PCT day 67 – One man and his dog
The stars were beautiful in the night and the sunrise was beautiful from what I could see from my tent with my eyes only half open. The alarm went off at 6:30 and it was almost impossible to open my eyes. I am so so tired.
I started hiking around 7:15 and left growler finishing her packing up. She is even more reluctant to get up than me! Plus we needed water so it was downhill to the creek where I filled up and carried on hiking.
After 5 miles (2 of which were through a mosquito infested hell hole of a forest, lots of the snow has finished melting and the stagnant water is breeding the mozzies. I got well and truly attacked and added at least 10 bites to the collection despite practically running through the forest) I came across a man and his dog, Bob Dylan. So cute.
He talked to me for so long that Growler caught up and we stopped for a bit. We hiked on a further 5 miles to a road where we were hoping we might find a soda, but nothing! Then it was the start of a big 1000ft climb. It was exceptionally windy. It was a day of hotcold and updown.
Our last climb of the day was 700ft but it felt like so much more. The first part was beautiful with loads of wild flowers and the second half was loose rock – just like being back in the Sierra!
I saw a cute family on the way down, the little girl asked me where I was going and I told her I was going to Canada – she was very concerned about how I could carry enough food to get there! We stopped at frog lake where we had made a loose plan to camp. We had a choice, we could stay here or we could carry on 1.3 miles to the trail head where there is a parking lot (look at me saying 'parking lot', I've changed!) and possible trail magic. So we put it to a vote and we both voted to carry on, mainly because it cuts down the amount of miles we have to do tomorrow to get into town! This turned out to be a mistake. It was just a parking lot and there was nowhere to camp. So we went up the trail a bit and found a semi-flat area and pitched our tents, the earlier we go to sleep the earlier we get up and the quicker we get to town to sort this out...
Well that was the plan anyway...