PCT Day 22 – 24

PCT Day 22

Last night temperatures dipped into the 40s for the first time in a while, which made our early morning a bit chilly. We woke up at 5 to hike 18 miles by lunch.

We endured this punishment to make it to a swimming hole that included a therapeutic waterfall.

The water was chilly but Rachel and I waded in together. We made a deal to dunk our heads on the count of three. Only one person completed the agreement. Can you guess who went under?

After a few hours of relaxing we hiked another 5 miles to a picnic area where we ate dinner with friends and camped. The picnic area had water! A huge bonus.

PCT Day 23

We got an early start to the day which made the first ten miles fly by. While filtering water we ran into our German friend Sylvia. She was brimming with a little extra excitement because she was able to get a vaccine dose in the last town.

From that water source we cruised the next few miles to the deep creek hot springs. Prior to the trail we had no clue what these hot springs were, but a few hundred miles in we heard some whispers, passing references to amoebas, nudists, and parties.

The amoebas were easy to avoid, just don’t put your head under. The nudity was not. We arrived to a scene of close to one hundred day hikers and campers baring it all for the world to see. One in particular stood out to us both for his appearance and proximity. He had an uncanny resemblance to Santa, if Santa wore his birthday suit. This St. Nick was also very interested in learning the card game we we’re playing.

After our fun in the sun we pushed on another ten hot miles to a campsite right on the border of some BLM land. The area looked okay, but a number of broken beer bottles gave us the impression this place might not be frequented by backpackers. We trusted our gut and hiked another 4 miles at dusk to another campsite.

I’m glad we did because after arriving our friends Trevor and Lauren told us a man on an ATV with swastika tattoos harassed them a little and asked some odd questions about any weapons they carried and how much money one takes on a hike.

We slept well knowing me were among friends.

PCT Day 24

We got a late start to the day and it got hot quick! I pulled out the sunbrella to cope.

We met friends at a state park just off the trail and they surprised us with news that they ordered pizza and beer. We indulged under the pavilion and felt like royalty.

When we finally emerged from the food coma we charged on for 8 more miles. We camped in a nice flat drainage and decided to leave the rain fly off again tonight to watch the stars emerge….big mistake.