August 15
6:50 that’s when I walked out of camp this morning. I got in a little later last night and I did a little bit of increased miles yesterday so I slept in. I woke up at my normal 5 AM. It was still dark so I rolled back over. I had wanted to sleep about 30 more minutes it just would not happen, so I packed up and said goodbye to my camp and headed out with the sun to my back.
Alder spring is where I was headed to last night before I decided to stay at the top of the hill. I’m glad I did not continue. Great place to fill up water, but it is a bit of a walk down to it and I would not have wanted to do that last night. I cameled up and headed back to the Trail.
I am right on the edge of another burn scar. You can see the tactic used to hold the fire to where it was. There is a dozer line cut in here at the top of the ridge where they have removed fuel.
2000 miles hiked!!!!!
Looking across the canyon there’s a large, gray, clear face. It’s interesting in the way it stands out amongst the surrounding soil.
I stopped at North Fowler Creek for lunch. It’s a steep 550 foot downhill, but a pretty setting amongst the burn scar. There was a small pool I could soak my feet in for a couple minutes, but it was cold, and I don’t like staying submerged in cold water so it was a short soak.
The middle fork of the Feather River is way down below us in this valley. That is where I am heading, it’s where I will cross the river and then go back up the other side.
The trail along the section is incredibly overgrown. You have to be very careful because you could step on loose areas on the edge of the trail in holes or trip over logs that are buried in the bushes. About halfway down is a parking area with a Plumas national forest sign from that point on the trail was better maintained.
I descended down to a tributary that feeds the middle fork. I follow above and along it before I come to a view of the foot bridge that will take me across the river. I stopped, took off my pack, climbed down the rocks to the water to fill up my bottles and cameled up for my climb.
I crossed the bridge and and saw some of mining equipment, abandoned by the side of the river. I then climbed a steep 1.3 miles to the top only to immediately descend a gradual two Miles. I passed by this beautiful stream on my way.
I reached Bear Creek, which also has a bridge to cross it. From there I started another 1.6 miles steep climb to where I will camp tonight. At .7 miles I came to a seasonal creek where I did my final water fill as tonight is a dry campsite. I ate dinner at the creek, so I would not need to carry that water and then continued up the last .9.
My campsite is just a flat spot in some trees right off the side of the trail. I quickly set up and climbed in the tent. It’s been some long days with a slower pace. I did do a couple sections today where I increased my speed as a test. I also did a couple miles with the insert out of my shoe. The pain did not substantially increase, and I will see how it feels tomorrow.
Today’s PCT miles hiked 19.1
Total PCT Miles hiked to date 2014.1
PCT mile marker 1255.7
(Returned to complete 542.8 miles flipped over)
Miles left:
Echo - Chester 76.7
Kearsarge - Echo 303.4
Snoqualmie-Terminus 259.5
Total 639.6
