We woke up at Cold Springs and took it easy getting going. We had planned on going only only 23.5 miles today, a relatively easy day. The walking was easy in the morning, and by our first break, about 2 hours flat, we had walked 6.8 miles, and I started to wonder if we would be able to make it all the way to Hwy 36 tonight. It would only add on 3.7 miles, but with our late start, we started to wonder if we could make it by dark. I had started thinking about the possibility of getting a shower tonight, and that alone spurred me on and got me hiking fast. It had been so dusty in this little "mop up tour," and even though I was wearing pants, the dust would go up the pant leg and coat my legs in dirt. They were almost dirtier than if I had been wearing shorts! We had ducked in and out of Belden pretty quickly due to the rave (no shower or laundry), and all this together made me excited for a shower.
As the day went on, the skies started to darken and it started to look like it might rain on us. It was kind of sad, since we had had blue skies since a day out of Skykomish, and California had been no different. It would have been ironic that our very last day of hiking would include rain.
We continued our climb up to what was called "Junction to Butt Mountain Summit Trail." Butt Mountain? Really? Did they let an elementary aged child, or for that matter, a college kid, name this peak? It didn't even look like a butt. We had to laugh a little, but decided it was probably some poor guys last name rather than a reference to an anatomical part of the human body.
At some point we began hiking as fast we we could, not to escape the rain, but to see if we could make it into town by dark. We took a brief pause at a post we came upon that said, "PCT Midpoint." It was funny to hit this point since we didn't know any marker like this existed, but also because it was the end of our hike. We read and signed the journal that was there, took a few pictures, and continued our mad haul for the highway. As we pulled away from the midpoint, a few drops decided to fall on us, but in the end, it amounted to nothing.
At some point we realized we needed a break and sat down to rest our weary legs. We decided to make some phone calls to see if we could gauge the prices on hotels to even see if it was worth going in. After several calls, we realized the price was going to be higher than we wanted to pay, and we relaxed a bit. At this point, we only had a mile and a half to go to our campsite, and it was early.
We reached our campsite at Soldier Creek Springs, and took our time setting up camp and washing as much of the dirt off our feet and legs as possible. The water was ice cold, so my feet were the only thing that got clean. After Mark was done, he looked like he had just jumped in, he was so clean! I was amazed at his tolerance. I fully expected it to rain, and possibly rain hard all night, but the skies held back their fury and we stayed dry as a bone.
It was our absolute last night on the Pacific Crest Trail, and that was a welcome thought mixed with a bit of nostalgia. It was a wierd feeling knowing that we wouldn't wake up and hike in the following days, all day, every day. Our way of life was changing, but we were ready for that change. In just a few short days we would be back in the Midwest, seeing family and friends, and eating foods that didn't have the word "granola" or "trail mix" or "pop tart" in them :). It was a nice feeling. Tomorrow we would reconnect our steps, and the trek would truly be finished.
Total Miles:1332.1
Miles Today: 23.5
Camp 146: LAST LAST Night on the Trail
No comments:
Post a Comment