PCT, Day 16

It is very cold at night, around zero degrees, but I don't freeze. I start at 6:30, and it's going to be a hard day.

There is lots of snow and ice, and I am very slow. I have to use the microspikes, but then there are stretches that are rocky and without snow, so I take them on and off. I don't enjoy this walk at all. The snow is deep but hard, yet sometimes not, and one can sink in suddenly deeply. I do less than 2 km per hour, and I am constantly hungry. At the last water source for a long time, I sit on a rock, surrounded by snow but also a small thorny twig. I didn't see it and pierce my water filter bottle. It doesn't make my day better.

At 2:30, I see Double Dinner. He set up camp. I wanted to do 4 more km, but he tells me that the next section is very dangerous, and he will do it in the morning when the snow is still frozen. It goes steeply down along the path. It is the Fuller Ridge walk. He has a point not to attempt it when the snow is soft, and I decide to stay too. I only did 14 km in 8.5 hrs today. It takes time to set up the tent and get the usual chores done before I can be finally enjoying stretching my legs on the sleeping pad.