Day 24: Snow
I awoke in the middle of a cloud due to the higher elevation. My sleeping bag and tent both had condensation formed on them. I knew setting up camp it wasn’t the best of sites but I didn’t want to walk any further.
I broke camp quietly in hopes of not waking my nearby neighbors, but judging by the snoring that stopped as I rolled up my sleeping pad, I was unsuccessful.
The morning started cold and stayed cold. I again needed all of my layers on. My first resupply on the PCT was at Wrightwood, CA, which was 18 miles from camp although it was mostly uphill. It began to snow flurry early in the morning and as I climbed to the higher elevation, there was snow on the trail.
I saw few people in the morning until running into Professor and Weed Dad (gotta love trail names), both section hikers. I hiked for several miles with Weed Dad and thoroughly enjoyed our conversation. At 63 years old, he was in hella good shape, climbing the mountain as quickly as me.
I arrived at Hwy 2 to hitch the 3 miles (but 3k descent) into town. After 10 minutes, I secured a ride by running up to a family who stopped to take a photo at the lookout point. They acquiesced and gave me a ride, so I hopped in their van with their two young children. It was quickly information overload as the kids began talking loudly over each other to tell me a story and the parents peppered me with questions. Nevertheless, I was thankful for the ride.
My parents mailed a box to the hardware store in town (thanks Mom and Dad). It was friendly with an area on the back porch for us hikers to hang out, repack our bags, and recharge.
My college roommate and close friend, Mike, offered to buy me a meal in my next town so I took him up on the offer and smashed a salad and fries. Tasty town. I topped it off with a pint of ice cream.
After briefly contemplating staying in town, I mustered up the courage to hike out and secured an easy hitch back up to the trail head.
Due to a fire last year, the PCT is closed for a 20ish mile section but there is a road walk alternative that I started in the evening. Other hikers were weary of the road walk, but I didn’t sweat it considering all my experience in my route from the Grand Canyon.
I have a really pretty sunset picture for this night… but this is a more accurate representation of my campsite. Disclaimer: road was closed.
Oh, and I got my first new shoes today! The first pair lasted 606 trail miles.
Miles: 24.4
Total Miles: 612