Day 114 : An Unscheduled Scenic Detour

11th August 2013
Mile 1617 to mile 1645 : Shelley campsite to unpaved road campsite
Mileage : 27.5
Average mileage since day 101 : 22.0

Until today I have not taken any in scheduled scenic detours of any kind, but did so today not realizing for almost half an hour. The day started Welles the firestarters broke camp early and left us all to own one devices. We left a bit later than usual as we were camped in some sort of cold sink that brought the temperature right down in the morning, but were soon on our way. The three of us were joined today by two other hikers, Dance Party, an American girl, and Focus, a friend of Starfox whom I know well. At some point during the first climb of the day along a steep granite cliff I missed a left turn on th PCT and carried on obliviously up another trail. PCT hikers very quickly develop a knack, a sort of sixth sense almost, for knowing when they are or aren't on the PCT, and before long my spider sense was tingling. Just as I was about to get out my map and reassure myself, I saw a wooden sign with the PCT logo on it pointing up the hill so carried on assuming this bit of trail was just one of the less well maintained sections. Another few minutes later my spider sense was still tingling and I finally got out my map and tried to make sense of where I was. I couldnt make the map and elevation matchnup with the surrundings but assumed i was just having a dim moment and wasnt unduly concerned. Another half an hour later i came spotted a junction up ahead and saw Dance Party  whom i had passed not an hour before. how on earth had she gotton in front of me? In the end I figured out that I had strayed onto a now disused section of trail which had looped around a different side of the mountain around which the official PCT is routed. My first usd over I carried on up the trail towards the lunch spot. We we a fairly big group of hikers at the lunch spot, which is now the norm for Rocky, T-Rex and I as we as doing bigger miles than most and are therefore slowly overhauling the hiking groups we encounter.. At lunch a discussion arose regarding whether or not a small rodent which was cheekily investigating our food bags when we weren't looking, was a ground squirrel, or a chipmunk, which are almost identical. Thanks to Starfox and his animal flash cards that proved so useful on top of Half-Dome, I was aware of the key difference between the two animals which is that chipmunks all have striped faces, and ground squirrels never do. The little guy in question had a golden face and was therefore a squirrel, game, set and match : Manchurian. See attached photo for proof Rocky or T-Rex if you're reading this! The rest of the day proved largely uneventful as we got some more miles in before stopping to camp on a disused logging road halfway down the descent into Seiad Valley, a former mining and logging town with a reputation for scorching temperatures. The plan to get across it was to get down early, rest in the valley during the ottest part of the day and climb out in the evening. Plans made we retired to our sleeping bags for the night and passed out.