Paved Highway 3 at Scott Mountain to Paved Highway 93 at Carter Meadows Summit (Stayed in Etna)
Another morning waking up in a motel at 6:00 AM and getting back to the trailhead by 7:15 AM. When we arrived back to Brad and Share Bear we were saddened by the news that Brad is going to take the next 2 days off from hiking because his ankles and hurting him.
We still let him in the "Ready to hike" photo just after 8:00 AM.
We still let him in the "Ready to hike" photo just after 8:00 AM.
Ready to hike
Today's hike should be similar to the past couple of days with pine trees and some exposed area. There will be more climbing, but it doesn't look too bad.
Morning view
Just after 9:00 AM we crossed into the Trinity Alps Wilderness:
Trinity Alps Wilderness sign
Self-portrait "Trinity Alps Wilderness"
Wow. This area is beautiful.
Wow.
As I was hiking I thought I heard some bells. I stopped and looked around and saw some cows hanging out in a meadow below us.
Free-range cows
Just past the cows we came over a saddle to this amazing view:
Amazing
Check out the wood used for this PCT sign...really pretty.
PCT sign of the day #1 - nice wood
PCT sign of the day #2 - tree eating sign
This area is just incredible. For the past few weeks we have been walking through pine forests with little views. Today the views are spectacular.
Mountains and meadows
We stopped for lunch a bit late. The good part of that is we only had 7.78 miles left for the day which we started hiking just after 2:30 PM. It was 5:26 PM when we had just one mile to go but 486 feet to still climb. Share Bear said we would be at the road by 5:45 PM. I told her she was crazy, that there was no way we could hike a 20 minute mile with that amount of climbing. We then decided to go for it and hike as hard as we could for that last mile. At 5:43 PM, 17 minutes later we arrived at the road. The GPS I was carrying actually did a time hack during that time and said we were hiking 3.11 miles per hour. If only we could hike at that speed all the time we wouldn't have to worry about making it to Canada before the snow.
Fifteen minutes later Tim and Brad came driving up the road. We beat them there because they didn't think we would make it there that early...we are good!
Fifteen minutes later Tim and Brad came driving up the road. We beat them there because they didn't think we would make it there that early...we are good!
Tim & Brad picking us up
We went back to Etna and straight to dinner and then back to the room to relax and prepare for tomorrow's hike. Brad will again take the day off and we get to slack pack. Tomorrow is supposed to have some pretty good climbing, so I better get a good night sleep in this hotel room.
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