I awoke at 6:00 AM after a great night of sleep. I was beat when I got into camp, but waking up in the morning, I felt alert and refreshed. Since I had fallen asleep about 9 pm, I had over 8 hours of sleep which meant that I was ready for the day. It took me around 45 minutes to get all packed up. Ryan, the guy next to me, was gone already. Patrick and Sam were still there but Henry was gone. I took a look at the creek where I got to take my first bath as I crossed on a bridge. I was a little sore from the previous day. The nice part was that there was not going to be nearly the amount of climbing today as there was yesterday. I would be going up almost immediately, though. The trail was pretty non-descript, spending time in the forest with lots of greenery around me.
I really just tried to keep going for an hour before I allowed myself to take off the backpack, sit down, and have a small snack. This is how I managed the whole trail. At one point I passed Henry, he passed me during a break, then I passed him on one of his breaks, and never saw him again. This would become a theme as many people I met along the way, I would never see again. Somewhere in the forest along the way, I saw a giant wasp's nest. I don't why the idea goes through your head when you cross by a giant wasp's nest, but for me, it was, I bet I can hit that with a rock. Of course, I did not attempt it, but the allure is there. When I was about 4, I was on a hike with my dad and the middle school at our school. A kid decided to do that and I bore the brunt of it getting stung multiple times.
So obviously, I just walked by and instead enjoyed the plethora of huckleberries that were along the trail. It was a tough decision to decide whether to stop and eat some berries or keep moving. We had to bend over and get the berries, which stopped forward progress. It would be a battle along the whole trail. I couldn't just leave them, but I couldn't spend the whole time getting berries, so I just occasionally let the urge overtake me and I was able to get some extra nourishment. Along the way, Patrick and Sam passed me. They said they had just seen a bear. Lucky, I wished I got to see it too. They passed me and then I passed them again. The hiking was actually pretty easy. It was uphill in the morning, but now I began the long descent to Panther Creek.
Along the way, I met people going southbound. They were a little more scraggly then me. Most of them were going the full distance given that this was the time of year for southbound hikers to start. I talked briefly with them as they passed by. I also passed the time listening to Audible. I had to balance the usage of my phone battery, but for an hour here and there, I would listen to the book The Shining. It was kind of a stark contrast for the beautiful sunny day and this book about a haunted hotel in the dead of winter. It still passed the time well. I was doing pretty good. By noon, I had hiked the 10.9 miles to Trout Creek. Here I passed a road and the Wind River Work Station. I did not know much about this spot, but I saw what I thought was a YCC crew on the road. There were buildings and facilities around, but they were obviously not open to PCT hikers.
The next five miles was some of the easiest hiking on the entire Washington section. It was almost entirely flat and just went right through the forest. It took me in between the Wind River Work Station and Panther Creek. Along the way, I crossed Wind River. When I originally planned out my trip, I wanted to stay at the Panther Creek Campground. When I got there at 3 pm, though, I knew it would be too much time. So I went down to the creek and filtered water. When I was done and went back to the bridge, there was a couple there with a dog. They talked to me for quite a long time asking questions about the PCT. They were really friendly and I could tell that they would have liked to be doing what I was doing.
After Panther Creek, the trail climbed quite dramatically. It was switchback after switchback. I struggled to stay ahead of the couple that I talked to. After an hour of going uphill, though, I needed a rest and they passed me again. We talked for a while. Eventually, they turned around and I kept going. It was 3.5 miles in when I saw a campsite. It was approaching 5 pm and I had put in 19 miles. I decided to camp for the night. It would be a lonely night. The only people I saw pass were Patrick and Sam a few hours later. They decided to go for another hour. It was once again and evening where I would get a lot of sleep in the deep dark woods camped along the trail next to where it intersected an old dirt road. There was no water at my site, so I had to be conservative with dinner. I ate, I charged, I read, and then I slept.
No comments:
Post a Comment