A rather uninspiring day for the most part. First of all, it felt as if the trail was always climbing, which may have been a sign of fatigued leg muscles. Secondly, a planned dip in the middle fork of the Feather River somehow seemed interrupted cause a section hiker was there, so I spent more time chatting than bathing/swimming. However, what little time I did spend sitting chest deep in the cool water was simply fantastic. After the dunking, I put the pack on and crossed one of the largest bridges along the trail. Its a good fifty feet down to the water flowing below and there's a deep swimming hole complete with sunning rocks a few meters down river before the canyon walls narrow. Another nuisance at times were the blowdowns, which constantly interrupted the rhythm of the hike and sent me high stepping over them if it was possible or scrambling right or left off trail to avoid them if it wasn't. Unfortunately, the trail maintenance crews haven't been to this section yet. Another frustration was taking a slight "detour" up Butte Bar Trail. The PCT cut sharply back on itself and I kept going straight. When I came out of the trees on an old, unused logging road, I realized my mistake as this literally was the end of the road. Ha! Backtracking cost me about an hour of trail time and the sharp cutback was plain as day approaching it from this downhill direction. Last but not least, most of the hiking was done in the trees, so no views other than thousands of trunks and dark green branches. Wow, I must be thoroughly spoiled when I'm upset by a single day without grand sweeping vistas. :-) The good news is I'm snug in the place I wanted to camp so I still made the miles and I'm full up on water that I collected from a small stream before it runs through a culvert under the road. Great to have the Platypus topped off in what will be a relatively dry section tomorrow. For a thru-hiker, this means that life is GOOD!
The Rocky, Tree-Lined Trail
29 Miles
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