PCT: Whiskey Springs to Bear Creek

PCT Trail Mile 1231.6 to 1253

Today was a big down day and it was sizzling hot!

Our day:

6 am - friendly wake up; weather forecast hot! 

6:30- Breakfast- Hawkeye has fried spam and bagel sandwich with tea and Pearl has a Probar with coffee infused with collagen, creamer and sugar.  (We each carry the food we want to eat). 

7-leave camp after packing up, and pooping in the woods.  (Always bury your poo and haul out your TP kids. Better yet use a Culo Clean Bidet top for your water bottle! That’s what we do when we do do.) 

Forest Walk. Occasional peek a boo views of ... more forest. 

8:30 - hike .2 down to Alder Spring for water.  We get buzzed by two very low flying military planes.  We see the first dark blur before the noise.  We don’t see the second one.  They are BELOW us, zooming over tree tops.  Are they supposed to do that?  Must be fun.  We hike back to trail. 

10 - We eat  snacks while continuing to hike through forest.  Pearl eats a snicker bar and Hawkeye jerky. We meet a three member trail crew.  We see five flighty sage hens. We see a peek a boo view of Mount Lassen. You might have to blow it up to see, as it is very far away. 

11 - We meet  Snickers, a thru hiker from last year, who is hiking a section he missed.  Pleasant conversation.  He tells us if a PCT hiker this year who carries a cat and that the Feather River ahead of us is great for swimming.  Pearl takes off. 

12:00 pm - hike .2 miles off trail to Fowler Springs.  Pearl decides to cool off in the little half bathtub there. 

Her feet go up and her butt goes down.  Splash!   She bruises the outside bottom  of her left foot.  Good thing she didn’t break a hip.   We eat lunch.  Hawkeye eats trail mix and granola, Pearl has peanut butter and graham crackers.  We hike back to the trail.  Pearl limps. 

We hike through forest.   Do you see the trend?  Today is decidedly an all forest walk. Which is very nice, but we’re spoiled by the grand  views that came before. 

2:00 - We are hiking switchbacks down into the Feather River Canyon.  Hawkeye see this art on a log.   What could it mean?

3:00 - We continue hiking down switchbacks, but the forest has changed.  We now see oaks, alders and dogwoods as well as evergreens. Pearl tries not to limp. 

3:30 - We arrive at the bridge over Middle Fork of Feather River.  Even though we’ve walked in shady forest all day and have mostly walked downhill, we are wet from sweat because it is very hot.  Definitely in the 90 to 100 degree range.    We follow the directions on our hiker app to a secluded beach. It is the place we saw drawn on the log.  There is a teepee and sand and seclusion on the river.  Hawkeye is giddy with excitement over finding the place on the log and he is even more excited to find benches. Pearl quickly eats trail mix, plantain chips and a Luna lemon zest bar and  then goes in the water.

5:00 - After snacking,  swimming, sunning and enjoying paradise, we eat dinner. Pearl has Parmesan  cous cous and Hawkeye has beef stroganoff. Pearl limps to the river and swims some more. 

6:30 -  We decide to hike on, as there is a ten mile climb to leave this canyon. We also hope a higher elevation might be a bit cooler.  Pearl limps a bit. 

8:30 - We arrive at Bear Creek drenched in sweat and wearing bug nets  to keep the gnats away from our eyes.   We see the clouds change color, but cannot see sunset.  The canyon is too deep.  We put up our tent and then go sit naked in the creek to cool off.  Pearl limps a lot. 

9:00 -  We lay in our tent and feel a bit of coolness. Maybe.  Pearl has her foot elevated on both backpacks.  She takes ibuprofen.  She complains about her throbbing foot.  She one finger types out this post. ( So please forgive any typos!)  She wonders if she will be able to hike tomorrow.  They sleep.