Day 29: Up, Up, Up!!!

PCT Mile 1656.4 to 1679.2

Miles Hiked = 22.8

Yesterday I enjoyed my Nero day (less than 10 miles hiking) in Seiad Valley. I particularly enjoyed my afternoon at Wildwood Tavern and Lodge. As mentioned in the last post, Rachel – the owner – is very accommodating to hikers.

After thinking about it last night, I decided to take the alternate route up the road just like the “young bucks” did late yesterday afternoon. I slept well in my “glamping tent” and was up and hiking at the crack of dawn. Yesterday it was close to 100 degrees so I wanted to beat the heat as much as possible.

5:30am

The first four or five miles were paved and passed by rustic country homes – most very rustic! When the road left behind the “residential” area it became a gravel road. The grade of the road was not bad, certainly less steep than many parts of the trail. But it seemed to go on forever.

There was a big pile of Black Bear poop along the road – it didn’t look fresh and I did not see a bear.

There was a waterfall alongside the road as I neared the top.

It took me five hours of road walking to get to the PCT, so I’m guessing the road alternate is close to twelve miles long, I had started this morning at 1600 feet elevation and met the PCT at an elevation of 4740. As I continued on the PCT later this afternoon I would end up making camp at almost 6200 feet.

I took a short break at the intersection with the PCT – drank some water and had a snack. I sat on the root of a tree and got tree sap all over my pants! Stupid me – should know better!

Then I was back on the trail again. Between yesterday’s road walk into Seiad Valley and today’s road walk up the alternate route, I had hiked maybe 18 miles on road. It was good to be on dirt again!

PCT

As I walked along the trail, I had good views back down at the road I had just walked up.

Seiad Creek Road

I passed through another burn zone – this one called the 2017 Abney Fire.

As I climbed higher I enjoyed more majestic views towards Oregon

I even had one last faint view of Mt. Shasta in the distance behind me.

I wasn’t hiking very fast this afternoon. Once I reconnected with the actual PCT, I only hiked another nine miles and that took me all afternoon. I made camp around 5pm

Shortly after making camp, I began to hear thunder in the distance. It was moving towards me and soon it began to rain. I was glad that I was in my tent.

The rain didn’t last too long before moving on to another mountain. It did make for a nice sunset.

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