PCT 32 - Chimney Creek - Long Distance Hiker

Daily Miles: 22
Total Miles: 680

What a great night of sleep! With our earplugs in and perfect temperatures, we both slept so good. When we woke up around 5:30am, all the other folks who had camped near us had already left. We hadn’t even heard anyone as they packed up. We were glad to wake up in the morning light and to be refreshed.

The morning started with us finishing a big climb. It was nice to do the uphill miles in the cool morning air. It seemed like the trail was pretty busy this morning, with lots of hikers coming by whenever we would stop to take a break. We even got to see some hikers we hadn’t seen for awhile. It was nice to catch up with them.

The day definitely got hot by late morning. We wanted to get to the water source before taking our long break, so that meant hiking until about 12:30. Even though it was hot, we just kept moving. Once we got our water, we couldn’t find a good place to relax that wasn’t already occupied, so we ended up sitting right in the trail. We figured that there wouldn’t be much hiker traffic at that time since it was hot and most people wait out the hottest hours. Luckily in the two plus hours we were there only three parties came through.

At 3:00, we figured it was time for us to head back out since we still had ten miles to go. Unfortunately it was still quite hot and we had a four mile climb right away. Luckily it was well switchbacked and it went by quickly. We took a few breaks along the way and eventually completed our miles for the day a little before 8:00.

Once we set up our hammocks, we sat down to eat dinner with MountainMan and XC. It was fun to chat with them as usual. We’re really glad that we all headed back to the trail yesterday together. We really enjoy hanging out and laughing with them. Hopefully we’ll be able to continue to hike together for a bit longer. We heard that Gazelle is heading out to the trail this evening, so hopefully we’ll see her in a few days.