{"id":4214,"date":"2022-07-23T20:35:26","date_gmt":"2022-07-24T03:35:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wandering.earth\/?p=4214"},"modified":"2022-07-23T20:35:26","modified_gmt":"2022-07-24T03:35:26","slug":"pct-section-hike-2022-day-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wandering.earth\/index.php\/2022\/07\/23\/pct-section-hike-2022-day-7\/","title":{"rendered":"PCT Section Hike 2022 – Day 7"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Goal for the day: Get to Tilden Lake<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was feeling pretty good that I was only a day behind schedule this particular morning, even if I felt like I was 2 days behind based on my exhaustion level. As I packed up my gear, I smelt smoke. There were a number of people who had camped in the area, so I assumed that someone made a campfire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then I started on a thousand foot climb. Along the way, I continued to smell smoke. As I reached the high point of the climb, I cloud see a thick band of haze to the south about where Hetch Hetchy would be. That worried me, but at least it wasn’t towards the north where I was headed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Instead of going over to Wilma lake and approaching the lake from the east, I decided to take the trail along Tilden Canyon Creek to save on some mileage and extra climbing. The creek was dry, but there were some ponds along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I emerged into a meadow that formed one of the drainage points of the lake in the spring and got my first sight of the lake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Very beautiful lake surrounded with peaks of various heights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After enjoying the view from the south shore, I thought about where to camp. Originally, I was thinking of a spot on the west shore that had a little hill that may give a good view. But It looks like the east shore may provide some better choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heading over along the grass covered shoreline, I had to climb up along some rocks to survey the area for a good spot. I found a nice little patch of level dirt with some trees to provide a little shade and setup my camp. I was well back from the shoreline, but still had a great view and a quick walk to the shore to get water and…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My first swim of the trip. Smedberg Lake and the lake near Seavey Pass would have been nice places for a swim, but both days were overcast when I reached the lakes and felt too chilly to take a swim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This day was pretty warm and the east shore was basked in the midday Sun. I started by soaking my sore feet in the water, finding it lukewarm. Encouraged, I stepped into the lake and slowly moved deeper and deeper. A bit cold at first, but I grew accustomed to it quickly. Finally I took the plunge and ducked my head under the water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ahhhhhhhh…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Very refreshing and I spent many minutes swimming around and letting my body relax and get rejuvenated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After that, I took a little time to send out a message using my Inreach satellite communicator to check on fire activity. It turned out that the smoke was coming from a fire in the southwestern corner of Yosemite near Wawona. That at least meant I wasn’t hiking into a fire. Hopefully, the smoke wouldn’t reach further up the Sierras.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then the main feature began: Sunset!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The eastern shore turned out to be ideal for seeing the sunset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What a spectacular end to a great day!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daily goal accomplished!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6.5 miles
7.5 hours on trail<\/p>\n\n\n\n

53.5 miles total for entire trek<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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