Day 22: Bring on the HEAT
Date: Wed 5/9
PCT Start Mile: 303.9
PCT End Mile: 328.1
PCT Mileage for Day: 24.2
Off-Trail Hike Mileage: .25
Total Mileage for Day: 24.45
Total PCT Mileage: 328.1
Total Overall Mileage: 344.39
The Highlights:Deep Creek Hot Springs and heat, heat, heat
This post is going to be short because, after two 24 mile days, I’m exhausted. We also didn’t sleep that well last night. Remember that cricket that I mentioned serenading us to sleep last night? It was loud. So loud that Shawn went on at least two search and destroy missions during the night. The cricket eventually lost. We also slept poorly for other reasons, but the cricket wasn’t helping.
We were up and outta camp by 6:45am, another big mile day ahead of us, and we also wanted to take a short break at the hot springs. The Deep Creek Hot Springs were just 4 miles down the trail from our camp spot. They are another PCT institution and, as a “clothing optional” hot springs area, can draw an eclectic crowd.
Thankfully only one guy in his birthday suit…
Arriving around 8:15am, most of the people who were milling around had camped there, and we were the only ones in the springs during our visit. One guy walked around in his birthday suit. “He’s very proud of himself,” Uncle Jed informed us as he prepared to hike on again.
We ended up staying for an hour, enjoying two warm pools and also soaking our feet in the river and filtering some more water for the next section of trail. I hoped that the springs would have magic healing powers on my feet.
Metric Ton informed us that he was taking a “zero” there and going to soak his feet in the various pools all day long. That sounded very tempting. But, alas, we had miles to make. We also didn’t have an extra day’s worth of food along to do something like that. So, we packed up and it was back to the trail.
The rest of the day can mostly be summed up by saying that it was VERY hot, with temps into the mid-90s – and that we – along with everyone else around us – survived by hiking from water source to water source and taking a break at each one.
At our lunch break stop, Shawn accidentally stepped on a bee, which proceeded to sting him on the bottom of the foot. Luckily he is not allergic.
We left our lunch break area at 3:15pm for the last 10.2 miles of trail. I started out strong, even with the heat, but wilted as the day grew longer, my feet very unhappy with the mileage for the past two days. At least as the day got later, the temps grew more pleasant and there was more shade to be had. Thankfully tomorrow will be shorter.
In addition to big heat, today was also a big snake day. I saw four different types of snakes on the trail, ranging from tiny to a thick one 3-4 feet long, and we also got a warning rattle from a rattlesnake hidden behind a bush. We gave the bush a very wide berth and hurried past. No pictures because snakes move fast.
Our last stretch of the hike was along Silverwood Lake, with trail stretching above the lake for several miles. We eventually took a small dirt road down to a campground near the lake.
Getting into our campsite just before 7:30pm, I was beat. My body in shutdown mode. I snacked on some trail magic left on a picnic table – a clementine and some mini Twix – and we eventually made our dinners in the dark, a dehydrated rice meal someone had given us. We definitely didn’t prepare it correctly but we were too tired to care. And now, sleep.
