Walks A Ways: Overall PCT Day 141

2026 PCT Day 25, 08 September 2026 (Tuesday)

Overall PCT Day 141

"X Factor"

Start Location:	Near Three Fingered Jack, Mi. 2008.5	Destination:	Near Jefferson Park, Mi. 2039.2
PCT Miles Day 141:	30.7	Cum PCT Miles:	2587.5
Non-PCT Miles Day 141:	0.0	Cum All Miles:	2810.6
PCT Miles Remaining:	58.8
Elevation Gain Day 141:	5169	Cum Elevation Gain:	438,347

As per usual in Oregon, it was very cold last night. Sometimes I’m not sure if it’s just me feeling that it is very cold or that it actually was very cold. But the very first hiker I came across this morning mentioned to me how cold it was, and that his tent had frost on it. However, the cold didn’t persist all day, and in fact it turned out to be quite a warm afternoon. Well, at least the forecast for good weather this week has so far proven to be true.

Today was dominated by two prominent mountains. In the morning, it was Three Fingered Jack, which I slept right below last night. The rest of the day it was Mount Jefferson. Both are very unique in how they look.

In one of my 2022 blog posts, I mentioned that, unless you’re already familiar with a trail, the one factor that can really throw off your pace is the trail tread. Today’s tread was mostly difficult. Although there were fast stretches here and there, most of the tread made the hiking much slower than I had hoped for today. Although I did over 30 miles, I could either have done more if the trail was fast or I could’ve gotten to my campsite earlier than I did. Oh well, that’s just the kind of variety that the trail throws at you. And other than testing your physical endurance, the one thing the trail does a really good job of is testing your patience. At least today’s water sources were fairly well spread out and close to the trail.

There are currently a lot of recreational backpackers in the area. It’s funny the difference between PCT hikers and recreational backpackers. As best I can tell, many recreational backpackers don’t even crawl out of their tent until 9 or 10 AM in the morning, and they stop hiking by about 4 or 5 PM, or some even earlier. A PCT hiker that is not on the trail by 7 AM is considered to be a late starter. And most PCT hikers will go to near the end of the day, and often later, before stopping. Although I got to my campsite just before dark, there were several PCT hikers that passed by my tent much later. This is not unusual.