Wednesday, July 17, 2024
21 miles – PCT mile 1137-1116
This was the longest distance I have ever hiked in a single day. 21 miles.
I woke up early, checked that my water was full, and headed straight up hill. It’s always best to get big climbs out of the way early, I’ve found.
Once I got to the top of the ridge, it was a lovely day and I just enjoyed the breeze and easy trail.
After a while I did have to sit down and do some foot care, as the outside of my left heel, which is always the first place to blister no matter what it seems, started to blister. This and the outside of my right heel were the only two blisters I would incur on this trip, so I think the new toe-sock liner combo I tried worked out pretty well.
A little while later, I came to the junction of the PCT and the TRT (Tahoe Rim Trail). From here, the TRT joins the PCT until just south of Echo Lake, where I would end my section hike, so I would be on both trails for the remainder of this trip.
I would also reach the other end of the Granite Chief Wilderness.
Then it was lunch time and I found a wonderful little creek to lounge by.
After lunch, I passed several hikers who had good news for me: trail magic just down the hill! I honestly didn’t even think I would run into any trail magic on this trip, so it was a wonderful surprise. First, I walked through an idyllic field of Wooly Mule’s Ears again.
As I descended down to a trail head parking lot, I saw some Nobo hikers surrounding a couple of coolers of soda. Trail magic! Thank you trail angels!
I knew I had another climb to get to my goal, 5 miles ahead and 3 miles past Richardson Lake in the Desolation Wilderness. With about 3 hours left of daylight, I put on some climbing music (metal) and put my head down to power through.
Those last 2 miles were ROUGH. They were flat, but mentally challenging, knowing this was my longest day ever and that I was almost at the end of it. I collapsed at camp and it was all I could do to set up my tent and force down a protein bar for dinner. I didn’t even brush my teeth this night. Just lay flat on my back and fell asleep quickly. There was no breeze and all was silent.
Mexico to Canada 2023 (and beyond) 