Day 52, June 8: Mile 734 to Chicken Spring Lake/Mile 751

• Start: Mile 733.8

• End: Chicken Spring Lake - Mile 750.8

• Miles: 17.0

• Ascent: 3366 | Descent: 1957

I left camp as the sun was rising and it was beautiful to watch over the ridgeline. The views were getting better and better and my foot was hardly hurting at all! I had a great view of Mount Langley (I think?) to the east.

I chatted with an older Dutch couple for a while. She was starting a section hike of the Sierra the next day so she was excited to ask me questions. I also met a guy named Pay It Forward on top of an overlook of Cottonwood Pass and Horseshoe Meadows below. He hiked the PCT in 2019 which was a crazy snow year, and said the comparison of the view we were looking at then vs. now was completely different.

I made it to Chicken Spring Lake, the first alpine lake on trail, around 2:30pm. It was beautiful! I hung out by the shore for a bit and chatted with Shepherd before she left to keep hiking. A few other hikers started to roll in, including Kamilla. She was going to jump in the lake, which I had been wanting to do but was nervous about the cold, but her doing it gave me courage. I waded in and after much whining, I finally jumped in. It felt good to wash some of the dirt off of me.

Kamilla also had a collapsible bucket for doing laundry on trail and offered to let me borrow it. I did and it was absolutely amazing to wash all my clothes. It gave me extra motivation for the next few days.

After dumping the laundry water far away from the lake, I wandered back to find many other hikers who had made it to camp. I hung out with some of the recent crew- the Germans, Popeye, Squirrel Daddy- and cooked a yummy dinner of couscous doctored up with taco seasoning, Cholula, dehydrated veggies and olive oil. After watching the sun set down over the lake, it was time for bed. I fell asleep to the sound of frogs croaking in the lake.