8/29/2023
Section: Milepost 1319.1 to 1293.6
Total Trail Miles: 1646/2650
Distance: 25.63 Miles
Moving Time: 10:54 hrs
Elevation Gain: 3,009 ft
There was…a bird this morning. It sounded like a car alarm. I love birds - I love all birds, but this one just made my shit list. I don't really know why it felt like it needed to scream that early - like, what was it trying to accomplish. No other birds are up and neither is the sun. On the other hand, my pad stayed inflated all night - #Blessed.
The stage today starts with a short climb out of the saddle where the previous day had ended before continuing along the same ridge for two miles and then sinking into a second saddle where a trail shoots off to Little Cub Spring. From the second saddle the trail continues south, straddling a ridge as it goes. At the 6 mile marker, the PCT crosses Humboldt Road where it turns due east and crosses high on the northern flanks of Humboldt Peak before turning back south and continuing along a narrow ridgeline. The path circumvents Locke Peak and crosses Humbug Summit road at 12.3 miles and climbs up to go over Snow Mountain ridge before it begins a long and brutal descent into the dramatic Chips Creek drainage.
We were up and moving by 6:30 this morning after some caffeine and grits! That’s right, I had a little warm breaky this morning. We made our way in the early dawn light dodging between short outcroppings of volcanic rock and catching beautiful glimpses south of us. Much like the day after Walker Pass, the big mountains out ahead of us are coming into sharp contrast, promising lots of epic Sierra scenery in the pipeline. About an hour and a half into the day brought us past the 2 eastern European lads just starting to break camp near Humboldt road. We waved and said good morning before continuing on. Lightweight caught up to us shortly after and we hopscotched with her throughout most of the rest of the day.
The day was cool, clear and uneventful. The burn remained prevalent but pockets of surviving trees were becoming more and more common as we made our way south. At mile 19 we stopped at Obsidian spring where, again, the new water filter CRUSHED through the water. So, so, SO nice to have a working filter again. As we sat and ate, bemoaning the remaining 6 miles we had, two big ol’ bumblers alighted on my leg and started to mill around. “What are they up to,” I said to Amanda. “They must like the salt,” she said with a grin on her face. “Guess so,” I said back. I waited a few minutes for my new friends to get their fill of whatever it was they were getting their fill of before we reshouldered our backpacks and started off south again.
Not far beyond Obsidian spring we ran into a sign I had been looking forward to almost more than the official halfway PCT sign - the demarcation for the northern border of the Sierra. That’s right - there is a sign denoting the rough border between California’s northern volcanic third and middle granite third and what a site it was. We were both giddy to be back in the Sierra though, looking around, nothing much seemed to have changed. Our giddiness was cut short buy the next 5 miles of descent however. Steep and strewn with loose and irritatingly spherical rocks, the descent took our moving rate way down as we struggled to avoid taking a fall with our still very heavy packs. On down we marched, eventually getting passed by the eastern European guys and the short couple, who introduced themselves as Joe and Sarah from New England. Shortly after, we walked through swarms of dragonflies in the midst of what must have been a feeding frenzy or something. I mean, no joke, like thousands of beautiful dragonflies buzzing around like crazy - I wish I had been in a better mood to enjoy it.
Around dusk we finally stalked into camp, confirmed by the presence of Joe and Sarah already setting up. I left Amanda to get the tent going and walked down to fill up water. A few nice rocks near our tent pad made a nice shelf to get things set-up and going. We made dinner, the pain from the brutal late day retreat finally subsiding before laying our laundry out to dry and crawling into bed.
