PCT Day 76 – SoBo Flip – Smell the Bubble

Campsite at mile 1172 to Claire Tappan Lodge (mile 1153, plus 1.5mi hitch on hwy 40)

Total PCT miles hiked: 1085

Due to our early start Keith (Starman) and I arrived at the Sierras when there was still a lot of snow, and decided it wasn’t safe to attempt a crossing given my skill level. We elected to flip up to northern California and hike southbound (SoBo) back to where we left off near Lone Pine – giving the snow a chance to melt out. During this flip the PCT milage will be counting down, but I’ll include a tally of our total milage hiked so that you can keep aprised of our progress in a linear fashion.

Only the footprints through the snow reveal the presence of other hikers this morning. Sometimes there is a distinct boot pack leading the way, other times it’s as though everybody is suddenly choosing their own path; footprints meandering off every which way. Other times the trail up and vanishes under the snow and we make our own path forward, following the trail as often as not. We contour up and over steep rollers, through and around tree wells, cross snow bridges where the burbling sound of water echoes up from below. Sometimes postholing up to my thigh, sometimes picking my way gingerly across ice, other times walking like a drunk, feet sliding out from below me. It’s a real fiesta of damp feet and small tumbles.

It’s not until early afternoon, as we crest Castle Pass that we see another hiker. 100 meters down the trail a couple walks a dog, then a single hiker with yet another dog! Except this one I’m close enough to pet, her name is Emma – the dog, not the person. A sweaty family of four trudge past us, a peppy father in the lead spouting encouragement to his disgruntled brood. Within a mile we’re passed by a lithe trail runner. The onset of June and the end of the school year has brought out the weekend and day hikers. Our proximity to interstate 80 and highway 40 make for easy trail access and we see dozens of clean day hikers enjoying the perfect spring weather. One thing I notice about all of these folks is their smell. It’s delightful.

I’m not sure that day hikers, and to a lesser degree weekend backpackers, realize how good they smell to thru hikers. Wafting scents of pine and cinnamon, lingering trails of clean laundry. I cannot help but take a deep breath as these wonderfully clean humans pass. And I hope that for their sakes, they don’t do the same when I pass. Because, and this is another thing I’m not sure day hikers realize, you never get used to the stink of being a thru hiker. Even though we had a shower two nights ago we still smell awful. Or rather, our backpacks do. Our one item that we use every day, rarely if ever wash in town, and unlike shoes, most folks will only use one pack for the whole trail. The resulting odor is something between piss and a beef stew that’s really heavy on the onions. It’s not a great look. You know how bad we smell, we know how bad we smell, and we know how bad other thru hikers smell.

And geez, do some of them smell. South of interstate 80 we start to see other thru hikers. The fast kids who powered through the Sierra early are making their way past Tahoe, we’ve been seeing them in ones and twos since Belden. This afternoon we see ten or more. The first wave of what will eventually become the primary bubble of hikers streaming north while we continue south. A big stinky bubble. May god have mercy on our noses.