Day: 221

Direction: Southbound

Trail location: 1528

Cumulative miles hiked 2019/2021: 2248

Cumulative miles hiked 2021: 231

Miles hiked today: 12.67

Elevation: 7660

High/low temp humidity: 75/55/rain

Spinning on the turntable: AC/DC Live at the River Plate

It’s very quiet out here! It seems like the vast majority of the PCT hikers are skipping this section. I’m guessing that I’ve only run into one or two PCT hikers today. I don’t mind the solitude from the PCT hikers though, since there seems to be a lot of Tahoe Rim Trail hikers!

I started off listening to a Podcast from a finance guy. It only took me about a half hour to decide that he was a total ass hat and then I moved onto something more interesting.

I was surprised this morning at the humidity level. I started the day with a easy downhill, so I was a bit perplexed at the copious amount of sweat that was rolling down my face. I tend to envision the downhills as a guaranteed easy trek, but often, that’s not entirely accurate.

I made it to one of the Tahoe ski boundary zone somewhere around mid-morning. I keep waiting for my trail legs to magically appear, but they’re still on hiatus. I’m working (hard) for every mile. I was pondering the 2019 trek, and I think that my recollection is that it never seemed to get any easier, it was consistently difficult. Perhaps it’s the same in 2021!

It’s hard to forget that I’m headed towards a fire South of Lake Tahoe. When I’m up high “enough” and have a unobstructed view, I can see the smoke off in the distance. At this moment in time, between the fires to the North and the fire to the South, there’s about 235 miles of the PCT that’s closed to hikers.

Speaking of fires-

The site I camped in last night had a fire ring. Someone (Rangers?) had thoughtfully stuck a flag into the fire ring to remind everyone that fires are a “no-no”.

I’m still not doing well with figuring out my caloric intake. I’m simply running out of gas too quickly in the day. I do “OK” on the days that I’m returning from a day off with Noelle. When I’m off trail I’m chowing down. A lot. Back on trail I’m trying to deal with weight issues, or the amount of weight that I’m carrying in my backpack, so I’m going lighter. I was carrying about 1.25lbs per day, and it simply isn’t enough. I’m going to bump the weight up to closer to 1.75lbs per day and see if I can tell any difference. I’m starting to add in candy for the easy calories, but I’m really not a fan of candy. If there was a easy way to pack beer though….