40.68404,-121.41968
Got rather cool last night which made for good sleeping.
But the cool air was an inversion layer, and when I awoke I found thick smoke smothering the mountains.
There was no farewell view of Lassen, which I have been sighting almost daily for a week, a beacon to the north.
Instead I was treated to a Mordor walk in thick smoke through forests burnt in recent fires. It was pretty dreadful and all I could do was put my head down and hike through it, trusting that better country lies ahead.
I’m on an extensive lava plain now and the walking is entirely flat, sloping down toward Hat Creek. The big sugar pines are gone, replaced by jack pines spaced in even rows – I’m walking through a large tree plantation of some sort.
I’m camped near Subway Cave, a lava tube that is not only a great place to cool off, but is the last water source for the next 15 miles. Or 30, if the midway cache (Cache 22) has not been restocked.
I walked a hundred feet or so into the tube, which is perhaps a half mile long, and was satisfied that I had seen enough of it. I like being out in the open and caves creep me out a bit.
Camping is not allowed here, so I’ve discreetly moved a few hundred yards back into the woods to make my hobo camp. I’ll want to water up in the morning and plus I am tired. Too tired to walk further or write more.
Please tell me how to get to mile 1 of PCT mile 1
Started following Drew late on so would like to start from beginning.
Hi Keith – I didn’t start at mile 1, so no entries there. I started hiking the PCT in 2013 at Lake Morena (mile 20), not really intending to do more than an early spring hike. I also didn’t keep a journal of that hike, which extended to Fobes Saddle, mile 166. But by the time I got there, I was hooked. I came back next year, starting at Idyllwild (mile 177) and hiked to Walker Pass (mile 652). I’m still in the process of transcribing journal entries to this blog, but the first of them is here https://drewsmithblog.com/2014/04/04/all-over-but-the-hiking-part/. Or you can just click on the “PCT” tag over on the sidebar and all my PCT-related posts will show up. Thanks for your interest, D.