PCT Day 56 – PCT mile 732.0 to 750.7

May 30, 2026

Total PCT miles: 18.7

Non PCT miles: 0.4

Total: 19.1 miles / 30.7 km

Total elevation gain: 4160 ft

Total elevation loss: 1998 ft

Steps: 45217

I have a strong dislike for the cold. Not very Canadian of me I know, but winter and sports are not words that generally go together in my vocabulary. Fortunately even with below freezing temperatures overnight I stay quite warm in my tent. It’s the getting out of my tent in the morning I have a particularly strong dislike of. The frozen fingers and frozen toes secondary to frozen shoes is particularly a strong dislike. Packing up the frozen tent because of frozen condensation is also not a lot of fun. Oh! How about filtering near freezing water! I know I’m making this adventure sound oh so very appealing aren’t I?

Regardless of all off this I actually slept fairly well last night. I even felt somewhat rested. We had another ambitious almost 19 miles planned for the day. These are big miles for the Sierra but at least the elevation profile didn’t appear to be as challenging as yesterdays.

We got the first climb out of the way right off the hop climbing to 10500 ft which provided some beautiful views of the Sierra mountains before us. Then a great view of Owen’s Valley where I had cell service! It was nice to call home and hear a friendly voice! It was here where one of the members of our group told us they was getting off trail and going home. It came as a shock to the group. I know what a difficult decision it is to leave the trail. But from what they said I’m sure they made the best decision for themselves.

Only 25-30% of people finish the PCT and that is because it’s hard. It’s easy to imaging all the ways it’s hard. But unless you’ve ever attempted a thru-hike you can never really know how grueling it actually is.

From here the trail descended back below 9500 ft. Its wild how just 1000 ft can make a difference in breathing and warmth. I found a nice meadow with a stream and had lunch and dried out my tent And sleeping bag. Yesterday I waited until I was at camp and there was little sun thanks to the clouds so I didn’t want to repeat that mistake.

From here we climbed again up to 11119 ft where I am currently camped. Had a beautiful view of Horseshoe Meadow where I also got cell service briefly. I was making good time until the last two miles when my body finally had enough.

When I arrived at camp I suddenly out of nowhere and for no particular reason started crying.

Maybe it’s the exhaustion, maybe the elevation is getting to me. Maybe I miss home or I’m too much in my head. Maybe I just need a giant feast. Maybe having one of our group members decide to leave the trail made me think about leaving too. Or maybe it’s knowing it’s still only going to get harder over the next few days. Maybe the last two days I’ve failed to embrace the suck.

Really that’s all thru-hiking is… learning to thrive in the suck. Unless your watching someone on social media do one… they tend to edit out all the real suck.