@41.17291,-121.85930
A late start this morning as I overslept first light, something I never do. I don’t always get up at first light, but I never sleep through it.
It may have been the smoke. A heavy layer had infiltrated the mountains overnight sealing them with a still opacity. The orange light slanting through the trees lent a ghastly and stricken aspect to the forest. These trees know their turn is next.
The smell of smoke was strong and my eyes and lungs burned as I began the days first ascent. I wanted to close my eyes and sleep as I walked.
It was miserable. If the trail had crossed a highway I would have stuck my thumb out without hesitation. I was ready to quit, to go to a town and rent a room and turn on the AC and take a shower and be free of the smoke and the dust and the heat, to drink cold fizzy drinks and escape the constant reminders of forest death. But there were no roads. There were not even trail junctions – no one comes to these mountains except to hike the PCT. So I walked.