The aches are here.

We are both in decent shape, NEMO just finished hiking the New York 46ers in a burst of mountain climbing before her birthday a few weeks ago, and I backpack regularly, like last weekend. But it’s becoming clear that we are not trail hardened, and a few long days on the trail are painful reminders. My PCT memory is of flat cruisy trail, and of course it is in some sections, but more often than not it’s going uphill or down. We are passing a mountain a day in this short hike so we have to climb up on the shoulders of each one….and it takes effort.

And the effort is rewarded. You just can’t beat the views on the PCT. Sooooo incredible. And so torched. These miles have been hit by fires again and again. We walk through successive burns and small pockets of lush old growth. Lush! The ground is often damp in these sections, damp! And the flowers 😍. And the air is so much cooler. It’s viscerally apparent how important these forests are when we hike into a burn area again and there is nothing but a cathedral of burned trees in every direction with the heavy smoke of the nearby Pyramid Fire hanging below us.

The heat smacks us in the face.

I want to walk in the forest again, but there isn’t much.. I brace myself to what we will see in the most recent burn at Jefferson Park. A wonderland of lakes and huckleberries…before the fire that is…

And fire is the theme because fire is everywhere. The story map I worked on with a group called Resilient Headwaters came out recently (take a look! It preforms much better on a desktop or laptop) It’s about the recovery and recreation.  The story map covers aftermath of the Santium Canyon 2020 fires that burned through vast swaths of forest just to the west of us.

But I haven’t told you about the day! We didn’t realize what a smoke bomb we had been sleeping in until we hiked up and out to Three Finger Jack’s flanks and saw the dank carpeting the pass below.

Numerous southbounders sped past us on their quest to get to town, and the hiking, while mostly uphill, was also quite gentle.

We snacked and walked, lunched, and walked.

Three Finger Jack does impress. We walked right below the crumbly peaks and switchbacks down the northern spine. The views were stunning despite the hazy smoke look.

Up next were boulder fields and ponds nestled in the jumble. We spided the deep blue Wasco Lake and I convinced Nemo to go down for a swim. It required extra effort and I questioned my quest for a bit when the going got real steep on the way down. 500′ in .2 miles. Yikes, but when we were floating, the hurt that would hurt on the way up was far away.

Refreshed, we immediately lost that cool feeling on the climb up. But I did have wet hair and a wet shirt that helped with the hot afternoon. We had some lovely stretches of trail in small swaths of forest and finally arrived at Rockpile Lake which made a wonderful camp.

There was almost a chill in the air, so we put on layers with glee.

Lights out early tonight!