It\u2019s actually not much to this town. It doesn\u2019t even have a post office anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Belden Town Resort is the main focus for PCT hikers. There\u2019s also an RV park a mile down Highway 70 that also caters to hikers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The number one thing at resort was to get a big lunch. Which included Coca-Cola, of course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s a nice building and I guess has new owners who are trying to fix it up. I resisted the urge to get out room there for the night because I didn\u2019t want to spend another zero night somewhere unexpectedly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As far as replies, I didn\u2019t really need too much. Mostly some trail snacks, candy, and (of course) cans of Diet Coke. \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I also should have gotten at least one more breakfast from them because I turned out to be one breakfast short of reaching Chester. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I didn\u2019t find that out until the second night out of Belden. Oops. I can use my pop tarts for a breakfast for the last morning. \ud83d\udc4d<\/p>\n\n\n\nBut after the resort, the real goal for Belden came into view. <\/p>\n\n\n\nNo, not the bridge, but the milestone right after it where the PCT meets Highway 70!<\/p>\n\n\n\nEnd of PCT California section M in Belden, California. 1288.9 miles hiked from Mexican border!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Quite the accomplishment, but there were more to come in the days ahead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unfortunately, my decision to not stay at the resort for a night that I had to start climbing up a very long and steep part of the trail. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A lot is made of the 4000 foot climbs to some of the 12,000 foot passes in the Sierra Nevada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What we have after Belden was an almost 5,400 foot climb over about 13 miles from Belden to the Highpoint.<\/p>\n\n\n\nI did not want to do that all in one day. Which if I stayed overnight, I probably would have to do it in a day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So I decided to head out mid afternoon to a campsite about 4 1\/2 miles up the trail. Maybe I should\u2019ve thought more about the time of day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Belden is that about 2500 feet above sea level, so it is generally hotter than the rest of the hills and mountains around it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So the afternoon turned into quite hot climb made even hotter by the fact that there were a lot of burn zones that had no shade. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other than that, it was a straightforward climb. \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As usual being paranoid about water, I got water at a stream about a mile and a half from the campsite. Turns out there were two streams, running very well nearby. Oh well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I set up my tent and looked around. The area was a former site of a cabin called Williams cabin. The cabin is gone, but there\u2019s a shovel and a stack of old items that people have dug up or found in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m pretty sure the Hawaiian shirt and the crushed can of soda were not part of the old cabin. \ud83e\udd23<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Only one hiker seen on the trail: a southbound sectional hiker<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mile 1281.1 to 1294.4 – 13.3 miles total hiked on PCT The Perseid Meteor Shower was nice and I saw…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17594,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[35,20,38],"class_list":["post-16441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-where-ive-been","tag-35","tag-pct","tag-pct2026"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pg6j8i-4hb","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wandering.earth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/img_0698.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wandering.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wandering.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wandering.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wandering.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wandering.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16441"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/wandering.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17655,"href":"https:\/\/wandering.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16441\/revisions\/17655"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wandering.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wandering.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wandering.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wandering.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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