Hot Days Are Here (D-71: 1427.8 - 1458.1, D-72: 1458.1

Hot Days Are Here (D-71: 1427.8 - 1458.1, D-72: 1458.1 - 1489.4)

The whole country is baking from the one headline I read a few days ago. And so are the hikers on the PCT. And unlike the desert, even the wind is not cool. It helps, when it occasionally blows, but only a little. And, now the nights are also not cold. Cooler definitely and quite pleasant, but not cold. No need for a sleeping bag or quilt to cover up. To beat the heat, started the hike yesterday and today at 4 am to get as many miles in as possible before the sun comes out in full force. Luckily big chunks of the trail these two days were under the canopy of trees, and that helps. Today the water sources were much more numerous and spread out, unlike yesterday when there were only a few and pretty much all of them were off-trail, which meant walking some distance to the creek or stream.

Some creeks like this were under bushes & difficult to access

All water sources have cold water, though by the time one filters it, it has warmed up a bit. Another big issue are the mosquitoes and bugs around water sources and at the campsite (even those far away from water) in the evening. Hundreds of them. Very irritating and I get inside the tent as soon as it set up. Tent is a good protection from these pesky things!

Ok... enough complaining. Just smack me in the head if I ever complain about heat when I am at home with access to a fan and some cold water/pop and don't even need to carry a 35 lb bag on my back! 😬🙂

Today crossed two big water sources - McCloud river and Squaw Creek. Collected water and lay down in the cold water to cool down and to clean up in the latter! That was really nice. One of the advantages of hiking in the wilderness 🙂.

McCloud River

Yesterday in the middle of the hot afternoon, I came across a patch of leftover snow - that was like winning a small lottery. Sat on it, collected some cold water from it and washed my face with the cold snow.

Also continued seeing Mt Shasta in the far off distance while hiking.

Encountered a fearless deer at the campsite last night. It came close to the three tents and was not at all perturbed by the people around. Kept all my food and hiking poles inside the tent, just to prevent them from being chewed upon.

My tent on the left and the deer on the right. (link to deer video)

Data:

D-70

D-71:

Comments

Pleasures of being on PCT (D-16; 303.7 - 328.8 miles)

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Why you shouldn't (or should) thru-hike the PCT? (D-115: 2592.1 - 2613.1 - Nero @ Mazama, D-116: 2613.1 - 2642.6)

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A thru-hike attempt... successful! (D-117: 2642.6 - 2653.6, D-117S (SOBO): 0 - 17.1, D-118S (SOBO): 17.1-30.6)

It is done! Finally, on August 10th, 2022, 117 days after I started at the US-Mexico border on April 16th, 2022, I reached the US-Canada border. Walked 2653.6 miles (4270.6 km) south-to-north through the states of California, Oregon and Washington. No bittersweet moments...just sweet relief to be done 😀. We were few of the lucky thru-hikers this year who were able to go south-to-north continuously without any interruptions. People who started even a couple of weeks earlier and maintained this pace hit a lot more snow in Seirras and a hell lot more in Washington, the latter being almost hike-stopping. By the time we got to Seirras, the snow was much more manageable, and almost all the snow had melted in Washington. People who started later or were slower have had to skip parts of Northern California due to forest fires. Even Oregon and Southern California have some fires starting already. Anyway, reached the northern terminus of the PCT yesterday morning around 8:40 am

A thru-hike attempt

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