We got a slow start back to trail. By the time we got out of the Airbnb, through the 3 shuttles and out of Red’s Meadow, it was 1pm. I briefly saw Jesse and the other Belgians heading into Mammoth, together with Raymond. On one of the shuttles, I heard from Lil Slurp that Guardian’s group had sort of disbanded, sadly enough. This was confirmed when I saw Wicked Dinger in Red’s Meadow, hiking without him and seemingly not planning to get back together. Becky, Jackrabbit and the rest of their group just got in as we left.
The PCT part in the Sierra’s largely overlaps with another trail, the JMT (John Muir Trail). So for the first time since the start, we saw a lot of hikers that were not PCT hikers. As a PCT hiker, it’s easy to develop a superiority complex towards other hikers. I liked to play into this and joke that it was nice to be amongst the commoners again. To be fair, it is often quite easy to distinguish who’s on the pct and who’s not. Towering backpacks, high hiking boots and bulky tents are clear giveaways. Today, Mash and me take an alternate route from the pct along the JMT, in our quest to knock out the entire JMT as well while we’re here.
It turned out to be another beautiful day, along some of the most pristine lakes we’ve seen so far. The night was cold though, freezing cold. I slept with gloves and two pairs of socks.
