Tracks
My pace has slowed considerably and occasionally I think I could be described as staggering. I have three more miles to go of this 24 mile day which has been absolutely beautiful. Northern California looks more like what I was expecting to see in the Sierra Nevada mountains with steep ridges, jagged peaks, steep climbs and descents. For some reason I was expecting the rolling hills of wine country in Northern California, but that is not what it’s like at all.
I’ve been pretty comfortable with hiking about 20 miles a day and have on occasion done 26 when necessary. So far the only thing that has made it necessary is water scarcity. Today I elected to go a little bit further to try to finish this section from Etna to Dunsmuir in four days instead of five in order to keep company with two trail friends. I arose early this morning and was out of camp by 6:45 feeling pretty energetic and hiking well. I had shade for the first six miles, but late this afternoon I entered a burned area, and it’s been hot. Presently, the sun is at my back as I hike directly east in one of the long sweeping curves the PCT makes in utterly the wrong direction. All around me are blackened, burned trees, and large, white granite boulders. It is quite beautiful in its own way.
I have entered the Trinity Alps Wilderness, a place I have wanted to go since I was 17 years old. To be honest, I did not even realize that the PCT traveled through the Trinity Alps until yesterday. The Explorer Post I used to belong to and did all my early mountaineering with was doing a trip to the Trinity Alps the summer of my junior year in high school, but for some reason, my parents would not let me go. They thought it was more important that I stay home and work at my lowly, miserable, minimum wage, restaurant job as some kind of impetus to motivate me to go to college (as if I might not?) It is one of the few but very specific times that I really think they made a wrong decision, and I’m not 100% sure I ever forgave them.
I consult my FarOut app. This is the online map that nearly everyone who is hiking the PCT uses for navigation. It can connect to satellite and show me my exact location on the topographical map. It gives me an elevation profile, and also the location of reasonable tent sites, water sources, roads, and towns. I tend to look at it more and more often as I get more and more tired.
Before leaving the town of Etna, I was made aware of a mountain lion attack that occurred in the Trinity Alps just five months ago. It was the first human fatality by mountain lion in 35 years. The cat was eventually found and destroyed, but this is of course on my mind as I walk through this area alone. To my surprise and relief, I’m able to enjoy the beauty of this place without feeling fearful. Lions are much more frightening than bears. They are silent, they hide themselves well, they certainly see us when we don’t see them, and while they usually take care to avoid us, every now and then there are incidents.
Soon I should come upon a stream to fill up my bottles and bags. It is common that the campsites don’t have water, so I need to carry enough water for the evening, the morning, and to get me to the next water source tomorrow. I’ve been in pretty good spirits today, although I have not seen my two friends Daniel and Silvio who I thought were right behind me. They hike so much faster than I do so they should have overtaken me long ago. Perhaps they got ahead of me somehow? The funny thing is, you just never know out here. Someone could be fifteen minutes behind or fifteen minutes ahead and they may as well not be out here at all. Northbound PCT travel through California has essentially finished, so the trails are very empty.
I stop at the last tiny creek before camp and fill up all my bottles and one bag and take a bandanna-assisted sponge bath, much needed, before the shade of the late afternoon overtakes the creek. I have just added 10 pounds of water to my pack as I head out in sandals to cover the last 1.1 miles to camp. My intended camp spot is lovely. I am high on a rocky ridge looking down onto two tiny lakes. It would have been nice to hike down to them, but I couldn’t spare the energy today. My two trail friends finally catch up to me, but they don’t stop to camp here. They want to go two more miles today, so I will be camping alone up here. I don’t mind hiking alone, but I’d really rather not camp alone. I like to have someone nearby.
I eat my freeze dried beef stroganoff and watch the sunset, do some yoga stretches and get inside my tent at 7:45. It’s getting cold already up here at 7,400 feet. A sooty grouse lands in the tree above my tent and makes some cute noises for a little while. Then it’s just the sound of the wind to lull me to sleep. I’ll be up early again to start in on another full day of hiking. Today went surprisingly well, but the thought of doing it all again tomorrow is a little daunting.
When I wake in the morning, it is quite cold and windy. I’m out of camp by 7 AM, and the sun has risen. Not a quarter-mile from my tent I can see clearly in the dusty path that there are huge fresh mountain lion tracks!
