Day 118 – stream to spring-fed stream – 22 miles

Tough day today. I still couldn’t reach our normal speed, especially on the uphills, and we fell well short of our goal for the day. Our morning started right off with a steep climb. Later on we missed an important junction and added 1 1/2 non-PCT miles to our day, plus a lot of unnecessary elevation gain. At least it was a scenic detour – nearly to the rim of the Marble Mountains.


Just before lunch we met another southbound hiker named Forest (or maybe Forrest?) and spent a pleasant but valuable chunk of time talking with him. After lunch and two more slow climbs the trail leveled off and skirted some open ridges. We had nice views for the first time in a few days when the ever-present smoke let up. Apparently we’d gotten far enough north of the Butler fire for it to all collect into a higher-altitude brown cloud, making it look like the worst smog cover we’d ever seen. Nice to think that we’ve been breathing that crud for the last five days! No wonder I’ve been doing so badly.

We had our second bear encounter today, but it was much less exciting than our first back in Lassen. We came around a corner startled him away from the rotten log he was tearing at. He took off right away, crashing down the slope into the woods, and if we’d been a little farther away it would have been hard to tell whether it was a bear or just a clumsy deer.


The end of the day looked grim. We had a lot of miles to cover before the next water source and it seemed as though we would be hiking until well after dark. Our best chance to avoid this was a stream on our maps that closely paralleled the trail, but it was down a steep drop. It was impossible to tell whether it would be reachable or blocked off by dense scrub or even running at all. We kept our ears open as we approached it and heard running water – a good start. A little further down we could see some open ground down a steep but short slope. We got down without too much trouble and found ourselves in a prime campsite, with the stream nearby down another slope. This was a welcome change from the rest of the day and we didn’t waste any time setting up camp.

Tomorrow will be an early morning. We’re close to Seiad Valley, the last town the trail touches in California, and they have a cafe there that’s almost a mandatory stop for hikers. The problem is that it’s only open until 2, so we’ll have to make good time to get there. Thankfully the entire stretch remaining is one long downhill, so I ought to be able to handle it.

– Posted from the PCT

Location:Pct mile 1644

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