We spent most of the day leap-frogging other hikers we camped with. We hiked some miles with various people and got to learn a bit about them. There were 2 seperate gals we hiked with that had never hiked an over night hike before! Choosing to hike all summer on the PCT is quite the first overnighter. I was really excited to see them going for it. One of the gals is in college and shared,"my parents think I am crazy for doing this."
I replied, "They wouldn't be very good parents if they didn't."
In the hot afternoon there was absolutly no shade for miles. So we pitched our lightweight tarp for a break under some shade. Later I realized I had been letting my feet hang out in sun for an hour. Normally that wouldn't be a big deal, except that my feet have been in polar hibernation all winter not seeing sun since last September. Ironically I was doing this while telling the story of a friend who fell asleep in the sun and burned their feet badly. My feet turned red but luckily we were there long enough to bring any pain.
We hiked on in the evening and I met a hiker who was planning to finish his final section hike of PCT in the next couple weeks. He started in 1997 in Washington and has hiked part of the trail 10 of the last 12 years working his way south. I was impressed by his commitment over the years and told him that in some ways it is more challenging to stick with over all that time rather than hiking it all in one summer. He had a buddy hiking with him who has shared in almost all the hikes. His friend got sucked into the trail when volunteering to pick him up from the trail and after seeing what he was doing stated, "Man I can't believe how you are living up here in the mountains. I've got to join you."
We hiked on till dusk were the 2 gals joined us for camp.
Total milage: 68.4
Tiodays milage: 20.5
Camp 4: Mark and the 3 "J" girls
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Have a spare PocketMail laying around, sell it back to us and help those in need.
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