PCT Day 21 Mt Balden Powell

Day 21, June 10th

20 miles

PCT mile marker 390

Ron, Joe and I parted ways this morning as they were hiking back to Wrightwood and I was continuing on up the PCT.

Ready to head out for the day

About a mile in, I ran into some women day hikers, who said they come out here everyday to hike, they've seen a lot of thru-hikers and gave me some jicama and fresh garden cucumbers for the trail.

4 miles in, I started the ascent up Mt Balden Powell. It was a very steep 4 mile climb, with almost 3000ft of elevation gain. It took me 2 hrs to ascend with many stops to catch my breath and rest. There were a handful of day hikers coming down as I was going up. Once I got to the top the view was amazing, you could see 360 degrees around, it was breathtaking. 

Breaking on Mt Balden Powell...just 1.2 more miles up

I made it to the top!

Views

Another mile in I was beat, between yesterday's climbing and today's ascent up Mt Balden Powell, I could really feel the fatigue. I pulled off trail once I found a nice pine to rest under and took a couple hours to rest and nap. I got back onto the trail around 3pm and continued on until I was ready to call it a day.