Outdoor Adventures with Ancient Brit
PCT 2002 - July 22nd
Day 97: Monday 22nd July Toad Lake – Peak 6,610
There was still some cloud in the morning. While I was breakfasting a hummingbird
came and hovered about one yard from the entrance of the tent.
I met section-hiker, Sam, from the east, who was hiking south from Seiad Valley to
Castle Crags. He was only carrying a day sack and had his sleeping bag under his arm!
When I met him he was running out of food. . He seemed very inexperienced and I got
the impression he was more accustomed to trail hiking than he was to the mountains. I
was surprised to learn that he had hiked the Pennine Way in England and he asked me
about the routes across the Pyrenees.
It was hot and humid and I wasn’t sure whether it would clear or develop into a
storm. The walking was through open forest with good views. I came to Cement Bluff,
which is part of an old glacial moraine, which had cemented when calcium weathered out
of the rocks above and combined with carbonate to form calcite, a strong cementing
agent.
I hoped for a swim at Bull Lake, but the first thunder rumbled as I approached it
and the temperature was dropping rapidly. As I arrived the first drops of rain started to
fall. I found partial shelter under a tree and settled down for a late lunch. There was
heavy rain and some hail. I packed up during a lull in the storm and was about to leave
when another hailstorm started. Initially with pea-size hailstorms, but soon up to a
centimetre diameter, then two centimetres and then some as big as golf balls. Even in the
shelter of the tree I was getting a battering and Bull Lake was turned white from the
splashes from hailstones hitting the water. It was another hour before I was able to
leave, by which time the hail was two inches deep on the ground.
I climbed quickly up to and over the ridge to get clear of this dangerous lightning
zone before the next storm hit. As I was descending pockets of warm air were rising up
from the valley, providing heat to drive the storm. Fortunately the storms stayed
elsewhere and I managed to complete 22 miles before camping on a wooded spur coming
down from Peak 6,610.
John, Julia and “Happy Joe” arrived at 8.45pm, as it was getting dark. “Happy Joe”
had spent 8 days off the trail with his family and was now hurrying to get to Snoqualmie
Pass by the end of August in order to do the last 250 miles with his fiancé. I learnt from
them that Simon and Liz had pulled out at Hat Creek because of illness in Liz’s family in
Scotland. Anne and Lee had also pulled out; I believe because they couldn’t cope with the
temperatures, which had been high even by Californian standards. Megan had also left
the trail to take up the place she had been offered on a post-graduate Journalism course.
Day 97: 21.8 miles 8.33 hours Camp: S. Ridge, Peak 6,610
There was still some cloud in the morning. While I was breakfasting a hummingbird
came and hovered about one yard from the entrance of the tent.
I met section-hiker, Sam, from the east, who was hiking south from Seiad Valley to
Castle Crags. He was only carrying a day sack and had his sleeping bag under his arm!
When I met him he was running out of food. . He seemed very inexperienced and I got
the impression he was more accustomed to trail hiking than he was to the mountains. I
was surprised to learn that he had hiked the Pennine Way in England and he asked me
about the routes across the Pyrenees.
It was hot and humid and I wasn’t sure whether it would clear or develop into a
storm. The walking was through open forest with good views. I came to Cement Bluff,
which is part of an old glacial moraine, which had cemented when calcium weathered out
of the rocks above and combined with carbonate to form calcite, a strong cementing
agent.
I hoped for a swim at Bull Lake, but the first thunder rumbled as I approached it
and the temperature was dropping rapidly. As I arrived the first drops of rain started to
fall. I found partial shelter under a tree and settled down for a late lunch. There was
heavy rain and some hail. I packed up during a lull in the storm and was about to leave
when another hailstorm started. Initially with pea-size hailstorms, but soon up to a
centimetre diameter, then two centimetres and then some as big as golf balls. Even in the
shelter of the tree I was getting a battering and Bull Lake was turned white from the
splashes from hailstones hitting the water. It was another hour before I was able to
leave, by which time the hail was two inches deep on the ground.
I climbed quickly up to and over the ridge to get clear of this dangerous lightning
zone before the next storm hit. As I was descending pockets of warm air were rising up
from the valley, providing heat to drive the storm. Fortunately the storms stayed
elsewhere and I managed to complete 22 miles before camping on a wooded spur coming
down from Peak 6,610.
John, Julia and “Happy Joe” arrived at 8.45pm, as it was getting dark. “Happy Joe”
had spent 8 days off the trail with his family and was now hurrying to get to Snoqualmie
Pass by the end of August in order to do the last 250 miles with his fiancé. I learnt from
them that Simon and Liz had pulled out at Hat Creek because of illness in Liz’s family in
Scotland. Anne and Lee had also pulled out; I believe because they couldn’t cope with the
temperatures, which had been high even by Californian standards. Megan had also left
the trail to take up the place she had been offered on a post-graduate Journalism course.
Day 97: 21.8 miles 8.33 hours Camp: S. Ridge, Peak 6,610
Upper Deadfall Lake
Cement Bluff
Hail at Bull Lake
Happy Joe
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