Opositive’s PCT Hike – Days 15 – 18 ( July 18 – 21 )

Sat July 18 – 13.2 miles
Sun July 19 – 13.0 miles
Mon July 20 – 11.3 miles
Tues July 21 – 13.3 miles

Total trip miles to date – 182.1.

A few things I love…the wide open meadows (pictured) that occasionally appear; and the old-school rusted Yosemite mileage signs.

In a valiant attempt to bring this journal (more) up to date…a summary of the last 4 days.

Have been making a concerted effort to get on trail earlier each morning in order to hike in cooler temperatures. Which would be a good plan if I didn’t keep sleeping through my alarm 🙄, but not disastrously…still starting between 7a and 730a, not bad.

When doing this hike 5 years ago, I only had to do one river/stream crossing that involved getting my shoes wet or changing into sandals. All other crossings just involved “rock-hopping”. Water levels are higher this year – nothing dangerous, but it certainly slows things down…stop, change shoes (and/or walk through), pour water from shoes, wring out socks, lather, rinse, repeat.

Smedberg Lake was a top 5 camping spot…sunset, solo camping, peaceful.
Set a good mindset for hard climb over 10,000′ over Benson Pass in the AM. Five years ago, this was my first major climb, and I was a bit frantic/stressed (?) at the summit; way more relaxed/subdued this time.

The following day’s challenge involved midday lightning/thunder/heavy rainstorm  just after reaching high elevation point of the day. Several hours hiking downhill and (by the end) back to back raging river crossings tested my skills and abilities (and equipment).
And then ending the day with a mile uphill climb to find a camping spot for the night. Thankful for a few sunlight hours at sunset to dry things out a bit, and to reset from a stressful afternoon.

Opositivehikes.com