Overall PCT Day 118

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2026 PCT Day 2, 16 August 2026 (Sunday)

Overall PCT Day 118

"Pacific Crest Treadmill"

 

Start Location:	PCT Campsite Near Picayune Spring	Destination:	PCT Mi. 1554.3
PCT Miles Day 118:	26.2	Cum PCT Miles:	2108.8
Non-PCT Miles Day 118:	0	Cum All Miles:	2307.25
PCT Miles Remaining:	538.5
Elevation Gain Day 118:	1782	Cum Elevation Gain:	374.354

 

There was absolutely nothing wrong with the trail today. It was perfectly fine and the views were pleasant.  However, there weren’t many views that just popped out at you and demanded a picture be taken.  The trail tread was decent for the most part, there were no long steep ascents or decents.   Though I got a fair number of miles in, I probably should’ve gotten more.

I didn’t get the very early start that I got yesterday, so I didn’t have as many hiking hours in the day today.  I’ve also been making some rookie mistakes that are really just part of the process of getting back into the swing of things.

The temperature today was relatively comfortable, and surprisingly, there were no bugs until I got to my campsite. I also still have not seen any burn areas.   I did run into quite a few more people today. I came across four SOBO PCT hikers and a lot of locals doing day hikes. I did chat with a few of them so that took up some time. Also, I had a goal today of staying completely hydrated. I got a little dehydrated yesterday because of the lack of water sources in the last 15 miles, and I didn’t want to get dehydrated two days in a row.  So, I stopped multiple times along the way to gather and treat water.

Overall, I feel like I’m still getting my long distance trail legs back.  This will probably take at least a week or so.   So, we’ll just have to see how everything goes.

One of the really stupid mistakes I made was not having the right charging cord for my GPS watch. My power bank only accepts USB-C, and my Garmin is a USBA.   And I failed to bring a converter or looked to see if I could buy a charging cord for the watch, that was USB-C. In the whole scheme of things, this isn’t that big a deal.  I have apps on my phone that can track everything the Garmin watch tracks except heart rate.  So to conserve battery on my watch instead of putting it in hiking mode which uses the GPS I put it in treadmill mode that way I could see my heart rate without using the GPS.

NOTE: I may not be able to publish the next posts until around 24 August when I'll be in Ashland Oregon.

Phone Battery: 73%

Nice morning trail

First water source of the day, White Ridge Spring

White Ridge Spring, like Picayune Spring last night, is a piped spring.  These are pretty nice for filling the water bottle.

Ant bringing food back to it's secret nest

Deadfall Creek

Bull Lake with Mt. Shasta in the background

Night 2 Camp

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