July 2
6:48 We are walking out of camp a little bit later today than normal. It was a beautiful site with the sunset and the city lights down below us as it got dark. Today is our last big hike day before getting into town on Thursday, a day earlier we originally planned. We expect about 20 miles today.
We are about 4 miles in and it’s definitely already getting warm today. We are passing under some impressive, high power tension, lines with 6 sets double transmission lines with big steel towers holding them up. It’s kind of neat.
As we continue up the hill, I stop and look around and have another wow moment it is so beautiful. As I say ”wow God, this is beautiful” out loud I hear a flutter and there in front of me is a hummingbird 3 feet away. I snapped a picture. It’s hard to see with the background, but it is there.
We just saw our first full-size rattlesnake. He was coiled up just off trail underneath a bush. His camouflage is very effective so unfortunately, he does not show up in a picture very well, but the second picture is zoomed in, and if you look closely, you can see him.
We are just shy of the top of the hill and we have stopped at one of my campsites from my 2023 PCT. It brings back fond memories thinking about that night, and the views that I had from this location. I would like to have my second breakfast up here, but unfortunately my water is almost gone. I have just enough to get me down the hill to our next source.
We laid down in the shade, close to where I camped previously, and as we laid there another hummingbird fluttered in front of us, and when we laid back and looked up, we could see the pine tree behind us. It’s extremely peaceful here.
We’ve just passed the crest of today’s highest climb. It feels good. That’s a milestone for this morning; now onto our next milestone, a creek with water 2 miles down the hill.
We have made it to our water source. It is a stream that is trickling fills a liter and a half in about a minute, which is a fairly good flow after filling two bags of water. Ryan looked over and noticed a rattlesnake curled up about 5 feet from us, he was just chilling and could care less that we were here. I watered up ate my lunch of alpine pasta Alfredo.
The section I covered next had a little bit of uphill at the beginning which covered my shirt and sweat, but after a mile transitioned into fairly flat and then steep downhill the rest of the way to our next planned rest stop at the old Ranger station. looking out across the valley is incredible as so often is on this trail
We stopped at the north Fork Ranger station. It has been shut down for many years, but there is a caretaker here named Todd that many people mistake for a Ranger. Ryan and I stopped for a break in the shade and he came out with two cold Gatorades. They were fantastic as was our conversation with Todd!
Leaving the Ranger station we have a long mild descent in front of us. In 4 miles we will reach our decision point for today of whether to dry camp or continue on another 4 miles to Solidad Canyon where there is an RV park that allows Pct camping.
The trail drops steeply into the canyon where we will make our decision if we stop or continue on for more miles. There is a slight rise out of the canyon, but should level out after that the rest of the way to the town if we continue on.
My Sun umbrella has served me well and provided much needed relief from the direct sunlight, But it’s on its last leg. Half of the suport rods have broken and every time I get a gust of wind it inverts or folds into me. Ryan thinks it’s rather funny and took one picture where he said I look like I’m about to hang glide off the side of the cliff
Alex and Giselle are a brother and sister that we met at the RV park, Alex actually is hiking the trail, but has been off on injury and is restarting from here in the morning in hopes of completing California. Giselle his sister is joining him for a day hike to Agua Dulce tomorrow.
tomorrow we will finish our last 10.8 miles of PCT California section D. We’ve moved a little faster than we thought and I felt relatively good for most of the hike. I did develop a couple of blisters on my right foot but they don’t bother me much when I walk.
