PCT Section Hike 2022 – Day 4 – Wandering the Earth

Goal for the Day: Get up and over Benson Pass and reach Smedberg or Benson Lake

After packing my camp up, I started up the first set of switchbacks leading up from the meadow. The previous afternoon, I had resisted continuing up these to avoid a hard climb at the end of the day. I kind of regretted it after seeing some of the views along the way.

As I enjoyed the views, I made note of some possible campsites I could have used. Ah well, can’t win them all.

I continued the climb along Wilson Creek and reached the end where the trail turned westward up a steep ravine with a lovely set of switchbacks (sarcasm intended). It wasn’t as steep as some of the other walls along this canyon, so the placement of the switchbacks actually made sense to me (for once).

Fortunately, I didn’t reach this area last night, since the mosquitoes were horrible when I refilled my water. It had been one of my options for a campsite for the night (although a long shot).

While the climb up the switchbacks wasn’t fun, it wasn’t the worse climb I’ve ever had. I saw my fist patches of snow for the trek as I climbed, but they were well off the trail and fairly small.

Reaching Benson Pass I took in the view. Fabulous views in both directions.

I did get my first view of Volunteer Peak, which I knew would be in my view for several days during this part of the trek.

While many passes sometimes have steep climbs up and down both sides, other passes sometimes have some flat area surrounding the pass. Benson pass was the later. Had I needed to, I could have camped up near the pass. It would have been a great area to camp in if you had carried enough water up with you.

But it was way too early to stop, so after a lunch break I started down the west side of the pass. Some switchbacks, but not many and most of the descent was through some nice valleys.

I reached the first big lake along this part of the trail, Smedberg Lake, which I kept trying to call Smeg-berg lake. Red Dwarf fans may know that reference, but be careful of searching for ‘smeg’ on search engines.

It was a beautiful lake and I very much wanted to spend some time there. It was still pretty early, so normally I would have pushed to continue down the 5 miles to Benson Lake, which was a bigger target on my list. I took a break to enjoy the views and debated what I should do.

In the end, even though I had only hiked 5.5 miles in 7 hours that day, I decided it was worth stopping early and enjoying the view from the lake that night.

I had to find a good campsite and I ended up camping along a thin peninsula jutting out into the lake. I was a little worried I was too close to the lake’s edge, but my GPS showed me that I was 100 feet from the edge of the lake.

With extra time on my hands due to the early stop, I was able to carry some water using my 5 gallon Ziploc bag away from the water and shampoo my hair and do some other body washing. Dumping that water well away from the water’s edge, I got some more water and washed some of my smelliest clothing for the first time this trek. Mostly it was my liner socks, underwear, and hiking t-shirts that needed a good scrubbing. With enough time in the sun, everything should be dry by the time I went to bed.

Of course, then the clouds moved in and actually sprinkled a little drops of rain on me. Fortunately, nothing big or long lasting. But it did keep everything from drying completely, though.

The cloud cover also made taking a swim in the lake less inviting. The water was fairly cold and without a strong sun shining on you, it usually wasn’t too fun to take a dip in a Sierra lake.

A group of about a half dozen PCT hikers heading south did decide to setup their camp a little closer to me than I’d like. Not sure why they chose that spot. The lake was fairly big and had other areas they could have used. I don’t think there was more than one or two other small groups around the whole lake that night (hard to tell since I only heard an occasional distant voice or saw a light at the other end of the lake), so there were more options for them. Ah well.

The sunset made up for that. And the clouds actually helped make the sunset grander!

This location was well worth the stop. It was campsites like this one that really recharged my body and soul. This was the best campsite of the trek so far and may have been the best overall.