Mile 1489 to 1502.7 – 13.7 miles total hiked on PCT

It was not a fun evening. Unfortunately the combination of the wind and the rain caught water to get inside my tent.

My sleeping bag ended up getting a little bit wet. Fortunately, it was water resistant enough that I didn’t get wet inside the bag.

Other things on the side wall also got wet because the rain fly flapped against the inner tent due to the wind.

In the end, my biggest concern that the floor (which I have patched up with duct tape throughout my PCT hike-the floor is ass and delicate as advertised, unfortunately) would leak and get everything wet didn’t happen.

Maybe I was so concerned about that that I didn’t reinforce the rain fly’s guy lines to keep the wind from blowing it into the inner tent.

I woke up to a very dark forest around a little after 6 AM.

Sadly, I knew I couldn’t wait for the rain to stop to pack up my tent and keep going. So, I did everything inside first, then packed up the tent as fast as I could. Make sure to put the rain fly in a garbage bag and the inner tent separately so at least it might stay a little.

I don’t know why I’m smiling. It was a miserable day.

When it was raining, I got wet.

When it was not raining, I got wet. Why? Because when you’re forest and it’s been raining, drops of water drip from the trees all around you. Especially whenever the wind blew, which it did quite often this day. 😕😞

On top of me and my gear getting very wet, I had trouble using my iPhone because when the screen got wet and my finger was wet, I couldn’t really swipe up to unlock it or reliably use it to check the map, check my mileage, check how far I had to go, etc..

Even putting it in a Ziploc bag, then we really helped with all the humidity and it already being wet. I have to make sure to put it in the Ziploc bag before it gets this wet in the future.

Or maybe get a real waterproof case for it.

Then out of the wetness, I saw an unexpected mileage sign on the side of the trail.

Yes, I knew the 1500 mile milestone was coming up, but without being able to check my phone as often as I usually would, I relied on the mileage on my Inreach which sometimes wasn’t exact mileage.

Regardless of when and how I reached it, I celebrated!!

1500 miles since I started down at the Mexican border 130 trail days ago.

And this was only the forth rain day in those 130 days. But it was also the worst rainy day of them all. The three in Yosemite were very mild in comparison. Must have something to do with the Cascades and how rainy they are when it rains. 😀

Since I had reached 1500 miles so quickly, I was also going to reach the next milestone very soon afterwards.

Oh, that looks like Interstate 5!

Why get excited about that freeway? Because it was the end of PCT California section “O”!

Another California PCT section complete!!

PCT Northbound mile 1502.7 from the Mexican border!!!

Not that I’m counting or anything. 😛

Unfortunately, it was still wet and rainy until I went underneath the freeway overpass. I’ve never seen a more lovely overpass. 😊

I would not be going into section “P” this day. Me and my equipment needed to dry out first.

From there, I got a ride into Mount Shasta from a great trail angel! I was going to stay at a hotel there and take a zero day the next day. It was gonna rain again, and it will take me at least that long to dry out my gear, my clothing, and my body. Of course, I’m gonna use the hot tub as well, so I’ll be getting my body wet again. 😀 “Dammit, Jim, it’s the temperature not the wetness!”

Overall, I think I made some mistakes in my rain preparations and execution, but hopefully I will do better. Oregon and Washington historically are very wet, regardless of when you hike the PCT in those states.

I really wish I would’ve been able to order that replacement tent. The Durston X-Dome Pro 1+ would’ve held up much better in the rain.

For my zero day I did my laundry, hand washed and dried some delicate clothing and equipment, completely washed my backpack and the two parts my tent. Normally, I would let them dry in the sun outside my room, but it was raining all day so that made it a little harder to dry everything.

I ended up using a hairdryer to dry my boots and my insoles.

I’m also organizing my food and other resupply items so I can get to Etna or Seiad Valley carrying minimal weight.

Weather report shows good weather on Friday and Saturday so I’m thinking of restarting on Friday. Might get some more rain Sunday or Monday, but hopefully not as bad that’s what I just had to walk through. 😞