PCT 2015 Day 70: Forests Aplenty

• Start: 1,048.4
• End: 1,066.9
• Miles: 18.5
• Camp: South Lake Tahoe

Methinks picked us up at 8am giving us time only for 7-11 coffee and a doughnut. However we were glad of the good company on car ride. He has ideas for spending his summer doing a road trip as he can’t hike now, and it sounds like a lot of fun. 

We had cool weather, a nice temperature for hiking, as we passed through a volcanic landscape with rocks of intriguing colours. The trail was mostly forest paths, good for walking on, although it quickly resumed its stupid switchbacks. At this stage in the trail I feel like we could handle the slope of the hill rather than flattening out the trail and adding extra miles, but the trail isn’t built just for us so I understand.

Eating lunch amongst the spearmint plants dotting the trail, we met two father and daughter pairs out for a few days. We talked gear and trails with them as they have hiked most of the PCT sections around here, and it was nice to get some local insight.

The afternoon’s terrain was pretty easy, and despite the late start we made nearly 19 miles easily by 6:30. Unfortunately the streams that were marked on the map near our chosen campsite were mostly dry, so we ended up taking water from the small puddles left. I marvelled at the odd shrimp-like worms in the water and the ability of the Sawyer filter to prevent things from poisoning me. Extra protein though. Hm.