Daily Miles: 14
Total Miles: 178
Easiest day on the trail. Had a great night of sleep at the campsite named Satellite View. It was well above the valley floor, so we didn’t have the moist air that we’ve had on other nights. So we all stayed nice and dry, and Mace did not need to dry out anything during the day today.
Our hiking today was all downhill, all the way to Muir Trail Ranch. We did cross Evolution Creek, which is sizable and was about a foot deep but fairly wide. It isn’t that notable at this time of year, especially with the low snowfall that the winter of 2026 had, but in other years it could be fairly dangerous for hikers crossing the creek, especially early in the PCT season.
Much of the day was spent walking along the South Fork of the San Joaquin River. It’s pretty dry and low down here—dusty, too. Our lunch break was spent on the shore of the river, and since we had time, we took about a full hour.
We got to Muir Trail Ranch around 2 o’clock this afternoon and spent about an hour and a half in their shaded picnic-table area, sorting through food and talking a bit with other hikers. There are a couple of hikers that we have chatted with briefly over the last couple of days. Notably, Derek, who just retired from the firefighting crew in Santa Cruz, and a woman named Songbird, who we were leapfrogging with a lot yesterday.
MTR is not at all like we remember it from 2014. We think that they have probably changed some of the buildings and layout since then.
We were thrilled that all of our packages had arrived. They do have a substantial amount of hiker boxes, but probably not as good as Williamson Motel in Independence.
We were hoping to go to the hot springs this afternoon, but after crossing the river and wandering around a bit on the other side, we gave up. It’s too bad they don’t have it signed a little better. There are a variety of small trails going through the woods, but some of them go into restricted areas and reforestation areas, so it’s a bit confusing. After 15 minutes of wandering around over there, we waded back across the river and found a campsite. While we didn’t get to enjoy the hot springs, it was nice to just relax for the rest of the afternoon and do some laundry.
Ending Location: 37.234759,-118.879788
Heh Guys – it was great to see you out there. We’re back in the UK but already planning our next adventure. All the best, Chris and Nicola
Hi Chris – Glad to hear you guys finished your hike and made it safely back home. It was really fun to meet you guys out on the trail! Happy adventures in the future and hopefully we’ll meet again. 🙂