This morning is probably our coldest day on trail. Even considering the snowstorm we had at mount Laguna. When we came into camp, the tent sites were right on a saddle. It was extremely windy last night. Luckily, we explored and we found a little protective bowl that shielded the vast majority of the wind.
We did wake up with ice crystals all over our tent, and as we are packing up and getting ready to leave, we do have Snow flurries falling, although they don’t stick. The wind is blowing sustained 25. It is approximately 33° with the windchill factor 19°. We ate breakfast in our tents for warmth. Heading out of camp at 8:40.
We are fully within the Camp Fire area now. The devastation is complete.
3 miles and we’ve come to our first water fill, which is a concrete cistern. The rain hits the sloped upper portion, and it runs into the lower tank.
We are beginning to encounter some more patches of snow across the trail. The good news is, with the temperature as low as it is, it’s not slushy at all. It is like walking on concrete. Additionally, we continue to have some snow flurries and that snow is sticking as well.
Beautiful river in front of us
We continue to experience sections of trail covered with snow which is still very solid. It takes a little bit more time as you plan your foot steps making sure you have a solid grip
as we travel along we continue to be rewarded by amazing views.
Mid slope in this picture is the snowfields, one which we just came through
Rewarded with another gorgeous view
Back to consistent snow path. It is still solid with very little post holing.
We have transitioned into an area of Trail with lots of pines. The wind is still pretty strong, but it makes beautiful noise rushing through the treetops.
We went to Sawmill campsite, which is an established forest service site a quarter-mile off trail. There we stopped for lunch and water.
I spoke of hiker trash a couple posts ago. Currently, Ryan and I are sitting in the vestibule of a pit toilet to stay out of the wind while we cook and eat our lunch. We were very close to going inside the toilet itself but there is only one seat, and the floor was dirtier than the vestibule, and we did not want to put our mat there.
After lunch we had a hard 6 1/2 mile push, mostly uphill to reach our campsite just slightly off Trail called bear campsite. Today was a very cold all day long. The hood I sleep with got wet from a leaky water bottle as we walked into camp. We stuck it out on a branch to try to let the wind dry it. It was frozen within 10 minutes! Although it was a long very miserably cold day, the hike was very good. We had very good views, and we were able to manage temperatures very well. All in all, a good day.
Today’s miles 14.5 total trail miles 205.0. PCT mile mark 504.2 due to Flip of 299.
