I don’t think I could have asked for a better birthday than today. I hiked through some of the most choice scenery on the Pacific Crest Trail (for the second time!), we were able to not only ride into nearby Mazama with the first car that passed but actually secure a ride all the way into Seattle for the following day, and I was able to enjoy a great dinner at the Mazama pub with Roadrunner and Free Bird! He slept in today, so he stuck around for the afternoon in Mazama at the Lion’s Den hostel. After an excellent shower at the hostel, I ran into Carmen, a woman traveling with her dog from Mount Hood to Banff on foot via the Pacific Crest and Pacific Northwest Trails, then hopping in their canoe and paddling the whole Columbia River! A truly incredible last day on the PCT.
It’s difficult to write about today because it was a very emotional one. I’ll try to just describe what happened. We navigated the several passes between us and the border with ease and excitement, leaving an eight mile downhill to the border. Since this would also be an eight mile uphill, we decided to drop most of our stuff at Hopkins Lake and travel with just water and some snacks to make the hike back a bit easier. While we were off trail setting our shelters up, we missed Free Bird, a realization I would have a bit later which made me sad, as I thought I wouldn’t get to say goodbye. The hike down was so fast, so when I turned the corner and saw the border monument, I almost didn’t believe it was over. After taking some photos, we climbed back up to the lake with no problems and went to bed.
The heat, though not as oppressive as yesterday, made today much harder than it otherwise would have been. We hiked with Free Bird for awhile, ran into a guy very casually running a fifty mile out and back from Rainy Pass, encountered my first mountain goats as I walked a ridge towards Hart’s Pass, and passed a crew filming a dramatic scene of a priest walking through a talus field. Getting to Hart’s Pass, where all northbound hikers must return after touching the border, felt pretty weird, as it was a physical signal that we were sixty miles from the end. Brushing this off, we walked three more miles and made camp. Tomorrow, I finish the PCT.
After the hottest night I have had on trail—I slept naked on top of a picnic table for maximum airflow—we boarded the bus to leave wonderful Stehekin. On the way, Steve regaled us with more stories, anecdotes, and apocrypha; some highlights: “the national park service didn’t plant those irises, Mary did,” “that’s the only gumball machine within seventy miles!”, “I always like to tell people about this creek.* It’s called Boulder Creek. So now when you’re down valley and someone starts a story with ‘so I was up at Boulder Creek…’ you can say ‘’go on I know where that is.’ A good thing to keep in your back pocket,” “now I already told you about Ed Courtney, that’s the older Courtney…,” “I always say ‘people who want to grow a garden want to grow one like Carl’s,’” “I challenge you to find a single tree in that stand without a dapple of sunlight on its trunk.” I love Steve, he really tickled me. He’s a man who truly loves his town’s history and people as well as its natural beauty. Anyways, we stopped on the way at the legendary Stehekin Bakery, where I bought three massive cinnamon rolls (my breakfast for the next three days), a slice of lemon cheesecake (also breakfast), a peanut butter cookie (also breakfast), and a carrot cake muffin (supposed to be breakfast, but somehow made it to lunch).
We opted to take the alternate route, and I’m very happy we did. We woke up at five to ensure we would make the bus into town, and the climb up to the ridge was strenuous, but holy cow the views were unreal. Sidenote: if you have read John McPhee’s Encounters with the Archdruid, Miner’s Ridge is indeed the site of David Brower’s clash with the mineral engineer in the book’s first section. Unobstructed views of the west face of Glacier Peak and (I think) six of its glaciers, equally stunning views of the Dakobed Range to the north, and the chance to get an up close look at one of the few active fire lookouts in the Cascades. The ridge walk back to the PCT was other-worldly, passing the unbelievable Mirror Lake as a bonus—the fact that the PCT doesn’t take this route is inexplicable.
We woke up extra early today with the knowledge that much of the day would be very slow going—based on FarOut, I was expecting to navigate somewhere in the woods of five hundred downed trees, many of which were not easily navigable. Sunrise was gorgeous and the first five or so miles up to Fire Creek Pass were wide open and beautiful. Dropping down towards Milk Creek we started hitting the blow downs. After 2,500 miles of backpacking, this section really was not as bad as it was hyped up to be. It was only a few rough miles which slowed us down, and there were certainly worse stretches in Northern California. Moreover, the Miner’s Ridge fire lookout had set out a machete and saw for hikers to use to help maintain the overgrowth, and it seemed to us like much work was done with this system. After climbing out of Milk Creek, we were given a respite from the jungle with more stunning views of Glacier Peak from a clear alpine setting. Dropping back down after Dolly Vista, we navigated more blowdowns and washouts before reaching a seemingly old-growth forest near the Suiattle River with evidence of recent trail maintenance, apparently the first maintenance here in five years! We ended up camping at a site just before the Miner’s Ridge trail junction, an alternate we were considering doing which adds two miles and one thousand feet of vertical gain in exchange for what many consider the best views of Glacier Peak accessible by trail in the entire wilderness area. In any event, tomorrow holds a quick climb to Suiattle Pass and a long descent into North Cascades National Park and the legendary Stehekin, a town of sixty on Lake Chelan accessible only by foot, boat, or helicopter.
The sun! The sun! We woke up in a cloud and soaked because of the crappy campsite, but once I was moving I realized that the cloud we were in was isolated and we would soon have a bluebird day. Thank god. We soon entered the Glacier Peak Wilderness and were immediately stunned—alpine meadows, craggy peaks, and tremendous glaciers covering Washington’s most remote volcano. The hiking was strenuous and the views were top notch, so I was very happy. The final steep climb to camp was quite draining for me (probably because I wasn’t eating enough that day), but I was consoled by my first bear sighting since northern California, a mature black-coated bear gorging on huckleberries a few hundred yards downhill from trail. It seems like the blowdowns begin tomorrow, so we’re probably in for another tough day.
Still raining! Being disciplined because of yesterday’s excesses, we were standing on Highway 2 hitchhiking by 7:30. We eventually got a ride with two siblings heading into Seattle in the sister’s mint condition Buick station wagon from the seventies. They regaled us with stories and questions while the car slowly climbed up into the cloud which we would hike in all day. They dropped us off in the cold rain at Stevens Pass and we went on our not so merry way. The time for lallygagging was over, so we crushed the challenging terrain—all just steep up and down—with gusto. The rain came and went, so taking advantage of a lull in the rain, we set up in a meadow a few miles before our intended campsite at Lake Sally Ann. This would turn out to be a bit of a bummer, since this lake was among the most beautiful of the entire PCT. Tomorrow we enter to infamous Glacier Peak Wilderness, known for extremely rough trail conditions throughout its rugged and remote terrain, with many hikers reporting massively overgrown trail and near constant blowdowns in the Milk Creek valley bringing speed down to a crawl, sometimes literally. From the PCTA website: “Serious caution is advised. Many people would be wise to plan trips elsewhere.”
Rainy day. We awoke in a steady drizzle, so I packed up quickly and hit the road. After a strange interaction with Pilgrim at a stream, we basically powered through the fifteen miles to Steven’s Pass without stopping in order to stay warm in the high forty degree wet weather.
Editor’s note: the remainder of Washington was very strenuous and required hiking into the evening most days to meet my mileage goals, so most nights I opted to sleep for the thirty or so minutes that writing a good blog post requires. Thus, with a few exceptions, the remaining posts are recollections with a focus on the photographs.
High highs and low lows today. The climb up to Snow Lake put us in a cloud which we didn’t escape until we descended to the valley floor to the east. Around the lake, we were rained on and were offered little in the way of views owing to the dense fog.
Today was a great day. The climb out of camp brought us into a cloud. The fog never turned to rain, fortunately breaking at half past ten. The trail consisted entirely of extremely steep up and down, with many sections exceeding 1,000 feet per mile. We pushed hard all morning to get most of the climbing done and reach the beautiful Mirror Lake for lunch and a dip.
There’s not much to say about today’s walk through Washington forest: the eastward wind brought in smoke from a big fire on the Olympic peninsula and there was already plenty of smoke from a fire to the east, so the few views we would have had when we emerged from the green tunnel were spoiled. Despite this, we walked thirty miles and I mostly enjoyed myself, but, again, there’s not much to say.
The first day of August and my first day on the PCT in Washington were both awesome. The air was cool, the mosquitoes were mostly at bay, and the scenery was top notch. The day began with a nice climb into Mount Rainier National Park, where we emerged from lush forest to the beautiful alpine where the trail stayed for the rest of our thirty mile day.
We had a great double zero at Roadrunner’s, where I decided to skip ahead 147.7 miles to White Pass and thereby give myself ample time to reach the northern terminus. For logistical reasons and since we’ve been hiking partners for so long, Roadrunner decided to jump ahead with me and complete the skipped section southbound after I get off trail, but the others will continue on from Cascade Locks.
Last day in Oregon. Happy and sad, since much of Oregon totally sucked and much of it was really pretty paired with mellow hiking. Anyways, after tapping the Bridge of the Gods, we’re on our way to Roadrunner’s house to relax for a few days. While here, I need to figure out what to do about the remaining five hundred mile Washington section, as grad school starts in about three weeks, thus not leaving enough time to reach the terminus without skipping a small section.
Today was the shortest day we have had in awhile, only twenty three PCT miles to end up at Mile 2117.3, mostly because we took three blue blazes (side trails, for the uninitiated) with the first causing a two hour coma. We woke up six miles away from the Timberline Lodge and its legendary breakfast buffet. I decided to fast in order to maximize my consumption at the buffet, making the six uphill miles—with the final two consisting of steep and loose sand!—to the lodge somewhat painful. I was soothed, however, by excellent views of Mount Hood and, eventually, the famous lodge facade from The Shining.
Dirty forty! We walked 44.4 miles today in under sixteen hours to end at Mile 2094.7, including two separate trail magics only a mile apart, an awesome dip in Timothy Lake, and at least a pound each of huckleberries and blueberries picked and eaten by me. I only took a few photos since most of the day was through lush and dense forest (aside from a closer look at Mount Hood at the end of the day), so you’ll have to ask me about it sometime.
Today was a bit of an odd one. I slept in massively, not making it out of camp until 7:15. I caught up with Roadrunner during the nine mile climb out of camp and we proceeded to get quite lost, walking down the wrong trail for thirty minutes. On the way back to the PCT we were consoled with very nice views of Mount Jefferson, and when we rejoined the trail we entered Jefferson Park, a mind-bogglingly beautiful collection of alpine meadows, blue lakes, and the only unburnt forest we would walk through all day. Here we got our best views of Mount Jefferson before entering the Mount Hood Wilderness. It was all flat or downhill through more nasty burn scar from the Hood Wilderness boundary to Olallie Lake & Resort, where we replenished our food bags sufficiently to make it to the Oregon border in a few days. The others waited for us at Olallie, and fortunately they didn’t want to go many more miles, so we only went four miles further to camp at Jude Lake, Mile 2052.4. Tomorrow, my 100th day, we’ll do forty two miles to put ourselves within striking distance of Timberline Lodge’s famous breakfast buffet. There’s nothing like an Event.
Another pretty day in northern Oregon! We left the Mount Washington wilderness and entered the Mount Jefferson wilderness. On the way, we passed the 2,000 mile mark, wrapped around Three Fingered Jack, and ended up camping below Mount Jefferson at Mile 2029.8. Nothing too special to report, so enjoy some photos!
Another beautiful day in Oregon! The terrain was much more difficult than yesterday, with at least ten miles of trail consisting entirely of exposed lava rocks, at least fifteen through burn scars, and several steep climbs throughout. Fortunately, the views were excellent—we woke up with this awesome view of South Sister.
Today we did a half day out of Bend, walking fifteen miles to end at Mile 1968.1. We barely made it out, as Bend was so awesome that we all felt like we could stay for weeks.
Oregon has been pretty rough: for the first several days out of Ashland, it has gotten up to the high 90s by noon each day, the trail has been more of a green tunnel than in any part of California, and the mosquitoes have become truly vicious, swarming me even when I walk at top speed and truly raining hellfire at camp. Simultaneously, I have been unable to get a good night of sleep, so I have felt like a zombie from morning until night. This has resulted in the biggest lack of motivation and enjoyment I have felt on trail—at various times I considered skipping ahead or taking time off to reinvigorate myself. The days from Ashland to Crater Lake were particularly bad, just slogs from start to finish.
Because of the insane heat wave in Southern Oregon (it was 100! Fahrenheit at 5 pm!) and we wanted to sleep in and enjoy our house to the fullest extent, we decided to begin in the evening and hike into the night. We spent our day well—it began with a huge breakfast of eggs, bacon, French toast, fruit, berries, yogurt, and leftover pie. When Roadrunner’s parents dropped us off at Lithia Park, I immediately ate my pint of Ben and Jerry’s, caught up on the blog, and took a nice nap.
Zero day! I failed at sleeping in, but when I rose I was met with an insane spread of fruit, bagels, and homemade jam. Heaven. We went to a very disappointing Ashland farmer’s market and wandered around Ashland until we couldn’t take the heat anymore. Then we went to Walmart to resupply and went home to enjoy the pool for a few hours before dinner at a nearby winery. Afterwards, I decided to shave while Roadrunner’s marionberry pie baked, so I am clean shaven (besides the mustache) for the first time since early April! The pie was incredible, so I went to bed with a full stomach and a happy heart.
Today we had a mellow twenty one miles into town, two short climbs bookended by chill descents, the latter of which was thirteen miles. The main obstacles were the heat and smoke from a small fire off of Interstate 5 just a mile or two away from trail.
After nearly 1,700 miles, I have finally crossed my first state border, spending my first night outside California on a slanted gravel road at Mile 1697.6.
We slept in big time, not hitting the trail until 7:15. We only had nine miles to the Etna Summit trailhead, where Buff Baby’s parents would pick us up, bring us into the town of Etna, and shuttle us up to Seiad Valley and thus around the closure for the Summit fire.
We finally caught the smoke from the fire we had been watching for the last three days. Other than that, today was a very pretty and chill day through the Trinity Alps wilderness and into the mountains just south of the Marble Mountains. The last climb was quite smoky, but fortunately our campsite at Mile 1592.3 was pretty protected from the smoke. I behaved myself at lunch and ate an appropriate amount, so the afternoon wasn’t as hellish as yesterday.
Another very chill day, typical of Northern California. We walked thirty two miles with a mere 2,400 feet of gain, which is to say that the trail just traversed below ridge after ridge in the same manner as much of the trail in Southern California. We did twenty two easy miles by lunch, where I made a great error: eating an entire bag of chips (>1,200 calories) and three English muffins, two with Nutella and one with salami. I could barely walk after this 2,000 calorie lunch, so the next ten miles were punishing. I put in the headphones and eventually succeeded in spacing out by thinking about math. I was gun shy at dinner at our camp at Mile 1561.9, so I ate very little and am going to bed quite early.
Back on trail! Roadrunner befriended one of the employees of the gear shop yesterday who happened to live in Weed, so he volunteered to pick us up from our crummy motel, take us to an excellent breakfast at Seven Suns in Shasta, and drive us back to the trail. We started moving around 8, a very very late start considering that the trail out of I-5 was essentially a thirty three mile sustained climb with only sporadic sun protection after the first ten or so miles. Fortunately, the climb begin in Castle Crags state park, so we were afforded stunning views during the steep and boiling hot morning climb, and ended in the beautiful Klamath Mountains, so the cooler afternoon ridge traverse was just as beautiful. We received some very surprising trail magic on a random forest service road from The Owl—Coke, beer, and “Sonora Pass Cafe Cookies,,” his special homemade chocolate chip cookies with whipped cream and a (real) cherry on top. Delish. This slowed us down, so instead of camping at the lake we aimed for we ended up on a ridge with a phenomenal view of Shasta. What a shame.
Today we had an easy six miles to get to the I-5 where we hitched into Shasta. I ate an unconscionable amount of food and am spending the night in a very shitty motel in Weed.
The trail was also cruisey today, with two long climbs punctuated by a late lunch at a pretty river with some ammo-box trail magic. We all fantasized about our nero in Shasta, with my particular focus being donuts and watermelon. I’m tired and waking up early to get to the donut shop near opening, so I’ll leave the blog at this!
Today we walked. It was mostly pretty uninteresting trail with lots of bushwhacking, but we managed to have fun. It was almost entirely shaded and graded easily, so I stayed cool. We entertained ourselves by online shopping (I was finally cajoled into buying a new hat) and taking a break every time we emerged from the brush and caught a glimpse of Shasta. At our camp at Mile 1465.4, we were harassed by a deer mafia hell-bent on licking up our urine. Even throwing rocks or Buff Baby running and screaming at them wouldn’t move them off more than a few feet. Strange stuff.
Today I woke up with one thing on my mind: soft serve. We slept in super late, catching up on sleep and not wanting to reach the Burney Falls general store before the ice cream train started rolling, so we didn’t leave until 8 to crush the nine miles to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Walking was easy and, after coming upon and motivating an injured Buff Baby, we made it to the store right at the 11 o’clock opening.
Buff Baby’s birthday! Another fun one today, though much more of the type 2 variety. We woke up at 3:30 so that we could beat what we were told would be temperatures in the mid 90s on a thirty mile section of trail—the Hat Creek rim—with essentially no shade. We aimed to walk thirty five miles to the Burney Mountain Guest Ranch, where cold drinks and an all you can eat dinner awaited.
Roadrunner’s birthday! And yet, another walk through another nasty burn scar. The entire stretch through Lassen NP ended up being total scorched earth, with the first unburned section coming just six miles before Old Station. Despite being a town day, where I would be getting new shoes no less, it was pretty hard to find the motivation to walk. We started walking at 4 am, but this wasn’t early enough to beat the heat, so we were soaked in sweat before the brutal sun even rose. My feet hurt like hell from stretching my shoes too far—from Kennedy Meadows to Old Station—and my knee was a bother, so it wasn’t the most pleasurable walking. At one point it was so hot that breathing through my nose gave the same sensation as doing so in a sauna. We did the 25 miles into town, immediately ate ice cream and picked up packages, then hitched down the road to eat burgers and resupply at the gas station. I ate more sugar than I even wish to put into writing, and after the others finished repacking their food, we were still so hot that we decided to just stay behind the gas station and wake up early in the morning to try to beat the heat. A woman named Bug appeared as I was going to bed with a watermelon, my deepest craving for the last two weeks, and I almost cried. Burney Mountain Guest Ranch is supposed to have a great dinner buffet, so if we can put in good miles that’s definitely the goal for tomorrow.
Today we continued the march through the Dixie Fire burn scar in Lassen National Forest and eventually Lassen Volcanic National Park. The hiking was pretty cruisey and was nicely punctuated by a few phone calls to family and a glorious mid afternoon dip in the Feather River before a feast of a lunch. After lunch, my knee blew up to the size of a grapefruit, causing so much pain upon flexion that I had to lay down and contemplate all the poor decisions I’ve ever made. After eating a stroopwaffle, I decided to continue hobbling up the climb. I had to lift my leg over a few blowdowns, but eventually the pain eased and I was able to cruise to the campground where we would sleep tonight. I go to bed with the terrifying and yummy scent of the car campers’ campfires in my nose.
Today had only an austere beauty, as the trail continued through the burn scar we started walking through after leaving Quincy yesterday. We got too late of a start, causing much suffering in the heat (with no shade because all the trees were dead) and ultimately for us to fall a bit short of our intended campsite and instead camping at Mile 1322.2, with a beautiful view of Lassen in the distance. Not much to say about today, just another hot and dusty March through burned forest.
Today was quite the day and it’s quite late at night so I’ll have to be brief. We woke up at 6 and I ate my leftover deli sandwich and a fistful of leftover cookie dough for breakfast before climbing into the back of a very nice man’s pickup headed back to trail.
Today we were woken up earlier than expected because our host Tina had to hit the road much earlier than she had thought the night before. No biggie, but she ended up dropping us on the side of a residential street three miles from downtown Quincy, so we were left to pack up in someone’s lawn and try our luck hitching on the main road at 6 am.
After spending over an hour of my sleep time filling a cathole to the brim with diarrhea, I began the 4,500 foot climb out of the bottom of the Feather River valley at 6:15 pretty dehydrated and in quite the bad mood. I managed to stay with Roadrunner’s pace until about 1,000 feet from the top, when my diarrhea returned. This left me alone for the foreseeable future, as I knew there was no chance of catching up with any of the rest of the group unless they stopped before reaching the road where we would hitchhike into Quincy, an unlikely eventuality.
My diarrhea was pretty bad on these days, so, combined with the big mileage we were pushing, I didn’t have the energy at the end of these days to blog. Thus I’ll list some highlights and lowlights: the climb out of Sierra City was gradual and very beautiful (Sierra Buttes!), I only realized I lost my phone after falling while climbing over a blowdown one and a half miles downhill of the blowdown, so I had to march uphill to retrieve it, we finally caught up with Roadrunner (spoiler: the four of us are shaping up to be a pretty great hiking group), the last eight miles of day 68 was through a recent burn area with half of it as a road walk routing around an area with so many blowdowns hikers described it as impassable, that day ended at the beautiful and unburned Middle Fork of the Feather River where I soaked and washed my feet and legs for the first time since South Lake Tahoe. Here are some photos:
Today was very physically challenging. My feet are the worst they have been pain wise, and my diarrhea has returned with a true vengeance. Because of one of the medications I’m taking my feet are extremely dry and have deep cracks through all the layers of skin, so every step is painful. To maintain our timeline after yesterday’s short day, we opted to walk 34 miles, from the Peter Grub Hut at Mile 1161.9 all the way to Sierra City, Mile 1196.5.
Today was a weird day. We woke up late (7:30!) and got breakfast among the plethora of motocrossers. We got back on trail around 9:45 (!!!!!) for my latest start ever. I ignored the ominous clouds in the distance as I marched towards I-80, feeling low energy and kinda crappy from the enormous breakfast burrito I housed.
Really big day, walking thirty six miles with 9,600 feet of gain to get from just beyond Desolation Wilderness to Donner Pass, Mile 1154.5 Today was the first day I felt strong endurance-wise since getting back on trail, but that doesn’t mean the day was without challenges—bears, wind, and poor decision making all threatened to derail my hike.
Despite what is best for my feet, I’m back on trail and crushing miles. There’s not much to say about today because the trail was easy and the views excellent—we hiked up and around Echo Lake and through the entirety of the Desolation Wilderness stretch of the trail, making camp at Mile 1119.2 for about twenty seven miles on the day. Tomorrow I’m hoping to motivate the group to send 35 miles to get to Donner Pass and Donner Ski Ranch by dinner time, so tomorrow should be fun!
I woke up early and went first thing to urgent care to get my feet checked out. I have a nasty fungal infection and probably a bacterial infection, so I was prescribed antibiotics and both oral and topical antifungals. The doctor advised that I stay off my feet until they completely clear up, so I decided to take today off and leave tomorrow instead. This ended up being fortuitous as I had a lot to do—ship home my bear canister and ice axe, resupply, and buy new socks at the gear shop, not to mention eat copious food. A lady we chatted with in line at the PO offered to drive us to the Grocery Outlet down the road, and soon after she was inviting us to her daughter’s high school graduation party that night. Of course, we attended, eating burgers and fruit while answering their many questions. We made it back early enough to pack up for our early departure tomorrow morning.
This is going to be short since I’m up way past my bedtime with much to do in the am tomorrow to get back on trail (urgent care for my feet, resupply, huge breakfast). With only twenty one miles to Highway 50 where we would hitch into South Lake Tahoe, we woke up with the sun and immediately started crushing miles with the energy that is only granted to you on a town day. We cruised up and then down to Carson Pass, with the ascent being the first time I donned my microspikes since getting back on trail, where we encountered surprise trail magic from the ranger station volunteers—a cold can of Cherry Coke, a Reese’s, and an orange!
People are comparing it to Jordan’s flu game. I woke up feeling sick as ever and with the diarrhea having returned with a vengeance. Despite this, I walked almost thirty one miles with over 6,000 feet of gain and 5,000 feet of loss to end at Mile 1,003.6.
The normal bliss which accompanies crawling into my bivy at the end of a tough day is nothing compared to the feeling of doing so after being swarmed by mosquitoes for the intervening period between walking and bivy. This is the feeling with which I lay down to write this blog post.
Today was a real test of my psyche. My mind and my body were disconnected, putting them at odds several times. Frustration was my overwhelming emotion today, for more reasons than I care to enumerate. Though the twenty five miles I hiked had a mere 2,600 feet of gain, with more than half of that concentrated in the first five miles with the rest essentially little ups during a long flat/downhill section, I struggled for almost all of this latter twenty mile stretch, and though I tried to enjoy myself, I really didn’t.
Despite a few health issues I’m working through—a nasty cough, diarrhea, and the ten pounds I put on during my ten days off—I managed to put in twenty four mile day, putting me within striking distance of Donahue Pass and hopefully a subsequent very big day to keep me on track to reach South Lake Tahoe in 7 days.
No day has been more of a sufferfest than today. We were moving by 3 and immediately postholing through the crusty snow (as nighttime temperatures didn’t stay slow enough to cause a freeze in the alpine), something that would continue for the entirety of the twenty two mile day without more than a mile or two of dry trail. Our first hour of hiking was at an average pace of 0.6 miles per hour. For those playing along at home, try to walk that slow for even five minutes. It will kill you inside. We made it to the top of Silver Pass by the skin of our teeth and were greeted by some pretty predawn light over several frozen alpine lakes.
Today I slept in at VVR with the plan of eating their breakfast (the food at VVR has probably been the best on trail) and leaving soon after to make as many miles towards Mammoth Lakes. Unfortunately, between VVR and Mammoth is Silver Pass, so staying for breakfast guaranteed slushy conditions. Clearly these plates were worth it.
Today was another big one, ultimately to make it to VVR before lunch ended. We woke early and immediately started ascending a brutal set of switchbacks cut into the granite. After finishing these we were 1500 feet higher than we started, so much of the ascent to Selden Pass was behind us. This is when Roadrunner had the unfortunate realization that she had left her fanny pack somewhere behind us. Thus we split ways here, planning to meet back up by VVR. The climb towards Selden alone was fun, I was feeling strong and it was my first solo hiking in quite some time. I passed a bunch of pretty lakes on the easy final ascent, and at the top I ate peanut m&ms and a slim jim.
Topping yesterday, today was my first 25 mile day in the Sierra. We started the ascent to Muir Pass at 4 and were up there by 6:15. The climb up was mostly snowbound and mostly easy because of the low grade, so I was really able to enjoy the stunning surroundings. On the way up Sled Dog, Dumpster, Jojo, Bandit, Mikey, and ??? caught up to us and we hiked together intermittently for the rest of the ascent, with us shooting ahead and them finding a shortcut to catch us. We reached the pass together and hung out for a while in the cool Muir hut.
Today was a big day, the first twenty plus mile day since we hit the snow, ending with a big group at Mile 835.3. The hiking was an interesting mix of technical and very cruisey hiking. Fair warning to my mother (and anybody else faint of heart): there is a paragraph below hidden behind a reveal-me button which you should not read.
Our watchword today was “the trail is just a tool” (shoutout A. Skurka). Of the 16.3 miles I walked today, maybe 7 or 8 were on trail while the remainder were spent simply navigating to a waypoint by the route of least resistance. Very fun, especially for a big day like today.
Today I hiked for over twelve hours. In the desert this would mean that I travelled at least thirty miles; in the Sierra, all that time moving today amounted to a hard-earned nineteen, to end at Mile 800.9.
Today was a short day out. Because the bus back to Independence didn’t leave until 8:45, we didn’t start hiking until 11:15, so the snow was total slush. Anticipating this, we planned on only hiking a few miles up to some pretty lakes and hitting both Kearsarge and Glen Passes first thing tomorrow morning. The pack was heavy so the walking was slow, but fortunately I packed out a ton of fresh food for tonight so tomorrow should be a bit easier.
Today was all work and little play. I caught up on my sleep and went to the legendary Erick Schat’s bakery for a huge breakfast—a pastrami sandwich on killer rye bread, pickles, a piece of shortbread, a croissant, a cinnamon roll, a buttermilk bar donut, and an apple fritter, all washed down with a ginger lemon kombucha. Then I had to hustle back to my motel room to check out since I needed to change rooms and this be homeless from 11 until 4. After this I did my laundry and went to go resupply with Roadrunner while it dried. My most expensive resupply, though it is for a pretty long stretch and I am eating almost 4,000 calories a day at this point. On the way back we stopped at the fairgrounds and sampled at least 15 varieties of goat cheese. I bought a slab of the stinkiest stuff he had to pack out tomorrow. After collecting my laundry I could finally re-check in, so I headed back to the motel burdened by clothes and food. After repacking my food and attending to other small chores, I went to go hangout with the rest of the big group. It was very low energy after the previous night’s partying, with many people even planning a second zero. We went to eat some Texas-style barbecue, after which I was far too tired to go to the first—and only for me—Mule Days arena event. Thus I went to my room and slept the sleep of the dead.
Today we slept in until 4:30 since we only needed to make it over Kearsarge pass less than ten miles away. We flew over the end of the snowbound forest we struggled through yesterday and began slowly climbing switchbacks towards Bullfrog Lake.
Another big day! I love every second in the high sierra so much, I think I decided today to continue for another week before returning to Chicago for graduation and moving. I’m writing this blog post at a campsite with the following amenities: in a stand of gorgeous sequoias, a few steps away from a raging green creek where I soaked my legs, jagged granite towers to the north, and towering Mount Stanford to the south. Frankly, I have no desire to leave this place. If I wasn’t almost out of food, then there would be no way I would be in Bishop tomorrow. But for the time being I have responsibilities, so I will dutifully return.
Whitney summit today! I woke up to my 1 AM alarm feeling full of piss and vinegar, so I was packed and ready to go by 1:20. Unfortunately, no one else was ready until 1:45, so I ate half my snacks waiting. I led the charge up the approach trail, hauling ass in order to give myself more time for the higher elevation. The snow was solid around Guitar Lake, and the line of headlamps ahead seemed to go straight up, so I did the same. This steep snow climbing made me so hot that I was shirtless by the top. Eventually I made it to the “switchbacks”—scare quotes because at least half of them had no bootpack and instead were cut straight up the very steep slope by either rock hopping or simply front pointing up the frozen snow. After about 300 feet of this exhausting climbing straight up, I dodged a rockfall that certainly would have killed me and decided I needed to poop post haste. I found as level a spot as possible—about a 45 degree slope—and proceeded to poop into a gallon ziplock, my homemade wag bag. While wiping with the abundant snow, I nudged my pack and watched as it rolled and bounced in slow motion down the slope. I felt terror and sadness, as I knew that this all but guaranteed that I would miss the sunrise at the peak. Thankfully, the pack came to a stop atop a small boulder, so my day wasn’t quite ruined. Retrieving it and returning to where I began took the better part of thirty minutes, so I was now at the back of the pack. Eventually, I caught Roadrunner and we decided to stick together since we both thought our headlamps would imminently die. Her torch died first, so we had to deal with about 500 feet of very steep climbing over rocks and snow punctuated by icy traverses on just one very dim light. Fortunately we were soon walking on snow free switchbacks up to the junction which meets up with the trail from Whitney Portal. Because of the extreme number of day hikers, the trail from the junction to the summit is at this point a well-defined bootpack instead of the choose-your-own-adventure scramble we just cranked out. Having felt good all morning, I began to feel weak around this point. Probably the elevation. In any event, I had trouble keeping up, so about 500 feet from the summit I sent Roadrunner ahead and suffered through the last steep stretch at an agonizingly slow pace. I reached the summit at 5:40, the last to arrive at the summit from our group, and I felt a bit bummed about missing the sunrise for the first few minutes on top. My mood soon improved as I ate the rest of my snacks and hung out with all the friends I made in Kennedy Meadows surrounded by some of the best views of my entire life. We relaxed at the top for an hour, and descended very rapidly, choosing to down climb through the scree rather than follow the faint bootpack along the switchbacks or try our hand at the terrifyingly steep glissade tracks. I fell so many times on the descent that it became a bit ridiculous— on my butt, my side with the pick of my ice axe into my armpit (ouch), boulder into shin, boulder into shin again, and on and on. I was obviously struggling with the altitude but, not feeling any desire to go slowly, I just continued to send it towards Crabtree Meadow, where a huge lunch and a nap called my name. My rain pants paid the price for this nonsense, as they are now irreparably covered in rips. It was fun despite my clumsiness. The descent was doubly fun because all the dark blobs I walked past on the way up magically transformed into breathtaking mountains. The light also allowed me to see in its full glory the serious exposure of the route, something I completely ignored on the ascent. When I eventually got back to camp I was feeling quite drained, and a big lunch of beans, rice, chips, and a Nutella tortilla failed to revive me, so I took a four hour nap siesta in the shade by the stunning Whitney Creek. Eventually I rallied myself, Roadrunner, DJ, Sarah, and Foot Stuff to pack up and make a few more miles in order to make tomorrows climb up Forrester pass a bit easier. We only made it 3 miles through the late afternoon posthole hell, something particularly painful for my skinned and burnt shins, before making camp at a beautiful little spot off trail from Mile 770 with a prime view of Forester Pass. Another 3 am wake up tomorrow to beat the melt, so I am really earning my bed in Bishop on Thursday. And now, without further ado, the largest photo dump this blog has ever seen.
Sublime is the word of the day. Looking through today’s pictures (I took 68), I am struck by the trite fact that the pictures fail to capture the beauty of my surroundings. Alas.
Yesterday’s big day combined with the altitude caught up with me today. Fortunately the same thing happened for Roadrunner and Beer Run, so my 15 mile day to end at Mile 746.5 is a little less embarrassing.
Despite today’s gain of nearly 6,000 feet over almost 30 miles, today was a really fun day. Camp is at Mile 729.6 and at an elevation of nearly 9,000 feet, our first high altitude camp. Here’s the view from my campsite behind the general store.
Double zero! In order to hike with new friends, we stayed another day in Kennedy Meadows. Totally unnecessary for my body, but it was pretty awesome nonetheless. I ate another huge pancake breakfast, rolled out my feet, and chatted with everybody until it was time for me to eat a huge burger for lunch. Afterwards we did an hour of yoga led by an Irish man who appeared out of the woodwork to lead us through the best recovery yoga of all time. Then I ate a pint of Ben and Jerry’s and a salad as preparation for a lovely swim in the freezing Kern river. Then dinner (chicken nuggets and mashed potatoes with Fritos) and Airplane! on the General Store’s big screen. Great day. I’m very excited for a big first day in the high Sierra tomorrow!
A very social zero day. I slept in until 6:45 and ate the hiker breakfast at Grumpy’s around 8:30: eggs, sausage, hashbrowns, and all you can eat pancakes (though almost no one eats a second).
Waking up this morning, I experienced the full pain of poor campsite selection. Overnight temperatures were in the 20s, so with no protection from condensation the inside of my bivy looked like this:
Today I woke up ready to crush the 6000 feet of elevation gain needed to set us up to nearo into Kennedy Meadows South tomorrow. Roadrunner not so much. This lack of enthusiasm was compounded by the very gray, cloudy, windy, and cold morning.
Today was a very quintessential through hike day. Unfortunately, it began with a very early wake up for everyone at Sergio’s home because of our trail routine of waking up before the sun—I woke up at 5:30 and pretended to sleep until 7. Fortunately, luck changed as we soon headed to the incredible Krispy Donuts, where I deleted a chocolate long john (chocolate bar on the west coast, apparently) and a buttermilk doughnut before we could cross the street to our breakfast spot, a highly inauspicious diner attached to a cheap motel. The food turned out to be pretty solid—my French toast, eggs, and sausage were gone fast.
What we wanted to do two days ago (day 32) we achieved today: we were moving at 4:45 and grinding out the day’s climb by 7:15. This made it all easy, and we made it to our siesta 23 miles down trail from camp by noon. Not a bad morning.
Adopting a less aggressive pre-siesta itinerary than yesterday, we started late and sadly hiked out of the nice pine forest and down into the driest stretch of trail yet: 35 miles without a natural water source. This stretch of trail looks inhospitable, to say the least.
Today we made two crucial errors which combined to make a few hours of the day quite the sufferfest. The first was actually decided last night, namely that we cut in two an otherwise 20 mile water carry by taking a 1 mile side trail to a spring. This was pretty dumb for two reasons: first, we failed to realize that the water was one mile and 700 feet straight down a rocky Jeep road, and two, we didn’t understand that the 40 minute round trip to collect the water (plus time for filtering) would just need to be made up during the hottest part of the day. Hot indeed, as today marked the first day of a heatwave which we will suffer at least through the weekend.
Because we left several tasks until today, we weren’t able to make it on trail until 11:30. The morning was very nice though, with yogurt, berries, and a kombucha, all things my gut has been pining for. When we did make it to trail, it was quite hot and my pack was quite heavy, probably the heaviest it has been to date.
Today we hiked an easy 8 miles up and over a wind farm to reach an overpass over highway 58 at Mile 566.5. Here we hoped to hitch into Tehachapi and resupply, a somewhat daunting prospect give that 58 is a pretty major highway. Fortunately, a trail angel had just dropped off a few hikers and we were able to get a ride to the post office and then, after a long tour of Tehachapi, we were finally dropped off in downtown. The first order of business was, of course, breakfast. I ate a huge plate of huevos con chorizo with rice and beans at Kelcy’s diner, leaving a happy man. To recover, we relaxed in the shade at the beautiful Phillip Marx park for four hours, lazily making phone calls, figuring out logistics, and napping. At this point we decided to stay the night at the cheap motel, as we had done basically none of our tasks. After getting our rooms, I started my laundry, showered, and we headed west for Chipotle and a Walmart resupply. Both were glorious and I ended up buying a ridiculous amount of food, I think around 5,000 calories per day for the three and a half days to Walker Pass, where we will hitch to Ridgecrest for Roadrunner’s package. The consequences of my eyes’ gluttony will be suffered tomorrow when I add four liters of water to my pack for the long climb 2500 feet up during the hottest day we will have experienced thus far.
One of the most amazing aspects of a through hike is the fact that you walk many stretches of trail and experience areas that you would otherwise never even consider walking or seeing. Today I woke up with the sun on someone’s private property, walked a dirt road along an aqueduct and uphill into a wind farm. Then, with views of miles of solar panels and more wind turbines on the floor of the desert, I climbed 3500 feet off the floor only to descend two thirds of that to walk through and ultimately camp in another wind farm, this one next to the busy Tahachapi Willow Springs Road. Weird stuff.
I finished all of my town chores by 5 and we decided that we would aim to leave by 6. I napped in a beautifully sunrise -dappled lawn until 5:45. After dealing with food, water, and feet, we set off at 6:30, at least two hours behind the most recent person to have left Hiker Town.
Just seven miles outside of Hiker Town, last night we planned to get to bed early, and try to sleep in late. Unfortunately, rain ruined our cowboy camp so that we had to set up shelters and l, after setting up my tarp, was just not tired. This led to very little sleep, though we did luxuriate in camp, breakfasting and drying our gear in the hot sun, until 9:30 (a time when I usually have walked nearly ten miles!).
The weather cooperated with us today to enable a long and pleasant day of walking, ending at Mile 510.9 for a bit over a marathon (though less than that for trail miles, since one of our water sources was an off-trail adventure).
Today was quite possibly my favorite day on trail, despite its short length: around 20 trail miles to end at Mile 464.0 . Roadrunner and I set off at 6:30 from the 49ers Saloon, the first to leave of the massive group accumulated there. We failed to get a hitch back to the road while eating our Lenny and Larry’s cookies. While walking back to the saloon to call a trail angel, a decommissioned Crown Victoria pulled out of the lot and heeded my half-baked thumb and grin. Roadrunner immediately identified him as the same guy who stood outside the saloon yesterday, telling us that the owners suck, the food is overpriced, they force you to donate, and that we were far better off heading to Agua Dolce. We saw for ourselves that none of this was true, so we were in for an interesting ride. Sparing my kind readers the details, I just want to communicate how thoroughly this man despises the residents and businesses of Acton, CA, the town where he lives. The kicker was that when the ten minute ride to the trail was over, he told us for the first time that he hoped to receive a “donation” from us for his gas and to “help out other hikers.” What a joke.
Today we experienced all four seasons, apparently very characteristic of the Mojave. We planned to do a short day in order to hit a quick midday resupply in Agua Dulce on Friday. Despite spending a long time in camp eating breakfast in bed and doing yoga, we crushed the first ten miles so effortlessly that we decided to push a bit further to Acton to resupply and enjoy the delights of the 49ers Saloon.
Today was a return to form, hiking at least a marathon (my phone says 29.7 miles) to end at Mile 420.8. I woke up around 5 to a drizzle on my face which fortunately didn’t persist, and I was up and moving by 5:30. After waiting for more awake people from camp to join me, we set off on the morning climb to warm up. This first climb was easy and we soon found ourselves at a piped spring where we took a luxurious thirty minute break.
Today was super fun. I woke up to the sunrise, a beautiful and also upsetting sight, as I had hoped to wake up early enough to see the sunrise from the summit of Baden Powell—a 45 minute ascent if I would have hustled. I was also pleased to identify rabbit tracks in the snow, as rabbits always remind me of my sister and my dog.
For all intents and purposes today was a nearo, as I walked 8 miles only 3 miles of which were on the PCT itself. I am camped in the first snow free patch of dirt at Mile 376.9. Many things contributed to this shot day: the vortex of town, good conversation with new friends, waiting for a 30 minute ride, a grueling five mile road walk, and the fact that going any further would mean summitting Mount Baden-Powell at the absolute slushiest point of the day…
Today was a short one because of the closure around Wrightwood for the Bridge Fire. I walked to Mile 356.2, gaining a bit over 4,000 feet in the process, only to descend several thousand to hitchhike into Wrightwood and thus halfway around the closure. This amounted to about 15 miles on trail and 21 total miles of walking.
Today was pretty quintessential type II fun. I woke up to a drizzle on my face at 1 am, which I dismissed as my imagination. After being convinced by several more I hastily put up my tarp and fell back asleep. When I awoke at 5:30, the drizzle was still present. Since my pack liner completely ripped yesterday (it’s this gossamer-thin nylofume bullshit: never again), I improvised my tarp as a pack cover and began hiking in the cool drizzle. With few exceptional periods, this was the nicest weather I experienced all day.
Today was quite fun. I’ve entered a new bubble so I have met lots and lots of people the past two days. The trail today was very easy, almost all downhill, which is reflected in my high mileage (28 miles according to the map, I’ve setup camp right next to the trail at mile 313.4) despite the fact that I spent 2 hours at an incredible hot springs.
Back on trail, I ended the day at Mile 285.9 for a chill 20 mile day after the delights of Big Bear. I didn’t start walking until about 10 since a failure to realize we were breakfasting at a cash only establishment caused me to run around town looking for an ATM for which I could tap my phone. A fool’s errand.
Today I rebounded well from yesterday’s struggles. I woke up feeling quite depressed and unmotivated, but after packing up and getting water a few miles downtrail I felt ready to take on the day.
Today was undoubtedly the most difficult day so far. Though Rocksie warned us that the walk up Mission Creek would be difficult, I wasn’t prepared for the mental and physical anguish of 12 miles of extremely washed out trail at its best and painfully slow and often directionless boulder hopping at its worst. Today the trail drew its first tears from me, and after the tap was opened I cried at least twice more.
Tough day. The desert forces you to appreciate the little things—shade found under a boulder, a cool breeze, cold water—because that is often all that is on offer. We ended off trail at mile 218.6.
Today we walked about 20 miles to end at mile 193.7, though only 14.3 of these miles were on the PCT proper—we took a side quest to summit Mount San Jacinto, adding a couple thousand feet of elevation gain and several miles on variable and occasionally steep snow.
Today we did zero mileage and just relaxed in Idyllwild—big breakfast, pint of Ben and Jerry’s for post breakfast snack, finished the book I’ve been lugging around and not reading while munching on some carrots, made a bunch of phone calls, watched Kill Bill vol. 1, and had a massive lasagna dinner cooked by a friend. I also met the mayor of Idyllwild:
Today was short in terms of mileage but not in terms of elevation gained—we went 17 miles (camp at mile 176.5) directly up the San Jacinto massif. We’ve set ourselves up nicely to nearo (near zero, zero being through hiker parlance for a zero mileage day) into Idyllwild tomorrow. Though temperatures are the lowest we’ve seen so far, I’m continuing my streak of not setting up my tarp for at least another night, and likely many more :). How could I enjoy this sunset through some nylon?
Today we took things extremely easy with an 8 miles hike to Paradise Valley Cafe, 5 hours and 2 meals there, then another 8 miles to a campsite for a short day ending at mile 159.7.
Rough one today. I ended at little bear’s “hostel” at around mile 145.2 for 25.6 miles on the day. Bailey and I woke up to a crisp morning, and the weather stayed that way for most of the day—lows 70s and partly sunny.
Today was a day of many firsts: first marathon (in fact my phone says I walked exactly 26.2 miles, though my map shows that I ended at 119.6 for 28.4 miles on the day), first 100 miles done, first shower and laundry, first wildflowers, first gross water.
Though I only hiked 20 miles (ended at mile 91.2), today was a big day. I woke up early to a nice sunrise and was walking by 6. After stoping in town, I didn’t stop walking until the sun was down, around 7:30.
Today we ended up at a campground in Mount Laguna just off trail from mile 47.6. A solid day of walking. It was mostly uphill and mostly in the blistering sun, so it was tough and fun.
Today I flew from Chicago to San Diego and after messing around with the southbound bus system and two rideshares I made it to the southern terminus monument. I’ll spare the gory details.
Today is day -3 of my PCT hike and I have finally configured my website. This (mercifully brief) test post will describe my gear. It will be so brief as to consist of two images and a link to a spreadsheet!
