PCT 52 – Hoover Wilderness

Daily miles: 23
Total miles: 1003

Very different day.

Unlike yesterday,  where we saw at least a couple dozen PCT hikers (beyond whom we camped with),  today we saw 1.  Strange how that goes.  

On our first break,  we met Weta, a middle aged guy from New Zealand. We chatted with him a small bit as we walked with him,  on and off,  throughout the day.  We had a small amount of breaktime with Proton and Dream catcher, and the  later with XC and Lid,  but these were short times,  where we were walking up when they were about to leave. 

Tonight we stopped short of the spot Proton had proposed.   It seemed like a reach to do 24 + miles today,  and Beardoh hyper extended his knee mid afternoon…so when we found a possible spot we liked when we were hungry and ready to stop we did stop (which is generally what we prefer,  anyway). This gave us time to eat and meditate before darkness had fallen.

We had a couple climbs at the beginning of the day,  but had a long steady uphill climb for a lot of the afternoon.  

The last 6 miles were beautiful. 

Lots of water flowing,  and really green grasses amongst the rocks,  trees and flowers.  This is still very rocky terrain,  but in certain  shaded areas where the late afternoon light was just right,  there was a fairy tale quality to the landscape that made it extra enjoyable.  The mosquitoes loved it too,  as they were out in full force and probably the most of aggressive that we have experienced up to this point. We both are in our hammocks because they were so blood thirsty.