Day 17 – Desert Heat
Originally published on Mason Hikes the PCT 2017.
Mileage: 25 (mile 335)
When I woke up this morning, something was different. It was 6:30 am and I was… warm? I wasn’t using my sleeping bag at all and was completely fine with just my liner. That should have been a red flag, but I ate some breakfast, packed up my stuff, and then did some stretches to prepare for the day. By the time I was done, the sun was beating down on me and I was already sweating. Uh oh.
The first half of the day was spent walking along Deep Creek to the dam and then climbing up through the desert to another dam. The initial walk along the creek was warm, but once we started climbing, there was no shade and it seemed like the trail went on forever. To make matters worse, water was scarce in this section so I was hiking with just barely enough water on a 95° day. 😓
I ran into a few people on the trail today, most notably F.R.O.G. (f***ing really old guy – he was only 67) and 70, who, as you may be able to guess, is 70. Both seemed to be doing fine, though 70 had run out of electrolytes so I gave him some of my Nuun. Satisfied that he was doing okay with a full bottle of water, I pressed on through the heat.
I soon made it to the second dam, where I received an ice cold bottle of water from a good Samaritan named Joseph who told me that there was a huge lake just ahead on trail.
Visions of yesterday’s swimming fun floated into my head and I quickly climbed the remaining distance until I got to the lake. Oh what a sight to behold! Not only was this a lake, but it was a **GOOD **lake.
I had arrived at Silverwood Lake, a gigantic body of water surrounded by beautiful towering hills. The PCT follows the western shore of the lake, raising and falling with the terrain, but there were plenty of paths down to the water for swimming. After swimming and doing my laundry for two hours, I packed up and headed back out for some more hiking.
The rest of the day was fantastic because I felt revitalized by the swimming, so I hiked for hours without stopping and felt really good. I had a lot of time to think about how I had gotten to this point in my life and everyone who had helped me along the way, so if any of you are reading this, thank you for everything you’ve done for me! Without my family and friends, who knows where I would be? I certainly wouldn’t be walking from Mexico to Canada and seeing the beauty that the American west has to offer! Mr. Hummingbird here agrees.
