Day 38 – Saturday, July 1

PCT Mile 651.3 Walker Pass Campground to PCT Mile 680.8, Chimney Creek 

Miles Today: 29.6 Miles

Today is the third day in a row we've hiked our longest day yet! Woooohooo!

We packed up pretty slowly this morning, making use of the pit toilets before starting to hike a little before 7:30 a.m. There were four other PCT hikers leaving the campground this morning, more than we'd seen in nearly 100 miles since leaving Tehachapi. 

We started out of the pass and made our way up up and up.

We found some shade an hour in and worked on our food bag. Out of Tehachapi we had as much food as we've carried and it was our mission to make the contents dwindle.

After breakfast we continued going up and running into more hikers. In the next couple of miles we passed more hikers than any other single day of the trail. Some were folks we had seen before –-before our trip into LA even – and others we hadn't. Near the top we found some shade behind a rock outcropping and had another snack. 

After our big climb we had a quick fall to a water source in some really nice shade.

At that point we were trying to decide on a good place to camp. We wanted to put ourselves in a good position to get to Kennedy Meadows the next day and there was a water source a little more than 17 miles up the trail with a big climb in the middle. At that point we weren't sure if that would be possible. We hiked on five miles to Spanish Needle Creek, where we got more water and cooked dinner. 

After we ate a big meal we started another big climb. It wasn't too difficult as the gain was over several miles.

At the top we snacked some more and were considering hiking for only another hour and setting up camp. Just then 3G appeared and when we told her we were 6.6 miles from Chimney Creek she made it seem possible to push on. Following 3G down the mountain, we flew.

Around 10:30 we got to the creek and put up our tents in space that just barely fit before trying to get a few hours of sleep. We crushed 29.5 miles, our longest day in the books, and have just 21 left to Kennedy Meadows.