18 Miles (Seavey Pass)
A rough day of hiking, but we got through it. Our tent neighbor claims a bear was near his tent in the morning, but I didn’t hear anything. Maybe it was, but ran off without any noise. I remain skeptical. However, we did see a bear later that morning! Headed up to Seavey Pass, we walked by a fresh pile of bear poop and not 2 minutes later a small black bear near the trail ran off into the trees. I’ve been waiting to see one in the wild for a very long time. I’ve never seen one in Colorado, and this is the first one on the PCT for us. The trail was steep and rough today, both up and down. We smelled campfire at one point on the way down Stubblefield Canyon, but could never figure out where it was coming from. The sky in the next valley was hazy, but wind could be carrying smoke from pretty far away. I’ll have to remember to check fire closures when I get service. The mosquitos around our campsite near Wilma Lake are swarming. We’ve had to put headnets on to keep them out of our faces. Endgame camped near us again tonight, but he crossed the river.
PCT Hike 