Day 77

June 29 PCT Mile 1253 - 1268 (Buck’s Lake Access - hitch into Quincy) PCT miles 15

We have learned that we cannot predict a day on the PCT - not even close, but this one was wild.

We woke early (4) and tried to be as quiet as we could be not to wake Darko. The hike up was pleasant - temperature still in the 70’s. A bit of scrambling over downed trees, but evident that the fire crew had worked hard clearing this section of trail. We met some trail crew with heavy chainsaws and thanked them for their effort. These volunteers were out here in blistering heat to open sections of the trail blocked by debris. Impressive!

When we reached the spring at the top we were thrilled to see it flowing so well. Delicious, cold , clear spring water. Best!! Chris drank without filtering - so good!
At the top is a ‘lookout point’ with a great view of the canyon. Bet it was gorgeous when trees were green.

We saw two other hikers at the spring. One we knew from Kennedy Meadows North - Cruise Control - from Scotland. Darko arrived a few minutes later and Cruise Control told us that he just learned Belden (our next resupply town) had been evacuated because of a fire and is closed. There would be no way to get to our resupply. Not good news. We were down to a bag of cranberries and nuts. Had planned to eat at Buck’s Lake and head to pick up resupply tomorrow. We all decided heading to the town of Quincy was our best bet. The day’s weather was predicted to be 101 degrees, but Quincy has two motels (with AC). Chris called and reserved one of the two remaining rooms in town. Relieved to know we would have AC - we just had to get there -ASAP.

We hiked down to a road leading to Buck’s Lake and passed a small stream lined with beautiful orange lily flowers. Really lovely to see life again out of the burn zone. We planned to hitch to Buck’s Lake first (closer, more traffic, and milkshakes) and then try to arrange a ride into Quincy (18 miles in the opposite direction). Darko was at the road when we arrived and said she’d been there for ten minutes with no luck. A few cars passed, but most were full of people or boating equipment. Chris said we should try for Quincy also, so she took part of a sleeping pad and Darko’s sharpie, wrote QUINCY and stood on the other side of the road. A few minutes later a nice couple heading to Quincy stopped to give us a ride and we all climbed in the car (with AC!!). The couple told us about Buck’s Lake and even went out of their way to give us a tour of Quincy when we arrived. Sweet!!! We will return to Buck’s Lake some day - sorry we missed it.

Darko stayed with us in the cool motel room and we enjoyed a delicious lunch (Rick had two milkshakes!) in town. Spent the afternoon arranging to have resupply boxes ‘bounced’ up the trail, checking weather and fire news, and trying to figure out where we would rejoin trail.

Rick has officially been given the trail name Soft Serve by Darko. Soft Serve it is ?! Also, soft spoken.