PCT day 126 – Limited views
I woke early and went back to sleep. I was so tired that I didn't wake in the night and it passed without incident. I was on the trail by 7:30am not sure where I was aiming for today.
A nice 10 mile mostly downhill this morning. Got to the water and had some lunch. A scout group came by and handed out some sodas. Nice. A good thing to have just before the 3000ft climb. Half way through the climb I met a sobo who said he could tell me what's ahead but it would spoil the surprise. Trail magic?
I got a shift on when I saw a sign on the trail. When I got there they were just starting to pack up but I still got a beer and juice and tortillas, salsa and cheese. Perfect. The trail magic was arranged by Animal who hiked last year. 4 other nobos and 2 sobos came through. I packed out a juice and carried on. It was so smokey today. At times you could really smell it and feel it in your throat. It's not pleasant. Most of the day was walking through trees but there was a bit of a view at the top of the climb.
I was doing some calculations as I walked along. If I do 25 miles a day I will get to the end in 18 days, that's a whole 10 days before my projected finish date. Even if I take a zero at each resupply place that's still a week early. So I have time. I don't need to do 30 mile days anymore. So I won't. So today I stopped after 25.5 miles. It was 6:10pm. I haven't got to camp this early for a long time. It was nice to be leisurely, to eat dinner before its dark, to read a bit.
I did 25 miles today, and it wasn't tough – I stopped for lunch, I hung out at the trail magic, I stopped at the top of the climb and drank my juice and I strolled the last 5 miles to camp – but I feel tired. Really tired. My legs and feet are really sore and I feel like taking it easy for a bit. Plus it may give them a chance to sort out all those fires! I was in my tent before it got dark. Chewy and Vince are camped here too.
