Days 98
Start: Rock Creek
Finish: Tate Creek headwaters
Daily Mileage: 28.4
PCT Mile: 1454.2
Honeybun and I were camped at the base of a climb. With the forecast for the next few days reaching into the 90s and 100s, we have to be more conscious of how we go about our day. Hitting a big climb or dry stretch of trail late in the day may be dangerous or at least unpleasant, so there is some extra planning for now. However, the morning was nice and cool, and great weather for climbing.
The climb was shallow and forested which made it fly right by almost without noticing. Then much of the morning was buried in forest without views which made for fast hiking. I struggled to even take pictures since there wasn’t much of interest besides some occasionally overgrown trail.
The promised high temperatures never seemed to arrive today. There was a nice breeze when we were high enough on the ridge, and the temperatures were perfectly fine and good for hiking. Not sure what happened, but I will take it for sure.
We had debated how far to go for the day, and ended up pressing further than our original plan since the temperatures held. We didn’t know what the next couple days would bring, so we wanted to do the miles now when we could, in case it got hot.
The climb up was not bad even with water for camp. I didn’t notice the extra weight too much which was great since I was carrying over a gallon. With the bigger miles, I must also be pretty used to bigger pack weights now, thanks to the Sierra.
Thankfully, the last ridge we followed broke us out of the forest we were in for much of the day and gave us great views of the layers of surrounding mountains, and especially Mt. Shasta. It was nice to be able to appreciate our surrounds.
I did start flagging at the end of the day. We’ve done 28 miles the last 3 days in a row, so perhaps that is it. My energy level dropped quickly, but the last bit of the day was mostly flat and downhill, so I pushed through. I also was getting very hungry towards the end of the day. Same thing happened yesterday. My hiker hunger seems to be increasing, perhaps due to the increased mileage over the past couple weeks. I may need to increase my rations again at the next town stop. I want to eat all of my food right now.
We crossed our first snow in over a week as the day wound down, with one minor patch, and one snow bank we had to climb over. Not bad, but I thought we were done with that stuff. Oh well.
Then we shortly arrived at our campsite on a nice breezy ridge. I tore into my food bag and ate the little that I could spare. In the end I got enough to barely sate my hunger for now, but will see what tomorrow brings.