PCT Section Hike 2022 – Day 12 – Wandering the Earth

Goal for the Day: Murray Canyon Area

My original itinerary had me reaching Asa Lake on the third day of this section, but that was when I had a longer day to start from Sonora Pass. So after two short mileage days, the best I thought I could do is get the to Murray Canyon area (about 8-10 miles depending on where I camped).

So after packing up my camp, I started the climb up the ridge. I got some nice views of the sun and surrounding area as I climbed.

After almost a mile, I came across a FANTASTIC campsite. It was dry, so I would have had to bring up extra water for cooking, but it would have been a great place to camp if I had known about it. I’ve noticed that most of the JMT and PCT camping information usually focused on campsites with nearby water. That’s typically what you want, but it’d be nice if they took views into account as well.

One possible stopping point (although it would be a short day again) was a lake called Golden Lake. Just before reaching it, I had to go through a barbed wire fence. Then I found out why the fence was there: Cows. Lots of cows.

Or cattle to be more exact. Then where the ‘lake’ was was nothing but grass and shrubs, with a lot of cattle grazing around it. I didn’t see any water, but there was probably a shallow pond in there somewhere. I did need water, but not bad enough to go searching for it amongst the cows.

So, that helped motivate me to continue forward. The first creek crossing from where the lake was supposed to be was dry, but the creek after that was flowing and didn’t seem to have a lot of cattle grazing upstream. That should mean the water shouldn’t be contaminated from the cattle. Even with my filter, I try to minimize the risk by choosing my water sources carefully.

After getting a couple liters of water, I continued and ran into more groups of cattle as I made my way around a big ridge sticking out between canyons. I started to think that maybe camping on the top of that ridge or on a raised group of hills at the end of the ridge would give some pretty good views, but decided to continue north further to some marked campsites with water sources. The first campsite was in very dense forest, but the second one had pretty easy access to some nice views. So, I chose that one.

With a nearby creek, I took the opportunity to use my 5 gallon Ziploc bag to carry water away from the creek and shampoo my hair and clean other parts of my body. Then I cleaned my hiking shirts, underwear, and liner socks. It had only been three days, but the stench was starting to overpower me. I know with 8 days on the trail, I’d have to wash them at least 2-3 times, so this was the best chance to do the first load.

Then I enjoyed the sun setting behind the ridge to the west before heading to bed. While I had been hearing cow bells all afternoon, I didn’t hear them when I was sleeping (even without my earplugs). Not sure of cows/cattle sleep at night offhand. 🙂