September 3
I ended up spending the night in my tent here at Red’s Meadow. It rained from 3 AM to 6 AM. I stayed in my tent until seven allowing it to dry some and then came down to pick up my power bank. It was charging overnight. Some people suck. Somebody actually took the sticker with my name off of my power bank and put it on theirs, which was not fully charged. I know this because the charging port on the bottom is a different configuration than mine was. Now I will be delayed in starting my hike because I have to let this “new one” charge some. I got a breakfast burrito and waited for the battery bank to charge a little more, but it never got more than about 50% hopefully I will have enough power for this six day leg. I hit the trail at 8:45.
The trail enters devils post pile, state park. Looking across the valley you can see what is called a post pile. It is volcanic rock that has cooled in a fashion that makes it look like a bunch logs.
After passing a number of streams and waterfalls, I’ve reached the middle fork of the San Joaquin river. Just like the south fork the bridge here has been destroyed. I briefly thought about going over the existing portion of rail, but I was not comfortable doing it. The fall would have too big of consequences. I searched around a little bit and found a log about .1 upstream. I think the most dangerous part of this whole thing was getting down the hill to the log. Once I got across the log I had to bushwhack back to the Trail to continue on.
After crossing the bridge, I followed the River upstream for a while.
I talked about looking like a Smurf the other day with all of my rain gear on, I’ve got my coat on today because we have been having intermittent showers and I was able to get a picture.
As I continued up the Trail, I passed a meadow with some beautiful horses grazing.
As I stopped at the Ansel Adams wilderness sign for a picture it started to rain very hard with hail. I was under some large trees which sheltered me from most of the rain. I was able to stop and put on my raincoat again which I had only recently taken off.
I stopped for lunch, mid slope, along this beautiful creek with great views
On the other side of the valley is a Lake with water cascading from its outlet. Even at a distance, it’s beautiful.
With the rain all of the seasonal streams are flowing very strongly there’s water everywhere on Trail. All of the mountains in the distance are beautiful and some of them have a fresh dusting of snow.
As I come to the thousand Lakes area, I am treated to some beautiful views. I plan to camp here, but finding a spot will be difficult.
About a quarter mile up Trail, on a hillside, I found a somewhat flat spot. It is very rocky and there are places where I cannot put a tent stake so I place the steak sideways on the ground and stack rocks on it to hold it.
The views from my tent are absolutely beautiful. I can look out underneath my vestibule and see the lake. Absolutely stunning.
Today’s PCT miles hiked 16.4
Total PCT Miles hiked to date 2225.8
PCT mile marker 923.2
(Returned to complete 303.4 flipped over)
Miles left:
Kearsarge - Echo 169.1
Snoqualmie-Terminus 259.5
Total 428.6
