PCT SOBO DAY 72 – THE SIERRA IS NEAR!

Day 72

Home: BELDEN, MILLA 1367.6

END: Bucks Lake Road/Quincly, Mile 1386.2

Walked miles: 18.6 miles

I slept incredibly at night. I don’t know if it was hamburger, music or the river, but I had the best dream I had in a long time. After packing, I stopped for the wellly located well bath, then I started my walk.

This morning I had to address Bethden’s great escalation. The climb was an intimidating elevation gain of 4,000 feet in just under 7 miles. On the surface it seemed that it would be difficult, but when I began to climb, it was not so bad. There were many gradual curves that caused the climb to be bearable. In addition, the sun was not yet high enough to get into my eyes and warm up. When I got to one of the first plateaus, the worst of the climb was behind me.

In the upper part, I felt that the mountains attracted me. The rocks had been transformed from lava to the rounded emblematic white granite of the range. Around me the stretched mountains; I couldn’t wait for the careless ones I would find in a few weeks. Seeing the geological change brought me back to my first walks in Yosemite. I remember that I was surprised by the fact that I was walking through huge granite slabs and panting the massive ones that were all the mountains. I couldn’t wait to return there.

At noon, I stopped for lunch in a sunny place. The air had a chill and the wind blew. I was running out of food since today was a city day, so I cooked my lunch instead of having my usual sandwich. My warm noodles were just what I need to avoid the cold.

My last little climb of the day led me to a magnificent show overlooking the valley under me. I could distinguish what I thought was the city of Quincy well below, but it was probably just a collection of houses. Quincy was my next city stop and only a few miles away.

Enjoying my day and knowing that I would enter the city relatively early, I was not in a big hurry to reach the road. I took me to search for a while, enjoying the view and the feeling of being close to the Sierra.

Eventually, however, I arrived at the road. It was not long before he obtained a hitch from a local couple returning from a walk. I enjoyed my time chatting with them and we were in Quincy too soon. They left me in my motel with warm farewells, greeting when they left.

My night was filled with acquiring food and cleaning. I was surprised by the amount of dirt of me. Where did everything come from? I felt bad for those who had to clean my shower, but I did my best to rinse most of the dirt. After all running, I was happy to go to bed and fell asleep.

And that is a day in the life of a PCT Sobo hiker!

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