all the hikers from the group that I've met now consistently were again there.
With the aid of Cold Turkey and some another hiker I was able to find a nice, tranquil spot for my tent. It was chilly but as there was no rain, setting up my tent went well and I was happy about the day. It would only be 1.5 days to Canada if nothing surprising would happen.
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