Day 69 (July 17th)
Mile 1502.3 – mile 1520.0
Today: 17.7 miles (28.5 km)
Total PCT: 1064.8 miles (1713.6 km)
PSA: Any PCT friends out there with sore feet? I recommend replacing your insoles. I have hiked over 1000 miles in the same insoles and my feet were killing me. Every step felt like my feet were being paddled and nails driven into my heels. Then my wondetful partner brought me a new set of insoles and changed my life. Despite some remaining aches and pains from my old, worn out insoles, my feet are feeling much better with new, fresh cushioning. I also replaced my trekking poles this zero and that was also a huge improvement!
Today was beautiful! After a bit of a slow morning, Jake dropped us back to the trail around noon with plans to meet up again at camp in the evening. He would park at a different trailhead (a little closer to camp) so that he wouldn’t have as far to hike. The day was boiling hot as we hiked up the never ending mountain around Castle Crag.
While I usually like ridge walks with beautiful views, today we were grateful for the green tunnel to shelter us from the sun. As evening fell and the day cooled down, we came out on a ridge with beautiful views of both Mt Shasta and Castle Crag. The Tramily and Jake rendezvoused at a stunning campsite where we had a little photoshoot. A hard but beautiful day!
Day 70 (July 18th)
Mile 1520.0 – mile 1545.3
Today: 25.3 miles (40.7 km)
Total PCT: 1090.1 miles (1754.3 km)
This morning Jake and I awoke go a beautiful sunrise over Mount Shasta and Castle Crag. Jake hiked about 7 miles with me, back to where he parked his car. We than said goodbye for a couple of days. He will be doing some camping and hiking on his own, and then we will meet up again in a few days. ❤️
After a few more miles, I arrived at our planned lunchspot– Porcupine Lake! It was a beautiful lake, perfect for swimming! There was even a little kayak on shore for us to play with! We took an extended lunch, enjoying a really nice swim around the lake, lounging on a sunny rock and a delicious lunch. It was another hot day and the sun was beating down. Within a couple hours, I was ready for another swim! Fortunately there was another lake! Two swims in one day– the dream.
The afternoon got a little harder for me. I was missing Jake a little extra and my feet were really hurting. My ankle, which bothered me earlier in the hike, was bothering me again. I slowly limped down the trail feeling a bit beaten. Then I realized that I had missed my water spot, so I miserably dropped my bag and walked back a little ways to collect water. Such an amazing morning and such a difficult, emotional afternoon. These are the highs and lows of PCT life. I routinely switch from heartstopping joy to tear-inducing misery — and then back again. To commemorate these highs and lows, our little tramily always report our peaks and pits to one another over dinner. Even though I was feeling sad and in pain all afternoon, thinking about my peaks (i.e. the beautiful sunrise, waking up with Jake, the two swims…) over dinner cheers me up again and I go to bed happy. after all, pain is temporary, but these happy memories are forever.
Day 71 (July 19th)
Mile 1545.3 – mile 1569.2
Today: 23.9 miles (38.5 km)
Total PCT: 1114.0 miles (1792.8 km)
This is definitely the most beautiful section of trail we have hiked so far. We had beautiful views of Mount Shasta for days, and now we pass by grogeous alpine lakes multiple times per day! Today we are camped in a cluster of five small lakes in a deep valley surrounded by high ridges peppered with snow. It is one in a cluster of beautiful campsites that we have had in this section of trail.
We are camping with our friend Granite Man– a badass rockclimber and hiker who we have had the joy of hiking around the past couple of days.
I found the hike today really hard. My feet ache with each step as I try to navigate the rocky trail. It is also hard to know that Jake is so nearby and I am not with him. I’ve been missing him more than ever these past few days, knowing that I will see him again soon! The trail in the morning was a little boring– lots of hiking in the green tunnel with overgrown bushes scratching my legs. Still, the trail was somewhat downhill, and knowing that I planned to camp at a lake, I pushed myself to go faster and get to camp earlier. I hiked 16 miles before stopping for a late lunch. The remaining miles were all uphill and ended up taking me quite a bit longer than I wanted, but I still made camp with plenty of time for a skinny dip in the sunshine.
I am not sure what to do about my feet. If anyone has any tips for plantar fasciitis, please feel free to share!
Day 72 (July 20th)
Mile 1569.2 – mile 1595.1
Today: 25.9 miles (41.7 km)
Total PCT: 1139.9 miles (1834.5 km)
What to say about today… Beautiful views, sore feet, and I got to see Jake again! When I arrived at camp, Jake gave me a hug and told me to go jump in the water while he set up my tent. What luxury!
This morning started with a beautiful, sunrise climb out of our little valley. The mosquitoes were very fierce until we passed over the ridge and got back on the main trail- where they seemed to dissipate. The morning views were incredible! Warm sunlight on snowy mountains and distant hazy pine trees– it was such a beautiful sight.
I knew that I needed to hike 26 miles today to meet Jakey, so I wanted to hike as far as I could in the morning. I had considerable trouble with my feet all morning. At one point Corpse passed me and asked how I was doing. He wouldnt take ‘fine’ for an answer, and when he saw how much pain I was in, he gave me a hug and told me to take it easy. I was again reminded of how lucky I am to have met my tramily.
After a long 16 miles, I caught up to Corpse eating lunch and decided to take my lunch with him. It was nice to have a friend to distract me from my sore feet. With only 10 miles left, the afternoon went quicker and I rolled into camp around 6:30pm to find Jake and my friends! Tonight we are camped at a really lovely lake with some other hikers for company. During dinner we all had a major ‘laugh attack’ and laughed uncontrollably until our faces and abs hurt. It is so wonderful to sit in a beautiful place, eating and laughing with my friends. ❤️
Day 73 (July 21st)
Mile 1595.1 – mile 1600.8
Today: 5.7 miles (9.2 km)
Total PCT: 1145.6 miles (1843.7 km)
A real nero (i.e. where you nearly hike zero miles). After beautiful dawn colours at our lake campsite, we had a quick 2 hour hike into town this morning.
We packed into Jake’s rental car and headed for some breakfast and coffee. After breakfast, we moved into high gear on oir town chores. Town days are rarely relaxing, but today was particularly busy as we were shopping for and mailong forward 13 days of resupply. This meant more shopping, more sorting, and more stress. We also did the usual laundry, showers, dishes, flushing our filters and so on. I massaged and iced my feet– hopefully they are feeling better back on trail today…
By dinner time, our chores were done and our packages mailed. We ran into some friends who told us thay lots of hikers were going to the brewery for dinner, so we decided to join– Magic Hobbit, Lost and Found, Pinecone, Chairbear, Slowburn, Yavol (all who we met in NorCal and have been enjoying getting to know over these past weeks) AND our friends Ranger and Mac who we last saw in Tehachapi! Some of our first desert friends to see again after our flip. 🙂
Town days may not be relaxing– they are busy, over stimulating, and stressful at times– but they are also a great opportunity to visit and reconnect with trail friends!
We thought this would be Jake’s last day of visiting/ trail support, but he decided to hike in to camp one more time… So we will save the goodbyes for tomorrow.
This has been my favourite section of my hike so far. I love the Trinity Alps and the many wonderful people I have gotten to share them with. Especially this guy:
