Day 80 – Saturday, Aug. 12

PCT Mile 1,257.4 to PCT Mile 1,275.2
Day Total: 17.8 miles

We had just 3.6 miles, mostly downhill, to Big Creek Road this morning. From there we waited more than half an hour for a hitch into Bucks Lake, a resort community just off the trail.

There are something like 10 year-round residents of Bucks Creek. There were not many cars, which was very discouraging while waiting for a hitch but we eventually made it into town and enjoyed a big breakfast at the Bucks Resort. The waitress said she loves when hikers come through and was excited to bring us the trail register to sign.

We walked from there to the little general store where we bought three days of food to get us to Chester. People there were very friendly too.

After shopping we walked out to the road intersection to try for a ride the 2.5 miles back to the trail. Several cars passed with no luck.

Eventually a woman who was walking started talking to us and offered to drive us. We walked with her back to her house where she gave us apples and cold seltzer before driving us back to the PCT. We got back on the trail about 1 p.m.

Back on the trail we met a hiker from New Hampshire, a young guy hiking the length of California southbound. He's only the second New Hampshirite I've met on the trail.

We hiked in the trees most of the afternoon. It was easy terrain and highly enjoyable and I found myself thinking a lot today about how much I enjoy walking.

We stopped for a late afternoon snack and while we were sitting on a downed tree eating Pop Tarts we saw a woman hiking southbound we had met nearly one thousand miles ago in the desert! It was fun to catch up with her and hear about her decision to flip north to avoid the snow.

We found a little campsite in the trees near Clear Creek, cooked cheddar broccoli rice and went to bed.

I'd hoped to do some more miles but we were pretty wiped out from the last couple days. We have about nine miles to the "town" of Belden tomorrow.