Day 17 – Saturday, June 10

PCT Mile 298.5 to PCT Mile 320.1

Day Total: 21.6 miles

We passed Mile 300 this morning, just a half hour into our day. Woohoo!

The trail followed Deep Creek – which we camped next to last night –downstream through a big, red rock canyon all day. It was pretty sunny, but we were hiking above 4,000 feet and there was a breeze, so the heat wasn't unbearable. 

We reached Deep Creek Hot Springs, which I'd heard about before the trail. It's a natural hot springs that's very popular for swimming.

Unfortunately, it happened to be a Saturday in early summer, and it was crowded and loud.

I didn't like how busy it was, so we ate our peanut butter and honey sandwiches, filtered some water (upstream of the bathers and the hot water), and lounged around in the shade. We sat in the hot water for a little, which felt great on my legs, and then packed up and continued our hike. 

The trail continued down a long canyon, in and out of bends in the walls, with slight climbs and descents. It went on like that for quite some time until we saw a woman hiking in Ugg boots. She couldn't have made it far, so we knew we were close to some kind of trailhead.

We dumped out near a big dam, and then followed a creek for a while. There we stopped for a long afternoon break with Stephen napping while I read my book. 

We met a hiker whose clothes and face were incredibly dirty. His trail name, of course, was Mr. Clean. He was hiking with two dogs, the first long-distance dogs we've seen on the trail. I can't imagine hiking with a dog in the heat; it's hard enough carrying water just for me!

We hiked a few more miles and set up camp near a bend in the trail that allowed us a little reprieve from the howling wind. We ate instant fried rice and Oreos and soon fell asleep.