I woke up at 5 and definitely didn’t want to be awake yet. Jake was still sleeping so I curled up and tried to go back to sleep for a bit. We both got up around 6 and started to get ready to hike. It always takes a while to get everything together and this morning was no exception, the only weird thing was we were the first ones out of camp.
We took a short morning break around 10 for some snacks and a few hikers passed us. Most of the morning was in the cool forest with views of big bear Lake below.
Lunch was near the stream which was just small puddles of water with a little flow. We managed to get enough water out of it and then went a little further up trail to try to find shade. We did find a spot but the sun quickly moved and ruined it. Luckily we both fit it short naps before heading out to do our afternoon miles.
It was really hot and exposed for a better part of the rest of the day. We were dealing with it but I could feel it just draining my energy. The first camp we were aiming for happened to have people already set up and they didn’t look like PCTers so we moved along to a spot just a half mile down the trail. This spot at Bench Camp turned out to be close to water, quiet and we had the whole place to ourselves. We were able to get water for the next day and rinse some clothes before settling in. It was a long day but the miles came easy.
PCT Hike 