Day 42
As usual I got up early to beat the heat. Today I was hiking by 3:30 am after way too little sleep. I started noticing that the landscape was changing as there came more and more exposed rocks signifying that we were near the Sierras.
At around eleven I had my second breakfast and afterwards wanted to go the next stretch. It was a 550m (1800 feet) ascent, which again would not be a problem of it wasn’t for the fact that it was located in the middle of the day and very exposed. I actually went half a mile back after feeling how hot it had already gotten in order to pick up some more water. Luckily it turned out not nearly as difficult as that ascent a couple of days ago because it was slightly colder and I had much more energy. Going uphill is usually one of my strengths and I overtook a lot of people who would usually be faster than me. I took a short break and felt tired from the lack of sleep. Instead of taking a nap I, however, I am not good at napping, so I decided to just plow through and be done with the day. After 25 miles I arrived at my desired camp site, but found out that it had been closed due to the risk of flash flooding. Bummer. Instead I backtracked slightly and found a space that was mostly out of the wind, had a cold creeklet nearby, and unfortunately also had a ton of flies. I quickly got into my tent but a dozen or so managed to sneak in with me. You can’t have it all. What I can have, however, is a small sense of accomplishment as today marked the day that I had hiked over a quarter of the PCT! Tomorrow will, however, likely bring me by an even more important waypoint on the trail, but we shall see.
Really well done!