12th August 2013
Mile 1644.5 to mile 1670 : Unpaved road campsite to Seiad Valley view
Mileage : 24.5
Average mileage since day 101 : ?
The plan made yesterday evening went off largely without a hitch. The first third of the ay was descent down to the valley which was mercifully shaded all the way down, the middle third, which involved a long road walk, was not. My strategy for dealing with hiking in the sun and on hard roads is to go as as is humanly possible to be done with it as soon as my legs will get me there. I left Rocky and T-Ex so far behind they had suspicions i had gotten a ride there, given the road walk was actually part of the trail this would jot have been an option irrespective of the hardness.of the hike. I arrived at the town centre, a small convenience store and discovered I'd caught another groupbof hikers, including Shotput and Pepperflake, with if whom i hadn't seen since Mammoth over 800 miles ago. After a few hours of catching up with everyone, T-Rex, Rocky and I headed.off into the late afternoon ti tackle the climb out of the valley. We covered 5.5 miles in 2 hours dead, not a particularly accomplishment for us now except when the 3500ft climb is added. It was easily the steepest longest sustained.climb on the trail so far, and we almost literally ran up it. It was incredible to think back to the first 1300 foot climb ob the first day which almost killed.me, and then contrast that with the Seiad Valley climb. Feeling very pleased with ourselves we made the summit as the last light faded and cooked a speedy dinner. Tonight was another night where the trail served as my campsite, as there were.literally no other flat and clear spots around on for miles around, but given the number of hikers at the top whobhad all had similar plans labour own, i didn't worry too much about animal encounters and fell to sleep faster than ever before.
What a pro!
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