Start: 1594.7
Stop: 1618.6
Today’s miles: 23.9
Total PCT miles: 1470.8
I accidentally set up camp 1.3 miles short of our actual planned spot.. not 100% sure how I did that, other than just not paying attention to the actual mileage completed and only watching how close I was getting to where I thought we were supposed to camp. To be fair, both spots were listed as: Tentsite (5) & Stream. So, I didn’t think there were two exactly the same so close together. Oh well..
I slept great, and woke up to the sunrise.. and naturally pressed snooze and turned the other way to get just a little bit more of that good sleep I was having. I finally deflated my sleeping pad at 6:30, and Margot did at the same time, so she must have been waiting for me to go first. Haha.
We packed and were on trail by 7am. Today was another gorgeous day. Cooler temperatures, very few bugs, sunny and blue skies. The trail felt mostly exposed and going around these massive mountains, some rocky, some green and lush.. some with very steep drop offs all around. It was eye candy all day long.
I only stopped to eat lunch and to dump rocks out of my shoes a couple times.. otherwise, all day I was walking and just mesmerized by my surroundings. There were only birds and chipmunks around, and very few people. Margot and I ate lunch by a stream and then the two of us leap frogged each other all day.
There was over 5k feet of elevation gain throughout the day, but so much of it I didn’t even notice because of being distracted by the sheer beauty of it all. I’ve already hiked a lot of the PCT’s High Sierra section, since a lot of it is merged with the John Muir Trail and Andrea and I backpacked that trail in 2018-so I know what beauty is coming my way, but I didn’t expect it to already be getting so gorgeous now. I don’t know why?
Tomorrow we get to Kennedy Meadows North, in 18.5 miles instead of 17.2 (whoops!) and Margot will get her bear canister there. From there, we will get into Yosemite National Park within a few days. At a road junction, Margot and I will split again.. she will go into Yosemite Valley-she plans to try to get a Half Dome permit and to zero in one of the most incredible parts of the park. I’ve been to that area several times already, and I want to hike Half Dome with Andrea, so I’m going to keep moving ahead. Hopefully we reunite a few days after that, but I’m not sure if we will. That makes me sad. Even still, we’re several days away from that reality, so I’ll try not to think about it.
I do think I’m ready to roll over and snuggle into my quilt. I hope I sleep as good tonight as I did last night. Fingers crossed! Sweet dreams!