We had lots of condensation on the tent this morning – the consequence of camping out in the open meadow near a lake. Luckily there were no hills to hide us from the sun and we were able to drape our bags out to dry. We started with a nice descent into the beautiful Matterhorn Canyon, where we crossed a few creeks and started up our first big climb of the day. The initial ascent to Benson Pass was steeper than the last part, but all of it had us working hard. We were glad we only had to go to 10,000 feet.

We started down the other side in a steep, rocky descent. We had to be careful not to misstep and potentially roll an ankle or worse. The narrow Kerrick Canyon was beautiful, bounded on both sides by granite cliffs. The trail was a bit of a challenge, though, as we found our way over slabs of granite that didn’t hold a tread or footprints. We had to look for little cairns, or the telltale signs of trail maintenance: large blocks marking a curve, or small stones fitted together as trail tread. We crossed a few more creeks as we descended to our lunch spot. Benson Lake was a large body of water ringed by ridges on three sides, with a lovely sandy beach to the north. A stiff breeze blowing across the lake kept the mosquitos away.

After lunch we headed back into the woods and right away began our second big climb of the day. The bugs returned in force and the heat was oppressive. We mitigated it a little by wetting down our bandanas but there was only so much we could do on such a steep climb. The path was beautiful – up the end of the canyon, seemingly towards a rock wall, we wove through small gaps between the granite and suddenly came upon lake after still alpine lake. It was a nice reward for all the effort.

Finally we started down into Kerrick Canyon, hiking alongside Rancheria Creek. The bugs got bad right away and we had to hike with headnets on – a little stuffy, but a small price to pay for our sanity. We rolled along, rising and dropping, until we reached a flattish area under some trees where we set up camp. Hopefully the pines overhead will prevent a replay of this morning and all the damp. Today was a bit of a tough one, as our second day out of town tends to be – our packs aren’t noticeably lighter yet but we’ve already worked through the energy we gained back from good food and rest. Tomorrow should be an easier day with less climbing and we’re hoping to make some bigger miles.

– Posted from the PCT

Location:Pct mile 978