[pct-l] section J wanderings

[David Hough reading PCT-L]

In my quest to recomplete the High Sierra, I managed to get a few miles in
this weekend despite the surprise of the Death Ride closure of Hwy 4.
Dayhikes covered Noble Lake to Eagle Creek, Raymond Lake Trail Junction to
Sunset Lakes, and base of the Nipple to Forestdale Divide,
Dates are 16-19 July, mileposts are Halfmile's 2019 edition.

All of Halfmile's perennial water sources that I visited still look perennial -

1044 Noble Lake
1046 Noble Creek, several branches
1049 Sherrold Lake
1059 Raymond Lake Creek
1060 Pleasant Valley Creek

and in addition -

1046.5,1047.5 - 
	There are several seasonal runoffs from snowbanks on cliffs above.
	That they were still running this year indicates they are
	probably reliable for northbound through hiker season.
1053 - seasonal Eagle Creek
	The main creek was dry at the trail but flowing slightly
	30 feet downstream; maybe good for another week?
	A smaller tributary just to the south was flowing better and clearly,
	probably from unseen snowbanks in the cliffs, and might be
	good for another week or two.
	There are a number of fair campsites just past the main creek.
1061-1064 - Tamarack off-road area
	There's lots of water to be found, mostly too stagnant to mention.
1070 - Lost Lakes
	Plenty of water, and jeep campers.
1071.5 - 
	There's a small stagnant pond just below Forestdale Divide,
	complete with a tent right next to it from a jeep camper.
	Better water should be at 1073 but I didn't get that far.

There were 2-3 dozen northbound through hikers each day, 
enjoying flowers that seemed to be at their peak.   None warned us about
troubles ahead so presumably the issue at

https://www.pcta.org/discover-the-trail/trail-condition/washed-out-slippery-trail/

is manageable.

And the ice gullies that discouraged me in June 2020 -

https://www.pcta.org/discover-the-trail/trail-condition/dangerous-conditions-north-sonora-pass/

are now lovely flower gullies in July 2022.

The trail is rather slender in spots, particularly in the worst ice/flower
gully.    No passing lanes.
But there are no insurmountable obstacles to stock anywhere I visited.

One thing I don't remember from before is the number of apparent long-distance
hikers with dogs.   It seemed as if almmost every party had a dog.