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.
Ok, so the wind did in fact "come up" last night. It came up and then died down after about five minutes. I later woke up to howling wind that was moving my tent all over. I got up and popped the poles out of the tent so it kind of just collapsed on me. This solved a lot of the noise problem, but not enough. I couldn't find my earplugs so I just jammed toilet paper into my ears.
I felt like I was up half the night but eventually I awoke to daylight and two dogs standing above me looking at me through my collapsed tent. I heard a guy yell for them as he walked past my tent. I wasn't camped near the PCT but near some sort of side trail. I think it might have gone to the top of Castle Peak.
I packed up and got out of there pretty quick. I startled a bear, didn't get a good look at him/her but I knew it was one.
Got to the Peter Grubb hut and saw an ultralight backpack inside. I went off to the side of it and made breakfast out of the wind. The door opened up and it was Lightning Rod.
We talked a bit for a while and then hiked out. We spent most of the day walking together. It was good to walk with him and get my mind out of the mental rut I was in.
The trail was pretty easy today, just gradual ups and downs. I listened to the Nardwaur vs. Questlove interview and it was awesome. Mostly, just to hear two guys geeking out over music.
Took a little nap around 2pm. Had to stay covered up because there are a lot of biting flies around and boy do you feel it when they bite.
Saw a couple southbound hikers but didn't talk to them much. Around the 25 mile mark was a campsite. I thought to myself I should get water at the creek and pack it a half mile...but then figured there would be water closer.
I got to the campsite and LR was there. No water. I hiked down the PCT another half mile and there was no water, so back another half mile I went. I ended up going back another half mile to the aforementioned creek and got water. Sucks because I was excited about being in camp by 7pm...now it was almost 8pm.
Made dinner and called it a night. Really tired from last night. Have about ten miles to get to Sierra City tomorrow. Looks like it will be a fun Fourth of July hopefully.
Everything is in the tent tonight because there was a lot of loud thunder and lightning during dinner. Kind of which it would keep going on but I think it stopped.