After packing up this morning and hitting the trail around 7:50 am, I was met with more stunning travel over wide green meadows. The air was fresh and the sun warmed me as I walked.

In about half an hour I reached my breakfast spot, Eagle Rock. The rock formation stands on the hillside, with the valley and distant mountains behind. In the morning, the sun lit the rock perfectly. I enjoyed this spot for about an hour while I had my breakfast.

I continued towards Warner Springs and the trail took me downstream along a riverbank. Once again the environment had dramatically changed. The river was lined with huge trees which provided shade on the trail. Being a Saturday, the trail was busy with day hikers. One couple I bumped into asked if I was a PCT hiker and when I said yes they offered me a can of ice cold beer from their bag!

At the trailhead in Warner Springs, another couple had set up a table with chairs and were giving away food. I grabbed an apple, a juice box, a croissant and a packet of electrolytes, then sat down to join them for a chat. We talked about the PCT, and other hikes around the US, as well as their plans to do PCT some day too. They told me that they just returned from NZ a few weeks ago where they got married in Aoraki Mt Cook National Park.

Around the corner at the Warner Springs Community Center, about 20 hikers were hanging out. The community center had hot showers, with soap and shampoo provided, buckets to wash clothes in, and plenty of space to hang items to dry. I stepped out of the shower feeling like a different person, then get to work cleaning all my hiking clothes which needed to rinse about 10 times before they were clean. I charged my power bank and rested with the others while waiting for my clothes to dry.

After a couple of hours, I headed back out on trail. We walked through more meadows and past cows before climbing out of the valley onto a ridge. The view up there was fantastic with layers of mountains in the distance fading through the thin haze. We followed this ridge before descending again to the Aqua Caliente Creek.

I found a perfect campsite about 100m upstream from the others. I hung my food from a tree as there were rumours of mice in the area. Once set up, I headed downstream to have dinner with the others, this time I used fried spam in my grilled tortillas, and it tasted fantastic.

I walked back to my campsite after dark, and while heading back I could hear hundreds of frogs all along the river bank. One frog was lucky not to get stood on. My tentsite was ready and waiting for me, possibly one of the comfiest I’ve had on trail so far.