22 Miles
The pit toilet at Ash Camp is a box of horrors. By far the worst toilet I’ve ever seen. I’ve used plenty of disgusting toilets over the years, but this one I refused. I turned right around and said under my breath, “I’d much rather shit in the woods.” We got rolling and climbed a bit, up through the swaths of poison oak. Fingers-crossed that I didn’t brush up against any of it. We leapfrogged with Flavortown at the first water source, and also a group of old dudes who were section hiking. The lunch spot was right before our last water source of the day, Squaw Valley River. We packed out enough water for the rest of the day, plus camp, plus the short hike tomorrow morning. Up from the river we climbed with all of this water. I chatted a bit with The Count near the top. We all pressed on and reached an old logging road that we followed down. The view of Castle Crags and Mt. Shasta (although barely visible due to smoke) along the way was amazing and a nice treat at the end of the day. When we got to camp, Sisyphus and Hermit joined us. Everyone was planning to get up early tomorrow to catch the first bus into Dunsmuir. We should be able to do 5 miles before 7, it’s almost all downhill.
PCT Hike 