I first hiked the Pacific Crest Trail over the course of 1994 and 1996, then I hiked the whole thing in one go in 2013. During the latter hike I kept this website updated as I progressed up the trail. I still have about 45 hours of video to edit, but in the meantime there is a lot for you to look at here. Over the course of the 168 days I wrote 138,734 words and put 13,644 photos on this website.
My tent is retaining water.
Well, actually things are staying dry but I just wanted to say that.
I was stuck in the tent until about 4pm the next day. I was getting incredibly restless just sitting there thinking how much this was going to throw off my schedule. I did find out a few days earlier that the Truckee post office is open Saturday, which means I have about an extra 1/2 day of hiking time which is good. I had "Should I Stay or Should I Go" stuck in my head the whole time I was mulling it over whether to leave or not.
Throughout the day I heard a few different "hello"'s. The first was Lightning Rod. He was pushing on and said that he heard the storm was supposed to start breaking up in the evening. This was reassuring to hear.
I broke camp around 4pm just as Sundog, Giggles, and Texas Poo showed up. TP had a long night because his tent leaked and everything got wet. He was bailing off the trail and going to Markleeville to dry out.
The sun poked its head out for about five seconds and we cheered. You start to take sunlight for granted and then one day it is gone. Everything stay
s wet and no batteries can be charged.
I pushed it into the darkness and made camp near the same place I remember camping in 1996. I didn't want to night hike that much since this area is really pretty. I did get to see this one part of the trail where you can see the old PCT switchbacking down into a ravine and then back out. The new trail just curves around and doesn't have much elevation change.
It will be good to get a full day in tomorrow, so anxious to get walking!