July 14

Left 5 mile camp about 7 am making good time on the trail all day until about 2 in the afternoon. There is a small shortcut following the old PCT trail that cuts off 5 miles of the new trail. The old trail has not been maintained since a new bridge was put up a couple miles down stream in 2011. I was debating with myself on taking the old trail, when a sign hanging on a tree next to the old trail was too much for me to resist. It read "Old PCT passable, but extremely difficult." Guess where I went...

You guessed it! Down the old trail to save 5 miles and have an adventure! Well they weren't kidding. The old trail had no maintenance and downed trees were everywhere. After scrambling over trees, rocks and dinosaur fossils, I found the old famous log crossing that was used after the bridge washed out. A sketchy crossing but nothing too terrible. Next came the joys of finding the trail. No easy task considering I was in a river basin of sand that gave me no perceivable direction on where the trail went. So I followed footsteps in the sand hoping before me knew where they were going. Turns out he didn't have a clue, but I did find him and we out our heads together, found the trail and are now camped together 34 miles from where I started minus the 5 mile shortcut puts me at 29 miles for the day. I think I'll take it easy tomorrow and get to know this guy from France a little better. Seems like a good plan.