Sierra Buttes

I hitched out of town early and got started on the eight mile climb up to the Sierra Buttes. I passed a lot of trailheads today, and it’s Saturday, so there were a ton of day hikers out. Some of them made me feel like a celebrity, asking me all kinds of questions about the PCT and getting their picture with me. I’m happy to inspire!

As I told one woman who said thru hiking is on her bucket list, just do it! The “perfect time” doesn’t exist, so waiting for it will get you nowhere. There are always going to be a million reasons not to do something big. Now is the best time.

The water report has started again. It’s the first year there’s ever been a water report for this section, but that’s the drought for you. There are longer stretches between water sources, and some seasonal sources starting to dry up.

I missed my afternoon snack today because as soon as I sat down for it, I started hearing thunder in the distance. It looked to be in the opposite direction of where the trail headed, so I just had a couple bites of jerky and got moving. I was able to outrun it.

I went 22.5 miles to the A tree and set up camp. It was earlier than I wanted to stop, but there didn’t look to be any more campsites for a while.