PCT Day 78 – PCT mile 952.2 to Smedberg Lake (969.7)

June 21, 2026

Total PCT miles: 17.5

Non PCT miles: 0

Total: 17.5 miles / 28.2 km

Total elevation gain: 4199 ft

Total elevation loss: 3717 ft

Steps: 40904

Last night I dreamt that we were attacked by a bear and I somehow used my trekking pole to kill it. In reality said bear would have either run off or made quick work of me. I had a hard time falling back asleep after this as I was very aware of every sound I was hearing.

We were up and on trail at 0600 hrs and most of the day was spent walking in forest with very few views. Suffice it to say that the northern Yosemite wilderness is not as magical as the main area of the park. A mile into our day we passed though two meadows that were covered in low hanging fog. It was beautiful in that eerie kinda way. I’m glad we made the decision to camp where we did and not carry on here.

We crosses a few creeks that required switching into camp shoes and descended into a valley and climbed in elevation again. We stopped for lunch at Miller lake and I was very tempted to go for a swim. But the water looked a little murky and I figured I’d come out smelling worse than I already did.

The climb up to Benson Pass (10107 ft) was long an hot but fortunately followed a river most of the way. The top of Benson and the decent provided the best views of the day.

We arrived to our campsite at pretty good time at Smedberg Lake which finally provided a great opportunity to jump in and cool off. The water was cold but refreshing and is the closest thing to a shower I’ll have for near a week. I’m glad I finally jumped into an alpine lake! If you ever do stay at this lake be sure to have some iron supplements to compensate for all the blood loss from the hoards of mosquitoes!

I managed to walk mostly pain free today by setting an alarm on my phone to remind me to take ibuprofen and acetaminophen. This made for a much more enjoyable day than the previous few Where the pain I’ve been experiencing at times was almost unbearable.

That’s it for me today!