20 Jul Day 89 – 1000 miles remaining, TWICE!

At mile 2096.9. Hiked 7.4 miles today. 

This morning I hiked a half mile and was at 1000 miles remaining to finish the PCT. I continued to Barlow Road where there was a picnic table and trash can. I rid myself of my hiker trash and proceeded across the road. I saw two trails across the road but could t find any PCT sign or marker. Checking my GPS, I saw that the trail did not quite cross the road right here. Following GPS I returned to the picnic table where I picked up the trail. As I hiked toward Timberline I noticed more lilies like I had seen earlier and decided to photograph them this time. After a mile and a half I saw a sign for Palmeter trail. I first thought that Palmeter must cross the PCT twice and maybe it was a shortcut. Then I realized I had been hiking the wrong way since the picnic table. In fact, I was nearly back to where I camped the night before. Also, I was exactly at the spot where I had 1000 miles remaining. This may make me the only PCT hiker to hit the 1000 miles remaining point twice on the same thru-hike.

This was doubly irritating because I hiked 25 miles yesterday and cowboy camped on the side of the trail to make it possible to get to Timberline early for the breakfast buffet. I also woke early for the same reason. RRRRrrrrr 🙁 

The trail viewed looking in the correct direction.

I did reach Timberline and enjoyed a huge lunch buffet. I ate one or more of each of the 8 desserts. That was after I stuffed myself with everything else.

After a good deal of trouble, I managed to order new shoes from Amazon which I will pick up in Trout Lake.

On the way