PCT 67 – Into the William’s

Daily Miles: 18
Total Miles: 1261

As we went to sleep with the buzzing of mosquitos in our ears, so also did we wake up. According to Beardoh, there were no mosquitos at 4:20am, but they were back and all riled up when SweetPea got up at 5:45am. It was so warm out this morning, but we still wore our wind pants and wind shirt just for protection from the bugs.

The morning started out with four miles downhill to a large river called the Feather River. The water was surprisingly warm and it would have been great for an afternoon swim, but since it was only 8:00am, we settled for just doing our laundry in the river. The trail has been so dusty the past few days, our socks are caked with dirt by the end of the day. We have started to make laundry a daily thing on the trail.

After the river, the trail started a long uphill climb. While we had a small bit of downhill after the first mile of climbing, it was pretty much a steady climb for the next few hours. All the hikers we saw were complaining about how long the climb was. It was quite tiring, but we were just glad that the trail was mostly in the shade on the climb.

We had been planning to take an official alternate late in the afternoon in order to go through Bucks Lake and get some town food. About two miles before the alternate began, we came upon a sign on a tree which said that Trail Angels near Bucks Lake were offering showers, laundry, food and a place to sleep. It sounded like a great situation, so we decided to go there since it was on our route.

The Trail Angels are extremely kind and generous. They have a beautiful home and a very relaxing setting. We were able to take showers (our first in 9 days), do laundry, and walk to a nearby convenience store to get a bit more food for the next day and a half. The couple also made a delicious dinner for all the hikers here (16 of us), and will make breakfast for everyone in the morning. We feel really fortunate that such people exist here along the trail, and that we took their offer for a comfortable evening.

Another plus at the Trail Angel house is their three sweet and funny dogs. We always enjoy the chance to get able to hang out with friendly dogs. The couple was even bird sitting for their niece and there was a red tail hawk near the house. We had never seen a bird of prey so close before. Just another piece of a great evening.