June 27, 2016 - It was kind of a boring morning of hiking, just in the woods. There were several snowpacks I had to deal with which are always fun because you can lose the trail very easily. Several times I lost the trail because it was covered in snow and had turned without realizing it but I could always find my way back to it.
Later in the day I was coming off a snowpack and at the end I come to what looked like the trail or a trail that will lead me back to the PCT. I hiked down and came to the main trail. So I continue going the direction I was heading only to start heading uphill which was odd. Then a few minutes later I ran into a lady I had passed a mile back and looked around to notice the area looked very familiar, like I had been there before. When I lost the trail because of the snowpack awhile back I should have picked the other directions but it only added about a quarter mile on to my day.
Had a nice long lunch break after going 19 miles so made great time on the day. After all that hiking I was pretty hungry and ended up eating a lot more food than normal, luck for me I’ll in town soon to resupply. After lunch I was off to hike about 8 miles to my next resting point before finishing off the day with the last 6.
About a mile and half down trail as I’m about to come to a highway, really hadn’t seen many in awhile. There was a box mark PCT, I’m think food. Turned out it was just full of trash, got my hopes up for nothing. It had been awhile since I had got any trail magic and kind would have liked a nice surprised. Every time I get to a real road crossing I’m always thinking that there could be possible trail magic. So I kept hiking and as soon as I got towards the road I saw some tents set up in a gravel parking lot, I knew what that meant. A nice man going by the name Chipmunk was spending a week at this road crossing giving out trail magic. He had all kinds of good stuff like eggs, chili, cereal with milk, drinks, fruit just to name a few. I had some good old Captain Crunch which I had several bowls.
Had a fun time talking with Chipmunk and the other hikers, even Blue showed up to enjoy the festivities. However I ended up hanging around way too long as I had 12 miles left to hike and it was after 4pm. I’m kind of a schedule as needed to get a certain spot to be picked up and taken into Tahoe tomorrow.
Hiking after that trail magic was tough that first hour back but it was pretty flat so I made good time. Had a few issue going over snow but I dealt with worse. There was one spot that was really steep and would have been nice to have my ice axe.
Right before I got to my campsite the mosquitoes started to get bad so I basically started running. In my quest to run away from the bugs I too ran past the campsite as it was getting dark. I tried to double back but never found the campsite and it appeared that I was on a new trail. So had a fun time navigating that area but finally I was back on the main trail only no campsite nearby so I just kept hiking until I could find a flat area to pitch my tent. I ended I ended up hiking an extra half mile to get to a flat spot. Had a nice view of the area but was starting to get really dark so I pitched my tent as fast as I could because the mosquitos were still bad. I should have a nice sunrise in the morning if I can wake up early enough.
