Day 8: Chester

PCT Miles 1312 to 1331.3

Miles Hiked = 19.3

You remember those pesky deer that were around my camp last night? I mentioned that they weren’t too afraid of humans. Well apparently they are thieves also. At night I usually leave out my stove and cooking pot as well as my lightweight tin cup that I enjoy a few sips of Jack Daniels in every evening. Those damn deer stole my sipping cup!!! It was dented and beat up and had traveled a lot of trail miles with me over the years. I wasn’t a very h uhuhi happy camper this morning.

But it was another beautiful morning in the mountains.

I met this gentleman yesterday on the trail. He was out doing trail maintenance on his own – trimming back overgrown bushes, etc. Because of Covid-19 the trail has been ignored this year by all the official authorities.

Problem Bear

Anyway, I saw him again this morning. His trail name is Problem Bear and he thru-hiked the entire trail in 2011. He lives in Sacramento and just comes out to take care of the trail because he loves it. Quite an interesting man.

I had about a 1500 foot uphill hike this morning and then it was all downhill to Highway 36. Chester is about eight miles east so requires a hitch to get into town. As I hiked along the trail I enjoyed more views

Mt. Lassen keeps getting closer!

Around noon I reached the official Midpoint Monument. In theory it marks the halfway point on the trail – 1325 miles to Mexico and 1325 miles to Canada. But, because of trail reroutes it’s not exact. But it’s close enough – within a mile or two.

Sorry – sometimes I get silly on the trail (too much alone time?)

Later in the afternoon I had one last view of Lake Almanor

As I approached the highway I crossed this meadow.

I reached the highway around 4:00pm – it took about twenty minutes to hitch a ride. Looking forward to a shower, a bed, a pizza and a couple of beers – not necessarily in that order.

Thanks for following!