Wild

This Section F just happens to be the section where Cheryl Strayed, the author of “Wild“, started her PCT hike. I haven’t read the book or seen the movie, but my Dad told me a bit about her story. I don’t think I thought of too much other than water, snakes, and heat in this part of the trail section, but it was good to know that someone with probably less trail-hardened legs than mine had made it through.

We didn’t meet Cheryl while we were there, but it was still memorable. There was someone my Mum would have called “salt of the earth” out camping near Claraville. Claraville is close to the trail, up at 6000 feet, and used to be a “metropolis” serving the area’s gold mines – including the Bright Star mine (which is where the surrounding wilderness gets its name). It’s a ghost town now, with all its buildings removed, and you wouldn’t even know about it from the trail.

Even though the gold mines have all closed down, I kept on the lookout for any nuggets or really any interesting looking rocks lying around!

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