Day 122: Tuolumne Meadows

9/15/2023

Section: Milepost 957.3 to 929.9

Total Trail Miles: 2007.3

Distance: 28.79 Miles  

Moving Time: 12:04 hrs

Elevation Gain: 4446 ft

Phew… i stink - these Good-to-go freeze-dried meals really do a number on my tummy. Trying to avoid using the rain tarp if we can avoid it for a little extra ventilation. Despite the general, low air quality in the tent, we were still a little slow getting out this morning. It was cold and damp by Return Creek adding to the challenge.

Day 122 starts with a stout 500 foot climb out of Return Creek onto a long, skinny plateau, traveling southwest and slightly downhill under Elbow Hill. The path winds through gorgeous meadows as it sinks 1000 feet over 7 miles to Glen Aulin where the PCT crosses Tuolumne Creek. The trail turns east here and makes another short but stout climb along Tuolumne Creek, crossing it in spectacular fashion a number of times. Shortly after Glenn Aulin, the trail widens and takes on a much more “curated” look as it passes through gorgeous meadows and stands of trees. Eventually, the trail breaks out into Tuolumne Meadows at a spout of water called Soda Spring before crossing the river and approaching the Tioga Road. Lots of smaller, nature trails crisscross the PCT here before the trail joins the John Muir Trail and turns due east, making its way 4 miles along the Lyell Fork river. At mile 17, the path turns south again and begins a long and very mellow ascent up the Lyell Fork river valley. Five miles more and the head of the valley is reached and the grade increases substantially, rising 2000 feet in over four miles up manicured steps to Donohue Pass, one of the first of the great passes between here and Forester. The stage ends just on the other side of the pass in a shallow basin. 

We crushed through the early climb of the day, out of Return Creek. The packs are getting real light which is a wonderful contrast to the early days of this stretch. After the climb, we were deposited onto a gorgeous long bench with bright yellow grass all around and granite domes on each side. It was amazing to be able to see so far south along it, like you could see almost all the way into Glen Aulin. We flew down the ramp, aided by the mellow grade. Overhead, the peace was occasionally broken by jets - I think we are on the approach for SFO, they were going over throughout the night. I feel like a park this famous should get a deviation by the FAA, but I guess nowhere is safe from the air traffic. 

Eventually, we reached Glen Aulin. Trails went off Northwest and Southwest. Beautiful granite domes were visible in either direction and I was reminded of a backpacking trip Amanda and I had gone on with my sister six years back which was just 10-15 miles west of here, along the Tioga road. Trails transport you back like that, to another place and time when a younger version of yourself toiled up some nearby granite trail totally unaware that you would be back walking a similar trail not far away. I am so glad I got to do this. If you had asked me, back in 2017, if I thought I would get a chance to be here, having just turned the corner on 2000 miles along the PCT I'm not sure I would have believed you. We risked good careers and living in a place we loved for this but in the end, it has been so worth it to walk these momentous footsteps.

As we walked southeast along the Tuolumne river, people became more and more numerous. It was mid-week so the crowds were tempered somewhat, but still always a little bit of a shock coming out of the wilderness to a sudden surplus of fellow humans. We crossed the Tuolumne river several times on manicured bridges. This nature walk is a popular one for visitors of the park, being the PCT and one of the most picturesque sections of the park. Eventually, the sporadic stands of trees broke open in front of us and we were looking down on a wide meadow - the Tuolumne meadow. We doddled down through it, getting sidetracked in the labyrinth of smaller nature trails running about. There were couples getting engagement pictures done and children running everywhere but eventually we made our way though and reached the Tioga road - a road my dad had driven my sisters and mom up and down many times in their first RV - coincidentally named The Tioga.

Almost everything in Tuolumne meadows was closed. We had known this was going to be the case. The park had been clear that, due to the incredible snow over the winter, everything had been damaged beyond what they could repair in one season. This meant no visitor center and, more importantly, no general store which I was pretty sad about because it is one of the more notable stops along the trail. There’s nothing spectacular about it, just that it is the Tuolumne Store. We took a quick stop at the ranger station to see if I could get my mom a t-shirt. She had asked for one if the ranger station was open but we found it out of commission as well. We could have taken a shuttle down to the valley, but having both been there a number of times, we decided to skip it and move on.

We set out east and very soon came onto the junction with the John Muir Trail. The JMT is, arguably, as famous as the PCT. At 1/10th the length, it packs some of the greatest highlights of the PCT into 200 miles of it’s most famous dirt. It also gets A LOT of traffic. “Well, we won’t be lonely for the rest of California” I said to Amanda with a grin. We cruised due east through gorgeous meadows and eventually came alongside Lyell Fork. So many deer here. Like - we’ve seen our fair share of deer on this path but this was a biblical portion of deer, enough to stand out. The path up the Lyell Fork river valley is perfect in just about every way. It may be one of the most picturesque stretches we have been on so far. The grade is almost imperceptibly up and the scenery in every direction is awe inspiring. We cruised along, playing hopscotch with the JMTrs and day trippers, slowly lifting ourselves out of Tuolumne. The conditions were so good here we were hitting 4 mph in some places.

Late afternoon brought us to the doorstep of the first of the great passes. There are eight major passes on the JMT section of the PCT, of which Donnohue is the first. As we pulled ourselves out of the Lyell Fork cirque I started to understand the hype. First off - they are contrived, in the best possible way. Whenever I am outdoors I spend a lot of time looking up and off in the direction we are trying to go. I always like to know, generally, where we are and where we are going. When you look south, onto Donnohue, all you can see is the massive headwall of the Lyell Massif. There’s no discerning how you are going to get through - it’s insane, no picking out where to go. It’s a major contrast from the gentle, lazy climb up the valley below. The second characteristic that becomes very evident on the way up into Donohue is that these passes are manicured. On most passes along the PCT, you might notice a well placed stone or a convenient wooden step in places and be thankful for the volunteer that put it there. About halfway up Donnohue we encountered perfect stone steps, and not just 1 or 2 of them, several series of 50 to 100 perfect steps sculpted into the grade like climbing a staircase at home. At one point, about 25 steps in, I turned to Amanda with a look of disbelief on my face. She just shook her head, smiling. 

As twilight hit, we circled around the south side of a cirque with a highly instagrammable lake nestled at the bottom. It was inundated with the tents of overnighters and JMTrs. The path that had been obscured to me turned east and I could see that we were going to cross over a shoulder shooting north off Mount Lyell. We completed a huge switchback and dark set in on us as we approached Donnohue. A sign came out of the dark and we stopped to get a dark picture of ourselves exiting Yosemite. We said goodbye to the last of the great three parks in California and entered the Ansel Adams wilderness. 

A German girl sprinted past us as we made our way downhill saying she had promised to meet her friends on the south side of the pass somewhere. The manicured steps of the national park were completely absent here. Instead, huge “horse steps” met us as we made our way down. I felt so bad for Amanda as she practically had to jump down off of these. Our knees and feet, tired from 9 days under too-heavy packs, were not having it and we slowed greatly. About an hour of this and Amanda was done. 

We crash landed in a meadow, throwing the tent up in a clear spot. I got water from a small stream nearby but we didn’t even bother with dinner. We had to get to Red’s Meadow the next day by 5 pm where I had splurged for a hotel stay and shuttle pick up. “I know you are tired babe,” I said to Amanda “but we gotta be up in 5 hours.” All I got was silence as I packed up the last of our things. She had already passed out. I set my alarm clock for 3 as I looked up at the clear night sky, littered with brilliant white dots. 

Day 121: Amy Lu Round 2!!

9/14/2023

Section: Milepost 979.3 to 957.3

Total Trail Miles: 1979.9

Distance: 22.52 Miles  

Moving Time: 11:27 hrs

Elevation Gain: 5542 ft

Well, I couldn’t see it last night but we did indeed set up in paradise. I typically don’t like sleeping in river valleys. They warm and brighten up slower, but this one is stunning. Rancherita creek makes for a gorgeous cut through the otherwise solid granite of this area. 

We did our normal wake-up things, enjoying the granite throne setting we found ourselves in. One downside of this rocky terrain though - no great place to dig catholes. Yea, pretty much after I get halfway through my coffee, i’m off searching for a spot. This is not an area I want to be taken by surprise in. Anyway, we were up and on the trail just after 7 am… okay like 7:15, getting started before sunrise is really tough to do with the slightly colder mornings but we are going to have to get better at it!

The stage today starts on the Rancherita river and makes a slow, steady climb up to near the head of the river valley before turning south and crossing over Seavy Pass. In true Sierra PCT fashion it drops 1600 feet in just over two and a half miles down to the beautiful Benson Lake. Over the next 6 miles the path climbs 2500 feet, crossing between Volunteer Peak and Smedburg lake to reach Benson Pass, a tiny little notch in the impassible granite, at 11 miles in. From Benson Pass, the trail dips into the Wilson Creek drainage and circumvents the southern edge of the Quarry Peak massif. Wilson Creek joins Matterhorn Creek and the trail follows it turning northeast for a while before turning south again in a maddening seesaw motion as it gains another small pass near Miller Lake. The stage ends with a final descent off of the Miller Lake plateau and down into the Return Creek Drainage. 

I took some weight off of Amanda today to see if we could move a little bit faster and we cruised up and out of the Rancherita Creek drainage after about an hour of picking our way along the rocky path. Some days I really do miss the nice, spongy loam of the Oregon Cascades. We crossed Seavy pass around 8:30, took a quick break for “brunch” and started to wind down to Benson lake. We took another short break at the lake and enjoyed the sun as it reached above the surrounding granite peaks.

We left the welcoming shores of Benson Lake and committed to the long climb of the day up to Benson Pass. Shortly after leaving the lake we got some “encouraging” words from a guy hiking north. “Benson Pass sucks,” he said with a smile and we grumbled our thanks as we made our way uphill. We crossed a few streams near Benson Lake with the aid of some massive avalanche blowdown. It felt like hopscotch but not a game you would want to miss your next step. Falling into the snarled mess of branches and broken trunks below would have sucked but it kept our feet dry.

It was near Benson Lake that we had a second run in with our dear friend Amy Lu. Both we and she knew that we would likely run into each other in Yosemite but we didn’t know exactly where. As it happened Amy heard us up the trail and had time to hide behind a tree as we approached. All of a sudden, we saw another thru hiker making bear noises and rushing out of the trees at us. We both kinda had awkward smiles on our faces in a “what the heck is going on” reaction before realizing it was her, at which point we both laughed and rushed to give her a hug. After, we sat and talked for about an hour, taking a lunch break and relating all that had happened since we last saw her in mid-Oregon. She had been up to Washington but had run into fires and so was back in the Sierra trying to get it complete while waiting for later season to finishour home state. After about 45 minutes we decided to keep going. It’s so weird and wonderful to know that no matter how far apart we get from Amy and our other friends, at any moment we are all likely on this slim, 2600 mile long line from Mexico to Canada. Seeing Amy Lu put some spirit back in us and we both agreed she healed us as we headed on south with renewed energy!

We reached a shelf below Benson pass around noon and wound along the shores of Smedburg lake which is absolutely gorgeous. In the core summer some PCTrs take part in what is called the Ducky Challenge. This name is in reference to the icon FarOut uses to distinguish lakes and ponds along the PCT. There are some variations on this challenge but they all involve committing to a plunge in all “Ducky Delineated Bodies of Water” along certain stretches of the PCT - typically the stretch through the 3 main national parks, Kings Canyon, Sequoia and Yosemite. Given that many of the lakes we came in contact with in the early days in the first two parks were covered in snow, we were woefully behind on the Ducky Challenge, though we did pretty well in Oregon, but decided not to slow ourselves down any further here, thought it would have been an epic lake to take a dip in. 

Benson pass did indeed suck. It was a rocky, hot and steep approach to a narrow little notch in the granite. The sun was making its way down as we crested over the top and descended along Wilson creek. Here, a young guy caught up and chatted with us on the way down. His name was Paper Boat and he was from Portland. Really cool guy - the trail just keeps providing characters as we move along it. We talked about Portland and trains as we descended and what we were “reading” as we started the last ascent of the night to Miller lake. He was listening to Dr. Sleep and had lots of good things to say about it. The darkness enveloped us as we reached Miller lake which was, again, astoundingly beautiful in the twilight colors. Paper Boat decided to call it there but Amanda and I were feeling far better than we had in the last couple of days (shout out to Amy’s healing vibes) so we committed to getting to Return Creek.

We reached Return Creek maybe an hour or so after dark and crossed to get to the camp on the other side. Really cold crossing, but probably good for our swollen feet. Amanda and I both hid our hiking poles in the trees as Amy had mentioned something chewed on her grips the night before. We ate dinner and Amanda showed off some nasty purple contusions that had formed on the bottom arches of her feet. This ground is hard and brutal to walk on and it’s definitely showing, however despite that, today felt really good. I think the weight has finally broken in our packs and it’s making for easier going on these later stages. At least, that’s what I was thinking with every bite I took out of my Good-to-go freeze dried meal. We drifted off to sleep listening to the consistent gurgling of Return Creek.

Day 120: Yosemite

9/13/2023

Section: Milepost 1003.6 to 979.3 

Total Trail Miles: 1957.9

Distance: 25.6 Miles  

Moving Time: 12:43 hrs

Elevation Gain: 3777 ft

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It was chilly this morning, the nights are starting to cool down. Being at around 10,000 feet probably isn’t helping either though, to be honest. Despite the cold we were up and at it pretty early. It’s starting to get more important to start early to make the most of the shortening days. It’s nicer to hike out of the dark then into it. 

Today is an exciting one. We are finally making our way into the last of the 3 big National Parks in California - YOSEMITE! I grew up in California and have been to Yosemite probably 30-40 times in my life but this will be the first time hiking across it. I feel like it’s been pulling us south since we crossed the border and today is the day we will finally cross into the northern boundary. 

The stage today starts with a 5 mile climb out of Walker Meadows, briefly following the West Fork of the West Walker River before turning east slightly and winding through a series of low hill tops and small lakes. The climb tops out at 9500 feet at the border of the park through Dorothy Lake Pass. From the pass the path makes a long descent, taking about half the day and dropping 1500 feet in 10 miles, following Falls Creek the whole way to where it bottoms out at Wilma Lake. The PCT then begins a steep climb, crossing Tilden Canyon creek and climbing to a saddle about 1000 feet above the lake then descending that same 1000 feet down into Thompson Canyon. The trail repeats this fun little undulation to go over another saddle and get into the Karrick canyon which it commits itself to for the rest of the stage, eventually coming to a rest beside Rancheria Canyon for the evening.

Amanda got a quick start this morning, out ahead of me by about ten minutes. I crossed the sketchy bridge which, despite its twisted metal nature, felt pretty solid. The older couple from Old Station were just behind me and so followed me when I took a clandestine wrong turn only a few minutes into the day. Upper Long Lake Trail crosses the PCT near where we camped for the night and after crossing the creek I got a little high on myself and decided not to check my phone for directions. My battery isn’t exactly low but we don’t know if we will get a recharge in Tuolumne Meadows, so we aren’t using electronics if we don’t have to. The GoalZero doesn’t seem to be even trying to charge off solar anymore, which is truly upsetting. Anyway, about 5 minutes down the trail I ran into some blowdown which seemed a little off for the PCT and decided to do a double check. I also hadn’t run into Amanda and she wasn’t that far ahead of me. I quickly discovered my error and turned around to head back, tipping off the old couple as I went by them. Point one for Amanda, or at least, I was really hoping she had gone the right way.

I caught up to her about ten minutes later as the trail wound through a series of gorgeous lakes. The sights just keep getting more epic. I let Amanda know what a strong and intelligent woman she was for not getting tricked by the trail crossing. I was also very relieved because I wasn't sure until I saw her that she had not kept on going down the other trail. We crossed into the park at 9:40 - that’s right, I checked my watch for this one, and were treated to an incredible granite basin view of Dorothy Lake. We stopped at a granite shelf overlooking the lake and had a mid-morning snack and snapped a picture in front of the boundary sign before carrying on.

I can’t really say all that it means to me to be back in this park. As I said, way back in this blog, I grew up in Salinas and my parents brought me up here almost every year. I remember getting to leave school early on a Friday, getting in the camper and making our way up to Tuolumne meadows or somewhere nearby in the park. Of all the spots on the trail, even in the North Cascades, this park is probably the one I have spent the most time in. It felt, in no small way, like coming home and a huge smile spread across my face as we made our way down Falls Creek thinking about all the great memories I have here.

The descent down Falls Creek is incredibly mellow… almost annoyingly slow. I have to admit that, given an option for grade I would almost always pick a slight uphill. Like, almost imperceptible uphill - those are the perfect grades and I gotta give it to Oregon, because that entire stage had the most. In any case, we headed down… and down… and down. Falls creek was gorgeous and so still that you could readily pick out the sleek brown outlines of trout making their way through the pools. We saw almost nobody as we cruised down through the lush green river valley around Falls creek. “This is annoyingly pleasant,” I quipped to Amanda as we made our way out of the morning and into the afternoon. 

Eventually we made it to Wilma Lake where we took another break. I think I can honestly say this place has me at a loss for words. I’m tired of finding synonyms for gorgeous and beautiful and awe inspiring but everywhere you look you are surrounded by paradise. No other way to say it. Shortly after leaving Wilma lake we crossed Tilden Canyon creek. The creek crossings are now much more manageable than when we were here in July but the mosquitos… those are terrible. Got a great video of Amanda crossing the creek and then we began a series of two ridge crossings, each a thousand feet up and down. The granite here makes for these canyons running south to north in this section of the park and you have to kinda skip across them which is super annoying. Adding to my annoyance was the fact that the bottom of my foot arches are killing me. The trails here are very hard packed and in a lot of places you are just walking on rock so I think I'm still adjusting to it. The good news is that the packs are lighter which is helpful. 

We crossed the second saddle and descended into Kerrick Canyon as the light began to fail on us. We turned due east after the descent and started making our slow climb up Rancheria creek in the dark. We were pretty battered given the late day altitude gain and Amanda eventually asked that we call it. I had located a few options on FarOut up ahead that I thought would work and directed us to the nearest one. Probably for the best because the headlamps won’t last forever.

We stopped on a beautiful granite outcropping overlooking Rancherita creek. Or, at least, I think it was beautiful. In the dark I really couldn’t see anything. We made some ramen for dinner, adding packs of chicken to it, and ate, commenting on the day. We are 5 days into an 8 day stretch and are pretty fatigued. The packs are lighter now but they’ve taken a toll as we hauled them into the high country of the Sierra. We are sleeping in more and our speed has dropped to around 2.3 miles an hour. If you are targeting 25 miles days this starts to almost take more hours then there is light, not to mention that we are sleeping in a bit more. Add to that, most of our electronics are starting to die and we still have 3 days to go. Hoping we can charge in Tuolumne meadows, but we will see. 

All-in-all though, it’s great to be in Yosemite. It was a gorgeous day and we are both so excited to be here. As with all tough days on the PCT, a fresh start is just one sleep away and we passed out pretty easily looking forward to another day in the granite paradise.

Day 119: Sonora pass

9/12/2023

Section: Milepost 1027.2 to 1003.6

Total Trail Miles: 1933.6

Distance: 23.6 Miles  

Moving Time: 10:56 hrs

Elevation Gain: 4797 ft

We made an attempt to get up early this morning but… fell back asleep. The packs are finally feeling lighter but all the up and down at the end of yesterday and the low light that filtered into this river canyon lulled us back to sleep so… we didn’t get started ‘till about 7:15.

The route today takes us up to the edge of Yosemite national park. The stage begins by making a slow ascent up into the cirque of the East Fork of the Carson River and climbing out of it over a saddle on the east side of Sonora Peak. Here the PCT crosses out of the Carson-Iceberg wilderness and into the Stanislaus National forest while rounding south, around Sonora Peak and down to Sonora Pass (Hwy 108). After crossing the pass, the trail picks back up and climbs the north head of a ridge running up to Levitt Peak and passes it on the east side before running southeast and eventually dropping off the ridge and winding into a large cirque draining into the West Fork of the West Walker River. The stage ends on the river near Upper and Lower Lang lake. 

Despite the touch-and-go morning we were eventually up and running. Today was day 4 of a continuous stretch of 8 and the packs were starting to feel a bit better. At least, shouldering them didn’t feel like putting another person on your back anymore. We started our slow climb up and out of the river valley, climbing over 2500 feet in the first 5 miles. If we needed any other signs that we were back in the Sierra - this was it. Long, steady climbs that delivered you up over 10,000 feet. This was basically a summit bid day on Mt. Baker back home but instead of leading you to a summit, we were deposited out onto some nondescript saddle on the east shoulder of Sonora peak - a mountain that stood another 1000 or so feet above that! 

On the way up, Amanda picked up a trail maintenance helmet visor. We eventually tracked down the guy who had dropped it near the top and returned it to him, which he was very thankful for. At the saddle we relaxed for a while, taking in the views. I could pick the PCT out on the north facing ridge across the pass and pointed it out to Amanda before we continued on. We traversed the shoulder and found ourselves looking at a long descent down to Sonora pass. Begrudgingly, we gave up all the good elevation we had gained and cruised down the south side. The trail was in pretty bad shape in spots, and would have been downright harrowing to traverse in the deep snow. I tried not to think about that as we sank down to Sonora Pass.

At the pass, we stopped at the trailhead parking lot. I finished off my Fritos which made me sad. I’ve never been a fan of Fritos but out here, I’m loving them. They have a recipe on the back that makes my eyes roll into the back of my head every time I take them out of my pack. They call it a Frito pie and it's just basically Fritos, Chili, Sour Cream, and everything else you would have on a table set for a Sunday Football watch party. I’ve gotten a little misty-eyed every time I’ve brought them out and now I have to throw the bag away. Super sad. We relaxed at the vacant parking lot for a bit before making good use of the trash can and toilet. Sonora Pass would typically be where most thru-hikers pop out to the other Kennedy Meadows (Kennedy Meadows North) for resupply. This is a long stretch, made even longer because the store at Tuolumne meadows is closed but we’ve prepped for it and have 4 days more worth of food to get through Yosemite, so we carried on. 

We climbed for what seemed like forever out of Sonora Pass. It was only 1000 feet but after the morning’s climb we were a bit taxed. At the top we ran into another group of PCT’rs coming out of Kennedy Meadows North. We talked to them for a bit near the top but eventually carried on. The wind was really whipping and the feel of this area was a bit of a Cascade throw-back with lots of lava rock. We crossed through a very defined saddle which opened onto a large, scree-filled basin with a small lake 4-500 feet below. We circled the top of the basin before climbing a moderate snowfield on the southeastern flanks of Leavitt peak. It’s crazy that snow has survived here into mid-September. A little further on we were delivered to the south end of Leavitt ridge and treated to an amazing view into Yosemite. A solid mass of granite dotted with trees as far as the eye could see. “That’s the park,” I said to Amanda and we smiled at each other, both excited to get into, arguably, the most notable park on the whole trail. 

From the ridge we dropped down 2000 feet into Walker Meadows. The sun set on us. It’s doing that pretty much every night now, but eventually we arrived on the banks of the West Fork of the West Walker River where we took a quick peek at the bridge that was supposedly damaged by the harsh 2023 winter. Amanda got to setting up Josh and Maddy’s Kelty while I collected water and got dinner started. There were a couple tents nearby which was nice to see and we chatted for a while as we enjoyed our Peak Refuel dehydrated meals. We stayed up a bit after, looking up at the crystal clear skies and enjoying the stars before crawling into the tent and falling asleep - excited to cross into Yosemite the next day.

Day 118: Chipmunk Trail Magic

9/11/2023

Section: Milepost 1050.2 to 1027.2

Total Trail Miles: 1910

Distance: 23 Miles  

Moving Time: 10:20 hrs

Elevation Gain: 4386 ft

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I scared some ducks this morning. I was just walking to fill up some water and there was a pair of ducks near the lake edge. One was really working on getting something out of the lake floor and wasn’t paying attention. I swear it’s friend swam up and whispered in its ear like “hey, we gotta get out of here!” and then it noticed me and they took off. Might not seem like much but it put a smile on my face! 

We enjoyed a bit of a slower breakfast on a rock outcropping overlooking Kinney reservoir - absolutely gorgeous. The granite basins are amazing up here. After enjoying the views for a bit we headed south. The time was about 7:30 and we were looking forward to inching ever closer to Yosemite! 

The stage today starts above Kinney Reservoir and on the north slopes of Ebbet’s peak before crossing Ebbet’s Pass (Highway 4) and descending down to the head of Noble Canyon where the trail climbs 1000 feet in a little over a mile to the stage’s highpoint on a saddle just east of Tyron Peak where…it descends again to Lower Gardner Meadow. A lot of really annoying up and down today. From the meadow the trail picks up along the north side of a ridge capped by Arnot peak and crosses Wolf Creek at about the halfway point before climbing over the ridge and dropping down the south side. The path meanders through a grouping of little hills passing below boulder creek and eventually dropping, at the end of the stage, into a large north-south running feature called White Canyon.

So, I've been working on my Suunto watch for a while now and am just realizing it has a “trekking” workout which I like a lot better. Hiking is nice but i think it’s meant for like 2-3 hour jaunts where your mile time is important. I prefer knowing mph while hiking - it makes it easier to extrapolate when you will go a certain distance. Trekking just seems to be a way better feature for all day hiking - gunna be my go-to from here on out. We hiked a little bit down the trail, me still thinking about my duck encounter, before we reached Ebbet’s Pass (Hwy 4) and there we ran into some Trail Magic! A truly wonderful older guy had set his car up on the side of Hwy 4 and had a nice tent covering his kitchen where he served eggs with chili and like 30 different hot sauces. I didn’t get to try them all but the ones I had were excellent. We sat and chatted with “Chipmunk” who runs this trail magic spot as part of a co-op with a few other people for about 45 minutes. At one point he mentioned one of the other people who comes to trail angel every once in a while brings a pizza oven - which, gotta say, would be spectacular to run into as a hungry hiker! After we had gotten some charge out of his GoalZero Yeti and were filled up we thanked Chipmunk profusely and headed on down the trail.

Today passed fairly uneventfully. There is so much gorgeous granite everywhere, I keep tripping looking up and around. The Carson River valley which we passed towards the end of the day, is immaculate, but that is also where the annoying up and down really started. It was about here that I finished the book I had been listening to - “Why Fish Don’t Exist” by Lulu Miller. Amazing book which blended nicely with all day hiking. 

Eventually the sun set and we walked into the dark for a bit until we found some nice flat spots on the East Fork of the Carson River. I definitely prefer camping up high than in river valleys. The river is nice to have nearby but it's darker earlier and for longer in the morning. We had dinner and climbed into the tent shortly after finishing up. It was a bit of an exhausting day but running into trail magic always lifts the spirits!

Day 117: Return of the Sandy

9/10/2023

Section: Milepost 1074.4 to 1050.2

Total Trail Miles: 1887 Miles

Distance: 24 Miles  

Moving Time: 10:48 hrs 

Elevation Gain: 4,081 ft

Click here for current location

Was a bit chilly this morning. Okay, not that chilly, but enough that I put my puffy pants on! Pro tip out there - puffy pants? CBTM. Light weight, compressible and super warm - these things are made for cold mornings! They will get you out of bed.

Anyway, we were up and at it around 6:30 this morning, headed south towards highway 4. The route today begins by climbing out of the shallow bowl we slept in last night, eventually gaining the eastern shores of Lost Lake East and West before passing under “The Nipple” - yea, can’t make these names up. The trail then descends to Blue Lakes road, crosses it and bottoms out at Tamarack lake in an area densely populated by little lakes. From here, the stage climbs past Wet Meadows Reservoir and reaches a local peak on the east side of Raymond Peak - shout out to my lil’ brother-in-law. At roughly 20 miles in, the PCT crosses Eagle Creek and passes into the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest before circumventing Upper Kinney Lake. The day ends at Sherrod Lake with a great view down to Kinney Reservoir. 

We were off like a shot this morning. The trail was pretty clear so we made good time. Before long, though, we started to run into, of all things, avalanche damage. We crossed below some eastern facing ridges and ran into the tell tale signs of deep winter avalanches. Trees criss-crossed the trail and we were slowed as we picked our way through. We did hear a sound we hadn’t encountered in quite a while - the unearthly scream of a PIKA! Amanda turned back and grinned at me upon hearing the sound. These little varmints are the absolute best to come upon out here.

Near Lower Sunset Lake we ran into a character we hadn’t seen in a long time. Sandy our PotHead Pal and her owner…who’s name I honestly can’t remember - doubt he can either. You may remember that on day 37 Amanda and I hiked the LA Viaduct and encountered a mystical character that was attempting to plot a course parallel to the PCT which allowed hiking with your dog. You may also remember that character being dumbstruck when we turned down his incredibly large bag of weed. Yes, this was the same guy. Seems as though he had made his way out of the lowlands of California and may have gotten through the Sierra. We said hi but he…didn’t remember us, which wasn’t too surprising. I gave Sandy a pat on the head and we chatted for a while before heading our separate ways. 

The bags are heavy. I know I said this yesterday but DAMN they are brutal. Even with our nice Gregory suspensions this weight is killing us. It will get better but for now, it’s a load. We passed by Kinney lakes in the late afternoon. Gorgeous view down on both of them. I know we are out of the Cascades, but there is still a little holding on out here and there. The wind is howling through this section, compressed by the ridges which made for a bit of a battering as we made our way towards Sherrod lakes. Found a spot on their banks and set up our camp close to dark. We are starting to lose light - it’s not super evident yet but it’s not June anymore either. 

Upon arrival I got some water and made dinner while Amanda set up the tents. I tried a new freeze-dried meal tonight. Mountain House’s “Adoba Bowl.” Not bad, not my favorite though and any weight out of the bag is good. We are alone here, on the banks of Sherrod Lakes, which is nice but also a little lonely. It’s weird knowing there are hikers all around but we are just spread out enough not to see one another. After dinner we cleaned up and I walked the bear canisters a good 50 yards away. We talked and read a little bit before passing out under a clear night of stars.

Day 116: Return to the Core Sierra

9/9/2023

Section: Milepost 1091.3 to 1074.4

Total Trail Miles: 1862.8

Distance: 16.9 Miles  

Moving Time: 07:50 hrs

Elevation Gain: 3630 ft

Click here for current location

Today was a NERO day. We definitely got some good time on the trail but weren’t in a huge hurry. In the morning we got up and got packed…well, Amanda got packed. Some of us were already packed… It’s getting a lot easier to get things together after a ZERO or NERO day. In the early weeks on the trail, after a break and spreading all our stuff out, there was always some degree of terror related to ensuring that everything that came out of the bag went back in. Now, after over 100 days on the trail, slimming down the total number of items we carry with us and an extreme familiarity with those few items, there is far less consternation about making sure we have everything. Still, there’s really no certainty until night one when you go to set everything up. 

Once we were all packed, Evan and Aria (the dog, who is still really not comfortable with my existence on this earth) loaded up with us and we made one more stop down to the bagel place, Bagelworks, for a final civilized meal. Our next segment was an 8 day sprint to Mammoth Lakes, so we enjoyed our last bit of civilization before heading back up to Lake Tahoe on I-50. 

Full disclosure here, we didn’t start exactly where we left off. I-50 crosses the PCT about half a mile down from Echo Lake and this is where we actually started - no big deal though it was all downhill anyway. We got out of the car and made use of the wonderful USFS pit toilet in the parking lot before getting our Industrial Athlete warm-ups in, which Evan watched in amusement and then the 4 of us set off up the hill.

I can honestly say we are back into the core Sierra. The path today picks up south of Echo Lake at the parking lot for Adventure Mountain Lake Tahoe and commits to a steep climb, gaining 1300 feet in just under 3 miles. Along the way it passes Benwood Meadow and winds its way up the backside of Mt. Ralston Ski resort. From the top of the climb the PCT flattens out a bit as it meanders along a ridgeline, dipping and gaining a bit through saddles towards Little Round Top mountain. At 6 miles in, the path ducks down the east side of Little Round Top and completes a very large switchback to pass below Showers Lake. Just past the lake the day’s stage bottoms out before starting a climb up to a nameless pass and down to I-88 at Carson Pass. Shortly after the highway the trail passes into Mokelumne Wilderness and climbs east around the “Elephants Back” settling for the day just above Forestdale Creek. 

Evan and Aria walked the first 3 miles with us, all the way to Bryan Meadow where we took a few pictures with them and said our goodbyes. The day was gorgeous. Late summer sun illuminated the giant granite boulders that were strewn practically everywhere you looked. The walking was less pleasant. Eight days of food weighed heavy on us as we completed the climb up from I-55 but we were happy to be back on the trail and I was loving my fresh set of kicks. 

At about lunch time we ran into another hiker from Israel. Think we had seen him in some earlier stages but not 100% sure. There was this beautiful moment that I will never forget where he was just getting back onto the trail after a short break as we passed him. He attempted to step out in front of Amanda expecting her to yield but she didn’t immediately which precipitated this incredible moment of pure awkwardness. It is rare and wonderful, in this day and age, where we are all so good at eliminating these uncomfortable situations from our lives to witness such a raw and human moment. Just precious. 

Anyway, we hiked in proximity to the Israeli for a while. On the backside of the Elephant's Back we saw our first marmot. Super chubby - couldn’t miss him. Eventually we settled down at a small, established campsite just past a little drainage which provided water. We set up Josh and Maddy’s tent, which is quite a bit larger than the old Copper Spur, and got dinner going. Out south of us about 100 miles or so a huge lightning storm was tearing the sky apart. We thought of our many friends who we knew were deeper into the Sierra and hoped they were okay. We ate dinner with the Israeli guy who was nice and fun to talk with. He was carrying a Ukulele but did not play it, which I was fine with. Don’t need to hear Wonderwall this evening. After dinner we headed to the new, very large tent and passed out, glad to be back on the trail and in the Sierra. 

Me, Amanda, Aria and Evan at Bryan Meadows

Day 115: Placerville ZERO Day

9/8/2023

Section: Milepost 1093.4 to 1093.4

Total Trail Miles: 1846/2650 

Distance: 0.00 Miles  

Moving Time: 00:00 hrs

Elevation Gain: 0 ft

Click here for current location

Today was our 0-day in Placerville. It’s been 40 days since our last Zero day, I believe, back at Elk Lake in Oregon. We’ve been avoiding these since they kinda throw off the groove but needed a full day to get our collective “shit” together and Hanna and Evan were nice enough to help us out there. 

Both had to head into work early so we woke to an empty house and walked down to Bagerlworks in downtown Placerville for some doughy deliciousness. About 15 minutes brought us down into a beautiful old town. We ordered our bagels and sat outside in the glorious sun, enjoying the warmth after an eleven day stretch that had included no small amount of rain. After bagels we headed back to Hanna and Even’s place. We had a few things that we needed to do today. Amanda got to cleaning our gear while I handled a few tent-related things. Our dear friends Josh and Maddy had sent their backpacking tent from Seattle to Placerville so i got it out and set it up to make sure everything was in good working order. The big green Kelty was about twice the weight of our compromised Big Agnes but it would do. Everything seemed to be in order from the stakes to the poles so i packed it back up and set it beside the rest of our stuff. Back around Belden i had finally worked out a replacement plan for our Copper Spur, they had decided that just replacing the rainfly would be more difficult than replacing the whole tent and had decided to send us a brand new Copper Spur - big shout out to Big Agnes! Given shipping and everything else, it had looked like they might be able to send it to Placerville for our rendezvous but they couldn’t guarantee that it would make it in time so, instead, we decided to take Josh and Maddy’s Kelty through the Sierra and get our new Copper Spur in Portland on our final flip back up. I packed up the old Copper Spur in a box and prepped for shipping back to Steamboat, CO for recycling. 

The other big thing we were attempting to do today was to get our International Crossing permit into Canada. Sometime in the last month we had heard that Canada had reopened the crossing to Manning Park on foot and that we could now apply for our permits. Like many other classic government things though, the process was not easy. Instead of some kind of online portal we had to print out the forms, sign them and email them to the Canadian government with copies of our ID’s. We took a little time today to prep that all out and Evan was nice enough to print the forms at work and bring them home to us. About an hour before he got home, however, he called to let us know that Hannah had tested positive for COVID and that she was going to stay at her parents home to avoid getting us sick. We were sad to hear about her condition but she assured us that she was doing well but sad she wouldn’t be able to drop us at the trail the next day.

When Even got home, he took us to a print and scan place to mail the old Copper Spur and a few other things as well as scan our ID’s and entry permit applications. Didn’t feel great scanning a document with as much personal information as my permit had at some random Print and Scan shop in Placerville but i guess, at this point, all my information has probably been compromised anyway. Afterwards, we went to a sporting goods store to grab some gas and then to Solid Ground brewing to try a few beers. The day was super nice so we sat outside and talked with Evan and a few strangers who’s kids had done the PCT in 2022. At around 4 we headed back to the house and had dinner before chatting with Evan for a while and clocking another good sleep on an amazing mattress.

Been a long road from Creater Lake so glad to get some new kicks before headed into the Sierra!

These feet definitly needed some downtime!

Little pick-me-up from the Waldo Parents!

Day 114: Not So Desolate Wilderness

9/7/2023

Section: Milepost 1121.4 to 1093.4

Total Trail Miles: 1846/2650 

Distance: 28.71 Miles  

Moving Time: 12:23 hr

Elevation Gain: 4,564 ft

Today was a juge day. We had randomly been connected with some wonderful people in Placerville via a mutual friend of Amanda’s named Katelynn Barnes who had hosted PCT hikers before and were excited to host us. We had agreed with them to meet at Lower Echo Lake today, in the evening. Now, the only thing that stood between us after 9 days on the trail and a car ride to a mattress was 28 miles so… we were stoked but knew we had a long way to go.

The stage today is defined by a high point at Dick’s Pass (yea - can’t make these names up). It starts by circumventing Sourdough hill and passing the western shore of Richardson Lake (White Man Names, amiright) before ascending to gain a ridge across the lower flanks of Lost Corner Mountain. Once on the ridge, the stage continues its solemn climb up and up towards the pass. Along the way, it skirts the shores of Middle Velma, Upper Velma and Fontanallis lake. Oh, don’t forget Dick’s lake - yea, the pass and the lake are named after this dick. Once Dick’s Pass is mounted, the path drops precipitously across the upper basin of Half Moon Lake before curling down to Susie Lake. Susie lake starts a long chain of lakes, including Heather and Aloha, before the trail drops out of the lake basin, past Upper and Lower Echo lakes and eventually deposits weary PCT hikers out at the Lower Echo Lake trailhead. Did I say lake enough?

We woke up at five which, even for us, is a little early, but we knew we had a long way to go and a rendezvous with an actual mattress later this evening so, we were pumped. We shot down some breakfast with a little coffee before getting our things packed up. As we packed we talked with our herb-loving, Canadian neighbors about the PCT. They were hiking it but we hadn’t run into them before so we exchanged beta about everything they had coming ahead as well as what we had coming downtrail before heading on out. 10 minutes before 7 we were on our way, making quick work of the gorgeous trail lined out before us. 

The Desolation Wilderness is poorly named. As one of the crown jewel wildernesses of California, it gets a lot of love - and rightly so. The area is pock-marked by quintessential high-Sierra lakes nestled at the bottom of centerfold-worthy granite basins so, it was not a surprise when we ran into a group heading north through the wilderness, early in the morning and then continued to do so for the rest of the day. We wound our way up along Richardson lake in the early morning light. The trail was smooth but I was a little worried about running into a bear since we were so quiet. Crazy that we have walked over 1800 miles and not seen a single, brown-furred buddy. We’ve run into plenty of bears hiking in the past, but none yet on the PCT, however, we had heard that, if we were going to see one, the area around Tahoe would be the place. 

We continued on, reaching our first string of lakes at Velma and peered jealously at the first of many tents set up on idyllic granite shelves, their inhabitants still fast asleep inside. This would be the first of many instances where we found ourselves envious of the flexibility that comes with weekend backpacking. After leaving Dick’s lake behind, we climbed steeply, running into some cheery Tahoe Rimmer’s on our way up and were on top around 1 pm where we took the opportunity to eat lunch and film the epic climax of our sprint up Dick’s pass. 

After about 30 antic-filled minutes, we started to descend. Dick’s was the first place I had gotten decent reception in a few days so I sent out a text to our mutual friends in Placerville and gave them my best estimate of our arrival time. Hannah texted me back saying they would be there and we began our descent. I also let her know that my phone was going out on me. Everything is dead - my phone, the power pack, headphones. Nine days is a long time to go without a decent charge and I'm pretty sure my little solar panel is toast as well.

On the south side of Dicks, things started to get rocky - like literally, the trail became a chaotic mess of marble size stones that slowed our progress waaaay down. This section is right up there with the Marble Wilderness for trail difficulty and brought our moving average down to less than a mile an hour in some places. I love these trail runners for hiking but they do not soak up stones like a pair of boots can - still worth the trade-off though. We are really in the core Desolation wilderness now and these lakes are GORGEOUS! Amongst the granite outcroppings tons of tents started popping up - vibrant reds and oranges amongst the beige granite. At one point I got another note out to Hannah indicating we would be about an hour behind, which she indicated would not be a problem as we sprinted along the eastern banks of Aloha lake. By the time we departed from the south end of Echo lake we were crawling. Nine days ending in a marble strewn mess of trail will really take it out of you.

The sun set on us as we made our way past Echo lake, serpentining around homes built up on the lower banks of the lake. Car headlights beckoned us on and eventually we were down to the parking lot, making our way across man-made bridges over fish laters. It was at this moment that a black, bushy dog ran up to me barking and I heard a guy farther up the trail yelling “Aria, Aria, ARIA!!” He recognized us as he came around a turn and waved as Amanda said hello to the excitable Aria. He introduced himself as Hannah’s husband, Evan and asked, with a smile, if we were looking for a ride. We laughed and introduced ourselves and said sorry and thank you half a dozen times before starting a short walk back to the car. At the car we said hello to Hannah and apologized for how bad we were sure we smelled before getting into their car and speeding down I-50 back to Placerville. Along the way we talked, getting to know each other. Hannah was a local librarian and Evan worked for the local government with marijuana growers in the area on permitting. About 50 minutes brought us down the gentle west side of the Sierra and into the lower foothills where we stopped to get late night drive-through Mexican. It was exactly what we needed when we got back to Hannah and Evan’s place, where they said there was still a chance we might see a bear as there had been a local one pillaging the garbage cans.

After our Mexican dinner, Amanda went for a shower and I talked with Hannah and Evan. We found out then that Aria was not a fan of me in the slightest but curious enough to still investigate the chances of friendship. After Amanda was done with her shower I took mine before passing out on a wonderfully soft bed, my bruised and battered feet finally getting a chance to do some repair and so looking for a 0-day in Placerville.

Day 113: Tahoe Lake

9/6/2023

Section: Milepost 1148.3 to 1121.4

Total Trail Miles: 1818/2650

Distance: 28.11 Miles

Moving Time: 11:43 hrs

Elevation Gain: 4,429 ft

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Today, the great, blue lake Tahoe came into sight. I have to say, as a native born Californian, I am a little ashamed to admit that this was my first, conscious sighting of this great, beautiful, blue expanse. None-the-less, we were happy to see it, because it marked another step closer to the core Sierra that we were quickly approaching from the north. 

Today’s route continues on the ridge we had gained the day before out of the Donner Ski ranch, headed south. We started by circumnavigating the west side of Anderson Peak, then the east side of Tinker Knob (what a name) from which we began a 3.5 mile, 1200 foot descent into the North Fork of the American River. From the river we climbed back up - another 1200 feet - to the east flank of Granite Chief, crossing under some lifts in the upper reaches of The Palisades ski resort and crossing into the Tahoe National Forest. This precipitated another descent, larger this time, 1500 feet into the Whiskey Creek basin before regaining another ridge on the western reaches of Ward Peak, crossing under some more lifts within the Palisades Ski area boundary. For 5 miles, the route stays at a consistent elevation until Twin Peaks, where it drops down to the North Fork river and climbs back up to 8250’. Here, the day’s stage makes a final, major descent, around Barker Peak, to Miller Creek where we stopped for the night, just short of the Desolation Wilderness.

This morning was a slow start. I know I've said that a few times but our bodies definitely needed a good rechard the night after our first 30+ day… and the Micky’s. We woke around 6:30 and began getting ready for the day. At over 100 days in, we have this down pat. Someone usually makes breakfast while the other person rolls up the tent. We have been living with a broken zipper on my side for over 2 weeks now and I am so looking forward to getting our buddy Josh (and Maddy’s) tent in Placerville here in 2 days while we coordinate the delivery of our waterproof replacement from Big Agnes. 

By 7:30, we were up and walking. The days are getting shorter after their pinnacle in late June but it’s still difficult to tell. We walked a bit before crossing behind the west side of Anderson Peak. Couldn’t help but think how nice it might have been to go a few extra miles last night to get to some official campsites on the southwest side, but, whateve’s. The pace was slow. A lot of up-and-down as we made our way along the ridge. The views west and east were gorgeous as we traversed along the highline and at around 8:30 am, the lake came into view. “There it is!'' I exclaimed as we rounded a low hill. “Whoa,'' Amanda said as she looked up. We picked a small, granite shelf to set up the GoPro and snap some pictures. It was SO BLUE! “That’s gorgeous,'' I said and Amanda agreed. We sat and finished off some BBQ Fritos - new favorite - before helping each other get back into our backpacks and carrying on. 

At noon, after passing under some ski lifts, we stopped at the Middle Fork of the American River and filtered water. The Sawyer is still holding its own and I have been carefully backashing it in hopes that we don’t have another Northern California incident. We had a quick snack of trail mix and a new bag of Kettle Chips before continuing on down and back up. While I'm glad to be back in the Sierra, the up and down is brutal. It reminds me of my home mountains, the North Cascades, where every trailhead sits at the bottom of a several-thousand foot climb up to some ridge or peak. The concept of flat is lost on most of the west coast. As we passed into another section of the Palisades Ski Resort we ran into, for the third time, the European/mid-West group we had first met crossing into Sequoia National park on Day 50 and then again just south of Ashland on day 86. We stopped and said hi to them as they were snacking. Never having been great conversationalists, they didn’t have much to say but were happy to see us. We spent a little time discussing the last 50 days and exchanging beta before wishing each other good luck and continuing our separate ways. 

Shortly after, we went into audiobook mode. I continued my book, Assembling America, and saturated myself in the deep geological history of California. It really is a fantastic state for so many reasons. I found out today that Placerville, the town where we were staying with some friends of friends, was named as such for the many gold deposits found in stream beds in the local rivers throughout the area so, yea, prepared to stun our hosts with that geographically significant fact when we see them tomorrow.

In the afternoon we sped up significantly - probably due to the generally downhill nature of the later stages. This really is a gorgeous trail. In the afternoon, we also started running into the TR (Tahoe Rim) hikers who, in some cases, were setting up their tents at 4 pm. We passed by, a little jealous of the early stop many of them were able to afford on their timeline. As we continued on, the English guy we had last seen in Sierra City passed us and we stopped to chat for a while before he headed on out ahead of us.

We walked on…and on. Eventually, we passed through a parking lot which marked a popular entry into the Desolation Wilderness and talked to an older guy with a very prominent and sunburnt nose for a few minutes. Eventually the sun set, as it is now more regularly doing on us. 

We continued on, a little nervous, because Tahoe Lake was supposed to be big black bear country. We have both seen our fair share of bears backpacking but hiking at night always ups the fear factor a bit. Eventually we found our target campsite, on the banks of Miller Creek, and stumbled around until we found a good, flat pad to set-up the tent. We tried to not wake up more than a few of our neighbors as we did so. I ate a pretty terrible Backpacker’s Pantry Sante Fe bowl but an excellent Belchin’ Beaver IPA more than made up for it before I stuffed our minimal remaining food stores into the bear canister and walked it a good 50 yards away before making my way back to the tent. The smell of reefer wafted over to our tent from the nearby neighbors as Amanda and I passed out after another epic Sierra day. 

Day 112: 40’s for 30

9/5/2023

Section: Milepost 1178.3 to 1148.3

Total Trail Miles: 1791/2650

Distance: 30.65 Miles  

Moving Time: 12:06 hrs

Elevation Gain: 4898 ft

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BIGGEST MILEAGE ON THE TRAIL SO FAR!!! So cool to get over 30 miles, and we WORKED at it! This section is absolutely gorgeous and the first day that I can say, without a doubt, we are firmly in the Sierra. 

The path today starts from the saddle we ended at the night before at the head of Jones Valley and proceeds south-southeast. The first 12 miles is composed of a maddening up and down between 7600 and 8200 feet. At 4.4 miles in, the path turns distinctly east and passes through Lacey Creek Campground at Meadow Lake Road before climbing back up the nose of a northeast running ridge and continuing on east. At around 10 miles, the PCT passes below the quintessential granite cirque of White Rock Lake before turning south and climbing up to the day’s high point below Basin Peak. From this highpoint, the trail descends rapidly down to I-80 through a shrubby basin riddled with beautiful white granite boulders. The PCT crosses I-80 near Boreal Mountain Resort and continues south, serpentining through more gorgeous granite. At Donner Pass Road the day’s route bottoms out before making a heroic climb out of Donner Pass, skirting the boundary of Sugar Ski Bowl and following a ridge south to Anderson Peak where the stage ends.

Today was an exciting day because we were going to get to Donner Ski Ranch and that meant FREE BEER so, we were up and getting ready around 5:30 am - the sun already getting up and about. I enjoyed some oatmeal and a hot coffee before we rounded up our things and set off. The early part of the day passed without too much incident. The granite was starting to become common and the air was really starting to smell differently as we truly entered the high sierra. The other giveaway that we were starting to get into the true Sierra was the elevation. We hadn’t seen days that stuck around in the mid-7000’s since we had left this area earlier in the summer. 

We hiked throughout the morning discussing how well we were sleeping and how nice it was to be consistently dry. Eventually we topped out near Basin Peak and stopped to eat some lunch. The day was sunny and the perfect temperature for hiking. On restarting we decided to go to headphones for some books on tape. I have just started reading “Assembling California,” by John McPhee, which is a perfect book to be reading right now because it is all about the geological formation of California. It’s so perfect that, about 20 minutes down the trail, just as John starts recounting the beginning of his geological trip across California at Truckee on I-80, I-80 came into sight! We wound our way down to the big road through a gorgeous open basin riddled with giant, white granite boulders. Along the way I started to see lizards again which had been gone too long from our trail days. We passed a few day hikers along the way who gave us a wave and kept going, stopping a few times to marvel at the big ‘ol Foxtail pines that had, seemingly, sprung up out of nowhere. 

The path paralleled I-80 for a while but eventually passed under it before undulating its way through small alpine lakes and giant boulder fields, then passing under some well bolted crags and dropping down to Donner Pass Road. Here, we excitedly turned onto the road and sprinted up to Donner Ski Ranch. The excitement here was not only the chance to get a great burger but, also, a free 40 oz Mickey’s! That’s right, show your PCT permit at the Donner Ski Ranch and you get 40 free ounces of malt liquor! We arrived at the Donner Ski ranch in the mid-late afternoon and dropped our stuff on the porch before entering, ordering our burgers and getting our ice cold drinks. We sat on the deck while waiting for our food, marveling at the change of scenery in front of us. It really was incredible to see the Cascades give away to a very different landscape and it felt so good to be inching our way back to where we had bailed what seemed like ages before. 

Eventually our burgers came and we scarfed them down. I put a good dent in my Mickeys before deciding another burger was in order. Amanda agreed and we ordered two more. After we were done with them we discussed how much further we had in us. We agreed we could do 7 more to get to 30 and red-shouldering our packs and heading on out. We hiked back down Donner Pass Road and turned right, back onto the PCT, and started another stout grade up under the Mount Judah Express rising from Sugar Bowl Resort. We climbed and climbed, eventually passing under Mt. Judah and serpentined along a ridge towards Anderson Peak. The sun set on us and we continued to hike. On and on we went until Amanda finally said she was done. We were a ways from any good camping so we found a clear spot and set up our tent off the trail a little ways. We weren’t hungry or energetic enough to make a formal meal so we ate some snacks we had before doing some yoga and passing out happy to have reached our first 30 mile day and finally be in the true high country of the Sierra. 

Day 111: Milkshake Mania

9/4/2023

Section: Milepost 1196.5 to 1178.3

Total Trail Miles: 1761/2650

Distance: 18.77 Miles  

Moving Time: 07:36

Elevation Gain: 4,616 ft

Click here for current location

I think it took me most of the night to get warm again. The cold soaks in deep hiking in the rain for 4 days straight. We decided that, due to the circumstances, we would sleep in today - figured we had earned it. Of course, with Amanda, sleeping in means sleeping ‘till about 7:30, maybe 8 max. The day was gorgeous outside as we went about picking up our room. It was a funny look, with clothes hanging off just about every horizontal surface we could find but the good news was that everything had dried well overnight. 

Once we were a bit more organized and I had checked on our tent hung over the banister on the back deck, we went across the street to the Sierra City General store that sold the same burritos Lightweight had gifted us the night before. We put in our order and I grabbed a tub of sour cream to accommodate it and, just as we sat down at the table, Fiver came into the shop looking very ragged. “How are you doing?” Amanda asked, waving for him to join us. “Okay,” he said sheepishly. He sat down and told us that the day before, not long after he had passed us, he had gotten very cold and worried that he might be hypothermic. At Packsaddle campground he had gone into the outhouse and slept on the floor for an hour or so, because it had a heater, before pushing on to Sierra City. Once in Sierra City, he hadn’t found a place he could pay for so had slept against the side of the general store. We told him we were sorry to hear that and offered him some of our burritos - they were waaaay too big for one person, which he happily accepted. We told him there was a good hiker box across the way in the Sierra City hotel and that he should take a look. He said he would and that he was going to try and get a hitch out to Truckee because he had gone as far as he could with the paper maps he had and needed ones for further south in California. We wished him luck and told him we had enjoyed sharing the trail with him the past few days and, just like that, he was gone.

After the burrito, Amanda and I did a little resupplying. We were still about 4ish days out from South Lake Tahoe and needed some odds and ends to get us there. I bought a milkshake because, you know, nothing like grocery shopping with a milkshake, and got to perusing. After about 10 minutes, Amanda and I had collected everything we thought we needed for the trail ahead, paid and stepped outside. On the deck we talked with an English guy for a while before heading back across the street and grabbing our stuff. We paid, and Uncle Rob agreed to give us a lift back to the trail head. We jumped in his Dodge Pick-up and he sped up the road to our destination. At the trailhead, we took some pictures with him and thanked him for the stay before getting into our warm-ups and setting off.

The stage today was a short one due to the late start, but it climbs pretty much the whole way. On the south side of Route 49, the trail parallels the road for a bit before crossing the North Yuba River on a beautiful bridge and starting to climb along and then away from it. At 2.5 miles in, the PCT crosses Milton creek and then Haypress Hydro Road before ramping up through the Milton Creek drainage. The next 3.5 miles are solid climbing which eventually culminates in attaining a series of low hills. At mile 11, the PCT crosses FR H07 near Pass Creek Campground and continues to grind upward, passing through a labyrinth of forest service roads. The path eventually gains a ridge and turns due east, eventually arriving at a saddle below the day’s highpoint where we stopped for the night.

We crossed the North Yuba River, marveling at the beautiful trough it had cut into the granite before continuing on. Early on we encountered a number of day hikers that steadily fell off as we climbed out of the Yuba drainage and eventually got ourselves into the Milton Creek drainage. The day was sunny and warm, a wonderful change from the last 4 days of rain and we made good time. We reached a series of low hills and serpentined around them for a while before descending slightly to Henness Pass Road, where we stopped for a quick bite to eat. 

After our short lunch we continued to climb again. Jackson Meadows Reservoir spread out below us on our right as we gained altitude. Eventually the path turned east and we started looking for a place to bed down for the night. We reached a rise and descended a short distance to a saddle where we called it and made camp for the night. I went to get water while Amanda got the tent going. We had some freeze-dried meals and took in the fading light over the landscape that was looking ever more Sierra-ee by the mile. We passed out shortly after, so glad to be dry again. 

Day 110: Sierra City Swim

9/3/2023

Section: Milepost 1220.8 to 1196.5

Total Trail Miles: 1743/2650

Distance: 23.54 Miles  

Moving Time: 09:33 hrs

Elevation Gain: 3,473 ft

Click here for current location

One of the most bittersweet sounds on the trail is the steady drum of rain on a rainfly. Definitely more on the bitter side if you know your tent fly is compromised. 

We woke on day 110 to that steady drum and wordlessly got organized. I made myself a classic Land o’ Lakes mocha and Amanda some tea, keeping inside the precarious cover of the tent as much as possible. Fiver’s tent was still very much up and its occupant appeared to still be asleep. Slowly we packed the last few things into our backpacks, carefully ensuring all the items that needed to stay dry were getting the cover they needed. Our plan was to get to Sierra City today where, hopefully, we would get to dry some stuff out, but it was going to be a long haul and we wanted to make sure we were prepared to camp one more night if we had to.

The route today was another brutal one. We were into September now and our trail legs were in full swing, so 20-30 mile days were becoming the steady norm. Like many days in northern California, the PCT starts this stage climbing 800 feet out of a saddle, demarcated by the parking lot we had slept in, and gaining the south side of a southeast running ridge. From here, the path runs parallel to the Taho/Rumas National Forest boundary, making its way southeast through dense thickets of pine. At 4.5 miles, the PCT intersects with Long Lake Trail and continues on southeast. At 7.61, the path crosses FS Road 12M01 and climbs a short distance to 7400 feet before plunging down past Deer Lake to Packsaddle Campground at 6100’. From here, the PCT turns back up to Tamarack Lakes through a labyrinth of forest service roads eventually topping out back at 7400 feet where the trail crosses the Sierra Buttes Lookout Trail. The path traverses around the exposed south side of the immense Sierra Buttes massif with clear views down into Sierra City, dropping consistently along the way. At 20.5 miles, the route continues its nearly 3000’ descent as it winds down some impressive switchbacks which eventually arrive at Route 49 where the stage ends. 

It was almost 8 before we were on our way, the light illuminating details of our surroundings we couldn’t grasp in the darkness the night before. We spotted a loan Jeep Liberty making the rounds in the early morning fog as we left the parking lot, likely scouting for some hunting spots or the ORV path. We ducked into the woods and began our climb up to the ridge along which we would be spending our am. The morning was damp but we warmed up quickly. The path through these sections is spongy but quick and we made good time along the mellow climb. Water rushed everywhere and fell relentlessing from the sky as we pushed on upwards. We made the ridge and started winding our way south as the morning passed by uneventfully. Eventually, Fiver passed us saying hello as he did so. He looked a little more damp this morning and maybe just a touch less chipper. The ridge would have offered good views out to the north but, shrouded as it was in a dense fog, there wasn’t much to see. What little views we did get, though, strongly suggested we were indeed transitioning away from the cascades and into the Sierra. Granite was featuring more and more in the geography around us. 

Around 11 am I threw a hissy fit. Really glad Amanda was ahead of me because it was not a moment that would have made her proud. I was cold, i never really got warm today and, eventually, I brought out my puffy and put it on. I really didn’t want to - the puffy is your last line of defense against cold and, usually, it’s a silver bullet for staying warm but if it gets wet the nicely distributed down in each individual cell clumps together and the jacket becomes worthless. I knew that was going to be the case despite the rain jacket I was wearing over the top of it. This gear is good, but nothing short of a plastic bag is going to put up with 12 hours of solid rain and I really wasn’t interested in being a human Sous vide either. Anyway, i was cold and tired, we couldn’t see anything and the rain just kept coming down. I was trying to put my puffy on and keep it dry but my hands were wet, which meant that they wouldn’t pull through the sleeves and the whole time I could just feel the one thing that might keep me a little warmer getting waterlogged. So I screamed some expletives and had a little pity party for a few minutes before reshouldering my backpack and continuing on. Really bad look but, fortunately, it was just me because no one else seemed to be stupid enough to be out in the middle of this storm. 

About an hour or so of descent brought us down to Packsaddle campground. The rain started to abate as we got down to the campground. We stopped there and kinda warmed up in a few stray sun rays that made it through the clouds. We ate and contemplated trying to hitch into Sierra City but eventually decided we were going to finish off the day. We got back under our packs and started the climb out of Packsaddle Campground which, under sunnier conditions, looked like it would have been beautiful. On the way up, we ran into a NOBO named U-haul who was nice to talk with but deflated our already low spirits when he said there wasn’t much in the way of vacancies in Sierra City - maybe one room left at the Sierra City Hotel. “Ugh,'' I said to Amanda, when U-haul had pulled out of earshot, "I am not sleeping outside tonight, whatever it takes,” which she promptly agreed with. 

We climbed and climbed and eventually topped out through a notch which transitioned us to the south side of the Sierra Buttes. The next few miles we traversed alongside the exposed south side of the buttes…on shale. Compared to the wonderful trail we had been on throughout the day, the shale was a killer. There is almost nothing worse to hike on - maybe lava rock, it’s a terrible way to end a day. We picked our way along, looking down on clear views of Sierra City, hoping that there would be something there for us. Around dusk we finished the traverse and started down what I can honestly say are the most annoying switchbacks on the 2650 miles of the PCT. Look, I'm all for keeping the grade minimal but these stupid things extended the day by probably two hours, keeping the grade under 10%. Like, Amanda and I got angrier and angrier with every step. At about the 9th turn she finally shouted “What the F*%# is up with these switchbacks?” “Yea,” I agreed “this is ridiculous, just take us down.” It was about 40 minutes and several thousand feet later that we were finally delivered to the bottom at route 49. It was also pitch black, the sun having sunk long ago. “Well, nothing like getting a hitch in the dark,” I said to Amanda. 

We debated what to do on the road. Catching a hitch after dark, in the middle of nowhere California seemed improbable…and a little sketchy and a potential driver would probably be thinking the same thing. On the other hand we were cold, tired and had never wanted a warm shower more in our lives. As we waited we saw the lights of a car coming up the grade. “Let’s give it a shot,” Amanda suggested. We stuck our thumbs out as a white Prius came around the corner. Miraculously, it slowed as it went past and pulled over to the side of the road just a bit beyond our spot. “No way!” I said, grinning at Amanda. “Serial killers don’t drive Priuses, right?” she responded back. We made our way up to the car and a younger woman jumped out and asked where we were going. “Sierra City?” Amanda asked. “Oh yea - I can do that,” the woman replied with a light French accent. We thanked her profusely before loading our backpacks and getting in the back. 

As our savior sped up the road she told us that she was up visiting a friend from South Lake Tahoe and had done sections of the trail so tried to pick hikers up if she saw them. We told her this lift was probably the most appreciated we had had on the trail, which made her laugh. We rolled into the tiny street of smaller buildings that was Sierra City. Sadly it looked like most of the sources of food were closed, but light was coming out of the Old Sierra City Hotel so we asked to be dropped there. We tried to pay but she just smiled and said good luck before disappearing into the night. “Well - luck is holding so far, let’s see if there is any room in the inn,” I said to Amanda. We entered to a boisterous crowd talking in a pool parlor area, led by a middle aged man behind the bar. Lightweight was there and we congratulated each other for getting through the deluge. When I could get the friendly bar tender’s attention I sheepishly asked if there was any space left. He smiled and said “I think i have one room left, let me go make sure it’s ready to go.” After about 5 minutes he came back and showed us a very warm, very dry and wonderful living space. 

I hung the tent outside and our stuff along with everyone else’s things in the common area amidst the cacophony of space heaters while Amanda showered. I asked our proprietor, who was affectionately known in the area and on FarOut as “Uncle Rob,” if there was anywhere we could get some food. He shook his head before informing me sadly that everything was closed but Lightweight offered what was left of a massive burrito from the county store across the street and Uncle Rob did offer to go get a 6-pack of beers from the same store so… in the end, everything was just fine. Eventually Amanda came down and we all talked for some time. Uncle Rob was an absolute character and had endless stories about the place. Sometime around midnight we couldn’t stay up anymore so decided to call it quits. We said goodnight to those still up and passed out in a nice warm and dry bed for the first time since leaving Chester.  

Day 109: Outta the Burn, Into a Cloud

9/2/2023

Section: Milepost 1245.3 to 1220.8

Total Trail Miles: 1719/2650

Distance: 25.49 Miles

Moving Time: 11:00

Elevation Gain: 4993 ft

Today was…wet - the whole way through - which dampened our spirits a bit but I guess this is how you truly experience the trail in all its glory. It rained all night, sometimes lightly and others…less so. The tent is still leaking, though not as bad as during hurricane Hillary. Still, I woke up with a small puddle on my side of the tent. The nice thing is that, with these new sleeping bags, most of the fill stays on top so the only thing that really gets wet is the sleeve that the air pad slips into, and the air pad itself, which isn’t really a big deal. I ran out and retrieved the bear canisters so that Amanda and I could enjoy our breakfast in the relative dryness of the Big Agnes. Our campsite mates, who we now knew as Fiver (previously Bean Pole) and Bam (the other guy) , were still fast asleep. We ate our dry breakfast but I did heat up some water, remembering how my dad had once said it was his dream to have to use the vestibules to cover the stove while he heated water, and got caffeinated. As we left in a downpour, Fiver and Bam still hadn’t shown themselves. Getting up in the rain is brutal - it’s so much nicer to just listen to it pound against the rainfly then have to go out into it.

The stage today is massively frustrating - the profile looks like a heartbeat monitor. Just up and down all day, but at the same time moving up in elevation all day. It starts at the extreme east side of the ridge we had traversed the evening before, climbing up past Fowler lake and around Fowler peak. On the east side of Fowler Peak the PCT establishes itself on Lumpkin Ridge, crossing a road with the same name before turning northeast. The path stays on top of the ridge before dipping down into a little saddle at La Porte Road and eventually curling south above the origin of the South Fork of the Feather river at the 11 mile mark. From here, the path gains another ridge - Bunker Hill Ridge - and crosses above a lovely pond with a horrible name - Duck Soup Pond. At Duck Soup Pond, a 1200 foot descent begins and continues over the next 4 miles to mile 18, crossing the north side of Etna and Stafford Mountains in the process. Eventually, the bottom of the bowl is reached near Johnsonville McRae Road and a 1500 foot climb proceeds for 5 miles before, again, dropping to a saddle where the Sloat McRae road and Lavezzola Creek OHV Road share a modest, gravel parking lot, which served as our camping spot.

I think I've said this before but I will say it again - the worst part of hiking in the rain in trail running shoes is your socks. You carry, at most, 3 pairs of socks and most people carry less so, if you walk in the rain for 2-3 days, there’s a high likelihood that you will be putting on wet socks in the morning. That was what I was thinking of as we began our saga on day 109 - my feet were already wet. The unfortunate part is, not only is it cold and unpleasant to walk in wet socks - it is much easier to develop blisters that way which makes things really uncomfortable. We hiked in silence. It was wet, cold and we knew there was a lot of elevation in front of us so… we weren’t very chatty. It wasn’t exactly cold but when you are damp, it’s tough to stay warm. Today was actually one of the coldest days for me on the trail because I was damp most of the time. I’m also really thinning out. I haven’t weighed myself in a while but I would guess I am at or maybe sub 170 which, at 6’3”, is really light for me. No body fat is keeping me warm. I tried to keep my puffy off because, once it gets wet it’s pretty useless and once it’s useless it can’t keep me warm.

Around midday, Fiver passed us, wearing shorts and a wool jacket and seemed to be in good spirits. I guess at 18 or 19, that doesn’t take much. We also passed a girl sitting at the junction of the PCT and a side trail. We asked if she was okay and she smiled and said yes and that she was just waiting for a friend to come back with water. We stopped shortly after for some snacks and Bam passed us with a friend whom he introduced as Happy Feet. We wished them luck and continued on shortly after.

In the early afternoon I looked around and commented to Amanda “I think we are out of the burn!” It had happened so suddenly but, thinking back to what we knew about the Dixie fire, today should have been about the day we left it behind. It had just happened so sneakily, looking at the ground all day and hiking through a soup, we had not really noticed but, all of a sudden, we were again surrounded by lush pine forests. “Yea,” Amanda replied, “we must be out of it now.” Outta the burn and into a cloud - what a transition, can’t say we were too thrilled given the fact that everything was soaked and we still had hours to go.

We came to a clear section of trail and were able to look out a bit. There were probably amazing views out in front and behind us but nothing was really visible, so we kept moving. We passed a tent and called out to check in on the occupant. An older guy came to the flap and said he was fine and that he just didn’t feel like hoofing it through the rain. Shortly after we passed Bam and Happy feet, relaxing out of the rain, under a large tree and then two more tents with hikers who had decided to wait out the rain.

Eventually, the dark came and we approached our end point for the day. A parking lot near a spring. Ironically, despite all the water falling from the sky, it was still a bit tricky to find water, so we wanted to make sure we were camping near it. We almost missed the parking lot and had started hiking when I ran into a sign that said we were at the trailhead, so we turned back around, did a little recon and found Fiver’s tent staked back in a little alcove on the south side of the parking lot. We pitched near him and he started up a conversation through the wall of the tent. Actually, he was talking with himself at first, but then we joined the conversation. I went and got water while Amanda set up the tent. I had promised us both hot chocolate so, when I returned, I heated some water and we had some hot chocolate to warm the soul and to try and stave off the misery. We ate in wonder at the soup of super hydrated air all around us before ducking into our tent, where our sleeping bags lay miraculously dry waiting for us. It was a brutal day but the great thing about brutal days is they make for amazing sleeps.

Day 108: Up…and Down

9/1/2023

Section: Milepost 1269 to 1245.3

Total Trail Miles: 1694/2650 Miles

Distance: 25.29 Miles

Moving Time: 10:37 hrs

Elevation Gain: 3740 ft

Whale… they said it was going to rain last night and rain it did, and it did not stop when we woke up. The bright side is that the tent seemed to be keeping the water out better than past deluges. The not so bright side? We had to walk out in this. As this was not our first day in the rain we were a little better prepared for getting underway without getting soaked. We did as much as we could under the tarp and then quickly evacuated the tent which we then promptly shook and packed away. There aren’t many worse experiences than packing a wet tent away knowing that it likely won't get a chance to get back out and dry off before you need it again later in the evening.

Speaking of the tent - I forgot to mention - on the climb out of Belden yesterday I was able to get some service and work out a replacement plan with Big Agnes. Turns out, they are going to just wholesale replace our tent, so - big thanks to BA. Bad news was we weren’t going to have it through what looked like at least a couple days of rain but you know, can’t have it all.

The stage today climbs up from Buck’s Lake road around the east side of a small hill, squished between the summit of the hill and Big Creek Road. The PCT crosses FSR 24N29Y before crossing Big Creek Road itself. From Big Creek Road the path climbs around 500 feet, crossing a number of ambiguous forest roads and eventually gaining Lookout Rock from which a distant view down a long grade can be observed to the east. Shortly after, the trail winds down that same grade into the Bear Creek drainage, losing over 2700 feet on the way. Once on the bottom, the trail climbs…again, up to a small saddle where a spring, aptly called Deadman Spring, sits before plunging down again to cross the mighty Middle Fork of the Feather River. Finally, to cap off the stage, the path climbs one final time, 2000 feet, to Sawmill Tom Creek Spur road on top of a northwest running ridge, along which the trail runs for some time before finally coming to a rest for the night.

We did get out a little late today because of the rain. Our boots were on the ground at 07:45. Well, not really the ground - on the asphalt, because we had to get back up to Bucks Lake road summit before we could even really start hiking. We walked the road in a healthy downpour both wondering if we should just sit this one out at the resort. Eventually, a green, late 90’s Land Rover Disco came up the road and we stuck our thumbs out with big smiles on our faces. It was clear the lady behind the wheel did not want to stop but eye contact held a lot of power and she begrudgingly pulled the old Land Rover over to the side about 10 yards after passing us. We rushed to catch up as she swung out to open the back for us. We thanked her profusely and she motioned for us to get in. Amanda got in up front and I got in the back where I found another passenger, already there in a car seat. “Hello,” I said, which was met with a silent smile. Our rainy day savior was quickly back on the road, heading up for the summit and chatting with Amanda about all the typical things. 10 minutes brought us back on top, our offer of 5 dollars was turned down and we were left with well wishes for our journey on. We waved as the green SUV made its way down the north side of the summit, did our warm-ups and started off down the trail.

The rain was…consistent, if nothing else, as we made our way up a slight grade through thick, young evergreen trees. We have learned a thing or two since our last run in with rain. Namely, we are both putting our bear cans to good use, not to protect our food, but to keep our sleeping bags dry. I was miserable after Hurricane Hillary up near Shasta and one of the key contributing factors was the fact that my sleeping bag got wet. Not happening this time. This time, my sleeping bag is sitting with 4 mm of hard plastic between it and anything damp - no wet sleeping bags for me.

As Amanda and I walked we talked about the American dream, how it is increasingly difficult to realize it and whether it was really a great thing to begin with. We passed a girl getting back on the trail with a few friends for support who gave us a clementine so - that was neat. Near Lookout rock we took a short break and were passed by the twig of a kid we had seen first in Belden Town. We said hi and he hurried on. The day passed pretty uneventfully. Eventually we started the descent into Bear creek and got down to the creek itself in the mid-afternoon. We stopped here to eat and take a break. These days are long and brutal and they don’t always have great views like in, say, the Marble Wilderness. It’s sort of a return to Oregon - big, long, green tunnel.

After a rest and water refill at Bear Creek, we returned to the suck, climbing almost 500 feet to go over a stupid little saddle, which both Amanda and I agreed could have been avoided, only to go back down 600 feet to the Feather River. Despite what seemed to be a really unnecessary up and down, the middle fork of the Feather River is spectacular. Outside the Core Sierra, it might be one of the most beautiful rivers on the whole PCT. Definitely one of the most overlooked - and the bridge spanning it? I would say that the bridge over the Middle Fork of the Feather River is the most beautiful on the PCT, it’s gorgeous. We chilled at the bridge for a while, half taking it in and half trying to put off what we knew was a brutal climb out of the Feather River drainage. Eventually though, with night pushing in, we got up and started off on the final climb of the day.

Ending the day on a climb is tough. It’s one thing on a day like Belden town, where you get on top early and then finish off with a descent, but a big climb at the end of the day can be a nightmare, especially because you know it is there the whole day. What made this climb even suckier were the manzanitas. About 1200 feet into the climb the trail was overtaken by the tenacious bush which bruised and battered us up the last 800 feet into darkness. We lost the trail several times and walked a bit on a parallel abandoned road grade, eventually stopping to get water at Fowler creek before heading into the darkness.

Another mile brought us to an area where FarOut had stated, somewhat non-committedly, that there was a camping spot. As we looked around, desperately wanting to call it a day, we heard a voice saying there was another spot nearby. We went over and found 2 tents. The guy who had called us over pointed to a spot nearby but said we should look up as the trees close to the burn zone were actively dropping large branches from up high. We peered up into the darkness and pitched our tent in an area that looked to be out of the drop zone. The other tent was occupied by our beanpole of a friend whom we also said hi to. Amanda and I ate, I did my nightly yoga and eventually we climbed in, exhausted from another big day - this one almost entirely in the rain.

Day 107: Belden Climb

8/31/2023

Section: Milepost 1293.6 to 1269

Total Trail Miles: 1670/2650

Distance: 25.14 Miles

Moving Time: 10:40 hrs

Elevation Gain: 5919 ft

Click here for current location

Phew… I did not win any “husband of the year” awards today… let’s just say that to start. This morning it took 90 minutes to get moving and I got… impatient…after about the 1 hour mark, but a lot was working against us. For one - there was more weird deer shit in the night. The evening before, Amanda put her socks out to dry on a rock and this morning one was missing. What we think happened was that a deer walked through camp, because we definitely heard it dicking around in the woods near our tent, and spotted Amanda's socks, at which point it attempted to eat one, failed at that and threw it back up on the ground. Filled with shame, we think it attempted to bury the sock, which it did poorly, before stumbling off into the woods. Deer are so weird. We extrapolated all of this based on a few noises in the night and the fact that her sock was very damp and poorly buried under some pine needles near where she had left it. In any case, the sock incident mixed with just general exhaustion, made for a slow morning which I did not handle as well as I could have. No poise and grace from this guy. So we started with a bit of chippyness which prevailed through most of the morning.

Today’s route continues down the same Chip’s creek drainage we had fought through the day before. More steep grades, more golf balls and more overgrowth. The trail maintains above the bottom of the drainage before switching down and running out to the Feather River and accompanying road. About 1000 feet separated our camp the night before and the river itself. At the Feather River highway the trail runs parallel to the road, occasionally climbing above the road before eventually crossing it and the Feather river itself and making its way into Belden town. At Belden town, the trail crosses back west, against itself for about a quarter mile before delivering hikers to the foot of one of the more memorable climbs on the PCT - the Belden Grade. Admittedly, this is a descent for most NOBO’s but, in our current position, it was a climb. The trail crawls up a brutal grade for the next 7 miles gaining 4000 feet in the same distance. The worst part? The “hill” up which the grade makes its way doesn’t even have a name - just, “Nameless Peak” or something. At mile 13, the grade finally takes a break, but continues a light climb on the south side of an east-west running ridge. Southeast of Mt. Pleasant, the PCT finally peaks and maintains an annoying up-and-down cadence while gorgeous “sierra-ish” lake basins unfold below. Just after mile 20, a trail runs off northeast to Spanish peak while the PCT turns due south and descends to Buck’s Summit road.

One of the reasons I might have been a little off this morning was that I was secretly holding out hope we could make it to Bucks Lakeshore Resort by the end of the day. I should really stop doing this because it injects an unnecessary amount of anxiety into our days but I jump at any chance to get a burger now - for better or worse. Once the whole deer-sock situation had been put to bed and we had gotten some food and caffeine in us, we started off downhill on the bowling alley. The walk was quiet and tense as we skirted above the Chips river - in fact, I was encouraged to “walk ahead” since I seemed to be in such a big hurry. As the trail continued to descend, moods improved and by the time we had reached the road, everything had pretty much smoothed over. At the base we found ourselves looking up at a historic mining facility built by “Joshua Hendy Iron Works’ which we immediately took a picture of to send to our friend Josh. As we walked across the parking lot next to the road, some power line technicians beckoned us over and offered us water. Begrudgingly - because I was still hoping for the burger - I went over to talk with them and accepted the bottled water. Having done a lot of work on lines near the PCT they were familiar with the trail and peppered us with the typical questions. We happily relayed our experience and chatted with them for a while. They offered us some apples which we accepted before thanking them and moving on…to the pit toilet, which we both made use of.

At 5.6 miles in, we crossed the Feather River - a beautiful granite floored river spanned by an old trestle bridge - and entered Belden town. In Belden town we were met by silence. Literally, nothing was open. We had been forewarned about this on FarOut but still - sucked to find it so abandoned. It sounds like everything comes alive around 4 pm so I guess if you can get here in the evening it’s amazing but ‘twas not the case for us. In any case, we stopped at a bench and took a quick rest. As we sat there, a younger, bean pole of a kid showed up behind us and asked if we thought anything was open. We smiled and said we had seen on FarOut that nothing was likely going to open for some time. He looked at us a little absently before saying “oh well, i’m going to go pick some apples then.” Sure enough, there was an apple tree behind him that he promptly went up to and began foraging. We laughed silently before shouldering our backpacks to start the climb. “See you in a bit,” we called over our shoulder as we began our venture out of Belden town.

The road led back westward along the southern edge of the Feather River. It was a beautiful day and still relatively cool, which we were so grateful for. The trail climbed up, slightly, to a railroad where we crossed and started the climb in earnest. Amanda and I were now on slightly better terms so I turned to her and said “you ready?” “Let’s get it done with” she replied and, just like that, we were on our way up. There was one thing I was worried about today more than the steepness of the grade. FarOut had been very clear that poison oak was everywhere along the climb and they were not wrong. Almost immediately, I noticed shiny green and red leaves crowding in from the side of the trail. “Is that poison oak?” Amanda asked, pointing to one of many small bushes on the side of the trail. “Yea,” I replied “it’s everywhere.” When I was 12, my family moved out of California to Oregon and just about every year after that, throughout my teens, I had one major Poison Oak incident a year. They were not light incidents either. I’ve had my eyes swollen shut and rashes over 70-80 percent of my body. Let’s just say - memorable experiences with the stuff - but after I was about 17 years old, the reactions just stopped and it had been a long time since an incident. Even so - seeing those oily leaves didn’t make me too comfortable. “Try not to touch it if you can,” I murmured to Amanda as we wound our way up and up.

We climbed in silence. The grade was brutal but we made good progress. There is something about committing to a dedicated climb that is encouraging. It’s like you know every step is progress and there is comfort in that. An hour brought us up a few thousand feet and we stopped to talk to a woman coming down the grade. She indicated that we had come up a ways but that we still had a thousand feet or so to go. We thanked her, ate some “pocky-yakis” and then returned to the grade. A little further one we passed Joe and Sarah who had stopped in the shade of a granite boulder. We talked for a little bit and commented on a herd of deer below. Amanda told them about her deer experience the night before, which elicited some laughter, and we continued on. Another 45 minutes brought us to the first of many mini summits for the day and we proceeded to dip in and out of the contours of a ridgeline. The views now that we were on top were amazing. We sped along the ridgeline and stopped around mile 15 to fill water at Mill creek. Here, we ran into a familiar face, Jay, whom we last saw at the Italian restaurant in Idyllwild 93 days before. He had originally been with Charlie’s group but had made it a point to try to get to all of the “high-point” sidequests along the trail and had fallen a bit behind. We chatted with him for a while, while I filled up our water, and eventually went our separate ways. We crossed Mill creek and committed to a much smaller but still despised climb up out of the little Mill creek river valley to a saddle near Mt. Pleasant. It was not pleasant… On top, though, we were treated to more epic views of a landscape looking more and more like Yosemite with every step. We hiked along the edge of a steep precipice, which plunged down into deep, granite cirques with little pools nestled in the bottom.

The trail continued in a despised up-and-down fashion as it made its way along a southeast running ridge. I got some cell service and looked up the Buck’s Lakeshore Lodge which suggested that the bar would be open until 8. “I think we can make this,” I said to Amanda. We sped along, hope of a burger and beer putting a little more speed in our step. At this point in the day, if I have an objective, I start doing math. Like - it’s 4 o’clock and we are walking at 2.4 miles per hour and we have 8 miles to go - okay, this is going to be a close one. And it always is, it always seems to be close. In any case, at the turnoff to Spanish peak, the trail began it’s nosedive down to Buck’s Summit. So began the endless descent, complete with a few annoying switchbacks. On the way down, we re-passed Joe and Sarah as well as the bean-pole of a kid setting up about a mile before the summit. They waved and we yelled that we were “risking it for the biscuit,” which, in this case, was a burger and beer. “Good luck,” they called back.

A seemingly endless set of switchbacks brought us down to a road. We saw a few good tent pads that we thought might work as a backup and Amanda took a restroom stop while I headed out to the road to see if I could flag down a car. I have to admit, hope was running low because we had had the road in our sights for a good hour and I had heard maybe one car on the entire descent. None-the-less, I settled myself on the side of the road and waited. Amazingly, 30 seconds brought the sounds of an approaching vehicle up the road. It was going the wrong way but it was coming. I threw my thumb out and a sheepish grin on my face as a mid 2000’s Toyota Tacoma raced up to the saddle. As soon as the driver saw me he threw on his brakes and pulled over. A middle-aged male face asked “where are you headed.” “I know it’s the wrong way, but my wife and I were hoping to get to Buck’s Lake Resort tonight.” Amazingly he just smiled and told me he would be happy to take us down there. “Thank you so much,” I said with a huge grin on my face. He jumped out and got to work getting his tailgate down and I called up to Amanda who didn’t respond. A few more shouts brought her out in a bit of a hurry as I loaded up my backpack. She reached the truck and added her backpack to the chaos before jumping in the truck looking at me sideways. Evidently, my calls for her to come down to the road had sounded a little frantic and she thought something was wrong. In any case, the driver flipped a U-ee and headed back towards Bucks lake.

15 minutes brought us down to the lake and the front steps of Buck’s Lakeshore resort where we thanked our driver, tried to give him 10 bucks, which he refused, and unloaded ourselves into the resort. Resort might be too strong of a word, but it was a very nice lodge and we stowed our things out of the way in the entrance and found our way to the bar. A kindly middle-aged man was conversing with a large group of regulars but eventually extracted himself to come get our order. “Is the kitchen still open,” I said with a weak smile. “For you guys, I think it can still be,” he said with a wry smile. “That would be amazing,” I said. Amanda and I both ordered burgers and I got a 10% IPA because, you know, it had been a day and that sounded like a great way to round it out. The burger was AMAZING. I really don’t think it was the rabbid hunger talking, this burger was one of the best on the trail. Not quite better than Yaks, but easily #2 or 3 on the trail so far. While we ate, we asked the bartender if he knew of anywhere we could sleep. We had heard the campground was full and that there might be a state campground about a mile or so up the road - but walking was going to be rough after a 25 mile day. “Tell you what,” the bartender said, “ you see the volleyball court behind you.” We turned and, sure enough, there was indeed a green space with a volleyball net behind us. “I don’t generally offer this out, so please don’t post it, but feel free to stay there tonight so you don’t have to walk the road out tonight.” We thanked him profusely and he just smiled before getting back to the large group of regulars. We ate, talked and drank for another hour before the bar eventually started to shut down. We helped turn up the chairs in the bar before saying thanks again to the bartender/owner and making our way out to the nice volleyball court, setting up our tent next to a large propane tank. Clouds were forming overhead and a front was making itself obvious out west of us. “I think we should probably put the rainfly on tonight,” I said to Amanda. “You mean the rainfly that doesn’t work?” Amanda said back, half joking. “Yea…” I replied “that one.” Another 15 minutes had us set up and on our backs, with full stomachs looking up at the inside of the rainfly. We both fell asleep shortly after as the first raindrops began to fall from the sky.

The face of chippy-ness

Day 106: Back into the Sierra

8/29/2023

Section: Milepost 1319.1 to 1293.6

Total Trail Miles: 1646/2650

Distance: 25.63 Miles

Moving Time: 10:54 hrs

Elevation Gain: 3,009 ft

There was…a bird this morning. It sounded like a car alarm. I love birds - I love all birds, but this one just made my shit list. I don't really know why it felt like it needed to scream that early - like, what was it trying to accomplish. No other birds are up and neither is the sun. On the other hand, my pad stayed inflated all night - #Blessed.

The stage today starts with a short climb out of the saddle where the previous day had ended before continuing along the same ridge for two miles and then sinking into a second saddle where a trail shoots off to Little Cub Spring. From the second saddle the trail continues south, straddling a ridge as it goes. At the 6 mile marker, the PCT crosses Humboldt Road where it turns due east and crosses high on the northern flanks of Humboldt Peak before turning back south and continuing along a narrow ridgeline. The path circumvents Locke Peak and crosses Humbug Summit road at 12.3 miles and climbs up to go over Snow Mountain ridge before it begins a long and brutal descent into the dramatic Chips Creek drainage.

We were up and moving by 6:30 this morning after some caffeine and grits! That’s right, I had a little warm breaky this morning. We made our way in the early dawn light dodging between short outcroppings of volcanic rock and catching beautiful glimpses south of us. Much like the day after Walker Pass, the big mountains out ahead of us are coming into sharp contrast, promising lots of epic Sierra scenery in the pipeline. About an hour and a half into the day brought us past the 2 eastern European lads just starting to break camp near Humboldt road. We waved and said good morning before continuing on. Lightweight caught up to us shortly after and we hopscotched with her throughout most of the rest of the day.

The day was cool, clear and uneventful. The burn remained prevalent but pockets of surviving trees were becoming more and more common as we made our way south. At mile 19 we stopped at Obsidian spring where, again, the new water filter CRUSHED through the water. So, so, SO nice to have a working filter again. As we sat and ate, bemoaning the remaining 6 miles we had, two big ol’ bumblers alighted on my leg and started to mill around. “What are they up to,” I said to Amanda. “They must like the salt,” she said with a grin on her face. “Guess so,” I said back. I waited a few minutes for my new friends to get their fill of whatever it was they were getting their fill of before we reshouldered our backpacks and started off south again.

Not far beyond Obsidian spring we ran into a sign I had been looking forward to almost more than the official halfway PCT sign - the demarcation for the northern border of the Sierra. That’s right - there is a sign denoting the rough border between California’s northern volcanic third and middle granite third and what a site it was. We were both giddy to be back in the Sierra though, looking around, nothing much seemed to have changed. Our giddiness was cut short buy the next 5 miles of descent however. Steep and strewn with loose and irritatingly spherical rocks, the descent took our moving rate way down as we struggled to avoid taking a fall with our still very heavy packs. On down we marched, eventually getting passed by the eastern European guys and the short couple, who introduced themselves as Joe and Sarah from New England. Shortly after, we walked through swarms of dragonflies in the midst of what must have been a feeding frenzy or something. I mean, no joke, like thousands of beautiful dragonflies buzzing around like crazy - I wish I had been in a better mood to enjoy it.

Around dusk we finally stalked into camp, confirmed by the presence of Joe and Sarah already setting up. I left Amanda to get the tent going and walked down to fill up water. A few nice rocks near our tent pad made a nice shelf to get things set-up and going. We made dinner, the pain from the brutal late day retreat finally subsiding before laying our laundry out to dry and crawling into bed.

Day 105: PCT Midway Point

8/29/2023

Section: Milepost 1332.4 to 1319.1

Total Trail Miles: 1620/2650

Distance: 13.04 Miles

Moving Time: 05:42

Elevation Gain: 2969 ft

We woke up at 5:30. Funny thing about town days is, we don’t actually sleep that well and it's difficult to sleep in as much as we think we would like to the night before. The post office wasn’t going to open until 9 and there was no guarantee the package was going to get there right at opening anyway so we had a bit of a lazy morning.

We headed down to get breakfast at a place called Lola’s. The restaurant was frigid, but the chilaquiles were amazing! The shorter couple we had met at the hydroelectric station 4 days ago were coming in as we left. With some time still before the post office opened we made our way over to the grocery store where we filled up on goodies for the long push ahead.

Amanda and I had discussed and mutually agreed on a strategy for the rest of California. August was coming to a close and my sister, Claire’s, wedding was coming up in early October. We have larger packs which allows us to stretch time between resupplies, so our strategy going forward will be to go as far as we can between supply points and only stop at larger, convenient towns. The next stretch we have planned is from here, in Chester, to South Lake Tahoe (technically, Placerville, because we have some friends of friends who want to host us at their house there). This stretch, from here to SLT, is about 10 days, including today, with a few minor resupply options along the way, so we loaded up big time at the grocery store.

While we grocery stopped I repeatedly checked in on the last REI package we were waiting to arrive. This one was important, as it FINALLY had a replacement Sawyer in it, so we aren’t leaving it behind. It has been 20 days of hell but we are finally getting a replacement for this stupid thing. As we were checking out I was notified that the package was waiting at USPS, so I ran over to the post office while Amanda went back to the hotel room to organize our groceries. Back at the hotel room, we loaded our bags, checked out and headed out to the street to look for a hitch.

After 20 minutes or so we were picked up by a kindly old lady in a silver accord who motioned for us to put our stuff in the back of her car. We got in and she introduced herself as Karen and said she loved giving rides to the hikers. As we sped up the highway she talked about the fire and how she was part of a swing dancing group that met during the week to dance in the park. She was adorable. Eventually we reached the trailhead and we traded spots with a group of NOBO’s coming off the trail. We did our warm-ups at where we had ended the day before and set off south for the long stretch to Lake Tahoe.

Today’s stage was a short but stout one. It starts with a short, flat sprint south of State Route 36, crossing Soldier Creek before committing to a long and steady climb up the northern flanks of Butt Mountain - yes, that is literally its name, Butt Mountain. Someone took the Butte joke a little too literally. The trail climbs 1600 feet in about 8 miles before traversing a ridgeline for 2 miles and descending to the head of the Carter Creek drainage.

We crossed the road and got back on the trail. The path was flat and we made good time for a tiny bit but then ran headlong into Soldier Creek. It looked like, at one time or another, there had been a decent bridge across the marshy, meandering waterway but that bridge was gone and, irritatingly, we had no choice but to forge. Off came the shoes and into the squishy mud of the creek we went. On the other side we threw on our sandles and walked in them for a bit. Just before we reached the beginning of the climb we ran into some more familiar faces - Charlie and Company, who we had not seen since before Tehachapi. We stopped and talked to them for a while. They had gone straight through but had just hit the midpoint of their trip which, in their case, was the actual midpoint so they were in great spirits. We wished them luck and dropped some Chester beta on them before heading our separate ways.

At a mile and a half in, the trail turned upwards and we started the long march up Butt Mountain. The sun burned bright and we had no real coverage due to the fire but a cold front was taking the edge of the temperatures which made things bearable. On and on we climbed, commenting on all the little trees coming up through the scorched earth. At 7.7 miles we hit the halfway marker and stopped to take some pictures. A couple of guys from eastern europe were just leaving as we arrived so we said hi and talked for a bit. We wrote our names in the register at the marker then firmly closed the lid on the box before heading on.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. The temperatures dropped throughout the afternoon. Towards the end of day, the trail meandered along a ridge dotted with stacks of squat, volcanic rock. We came across the short couple we had seen in the morning at breakfast and decided this would be a good place to crash. We stopped at the Carter Creek trail junction and I left Amanda setting up the tent to get water, which was about half a mile down the Carter Creek trail. Nothing better than putting in a day of hiking only to hike a little more for water. The bright side is that the new filter is AMAZING. So fast. I came back to find Amanda had gotten everything sorted and we enjoyed a solid meal of ramen with shredded beef before passing out with nighttime sounds of the forest starting to come alive.

20 Yards of mud really takes the momentum out of a day

Day 104: Chester, CA

8/28/2023

Section: Milepost 1342.5 to 1332.4

Total Trail Miles: 1607/2650

Distance: 10.74 Miles

Moving Time: 4:04 Hrs

Elevation Gain: 1480 ft

Click here for current location

Last night I peed out of my side of the tent. This might be TMI but my side tent door is, for all intents and purposes, no longer functional. I can open it a tiny bit but that’s all and if I want to leave I have to crawl over Amanda, which is irritating for all involved, so this morning, at 2 am, I woke up and had to pee and said f*&% it, i’m not doing that and just peed out the small opening in the door. It’s not pretty and it’s the patriarchy at work but it’s what happened.

The stage today climbs steeply up from Domingo Springs campground via a vast saddle between North Stover and Ice Cave Mountain. The path peaks at just over 6000 feet and 3.7 miles in before paralleling West Stover road for some time. The PCT crosses Stover Springs road before dumping down off the south side of the plateau to a lower plateau where it meanders the last few miles out to State route 36.

The morning was a bit chilly, which was great for sleeping - I have really appreciated some cooler nights recently, but maybe not so great for getting a move on. Despite that, we were up and off by 6:30, both making use of the pit toilet before we left. As we turned left on CR11 to find that overgrown access trail we had come in on, we ran into Skull and Crossbones and Lightweight. They had decided to hike into Chester on the road (CR11) since it ran straight into town and cut some miles off. Theys asked if we wanted to join them. We said thanks but that we were planning on sticking with the trail and said we would catch them in Chester. We headed up the road and quickly found the little trail we had used the night before and were soon back, speeding down the PCT. We scrambled up the early day climb, constantly crossing busy logging roads. The sound of heavy trucks was incessant. We would find out later that day that logging companies were actively trying to pull out as much of the burned timber as they could before it was no longer viable lumber. 90 minutes brought us to the top of the saddle between North Stover and Ice Cave Mountain and we dropped quickly from there down to the upper plateau. From up here we could see State Route 36, which quickened our pace a bit.

We descended off the plateau and made our way across the lower bench - running into a few elderly hikers coming up from the highway. The burn was really bad here, almost nothing survived. 9 miles and 3.5 hours brought us down to the highway altitude and about 30 more minutes saw us exit to the highway.

As always, we ran into a few hikers getting back on at the trailhead and they gave us some beta on the breweries and food in Chester. Sounded like a pretty typical hiker town. We got our comfy shoes on and made our way to the westward side of the highway where we eventually flagged down a beat-up old red suv with an old timer behind the wheel. “Get on in!” he said, coming around the back to help us load our bags. Tragically, I broke my spoon in the chaos of loading up the bags - left it on the shoulder strap and it hooked the frame of the car as it was getting hauled in. Titanium is light but not super durable. The ride was about 20 minutes and along the way our driver told us all about the fire, about how he had been evacuated and about all the work that had been done to save Chester, which sat smack-dab in the middle of the burn zone. According to him, the town had almost been lost, but the fire had been stopped just inside the city limits by a herculean effort to keep it at bay. He also was the one who explained the crazy amount of log truck traffic on all the local USFS roads. In town, he drove us down the single stretch, pointing out all the places to eat and resupply and eventually dropped us off at our location for the night - the Antlers Hotel. As we rolled in, we recognized some familiar faces that we had not seen in a very long time. Two of the infamous Ride Brides, Rubie and Maddy, smiled back in recognition as we unloaded our packs from the old SUV. I tried to give our ride a few bucks but he turned me down point blank, saying that he always gave PCT’rs rides and never took any money. Amanda and I thanked him profusely before running up to give Rubie and Maddy big hugs. I left Amanda talking with Rubie, Maddy and the other 2 girls they were hiking with to go check in. After checking in, I picked up 2 Miller Lights that were hanging out in the hiker box and went outside to catch up with 2 of my favorite hikers on the trail. We sat with the 4 girls in front of Antlers for probably 2 hours catching up. The other two were named Wonka and Token. Token was from North Bend, so we had that West-side Washington connection. Maddy and Rubie had been bouncing all over the trail and were skipping the burn section down to somewhere around Buck’s lake to continue heading south. Eventually we said goodbye and good luck to them before finally heading to our rooms and getting cleaned up. Amanda showered first while I organized our gear then she went across the street to grab some deli chicky nuggets and beer while I showered. After eating, we went to the post office where I found out one of our boxes was not due to arrive until the next day, which was a let down, and ran into Lightweight who said the road walk had been a breeze. After that, we returned to Antlers to get laundry moving through and I waterboarded my Thermarest to find the holes which were leaving me on the ground at the end of every night. Turns out, my sleeping pad is starting to do the same thing Amanda’s was in the desert. One of the baffles towards the head location is starting to separate but, unlike Amanda’s, every time mine does it forms a new, small leak. I am now actively chasing this baffle with patches as it works its way across the pad. I am up to my 3rd patch and the leak continues to propagate. I also attempted to repair the tent zipper on my side with no luck - it’s FUBAR.

That night we went to dinner at Timber Brewery. Good beer and decent food. Afterwards we came back and did some digital catching up before passing out in clean sheets.

Day 103: Lassen Learned

8/27/2023

Section: Milepost 1371 to 1343

Total Trail Miles: 1597/2650

Distance: 28.4 Miles

Moving Time: 11:13 hrs

Elevation Gain: 3478 ft

Click here for current location

Today, I officially gave up on my coffee purge. I really tried and, honestly, I think I did pretty damn well. 103 days of *almost* no coffee, but in the box that my parents had sent was what my dad called “poor man’s mocha” which was a pack of ritzy hot chocolate mixes and Starbucks Via packets. This morning, I mixed these two things together with some hot water and *chef’s kiss* what a wonderful thing to start the day with.

Today’s stage starts on the banks of Hat Creek with a 1200 foot climb up the southern flank of Badger Mountain where it passes into Lassen National Park at the 4 mile marker. From here, the trail gets very fast as it meanders east and turns south in the shadow of the large cinder cone - Prospect Peak. At 11 miles, the trail junctions with the Bear Lakes and Rainbow lake trail, in quick succession, before meandering along the banks of several lakes, including Lower Twin and Swan lake. At mile 16.5, the trail crosses Kings Creek and climbs a bit before making a steep descent down Flatiron Ridge to a road near Drakesbad Trailhead road. The path climbs up off the road and eventually reaches Boiling Springs Lake and Little Willow Lake at mile 22.5 where it leaves Lassen National Park behind and starts the long descent down to Domingo Springs Campground which was our destination for the night.

We were up, fed, caffeinated and out by 5:18 this morning - what a rush! The older couple left just ahead of us. Gotta say - bringing your food into your tent for the night goes against everything i’ve ever been told about backpacking but it does make getting going in the morning a whole lot more speedy. Still don’t think we are going to do it, but I get it. Lightweight was still asleep when we left but we figured we would see her somewhere along the way given her pace. We climbed for the first 2 hours of the day, appreciating the cool morning air as we exerted ourselves. Along the way, we spotted a few tents tucked back into the trees at the boundary of the park boundary. Just before entering the park, we passed the older couple and said good morning to them. They seemed nice, if a little standoff-ish. At the park boundary the light was just starting to come up and we stopped for a quick picture in front of the backcountry sign before heading in.

From the northern boundary of the park we noted two things. One - the trail was smooooooth and so fast. We cooked through the 1st half of the day. The second was that the fire damage was apocalyptic. Lassen was absolutely devastated by the fire but, despite that, life is already starting to come back and the small but silver lining is that the fire opened a lot of views onto the mountain itself throughout the park. We sped east and then south. As the day warmed up we started to notice lots of bees tucked into flowers and leaves on the foliage along the side of the trail. I had forgotten that bees do this - they don’t always go back to their hives at night and will sometimes sleep inside flowers. Amanda and I stopped to peek into a few flowers where little bee butts could be seen poking out. I don’t know why but this little discovery put us both in a great mood.

At about 4 hours in, we came alongside Lower Twin Lake and said hello to a set of weekend backpackers who had stayed by the lake that night. At Swan lake, a little bit on, we stopped for some snacks - Skittles and teriyaki sticks, which Amanda and I now affectionately call “Pocky Yackies.” Lightweight caught up to us and we chatted for a while before she took off ahead of us. We followed her as the trail dove off a small plateau and entered the King Creek canyon with Mt. Lassen rising up above us. The trail crossed a few marshes which had encouraged a bit of over growth on the trail before reaching the main crossing of King Creek at mile 16.5. Here Amanda stripped off her shoes to cross while I found a nifty little log up the creek and a ways to cross over. On the other side, we found Lightweight waiting and we stopped for lunch. A group of hikers from San Jose came down an intercepting trail and peppered us with questions as we ate and we talked with them for 15 minutes. They also wanted some pictures with us so we got to our feet to take part and then we went our separate ways up the trail.

The trail climbed out of King Creek to the top of Flatiron Ridge, gaining about 300 feet in the process. The climb wasn’t bad but the day was, again, in the low 90’s which made every step take just a bit more effort. At the top of Flatiron ridge we stopped to take in the views. The burn was bad but, honestly, not as bad as some of the NOBO’s had made it seem. Everything was bright green. After the junction with Bench Lake trail the PCT nosed down and made a quick drop to Drakesbad hot springs and Warner Valley Hot Springs. From here, we climbed back up to Boiling Springs lake where Amanda and I stopped to go look at the boiling lake of volcanic mud. It smelled strongly of sulfur and you could clearly see places where people had walked past the “Do Not Cross” signs to get down closer to the banks of the lake. Not really sure what was down closer that you couldn’t see from the viewpoint but whatever it was, it probably wasn’t worth dying in boiling water for.

After some pictures and a few carrots, we muscled on. There wasn’t really a predetermined endpoint for today. We would be making it to Chester tomorrow so, as had been the case in many pre-NERO days before, the idea was to bite off as much as we could for our exit day tomorrow. We continued on and reached Little WIllow Lake about an hour later. We considered staying there but Nicola had told us he had stayed in the area on his journey north and, in the night, had woken up to a sound so strange and eerie he had packed up and left at 2 in the morning. Multiple comments on FarOut confirmed hearing something similar. Between that information and the multiple large, dead trees surrounding the semi-established campsite, we decided to eat dinner there and push on 5 miles to Domingo Springs Campground. We set up on a flat tent pad and I went in search of the spring that had become very obscured by the mid-summer overgrowth. Along the way I made friends with a few frogs. As we sat and ate dinner a few familiar faces came through including Skull and Crossbones and the couple we had met two days before, just south of the little hydroelectric power station. We talked a bit but both kept moving. Tonight we had some Peak Performance meals which are awesome because they require very little water and are almost all over 1000 calories.

After dinner we packed up and continued our hike through the burn. It was definitely hotter on the south side of the park but pockets of green pervaded here and there. We went up and over two small humps in elevation but eventually reached the long descent. Just at the inflection point, before heading down, I got some reception and called into Chester to reserve a hotel as I had heard it might be difficult to find one. I connected with the Antlers Hotel and reserved a night as we passed the younger couple setting up for the evening.

From here we reached what I think of as the “Zombie March” at the end of the day. Basically your body is done and really wants to stop but you just keep moving your legs forward. The sun eventually set as we neared the bottom of the descent and we started looking for the little exit trail out to the campground. At 27.6 miles, I found what appeared to have been a trail and we bushwhacked our way out to CR311 where we walked the last quarter mile into Domingo Springs Campground. At the campground Amanda set up the tent while I went out to the spring itself to fill up. We took full advantage of the picnic table to organize our things and I enjoyed a delicious stout I had packed from Old Station. Since we had already eaten dinner, we wasted no time in crawling into the Big Agnes and passing out.

Entry to Lassen