Day 33 – Diurnal Life
Originally published on Mason Hikes the PCT 2017.
Mileage: 30
Since I completely forgot to sleep yesterday during the day, I was a tired boy last night. I slept like a rock until 9am (LATE 😬) and then hit the trail towards Kennedy Meadows, hoping that my sleep schedule switch wasn’t a huge mistake.
In the first few hours of hiking, I encountered two enormous groups who were sleeping the day away at the water sources. Each group was about 15 people, most of whom were passed out by the time time I got there. I said hey to the people I knew, met some that I didn’t, filled up on water, and left. Maybe I should have been sleeping too?
I had a few tall hills to climb throughout the day, but I was oddly fine just continuing to walk. I would walk a bit uphill, take a snack break, hike some more, then repeat. I wasn’t going particularly fast, but I was hiking through the day again, so I had all the time in the world. As I was climbing up, I really started to notice a change in scenery, which made me **SO **happy. Replacing the dry sand and cacti were actual dirt, giant rocks, and evergreen trees. The mountains are coming! I’m told we’re still in the desert, but I’m liking the trend that things are following.
I hiked up, hiked back down, hiked up higher, hiked down lower, and was starting my final hike back up of the day when I ran into a guy named Dom from Switzerland and Drippy at a creek filled with awful yet slow-moving green flies. These flies bit pretty badly but were** much** easier to swat than others, so it was a nice tradeoff.
After battling the flies and getting my water for the final climb, I had a quick dinner because the tiny black flies were being horrible. I finally got to try my chocolate hazelnut cheesecake spread on street tacos and it was amazing. Something I would never eat in real life, but amazing nonetheless.
I hiked for a few hours to get to the top of the hill, at which point I was rewarded with the majesty that is the Sierras. I hadn’t gotten a daytime look yet, but I arrived at sunset and was treated to an amazing panorama of huge mountains and beautiful colors. Dom, who was right behind me, and I stopped for a while because it was just too awesome to keep hiking. I’m so excited for the real mountains! AHHHH!
Dom and I hiked down to the next water source together to camp, and I began to dream about the unbelievable sights that are in store once we get into the Sierras.