18 Miles
Another casual morning and sleeping in until 7. On trail at 8:15, we passed Shade, Studio 54, Lego, and one other hiker in their group. Took a break around 9:30 after we finished the first short climb of the day. Excellent views and comfortable weather. I could get used to this. Downhill to lunch and our next water source. Filled up and found a spot to eat. Soon after we were joined by Shade, Maverick, and two others (I still don’t know their names, but seem to be part of Shade’s group). The afternoon and evening were spent climbing to the first alpine lake on the trail, Chicken Spring Lake. It’s a Friday so there are day/weekend hikers out here too. They stay up chatting past hiker midnight, which is a dead giveaway.
PCT Hike 