Get an earlier than normal start and again have a delayed breakfast because getting water from the muddy and silty Lewis River did not appeal. But there is Riley Creek in a couple miles where I can get good water and have my normal breakfast. I do start out the day with Spam and tortilla smothered with ranch dressing at the camp site however and after the breakfast I am loaded up for some serious hiking. Unfortunately, a lot of the day was spent in a burn zone that I would be told was from a fire in 2016. Very hot and so I tried to do quickly. Eventually got back into forest and spent the rest of time in shade until arriving at Hwy 23 and the Trout Lake pick up point. I arrived early but there was a trail angel at Hwy 23 who gave me a 13 mile ride into the town of Trout Lake where Lenora, Martha, and Matt picked me up. I had met Dave, the trail angel, a little earlier than Hwy 23 as he was out to take some pictures and visit the memorial site of a PCT hiker that was killed on the trail by a falling tree in 2019. He was simply standing a bridge with a hiking partner when a tree fell and hit him and killed him.

I tipped Gary for giving me a ride and then he had a couple hikers get into his truck for a ride back to the PCT and Hwy 23. Dave has helped about 250 hikers this year. The numbers are down he says as in a normal year he would have helped 1000 hikers by now.

Trout Lake is a PCT destination because it is a good resupply point, has a nice grocery store, and a cafe with shakes and cheeseburgers. I had 2 huckleberry shakes, a cheeseburger, 2 glasses of water, and 3 diet cokes.

It was glorious to see Lenora, Martha and Matt when they arrived. They had lunch/dinner at the cafe and then we started the long drive back to Oroville.

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• Miles: 13
• Steps: 30518
• PCT Mile: 2229
• Elevation: 3849
• Location: https://w3w.co/founding.degrees.polar