PCT Day 22 – PCT Mile 292.4 to Mile 313.4

April 26, 2025

Total PCT miles: 21.0

Non PCT miles: 0

Total: 21 miles / 33.8 km

Total elevation gain: 2792

Total elevation loss: 5269

Steps: 48676

It was a cold rainy night but I stayed warm and dry enough for the most part. Fortunately when nature called in the middle of the night it was only lightly raining. I packed up my wet tent and slightly damp sleeping bag and started the day.

Literally the first thing I had to done was cross another creek. I had 2 options as there was no way to cross it and keep my feet dry: 1) with shoes on resulting in wet shoes for the next few hours or 2) barefoot. As I could see the sandy bottom of the creek i decided to cross barefoot. The water was not warm… by the time I got to the other side, dried my feet off, got my socks and ankle brace on my toes were numb. The great part was that as soon as they were staring to warm up I had to do the same thing all over again. Yay!

The first few miles had some tricky damaged sections an lots of prickly wet and cold grown over sections that really helped lighten my mood.

6 miles in I reached the junction to Cedar Glen and debated for a good 5 minutes if I wanted to go into town or just carry on. In the end I made the decision to just keep going down trail. The sun started to finally shine, the trail conditions improved and I started making some quick miles.

From Cedar Glen the trail follows the ridge along Deep Creek. I passed the 300 mile marker and celebrated even though I didn’t walk all of the last 100 miles I’m proud that I have made it this far!

Around 1300 I found a place to eat lucnch and dry out my tent. Finally after 48 hours of not seeing any other PCT hikers, Diva rounded the corner! I met Diva a number of nights ago at Nitzy’s place. He had slept 2000ish feet higher in elevation last night and got 4 inches of snow. I was glad I had pushed the extra miles to get to lower elevation. He also sated skipping mission creek because of my ankle was a wise decision.

Finally I came to a 10 ft wide “seasonal stream” that I couldn’t see the bottom of. So now it was time to get both my feet and boots wet. Most thruhikers wear trail runners because they dry fast after stream crossings but I have yet to find a pair that works for me. My shoes are not waterproof so they will dry in a somewhat reasonable time But not as fast. Fortunately this water was not as cold as this morning and the sun is out so hopefully they dry out.

The PCT crosses Deep Creek Hot Springs which for most is a great place to rest and soak away some of your pain. It’s a clothing optional kinda place and there were lots of day hikers and non pct people camping and exercising the clothing optional option here. The vibe really seemed off to me and it was getting late in the afternoon so I didn’t stay long.

I finished my day much how i started camped Next to creek that I’ll have to cross in the morning. But I had cell service for the last 2 miles and got to catch up with Mel back home. It was a long day but my ankle held up well with the 21 miles I pushed.