Total Miles This Hike: 148.05
PCT Miles Covered: 1851.5
Remembering the weather reports I was able to see in Shelter Cove, today was the day the temperature was supposed to rise into the 90’s. I knew I had water if necessary in 2 seperate spots along the trail today but just decided to get out early again and take my time. Having taken the Oregon Skyline route, I gained a little bit of leeway, and there is no rush to push big miles yet. I had set a date to meet my cousin in Ashland on the 26th, so all I really needed to average each day was about 15 miles to get there on that pace which is less than the 16.8 I have been doing from the start.
As I pulled all my stuff together I realized I was missing something (minor) for the first time. I had been keeping my bug net in my pocket all day as a quick response tactic and I still had it there, but the stuff sack for it was nowhere to be found. Last place I remember shoving it was in my hip belt pocket with my phone the day before but now it wasn’t there. It must have fallen out somewhere yesterday when I pulled my phone out to check for service or to use Guthooks app. It’s no big loss, but I hate the fact I dropped it mid trail and somebody else had to walk by and pick it up to dispose of it.
I decided that I had enough water to get to the water cache at Windigo Pass, so I only carried a liter out of camp and continued to finish the Oregon Skyline Trail as it came out on Forest Service Road 60. About 6/10th of a mile up the road the PCT reconnected at another outstanding water cache maintained by Devilfish. Water caches are places where trail angels bring gallons and gallons of water and leave them for hikers that are going through the area. Usually these are only needed in long waterless stretches such as this one and Southern California. Devilfish is the same trail angel that I remember stocking the caches 2 years ago when I was walking through the northern reaches of the mojave desert. He must spend a couple months down there, and then travel up here and spend a couple months doing the same. What an outstandingly amazing human being. By my count there must have been over 150 gallons of water at this cache.
The section south of here for me had water just over 6 miles in at a spring that was about .4 miles off the trail and about 300ft down in elevation, or at just after 12 miles where there was a side trail down to Maidu Lake. The lake was .75 off the trail which most hikers wouldn’t want to spend the time hiking down to. I however had already planned on staying there tonight so I had no problem just taking 3 liters to get me there.
I watched another crew of people on horses go by along with a boy scout troop pull up and head north from the gap as well. Finally after about an hour break I slowly started to meander south. It was getting hot and I had about a 1000ft climb back up to the ridge. About halfway up I stopped for a break and realized I had cell service for the first time since Elk Lake. It wasn’t much once again but it was enough to add some photos onto my facebook post from Shelter Cove and leave a voicemail at home. Still not enough to upload blog posts yet unfortunately. That break turned into just over an hour as well. Near my break spot was a downed pine with the newest smoothest pinecones I have ever seen. I just liked how this picture came out.
My great early start to the day was turning into a bit of a wasted day as I was spending most of it taking breaks.
Finally I got in gear and made it up to the ridge and Six Horse Spring. I still had almost 2 liters of water so I kept going up the ridge and back down past a beautiful view of Miller Lake (way off trail).
Thunder clouds were rolling around in the area again today but no rain this time.
I finally pushed the last few miles over a couple rock traverses down to the junction to Maidu Lake.
The trail down to the lake seemed to take forever. When I got there I saw one other tent set up (finally not camping alone!!!). The water was fine but it was hard to get because of how much silt was by the shore, so I had to wade out about 20 feet into the lake with my water bags and filter to get non silty water.
I talked with the other hiker for a bit. Younger guy from DC doing all of Oregon northbound. He had some sort of job doing I.T. for elections and he said he had a month off because most of the primaries were over before he had to be back. I decided not to bring up russian hacking to an I.T. guy who works elections 😉.
By this point it was almost 8PM and I had no drive to cook food. So I pulled out what seemed like a reasonable dinner for the night that I didn’t have to cook.
I have decided I am going to head into Diamond Lake Resort tomorrow and try to catch the MLB all-star game. It will mean doing another alternate which will cover 16 miles instead of the 11 on the PCT. This way I’m making 5 of those miles back that I gained by doing the Oregon Skyline Trail. Another big climb up to start the day tomorrow. Gonna try to be out of camp by 6:30 if possible.
Keep on keeping on
- Patch
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