After 41 miles yesterday I was ready to sleep in. I woke up at 5 am, which is sleeping in for me lately. Today would be another big day, but not as big. Another 40 miler would have gotten me to the town of Etna, but showing up in a small town at 10 pm would be kinda stupid.
Today would be full of climbing and right off the bat I started uphill. I grabbed a Capri sun and some bread from the cooler and headed out. Calories you don’t carry are the best calories.
The heatwave seems to have settled down down for now and while it was still plenty hot out, it wasn’t the sweltering, muggy heat of the last few days. The trail was really pretty today, which makes things easier. I was hiking in the Trinity Alps Wilderness for a lot of the morning.
There was a paved road crossing with a trailhead coming up in the early afternoon and I adjusted my lunch break to coincide with my arrival at the road. That paid off because when I got there, a van full of former thru hikers was there with trail magic. These weren’t just any former hikers though, this was John Z of Palante Pack fame (super tiny ultralight backpacks that are a pretty big deal in the thru hiking community.) They fed me fruit and pop while I ate lunch. They even topped off my water before I left. One of them said the upcoming part of the trail was one of his favorites.
That next part of the trail was one of the hardest sections of the whole trail for me. It was gorgeous, but it was steep and exposed. It was in the Russian Wilderness. The trail traversed a large valley and kept going up and up. It really was one of the coolest sections of trail so far.
My goal was Paynes Lake. I hadn’t seen any other hikers since before the trail magic and I was wondering if I would have the lake to myself.
I don’t have the lake to myself. There are a lot of tents here, but my spot is still pretty great. Technically a little too close to the shore, but sometimes you have to make due with what you have.