Day 69 – 44.7 km – Thursday 04.07.2024
Today I get up at half past six and quietly pack everything up.
Then I walk a few meters until I find a place with a beautiful view. There I have a relaxed breakfast.
When I start running again, it goes straight up and down. I quickly cover a few meters and keep coming up. I’m seeing some lakes.
Further up I have to go through smaller snow fields, but I can also get along well without microspikes.
Then it goes further down and then up again. Always small climbs, which are quite ok.
In the evening I get to deal with a longer climb. From above I have a very good view and even find a nice campsite right on the summit. Unfortunately I don’t have any more water and so I have to dismount on the other side.
A little later I will find it in the forest. There is a campsite and a little away a small spring. There I get water and cook my dinner. After that I go straight to sleep because it’s already late.
Day 70 – 44.2 km – Friday 05.07.2024
I have a relaxed breakfast in the morning and then start walking quickly.
It goes relaxed through the forest for a long time and I get to see beautiful flowers.
After a small climb, however, the landscape changes abruptly. Suddenly I find myself in the dead forest and in the distance I can see high mountains. I take a little break and take a closer look at the landscape.
After that, it goes through dead trees for a long time, which apparently fell victim to a forest fire. Running in this area is very exhausting, as trees keep falling over and I have to climb over them.
After a while the path gets wilder and wilder and I’ll take an alternative route, which has already been suggested in the various PCT forums. This leads me across a road through the dead forest. The sun is burning down from above and the heat is downright on the way. Hiking is a bit of a problem for me here, but I still have to walk almost 4 miles further and further.
When I finally get back to the PCT, it gets a little better. It goes down a bit in the shade of trees to a river. There I turn off and take a lunch break. First I take a dip in the cold water, which is really good. After that, I lie down in the shade on the other side of the river and have lunch. After almost 2 hours I set off again.
From now on, it’s always going up for me. I have a pretty long climb in front of me, which is supposed to bring me about 1000 meters further up. In the afternoon, the heat decreases a bit, but the long climb is still very exhausting.
I’m all the happier when I finally see a free place on a rock at the top of the mountain in the late evening. From here I have a great view and can still enjoy the last few minutes of the evening sun.
I cook my dinner and enjoy the beautiful view. Later there is another hiker who looks just as exhausted as I am. Although it was only 27 miles, we needed the whole day, which was also due to the fact that the many tree trunks on the way and the overgrown paths slowed us down quite a bit. The heat at noon wasn’t exactly conducive either. When we’re done with food, a group of young people who seem to live here and drive up their car comes up and pitches their tents a few hundred meters away from us.
Day 71 – 52 km – Saturday 06.07.2024
Since I was a cowboy camping, I was able to look at the Milky Way again during the night, which is still a fantastic sight. At 5:30 am I wake up to watch the sunrise. I have breakfast relaxed. This is how the day can begin.
I finally walk around half past seven. In the morning, it’s quite relaxed through the forest for a long time. Again and again I pass a clearing or can watch the mountains in the distance next to me. Today I find running easy despite the morning heat and I’m making good progress. It is said to be even warmer today than yesterday, which I can already feel in the morning. Even today, I keep passing the burned out forest.
Since I’ve already completed the first 15 miles around 12:30, I’m taking a long lunch break in the shade of a tree. Today there are again slightly different tortillas, which I fill with a filling made of beans. After the one-hour break, I set off again in the midday heat.
As long as I can walk in the forest, it’s fine most of the time. In the numerous burned-up areas, on the other hand, the heat is downright and I sweat a lot. I always drink large amounts of water so that I don’t get heat stroke. In the meantime, not only the landscape is more similar to the desert, but also the heat and thus my water consumption.
In the afternoon I have a longer descent. A total of almost 1500 meters down into the valley. At least I can walk in the forest most of the time, even if that doesn’t improve my knees. The path is not really steep, but I still feel the constant running down in the joints.
After what felt like an eternity (in real hours) I finally reach the valley with the resort Belden. Here’s a music festival right now, so I’m a bit noticed with my heavy backpack. In a shop I buy an iced tea and snickers, which I eat directly both. After all, I’ve already completed over 25 miles.
After resting for a few minutes, I set off again. When I see people bathing in the river, I really feel like staying here and enjoying a cold beer in the cool water. But since I still have a lot to do, I start again around 6:30 p.m.
It goes over a bridge and then steadily up the mountain. I can see the festival downstairs and I, on the other hand, have to go up the mountain in the still warm evening sun.
At first there is no shadow and so it will be a feat of strength again.
Later it goes briefly through the forest and I fill up my water on a stream. Then, after more than 52 kilometers, I finally reach a camp where there is still a free space for me. After the almost 1500 meters in altitude on the climb and over 2000 on the descent, I’m pretty exhausted. I cook something to eat quickly and then go straight to sleep because it’s already almost half past nine.
Day 72 – 47.4 km – Sunday 07.07.2024
Today I am awakened by a deer that eats next to me in peace and quiet. Everyone else has apparently already left to complete the impending, long climb in the cool of the morning. I drink a coffee and then run away.
The path, which is sometimes very overgrown, leads me straight up. At first I’m out and about in the forest and running in the bushes is pretty nerve-wracking.
Further up I slowly come out of the dense forest and it goes on over meadows.
Early in the morning I reach the 1300 miles mark. So I’m just before half of the entire PCT.
It goes on up and soon I’ll be back in burned-up areas. Here I have less protection from the sun and it is now burning down on me quite a lot. After a long climb, which is almost 1200 meters in altitude, I finally get to the top. I take a short breather and drink my last water.
After that, it’s a little downhill, but even with the prevailing heat, even that’s exhausting.
I’m all the happier when I finally find a water source with ice-cold water around 12 p.m. Here I fill up my water and lie down with other PCT hikers in the shade of a tree. We rest a little there. The others allegedly left at 4 a.m. to escape the heat and are now doing siesta for several hours. But since I still have a few kilometers to complete, I’ll start running again after an hour.
In the meantime it’s so warm that I can only walk very slowly and still noticeably strained. Again and again I take smaller breaks and only manage 2-3 miles before I have to take another little break and have a drink. Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of water with me either, so I drag myself to the next water point.
Here I have to descend 500 meters from the trail to a spring, only to then walk up everything again. So I don’t really enjoy hiking today.
In the afternoon the sun will subside a bit and I plan to get to the next spring. There I fill up my water again and have dinner. But since it’s nice and cool now and I want to come back to a city tomorrow in the morning, I’ll start running again afterwards.
It continues up the mountain and I keep walking higher. The sun slowly sets and lets the landscape shine in a beautiful light. Since the first free seats on the slope are all reserved, I won’t reach a suitable place until around 9 p.m. I’ve completed almost 29 miles again and climbed over 2200 meters in altitude. Accordingly, I’m broken in the evening and go straight to sleep.
Day 73 – 27.7 km – Monday 08.07.2024
Today I get up early again and set off straight away. Because in the next few miles I was supposed to reach the 1325 miles mark and thus half of the way. I drink another coffee on a stone with a view and then walk on quickly because I can hardly wait for the markings.
I forget the effort of the last few days and so I’m on the road fast. In the early morning I actually reach the mark. A hiker that I know from the last few days and who is here right now takes a picture of me.
Then we cross the markings and congratulate each other.
In the trail register (virtually a logbook where all hikers who can get through can register), we’ll see who has come here in the last few days. After that we walk on again to get to the valley before the onset of the heat.
Happy about this mentally important marking, I almost run down the mountain. For me, there are more miles downhill through the forest, although hardly any living trees can be found today. At a spring I fill up my water and meet familiar faces. The last few meters to the road, which is supposed to take me to Chester, will soon be covered.
Fortunately, I’m collected directly by a woman who had just stopped on the street and so I’ll soon reach Chester. There I go for a delicious breakfast and meet familiar faces from the last few weeks.
While many here take a day off here or at least stay in the hotel, I’ll probably continue in the evening because the hotel prices (~$220) are too expensive for one night. I’m shopping at a supermarket for the next few days and finally sending my bear canister to the north. At first I had considered wearing this to Canada. In the last few days I decided against it because it is no longer absolutely necessary and simply weighs too much. In the afternoon I eat another calzone in a pizzeria and use the WLAN there to upload pictures to my blog. When I’m done with it and go back onto the street, a car stops right away and the driver asks me if I want to go back to the trail. So I get to the PCT really quickly and don’t even have to hitchhike. As the locals tell me, in the last 59 years he lives here, it has not been as warm as it is currently. After all, we have about 38 degrees during the day and that should apparently last for the next few weeks.
Back on the trail, I then start relaxed in the evening sun shortly after 6 p.m. There is a light wind blowing, which makes running more pleasant and so I can cover a few more miles.
Shortly before 9 p.m. I find a good place in the forest and set up my camp there.
Survey
In the meantime, I’ve actually already managed half of the PCT. Now only 1325 miles separate me from my destination Canada. Although I should probably have completed well over half in terms of time. In the last few days I was able to keep increasing my daily average and will probably increase again in the next few weeks. Since I have now handed in my bear canister, I can hopefully increase the pace a bit and the way itself should also be easier.
Let’s see how quickly I can finally leave California behind me. At the moment I just hope that the forest fires here in the region will not influence me too much.
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