PCT: Day 122

I went back on forth on my plans today trying to figure out which of two options to take.

Option 1: Hike to Bucks Lake, which is off trail by a couple miles, to get some town food. Continue on after this and stop after 22 miles which is the last spot to camp before the trail descends for miles. This would have me hike to Belden tomorrow morning and then start one of the longest climbs on trail mid-day.

Option 2: Skip Bucks Lake, head straight to Belden, and camp at the bottom of the climb so I can startu it early tomorrow.

I really didn’t enjoy the mid-day climb yesterday and am enjoying the longer miles so decided to take Option 2.

I was on trail around 7am and flew through the first several miles of rolling hills. I had another decent climb after this and soon entered the burn scar from last year’s Dixie Fire. As a whole it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, but there were large sections where there were no living plants. There were also areas with dead, burnt trees and living flowers and ferns.

I made it to the long downhill around 2pm and pushed through the hot afternoon. It only got warmer as I descended, and I was completely exhausted by the bottom. I took about an hour at the store in Belden to drink a bunch of Gatorade and eat dinner before moving on. I was originally going to stop around here, but decided instead to hike a couple more hours to knock out the first 6 miles of climb.

This went well at first until the trail turned directly into the sun. I had about an hour of walking directly into a sun that somehow stayed above the mountains and below the brim of my hat. I can’t remember much from this part outside of sweating more than the entire desert combined. It was absolutely brutal. The sun eventually set, and the rest of the hike was enjoyable. I made it to camp around 8:30 after putting in a 32 mile day.