Day 12 - PCT 2024

Miles Hiked: 11

Total Ascent: 3,487.5 ft.

Total Descent: 1,264.1 ft. 

Last night was so cold. My new sleeping quilt is wonderful but now I need to sort out my thermal pants and probably get a down hood since my toque doesn’t want to stay on at night. We packed up and got on trail earlier than the last few days which was great because the heat in the afternoon can be a bit much so we end up taking more breaks. 

I got a gnarly cut on the tip of my pointer finger and scraped up my knee pretty good when I fell on broken asphalt. Not the way I wanted to start the day but it could have been a lot worse. 

The hike was hard today. It was hot, sunny and climbing was tough. We had a number of creek crossings early in the day today and getting my feet wet removed some of the bandages on my blisters so I ended up having to replace bandages as I went to prevent rubbing. I’ll be happy when these heal! It also meant longer water carries as we began climbing. There’s 11 miles between water sources today and we knew we’d likely be dry camping this evening. A heavy backpack, the sun, the heat, the ascent lead to breaking far more frequently and pushing our mileage down considerably. But we loved our breaks! I even napped for a few minutes during one of them. 

I’m just happy to still be hiking with Failure to Launch, Snax and Impulse. 

We have 29 miles to Paradise Valley Cafe. We’re aiming for Sunday so we have a lot of ground to cover before then.