The rushing water played DJ for sunrise, and that first long ray of sun was an event.

I had been up before sunrise, both Allgood and I went about our mornings from the warm cocoons of our tents. It was too frosty out to fully emerge; we would start hiking in the sun.

It was also safer. We probably crossed the river 30 times yesterday afternoon, and would at least 60 more times today. That water was recently snow, and with the deep cold shade of the canyon, hypothermia wasn’t off the table without the sun. I would have been in trouble later on when I slipped and went into the river face first, but I popped right back up and was able to keep my faculties in the sun.

Yeah, this wouldn’t be a trail to hike in inclement weather or even a cloudy day. Wet feet all day long.

River miles were slower, too. We often had to scout a bit and push our way through willows to make a safe crossing. And even then: an almost full dunk for me, and another slip and crack of the knee on a rock. Allgood faired much better, aside from the exhaustion that comes from 8ish miles of this type of hiking.

So eight miles of cold, yet eye popping wonder later, we were just about ready to cross the river a final time and climb up to the plautau above when we see a group of blue tents. We wave hello and meet a high-school semester group from New Hampshire that is spending the year on cool trips and adventures like this around the country. Wow.

I love seeing the trails get used. Love it!

We lunch on the far side and I dry off the last of the damp immersion from my clothes and prepare for a climb and stong winds. We decided to climb out of the West Fork canyon at a reassuring spot called Hell Hole.

The climb was moderate though, and took us up into a lovely ponderosa pine forest. A recent fire had burned away all the undergrowth, and the trail was so cruisy that I call it, “PCT dreamy.”

Then, we took a right at a trail junction down into Prior Canyon and the slight downslope of the tread allowed us to literally flow down. That was a help because we were both tired from the day. Listening to music on the way down greased our strides.

Water! Water was the indication that we could start looking for a camp spot, and we quickly decided to stop where we were.

The cold descended quickly, so we made short order of dinner to crawl into our nests.