Day 85: Cowboy Camping
Date: Wed 7/11
PCT Start Mile: 1232.1
PCT End Mile: 1259.9
PCT Mileage for Day: 27.8
Total PCT Mileage: 1259.9
The Highlights: long descent, afternoon swim, long climb, cowboy camping
Free slushie day! But not for us… hiking for us. 😆
Shawn might have heard a bear last night and was nice enough to not wake me up. I wake him up if I hear a squirrel.
Today we got a much better start on the day, hiking just short of 18 miles by 12:45pm. It did help that most of those miles were downhill, on very nice trail, but there was some uphill thrown in there too… always a sneaky amount of uphill in what you think is a downhill section.
We stretched our lunch break until a bit later so we could make it to the Middle Fork of the Feather River, which was reported to be a good stop for swimming/soaking, and it did not disappoint.
After a steep rock scramble down to the river, we ate lunch in the shade along the rocky bank and then sat in the shallow waters, soaking our tired legs and feet in the cool water. We stayed by the river for an hour and a half before starting back to the trail.
The last portion of our day was a lot of climbing. After steep one mile climb away from the river, there was a two mile descent (kind of – this seemed more flat with some uphill thrown in once in awhile than truly downhill), and then a grinding six and a half mile climb. Most of this, thankfully, was in the trees with plenty of shade.
While we had planned to camp in a tent site area just a tenth of a mile from Lookout Rock. At the top of the climb, another hiker – Flow – convinced us to cowboy camp out on a large flat ledge just below Lookout Rock.
Apparently the tent site area was really full anyway, and the ledge was an epic spot to cowboy. It was a beautiful, calm night – only a slight breeze – no mosquitos on the ledge. The sunrise here would be amazing. We were easily swayed and soon setting up our sleeping pads and bags.
We ate our dinners and were all tucked into our bags when a couple other friends of Flow’s came along – Babyface and Cap – and we chatted with them while they ate their dinners and set up to cowboy on the ledge as well. We had maxed out the available flat spaces.
With a new moon just tomorrow, the sky will be super dark tonight. A cloudless night, the star gazing should be amazing if I wake up at all tonight. Ha. Set up perfectly for stars and sunrise. Life is good.
