PCT 2018 Section Hike - Prepping for the Final 400 Miles
Back in 2009 when I started this PCT journey, I had hoped to have completed the whole thing by the time I turned 60. Well, my 60th birthday was in May and I still have 400 miles left to do. This summer will be the final push to get 'er done! My final 400 miles are from McCloud to 10 miles past Crater Lake, where I started with Jingle Bell and Forget-Me-Not all those years ago. My hiking buddy Seasoned Strider is graciously willing to accompany me in completing the Pacific Crest Trail. In return, I will be hiking with Seasoned Strider in the Sierra so she can finish her last 100 miles! My husband Dave is going to be our personal trail angel again and will be following us along and resupplying us via our motorhome.
In an attempt to avoid as much heat in Northern California as possible, we will start southbound at first at Ashland, then jump to the Sierra and hike northbound to cover those missing miles, and finally jump back to Ashland and go northbound and finish the trail.
I haven't been able to train for the trail this year like I did in the past, so will be hiking myself in shape as we go along. I expect a lot of soreness in the first couple of weeks! I still have my beloved ULA Circuit, well worn from many trail miles, which now fits like comfortable bedroom slippers. I added two homemade water bottle "sacks" so I can simply slip my water bottles in and out easily. I was having issues of the bottles falling from the elastic ties. Another minor gear change was buying a WIDE XTherm and cutting it down to my height. No more elbows falling off the pad - I love it! I also modified my SMD Skyscape X a little bit so I could have my poles inside.
I started thinking about all the years that I have been hiking the PCT. At the start of this big adventure, we were limited for three weeks each August. Then in 2016 I connected up with Seasoned Strider and got some major miles in. Here is how I've tackled it:
2009 - Started at Hwy 138 and hiked through to Cascade Locks with Jingle Bell and Forget-Me-Not
2010 - Forest Road 23 (Mt Adams) and hiked to Stevens Pass with Jingle Bell (Forget-Me-Not and Sole Duct went with us for the first week to White Pass)
2011 - Stevens Pass aborted two days in due to massive snow, flipped to Rainy Pass south to Stehekin, then south from Mt Adams to Wind River, with Jingle Bell and Sole Duct
2012 - Tuolumne Meadows to Bishop Pass - solo
2013 - Reds Meadows to Mt Whitney (out Whitney Portal) with Jingle Bell
2014 - Reds Meadows to Donners Pass with Jingle Bell
2015 - Stevens Pass to Canadian Border (and back to Harts Pass), started with Jingle Bell and then finished solo
2016 - Mexico Border to Ash Camp/McCloud with Seasoned Strider (Seasoned Strider continued on until Cascade Locks)
2017 - Took a break...
Over the years I have tried to pick which sections have been my favorites. The trail is so diverse from the Mexico Border to the Canadian Border that it is hard to choose. I absolutely love the Northwest volcanoes, probably because I live here and hike all over on them all the time. The Goat Rocks Wilderness is an amazing place but is so overrun with backpackers and day hikers in the summer and fall. The Sierra is also an amazing place to visit and hike and I was definitely challenged every time I did a section hike there. There are so many people on the JMT section, but I can see why people go back year after year. I would say that I have the best memories from hiking the JMT. It is so beautiful. The North Cascades in Washington are also very challenging, almost as much as the Sierra in places. The year we hiked the desert in Southern California the desert flowers were incredibly beautiful. I had never seen anything like it, or all those rattlesnakes....
So now it's down to the final push. I am looking forward to seeing the Trinity Alps section, the Hat Rim Trail, seeing the Sierra once more, and then pushing through the final miles past Crater Lake to Hwy 138 where I started all those years ago!
June 25th: Miles: 8 First Day on the Trail
Finally back on the Pacific Crest Trail this afternoon! We left home at 5am and traveled seven hours south to Callahan's Lodge (just south of Ashland) where we stopped for lunch. Callahan's is a popular stopover as they let thru hikers pitch their shelters on the lawn in the back. After lunch Hubby Dave dropped us off right around the corner from Callahan's and we started our trek upward towards Mt Ashland Ski Resort where Dave was planning on parking the motorhome for the night. The temperature was perfect for hiking with a cool breeze keeping the sweat at bay. We gained almost 2,000 ft for the day. We took our time as neither of us were able to train for this hike and we didn't want to injure any body parts. Some wildflowers were out but most are ready to pop in about a week's time. Northbound thru hikers trickled through, all were pleasant but didn't want to stop to chat. They were on a mission to get to Callahan's and get a shower and some good food! Counted eight thru hikers and two section hikers. As we crossing a road with two parked cars nearby, two women dayhikers stopped and asked if we were thru hikers. I gave them a summary of our PCT adventures over the years, stating that this was the year that we were going to finish the trail. We qualified, and they gave each of us a container of orange juice. Wow, our first trail magic! They said that they like to carry fresh fruit and juices and dole them out to thru hikers. Nice gals from Ashland - thank you so much! You made our day!
By the time we arrived at the motorhome, the air temp was dropping quickly. The wind is still blowing outside, dropping the air temp even more. Spent some time packing up our backpacks this evening as we head south tomorrow towards Seiad Valley. Dave will resupply us there and we will continue onto Etna.
June 26th: Miles: 14 Sheep Camp Spring
Got a good early start at 6am and Dave ran us down to the trail where we left it yesterday. Started off with a light wind jacket as it was 45 degrees out. After about 3 miles I was ready to take it off. The trail was delightful and the tread easy on our feet. Just had one steep rocky area exposed to the sun that was a little hot. Interesting thing, it was still quite chilly in the shade all day long. Most of our views has been the local terrain plus Mt Shasta off to the east. There must be a fire somewhere as the base of Shasta looks smoky. We hiked through a section that had a ton of bear grass. Unfortunately it has either not bloomed this year or it bloomed early and we missed it. It would have been spectacular to see so many in bloom at one time. Only saw one lowly bear grass. Still beautiful! We ran into a handful of northbound hikers who were willing to stop and have a visit. Cloud Rider and companion Kit, plus Navigator, Pitstop, and PS2 (Pitstop 2). We were looking for water to refill our bottles and Navigator said to continue on one more mile for a spring water (Sheep Camp Spring) running out of a pipe. That is usually the best water. One thru hiker commented on Guthooks (PCT navigation tool app) that it sounded like an elephant taking a pee. He nailed that right on the head. It did sound like it! At the spring pipe there a lot of tiny blue butterflies and orange butterflies. Beautiful. At this point we had put in 14 miles and we were ready to call it good for the night. Found a couple of campsites at Sheep Camp Spring just big enough for our tents. Still quite cool out. After setting up my tent and unloading the backpack, I discovered that I had forgotten my long legged pants. Missing a couple other minor things too. This is what I get for not doing a test overnighter before launching on this trip!
June 27th: Miles: 16 Oregon/California Border
It was very warm overnight, 58 degrees at 5am. Had cell service so checked Inciweb to see if any new wildfires has popped up recently. Found two near Mt Shasta but one was already 65% contained. Met a few more section and thru hikers - Wild Vagabond, a Swiss fellow, and two women starting at the Oregon/California border going north to Fish Lake. Their husband's walked down with them to their starting point. One wife was packing a pistol on her hip. We were wondering what she was going to shoot...
After a few minutes of celebrating at the border, we continued the long seven mile downhill with a short break at the Donomore Cabin, complete with a three sided outhouse. Open the lid and it says "Poop Here". The cabin was a great stopping place to rest our feet and have a snack. The inside had a few chairs and a cot plus some medical supplies and other minor items. Finished the long downhill and as we started across the dirt road to start the long uphill back to the top of the ridge, a fellow holding a bunch of Hounds Tongue came over to have a chat. He has been teaching federal employees what the different plants were in the region for the past 15 years.
As we continued up the hill, we saw fields upon fields of low growing wildflowers. Seasoned Strider looked them up in her wildflower app and determined that they were Pussy Paws, or One Seeded Pussy Paws. So beautiful! No cell service for me today. We stopped at Alex Hole expecting to fill up on water in order to dry camp for the night. The hill down to the spring was steep and about 100 feet down. Decided to stop and take a break and discuss our options. A section hiker going northbound asked if she could join us. She said that she started at Castella and was going to Crater Lake. She had to stop 60 miles in and take a week off to heal her 3" blisters on the bottoms of her feet. She switched insoles and is doing much better. We decided to push on and find water. We considered going cross country and looking for a spring but was stopped by steep terrain. We continued on and decided to hop down to Reeves Ranch Spring and get water there. We could see the gravel road via our 30x zoom cameras so we took a left and went cross country to the lower road and found Reeves Ranch Spring. The spring had poles all around like it was going to be enclosed. We could see a small stream trickling down the marshy grass. We were pretty pooped so we decided to hunt around and find a couple of flat spots to camp. Found two spots, a few bees, fake fly bees, carpenter ants, etc. It was windy at camp and we could see clouds rolling in.
Our daily mileage is almost guesswork when we compare Guthooks to our DeLorme Explorer mileages. We pretty much use Guthooks most of the time.
August 28th: Miles: 15.1 Kangaroo Spring
It was windy all night, heard a cow moo. With the bright moon shining all night it was hard to sleep. We headed back to the trail via the road that intersects the PCT. It was 9/10's of a mile back to the trail. It was chilly all day with a stiff breeze blowing. The trail stayed steady for four miles, very enjoyable. Lots of wildflowers including new ones I haven't seen before - Cliff Maids and Yellow Leaf Iris. Had a long downhill into a burn area. Most of the trees were black and crispy looking. Arrived at Cook and Green Pass where there was supposed to be a piped spring. Following Guthooks instructions we looked for the piped spring and couldn't find it. The GPS kept jumping every which way so we took a short trip down the steep side looking for the spring. Didn't find it. Back at the packs Seasoned Strider decided to try going down the steep bank again to look for water while I took a side trail and discovered the piped spring about 1/10th down the path. Finally tanked up and headed up the long uphill into the burn area. Took our time plodding along. I wore my long sleeve shirt all day long to keep the sun off me. Saw a dust devil wind up and whip dust, leaves, and small pebbles. Reached the top and took a peak at Echo Lake far below. Up next, Lily Pad Lake. Aptly named, although I wouldn't want to camp there. Finally found Kangaroo Spring, our home for the night. It was very windy. While dinner was dehydrating, I strolled toward the meadow looking for the two ponds. What I saw in the meadow was a buck lying in the tall grass. Hwy was beautiful! I slowly walked back to grab the camera and Seasoned Strider. The buck didn't seem to mind us being there.
June 29th: Miles: 10 Seiad Valley
t was a very windy night, blowing red dirt through the mesh. Everything was covered with this red dirt. I got up on the middle of the night and lowered the tent. It helped a little bit. I woke up later than Seasoned Strider due to being awake all night. Shook everything out the next morning the best we could.
We broke camp at 7:30am and enjoyed an easy uphill. Gorgeous wildflowers everywhere. Beautiful views of Shasta and valley. Saw a butterfly land and discovered that there were actually two butterflies mating. Spent some time watching them. Moving on, there were three big downed trees to climb over. Then we started down the nine mile descent to the valley floor. About a half hour from the trailhead, two horse riders were out exercising their old horses. The wrangler jumped down and introduced himself as Bill Roberts. He just retired three months ago and was one of twelve wranglers in the US Forest Service. He was fascinating to talk to. Seasoned Strider remembered meeting him in 2016 when he was working on the PCT trail. Very cool! Continued on our way and the poison oak was thick and hard to dodge on the trail. Wished I had my long pants with me. Finally arrived at the trailhead where hubby Dave awaited to swish us away to our resupply boxes in Etna, 1.25 hours away. Spent hours doing resupply but took a break to go do dinner at the Distillery. Excellent food!
June 30th: Miles: 15.5 Marble Mountain Wilderness
Up at 5am, on trail by 6:52am. The drive up to the Etna Summit trailhead was pretty. Saw lots of deer and a couple of wee little fawns. Up, up, up we went into the Marble Mountain Wilderness. We hiked 13 miles north in burned forest. So sad to see. Could tell that it used to be beautiful with the unburned nuggets of trail. As Seasoned Strider passed a rock, I heard a short rattle and sure enough, there was our first rattler of the hike. Only got a pic of his tail. Met thru hikers Ran and Hot Sauce at one of the few and far between streams. Ran is from Israel and it was fascinating talking with him. The trail became easier than the last section. Tons of butterflies. Became hot and dry in the afternoon. Finally the trail went over the ridge into unburned forest. So beautiful. By this time I was really starting to drag. I have a difficult time with heat. Arrived at Marten Lake that has beautiful campsites. We decided that we could push on for another 1.5 miles. I wish we didn't as it really wiped me out. The trail became very rocky with staircase steps. So exhausting. The campsites were gorgeous with a view of Mt Shasta. I started making dinner and discovered that I had grabbed the wrong canister. It only had enough fuel for about 3 burns. I will try to push it to four burns by going without coffee. (Insert sad face here) As we were eating dinner, a section hiker called Sangria came over and offered Oreo cookies for dessert.
July 1st: Miles: 14 Pleasant Lake
Up at 5am and was ready to get an early start. No coffee this morning due to my stupidity of not checking the canister before we left Etna. We started out and came to a sign that showed where the PCT went. Well, we both looked at it and interpreted incorrectly and headed down the wrong trail. It looked like the right trail with staircase steps and everything. .74 mile up the trail when the trail petered out, we realized that something was wrong so we backtracked back to camp. One wasted hour later we got on the correct trail and headed up to the pass. Hopped over and enjoyed seeing Man Eaten Lake. The trail was rocky and steep in places. I was already wiped out from yesterday afternoon so was like a zombie following Seasoned Strider. Struggled all morning until we reached Marble Valley. Oh my, the wildflowers were incredible! Continued on to Marble Valley Cabin, a old beat up locked cabin, to stop for our lunch break. This area is extremely popular. There a fellow tending to five goats and two dogs. He said he is watching them while the owner went on vacation somewhere. The goats were entertaining to watch. Several pack horses and their riders came thru carrying equipment for cavers. Apparently there is a big cave called Bigfoot Cave, for experienced cavers only. Weekend backpackers were all over the place. A handful of hikers played Frisbee near their tents. It was getting really hot so we decided to hang for four hours until 4pm when it would be cooler to hike. On the trail again tackling a long uphill getting us out of Marble Valley. Crossed gorgeous basins. Some snow on trail and on the sides of the trail. At one saddle, we looked towards the Trinity Alps and were shocked to see a new wildfire had sprung up. I DeLormed (texted) Dave asking for more information. Found out later that the wildfire was named Petersburg Fire, had grown 350 acres, 180 personnel was assigned to the fire. We continued on towards our destination of Pleasant Lake, noting the large black piles of bear poop on the trail. Gonna hang the food bag tonight!
July 2nd: Miles: 14.7 Grider Bridge 2
The sunrise on the surrounding mountains and the reflection on Pleasant Lake was beautiful. After many Kodak moments at the lake, we headed out and had quite the day of up, up, up, then up, down, up, down, and then finally down, down, down of 3,474 ft elevation loss. The downhill was great but started having pressure on the left side of my left foot. I tried several things but still developed a blister. Haven't had a blister in a long time. It was probably the combination of the downhill, the side hill, and the heat of the day. The trail is quite overgrown on the lower part with Thimbleberry bushes growing across the trail. Hard to see underneath for foot placement. Started seeing poison oak so put on long pants. Decided to stop at Grider Bridge 2 for the night. There is a small campsite for two tents that one can find after bushwacking thru the bushes. It's not used very much that's for sure. Grider Creek was great to rinse off all the grime of the day. Decided to cowboy camp instead of setting up the tent.
July 3: Miles: 6 Out for Resupply
Cowboy camping was delightful. We took our time getting ready to go as we only had 6 miles before being picked up by Dave. Wore long sleeve shirt and pants and was glad I did as the poison oak is pretty thick the last five miles. Some of it was over the trail and couldn't be avoided. Arrived at Grider Creek Campground and Dave showed up shortly after. We drove back to Etna and found out that the fellow that had hiked with in 2016 was in town. We met up with him at a restaurant called Dotties for lunch. It was great to see him. His name is Dave too. He has selected his trailname of Restart as he keeps restarting the trail. We made plans to have dinner together later that evening at Five Marys Restaurant. We picked up Restart and his friend Tom at Hiker's Hut and enjoyed dinner at the restaurant. Five Marys Restaurant was named after a mom named Mary, and she and her husband had four daughters, all with the first name of Mary but their middle name all different. Interesting concept! Never mix up your children's name that way.
July 4th: Miles: 0 Zero Day in Etna
Did the usual resupply stuff - washed clothes, equipment, packed food bags, refilled stuff. Zipped over to Hiker's Hut to say goodbye to Restart as he and Tom were heading out northbound towards Seiad Valley. The rest of the day was taken up with journal writing, napping, and drinking coffee!
July 5th: Miles: 18.4 Southbound to Hwy 3
On the trail this morning at 7am starting at Sawyer's Bar Road going southbound once more. Ran into thru hiker Darwin who was gracious to stop and talk with us. He averages 36 miles a day. Makes our 15 miles look puny. Really nice guy, his job is hiking full time and testing out gear. He has a YouTube channel that has some really good stuff to watch. We also ran into Applejack who puts in 30+ miles a day. These guys are pretty skinny and their packs weigh nothing compared to ours. Amazing. We entered the Russian Wilderness this morning and spent most of the day in it. Wow, what gorgeous country. Water was flowing everywhere until we made it to the top of the ridge and headed down the other side. Decided we would grab water at the next spot and then dry camp for the night. Found a white pipe stuck in a hillside with spring water flowing out. Not a great flow, but enough to fill our platapus's. We kept going, and going, and more going, and didn't find a place to camp until our mileage read 18.4 miles. We were beat. Wind is blowing pretty strongly and it is much cooler that we expected. Set up tents on a ridge, made dinner, and went to bed.
July 6th: Miles: 15.2 Beautiful Day
Chilly morning - the temp gauge says 48 degrees but it feels much colder due to the wind. Beautiful red sunrise. We started off with our down jackets on and didn't take them off until we arrived at Hwy 93. This is the start of the long uphill. Crossed into the Trinity Alps Wilderness, saw a pretty little deer.Ran into Butters who is trying to stay on schedule to be done by Sept 15th. He injured his knee in the Sierra and was forced off trail for three weeks.
Still amazed on seeing only yellow Lupine, no purple anywhere. It was a tough uphill getting back into the high country, took a bit out of us, especially after a long day yesterday. Could see the Trinity Alps way in the distance - thank goodness for 30x zoom lens. High overcast and was coolish all day. It made for interesting photos. In the latter half of the day we ran into these red rocks that really stood out against the other rocks. It looked like we had turned a corner into western cowboy country. I was looking for the Lone Ranger to come riding by. A nice 15.2 mile day.
July 7th: Miles: 6 Resupply Stop
Only has six miles this morning before we arrived at Hwy 3 for a ride into Etna to get our resupply. This will be our last resupply out of Etna. Etna is such a great trail town. Friendly people, laid back attitude. Love it!
July 8th: Miles: 14.5 Chilcoot Creek
Came to the decision to not resupply at Castella and just continue to Ash Camp. This meant we would carry 6 days worth of food. Our food bags were pretty heavy! Dave dropped us off at Hwy 3 and away we went southbound. The trail was pleasant all day. It was a tad warm but the light breeze kept the heat at bay. I used my umbrella all day though. Trying to keep my body cool so my heat rash on my ankles and legs don't flare up. Ran into a lot of thru hikers. The first one was at the parking lot and Dave took Fruit Salad into Etna with him. Met Jukebox at afternoon break - he's from Wenatchee WA. He was pretty loaded down with gear, was even still carrying his bear canister. He said he got a bad case of giardia as he entered the Sierra and said it was horrible trying to get over Forrester Pass. He ended up leaving the trail for a month as he had giardia so bad. Met many other thru hikers, they're coming thru pretty fast now. Met Butane (girl) from Switzerland who was in the middle of a 34 mile day. Maybe if I was in my 20's or 30's, I might be able to do that too. I feel lucky doing 15 to 18 miles a day. Also ran into three women who were doing a week section hike that were older than us! Yay, you go girls! Saw some Pitcher Plants that were fascinating to snap pics of. Arrived at Chilcoot Creek for the night. The tiny stream is still flowing. I have noticed quite a difference in my hiking ability from this year from 2016. It has gotten much harder. It's taking longer to recover each evening and dealing with a daily heat rash is maddening. My left knee has been acting up - I wrapped it this morning and it really helped, but when I unwrapped it when we arrived at camp, I found my ankle swollen when I took my gaiters off! Give me a break....
July 9th: Miles: 16.7 On a Windy Ridge
Easy hiking today. Loved seeing the lakes through this area, a nice change from trickles of streams and spring water flowing out of pipes. Got the word that the Klamathon Fire has grown to 35,000 acres and a portion of the PCT out of Callahan's Lodge is closed. We spent all morning hiking around this big basin. Decided to push on and dry camp at a campsite overlooking Mt Shasta. We thought we'd get water at Toad Spring but walked right past it. Then we thought we'd get water at Porcupine Lake. Walked right past that too. Didn't even see a turnoff. Ended up at our destination and got water 2/10's of a mile past our camp. Worked out fine. It is quite windy here on the saddle but we have cell service!
July 10th: Miles: 18.1 Castle Crags
Wowzie! Simply wowzie! What a day. 18.1 miles of beautifulness. Entered the Castle Crags Wilderness and was blown away by those craggy crags. My head was on a swivel the whole day. Mt Shasta was out in all her glory, the smoke from the Klamathon Fire was pushed in another direction and cleared up the views all around. Water access was few and far between. There was a 12 mile stretch where we carried extra water just in case. The spring water we do get tastes so good (after proper filtering of course). The gnats were ferocious in the woods, in our faces driving us nuts. A few hikers were wearing their head nets. I almost pulled mine out to wear. We took a long break in the afternoon waiting for 4pm to continue hiking as the sun and temperature was very hot. We started the long downhill and finally found a couple of camp sites but no water. We both had about a 1/2 liter of water - it was enough to make dinner and we would hike out early to the next water spot and have breakfast the next morning. It was very hot that night, tossed and turned trying to cool off. My knee is doing better, although it prefers not to go downhill at a rapid pace.
July 11th: Miles: 10.3 Crossing Interstate 5
I tossed and turned all night from the warmer temperatures (we were at a much lower elevation), we packed up and headed for the next water supply. We stopped in one mile and filtered water for breakfast but we waited until another three miles to fully fill up. We kept waiting for the downhill to Interstate 5 but we kept dropping down into a ravine where there was either a little stream or a dry creek bed, and then hiked back up. So it was an up and down kind of morning. We arrived at the boundary of the Castle Crags State Park and it was lovely strolling all the way to the freeway. We went through an underpass and had to road walk to the continuation of the PCT but was stopped by lovely Soda Creek. We nipped down the short trail to the water, shed the backpacks and shoes, and walked in with handkerchief in hand and started a rubbing washdown. Two people from a side road saw us and called down asking how the water was. Great, we said. Oops, here they came, and us in our skivvies. They weren't hikers but they did't seem to mind, so we kept washing the dirt off. I had sent a quick text to hubby Dave saying that we had crossed Interstate 5 and he responded, "What can I do for you?" Well, that opened a discussion that quickly resolved in, "come get us, we want a shower!" Are we spoiled or what? We will start at the same place early tomorrow morning and march southward to Ash Camp. Oh, and as of today we have hiked 211.8 miles!!
July 12th: Miles; 16 Squaw Valley Creek
After a refreshing shower and overnight in the motorhome, Dave dropped us off at Interstate 5 (where we got off yesterday) and we continued south. We were stopped by a "trail register", not an official one, just a local person interested in seeing how many hikers passed by on a daily basis. We signed it... We had a lovely walk in the woods meandering at first through the Castle Crags State Park (the state park is split in two from I-5) and continuing uphill for 10 miles. We rested at lunchtime for about an hour as it was getting very hot. Then six miles of downhill until we arrived at Squaw Valley Creek. Yep, Squaw Valley Creek is nowhere near Squaw Valley, go figure. Some poison oak to look out for the last few miles. Linda had already been here in 2016 so she knew the best place to cool off - in a little whirlpool in the creek. It was awesome! Temperature in the shade was 95 degrees at 3:30pm. 2,600 elevation gain in the morning, and 2,000 elevation loss in the afternoon...
Thru hikers are coming through pretty thick now. We did read on Facebook that the main herd is still just south of Old Station.
July 13th: Miles: 14 Ash Camp
After a refreshing night's rest, we said goodbye to Squaw Valley Creek and headed uphill. The morning was overcast and humid and as we hiked uphill, the sweat poured from every pore on our bodies. Poison oak became thick, hanging over the trail in many areas, creating a mini game of dodgeball. I had on my long pants and shirt to avoid any contact of the nasty plant and paid the price in extra sweat. It was a long 5.5 mile uphill. I felt drained to the core from the heat and humidity and we still had 8.5 miles to go until we reached Ash Camp. Poison oak was everywhere and it became the dominate plant in the area. We put on audio books to try to distract ourselves of from thinking on how hot and miserable we were. There were no views this day to ooh and aaah over so I just wanted to get the miles in and get it over with. It was the least favorite day of the trip so far. It was a happy sight to see Dave and dog Bella a mile from our destination - we were almost to Ash Camp, the drive to McCloud, and a nice cool shower to wash off the ick of the day.
At this point I have connected to the point where I left the trail in 2016. Tomorrow we travel to the Old Station area and will tackle the Hat Creek Rim portion of the trail (we skipped this piece in 2016 due to 105 degree temps), about 41 miles from the Subway Cave to Burney Falls State Park. I am quite leery about doing this piece due to the expected heatwave. We are in the process of figuring out how were going to handle it.
July 14th: Miles: 7.4 Hat Rim
The Hat Rim Trail - we drove the motorhome down to just north of Old Station and Dave launched us at 6pm for an evening hike to our campsite. Thank goodness the temps were only in the upper 80's when we started. We watched and gawked at the sunset and took a ton of pics. At 8:45pm we used our headlamps for about 30 minutes and found our home for the night. We left our tents behind in the motorhome and only had our bivys with us (which we would seriously reconsider not doing again after the early morning excitement. (You'll have to wait for the next update to find out what happened). The Hat Rim Trail part of the PCT is notorious for super hot weather so we are trying to work around this issue by hiking evenings and early mornings until noon.....
July 15th: Miles: 17.4 Hat Rim 2
My oh my, this was quite the adventurous day. We had decided to take our bivys and were snuggled in for the night and then at midnight I saw some flashes in the distance. I thought something was wrong with my eyes. I woke up every hour to check for stars. Thunder started in and by 4:30am, it was going off! Big cracks of thunder and lightning strikes (not super close to us, thank goodness). We hurried to pack up and then huge rain drops started. I deployed my umbrella and finished packing. We waited a bit and finally hit the trail at 5:15am. The sunrise was beautiful, especially framed with thunderstorms on each side. The positive aspect is that it really cooled the air temps and was enjoyable to hike. We stopped at noon and waited for pickup from Dave. On the way down we saw a huge snake on the road. A Mojave Green Snake.
Dave returned us to the trail at 5:15pm. We waved goodbye and then noticed fire trucks, wildfire helicopter, and spotter planes going back and forth. Obviously a fire had started from the lightning storm somewhere. We finally started to descend off the Hat Rim and suddenly ran into a fire hose lying on the ground. We could see where the lightning bolt struck the tree and the fire it started at the base. Wow. Then we ran into Greg, a forester who worked in fire for the forest service. He filled us in on the fire activity from the lightning storm. Lots of mini fires were started. It was getting dark so we moved on to find a campsite. It took a couple of miles but we found an abandoned road, set up tents, and hit the sack.
July 16th: Miles: 17.1 Hat Rim 3
Hit the trail early to beat the heat, and boy, was it a hot one today. I think it was the hottest day yet for us. The trail entered a large meadow that we instantly thought looked like the plains of Africa, or the Serengeti to be more specific. Golden colored alfalfa/wheat field shone in the morning sun. A large pipe laid across the trail when we drew closer to the Powerhouse. Looks like the Powerhouse was pumping water up the hill to wherever it went. As we were took our morning break, Seasoned Strider mentioned that we were only three miles from the Burney Mountain Guest Ranch and wouldn't a cup of coffee taste good! Well, we quickly packed up... The trail crossed us over a bridge by the Powerhouse and alongside Baum Lake, home to a variety of waterfowl. We were surprised to see white Pelicans fishing for food. It was such a peaceful place, I would love to go back and walk the entire loop trail and kayak the lake someday.
We cruised up the hill, until we saw the sign to the Burney Mountain Guest Ranch, hung a left, saw a nest filled with Osprey baby birds that were obviously ready to fledge, and a 1/4 mile down the dusty road we arrived at the Ranch. We made it just in time for breakfast, coffee, AND a free homemade dish of strawberry ice cream. Yum. There were a handful of thru hikers waiting out the heat before they continued on. The Ranch has a nice setup, including a "General Store" catering to thru hikers, a "Goat Shed" where hikers can clean up, fill water bottles, wash clothes, and take a shower. If one was inclined, one could even take a swim in the pool. What a setup!
After spending more time than we anticipated, we rejoined the PCT heading north. We only had about eight miles to go to Burney Falls State Park, but it felt like it took forever in the heat. Took a short break and a thru hiker stopped to visit. His trail name was Daddy and he explained that he was so tall, 7 feet tall, that he towered over everybody so it was like a daddy taking his children for a hike. He hikes 4.25 miles an hour, over twice as fast we can do. Such a nice guy from Bellingham, WA.
As we were crossing the last road before the State Park, there was Dave waiting for us with cold beverages. Only one more mile to go! Onward... finally arrived at the State Park and there was Dave again waiting to pick us up. I did get a blister on the top of my second toe due to the heat today. Still dealing with the healing blister from a couple of weeks ago on the left side of my heel. I don't normally get blisters so I've had to re-educate myself in treating them.
Once we arrived back at the motorhome, we took quick showers and then headed down the road toward Reno. We are spending the night at a Rest Area alongside the huge semi's that ran their generators all night. Tomorrow we head toward Lone Pine and prepare for the Sierra section of our PCT hike. 17.1 miles today.
July 17th: Miles: 0 In Transit to Lone Pine
Early rise to try to beat the Reno morning commute (nope, still stuck in traffic). Beautiful sunrise from the smoky wildfires! Lots of road work on Hwy 395 so took us longer to get to Lone Pine. Got settled into the Boulders RV Park and then headed to the Seasons Restaurant for the absolute best filet mignon in the country. We waited two years to have the opportunity to have dinner there again and it was worth the wait!
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July 18th: Miles: 0
July 19th: Miles: 12.4 Horseshoe Meadows
July 20th: Miles: 11.1 Whitney Creek
Started the day with a nice long downhill. A park ranger was coming up the hill and as we stopped and chatted, she asked us for our permits. We eagerly handed over our PCT permits. She said that some people who couldn't get the Sierra permits (only so many people are allowed in per day), they are getting sneaky and applying for the PCT thru hiker permits in order to bypass the Sierra permit processing. She signed our PCT permits and away we went. Ran into two groups of pack horses, one group who spent a week at Guitar Lake just below Mt Whitney. Went over short Guyot Pass and stopped for lunch. Thunder and lightning started once we we left the pass. At 12:45pm, we hunkered down while it poured and hailed. We gathered up our courage, me with umbrella and rain jacket, Linda with her rain jacket and skirt, and hurried over a little ridge. Started downhill but we kept stopping as it was such a drencher. A couple from Santa Cruz caught up with us and the wife was so cold (the temp had really dropped) that they pulled out an emergency orange bivy and she climbed right into it. The trail had turned into a stream with mini waterfalls. Linda and I continued on but stopped short of a wide open rocky terrain and waited until the thunder went quiet and then we dashed down the hill. Came to the already overflowing Whitney Creek and tried to cross on the rocks, but our feet quickly went into the water (they were wet anyway). Arrived at the trail junction where one trail went off to Mt Whitney (8.7 miles) and the other trail continued on to where we wanted to go to Wallace Creek for the night (another 4.1 miles). We started up the hill but quickly turned back with the thunder and lightning cracked and flashed at the same time right above us. Aack. We decided right then and there to set up tents in the pouring rain and and call it good for the day. Another thunderstorm raged on at 5:15pm just drenching everthing. We heard a lot of stories later on about people getting caught throughout the Sierra with the torrential rain and big hail pounding on everything, and soaking their gear including their sleeping bags. Their tents were swamped with water. One couple had just gone over Forester Pass (13,000 feet) and were caught just below the pass and spent a terrifying few hours while the storm raged on around them. After hearing these stories, we felt fortunate that we stopped when we did.
July 21st: Miles: 8.3 Tyndall Creek
Everything was pretty wet in the morning due to yesterday's soaking rain and the night's condensation. We weren't in the best place to dry out so we packed up wet and restarted the hill climb. Arrived at Wallace Creek and decided to spend an hour and dry everything out. It looked like a garage sale with tents, bags, clothing, etc strewn all over the rocks. Did we remember to take a pic? Nope.
A lot of people on the trail today as we made our way towards Forester Pass. We were anxious to get over that 13,000 foot pass before the next thunderstorm started. The monsoon season arrived early this year in the Sierra so we needed to get over each pass hopefully by 11am every day. Well, we didn't get over Forester Pass today as those darn thunderclouds starting building much earlier forcing us to stop early for the day. We crossed Tyndall Creek and made camp early afternoon. Still have five miles until the top of Forest Pass tomorrow. We are a little behind schedule (dang storms) so we need to make up some miles somewhere. Hikers streamed in all afternoon so we had ourselves a regular base camp with tents everywhere. Met Debbie from British Columbia who made camp with us. Short mileage today at 8.3 miles.
July 22nd: Miles: 13 Forester Pass
We were anxious to get over Forester Pass this morning before the thunderstorms showed up. It was a lovely cold clear morning to start our less than five mile upward trek up to the top of the pass. Easy uphill until we reached the switchbacks. Linda was dragging a bit so I took the lead. We think her low blood pressure was playing havoc with the high altitude. It was exciting to be on top of Forest once again. I definitely enjoyed going northbound a lot more than when I went over southbound back in 2013. Once over the top (and it was very crowded with backpackers going both ways), it was a long downhill to Bubb's Creek Trail where we planned on spending the night. Eagle eyed Linda spotted a fellow going up the trail who had a artificial leg. No way could we complain about the altitude, trail or even weather. Kind of puts everything in perspective.
Once again, thunderstorm clouds gathered and let loose around 2pm. We were lucky that the storm finished up around 5:30pm so we could cook dinner outside our tents. Debbie camped with us again. She is 66 years old, have a 40 year old son and 36 year old daughter. Her son is a famous published author. She is exiting the Sierra at Kearsarge Pass to get her resupply in Independence (and get real food and a shower) so we probably won't see her again. A nice 13 mile day...
Thirteen miles later we arrive at Bubb's Creek Trail campsite. We were so lucky that evening as we only had a few scattered rain spatters to deal with. Linda visiting with Debbie before dinner.
July 23rd: Miles: 12.5 Glen Pass
Early start, trail started off steeply out of the canyon. We had a big elevation gain going from 9,545 feet to Glen Pass at 11,924 feet. The trail was gnarly all the way up and all the way down the other side. Arrived before 10am and there was already a crowd at the top. Could see beautiful Rae Lakes, one of the most popular destinations in the Sierra. We arrived at the upper Rae Lakes, ate lunch and cleaned up a bit. Saw a beautiful rainbow cloud which apparently is called a "cloud iridescence". Watched the storm clouds build once again while we marched north against the tide of JMT (John Muir Trail) hikers going southbound.
We were asked several times if we had seen the park ranger. Found out that there was an emergency up ahead of us. The ranger finally caught up to us and we relayed the message but she had already gotten it from another hiker. We never found out what the emergency was, but a helicopter was called for a rescue amid the thundering storm above. It lowered a sled and then circled for awhile while the person was being loaded. Then off it went to the local emergency room.
Started seriously raining so donned the raingear once again. I've received many comments on the usefulness of my umbrella. Finally arrived at Woods Bridge which is actually a suspended bridge that only one person can cross at a time. This campsite was loaded with people and tents and we were lucky to find a couple of sites to set up our "homes". Still raining and getting colder. As dinner time arrived, a golden colored bear loped through the campground. He was pretty skinny and half a dozen people grabbed their cameras and took off chasing the bear trying to get a photo. Sheesh. A hard 12.5 mile day over Glen Pass...
July 24th: Miles: 11.5 Pinchot Pass
After the bear visit last evening, I was a little nervous about finding a private bush this morning. All was good! We spent a few minutes playing on the suspension bridge, even doing a few videos. We had a 7.7 mile uphill to the Pinchot Pass with a 3,560 elevation gain. It was beautiful with creeks, waterfalls, wildflowers, ponds, and of course, the surrounding mountains. Ran into a fellow who was hired to guide four women from Green Bay on their section hike. He kept a steady pace for them. The last few switchbacks almost did me in today as I was pretty tired. The view from the top was dramatically different north to south. Clouds were rolling in quickly so we headed down into the valley. Not as much elevation loss, thank you very much. Still tons of staircasing and finally got down the last of the switchbacks down to the South Fork Kings River. Debated about continuing but we were beat from that big uphill in the morning. One funny thing happened - there were a gaggle of young women and one gal stopped us and asked if we had a tampon. No, we replied, we were totally done with that part of being female! 11.5 miles for the day...
July 25th: Miles: 15 Mather Pass
Today was the day that we tackled our fourth major pass, Mather Pass at 12,093 feet. Took about 6.5 miles to get to the top of the pass. Huge boulders, we're still amazed what the trail builders had to do to build this trail through the Sierra. Terrain going down the north side was very rocky. We passed a handful of NPS workers carrying heavy equipment to work on the Ranger Station just south of the South Fork Kings River. They were all young and very skinny!
We hoped to get all the way down to the bottom in order to shorten the miles when we go over Bishop Pass tomorrow, but fell short of our goal. We passed gorgeous Palisade Lakes on the way to the Golden Staircase. The Golden Staircase is a mini pass all on its own due to the fact that it basically is a long boulder staircase with constant switchbacks down. We stopped for water around 2pm and sure enough, we heard the first booms of thunder. Found a campsite almost at the bottom, a little slopey but we didn't want to go any further. We were totally entertained by a mommy deer and her young fawn who scampered right past my tent.
July 26th: Miles: 17 Bishop Pass
Congratulations to Seasoned Strider as she completed her PCT this morning at 8:20am! After some whooping and a little dance, we settled down and had our morning snack. We needed the energy for the climb to the top of Bishop Pass at 11,972 feet. There was a lovely waterslide off to the side and looked so tempting to give it a try. We arrived at Dusey Basin and stopped for water and another snack/lunch. Clouds were forming above and we were again anxious to make it over the pass before the thunder and lightning got going again. We passed more backpackers coming down from the pass making their way to Dusey Basin for some fishing. Just over the pass we donned our rain gear and continued down the rocky trail. There was a CCC team repairing the trail in multiple sections. One sad note - we had heard that a dead deer was near the top of the pass. What we didn't know was that it was a HERD of deer that was taken out, either by a snow avalanche, rock avalanche, or a combination of the two. It was horrifying to see themm wiped out like that, but that too is part of our story and adventure. We also passed this gal who had on short shorts and a tiny tank top that was cut pretty low. She wasn't carrying a pack or ever a water bottle so we hoped she wouldn't get herself in trouble as the weather was really moving in by this time. The valley was gorgeous but the six mile downhill seemed to take forever. We texted Dave via Linda's DeLorme letting him know that two smelly and starving women were on their way down to the South Lake trailhead. Hours later we arrived at the parking lot and there was our hero with hero dog Bella with Subway sandwiches in hand!!! What a guy!!! 17 hard miles for the day...
This completes our Sierra section of the hike. Linda will be leaving the trail and heading home for family visiting the first week of August. We will drop her off in Medford so she can catch the Greyhound bus back to The Dalles. I will be continuing on back to Ashland and going north to Crater Lake to finish my last 130 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail.
July 27th: Miles: 0 In Transit
July 28th: Miles: 0 In Transit
July 29th: Miles: 22.4
July 30th: Miles: 20
July 31st: Miles: 12
August 1st: Miles: 20.3
My how time flies! Dave dropped me off at Hwy 140 to continue the trail northward. The trail was lovely, easy to follow during the morning. Stopped at Christi's Spring to get water as there was no water for 11 miles and I needed to carry enough to dry camp for the night. Later I wished I had picked up more water. Since there wasn't any views due to the smoke, I finished three partially listened audio books.
During the latter part of the day, there was tons of blowdown. Counted over 50 logs and #9 log was the most difficult to get over. Because of so much blowdown, I got a little off course at one point. Used GPs to figure out I was about 300 feet west of the trail and got back on the proper trail. After 20.3 miles I found a nice campsite with a little breeze blowing. I hoped the breeze would blow the smoke away, but unfortunately it brought more smoke than I barbained for. A thru hiker stopped while I was making dinner and asked what kind of tent I had. We introduced ourselves using our trail names (his name was Tick Tock) and he was excited to find out who I was. Apparently Dave had given him a ride to the trailhead this morning and wanted me to thank Dave once again for the lift.
August 2nd: Miles: 27.2
It was very smoky last night plus it was quite chilly. I got up before 5am to prepare for the day. Packed up and ready to go by 5:45am. I am getting pretty sick of breathing in smoke that I decided to see if I could make it to Hwy 62, 27.2 miles away. I've never done that big a day (my biggest day has been 23 miles) so wanted to get an early start to see if it was doable. I didn't have enough water for breakfast so ate two Clif bars. Off I went to the first seasonal stream 5.6 miles away. Was I glad that I hadn't gone further yesterday as there was quite an uphill in rocky and shale terrain. Once I reached the 7,000 foot level, I was delighted to find that I was just above the smoke and took quite a few deep breaths to clear out the lungs. Once over the hump it was a lovely downhill to the first water source. Filled up a few bottles but waited until the last stream 1.7 miles further to fill up everything. There was a 20 mile stretch with no water available so had to carry enough to get me through, especially if I decided I needed to dry camp for the night. Water is heavy so every drop counts. A thru hiker had passed me like I was standing still and when I arrived at the stream, he introduced himself as Verde and asked if I would look at his ear. A bee stung him as he was striding along. Poor guy.
This section has a lot of burned forest and there were logs over the trail for the rest of the afternoon. I counted 157 logs that I had to either go over or go around. On top of the smoke, burned trees and burned dirt make for a unpleasant afternoon. It was looking good that I was going to pull off going the full 27.2 miles so I contacted Dave via my DeLorme and let him know that I was going to arrive at Hwy 62 at 6pm. And there Dave and Bella were, 1/4 mile from Hwy 62 at 5:50pm!!! My trail angels....
I am close to finishing my PCT! Tomorrow is my goal to finish the trail. I am estimating that it will be an 18 mile day to the place where I started with Karen Gass (Jingle Bell) and Vel Budworth (Forget-Me-Not) back in 2009. Fingers crossed....
August 3rd: Miles: 12 Completion of the Pacific Crest Trail
What a magnificent day to complete my trek of the Pacific Crest Trail. We arrived at Crater Lake early morning and were astonished to find clear skies. The smoke was just west of the national park just sitting there hovering. The smoke and wind gods must have taken pity on me. After a few oohs and aahs, and of course pictures, I started the Rim Trail while Dave and Bella moved the motorhome six miles down the road. I can see why it can take hikers so long to keep moving on the Rim Trail as there were so many viewing areas to stop and gawk at the deep blue water and of Wizard Island. Wow. Six miles later I arrived at the RV and had lunch with Dave. I still had 12 miles to go to finish the trail at Hwy 138. Off I went while Dave drove northward to Hwy 138 to wait for me. It was the longest 12 miles of the trip! The first half was downhill and I practically jogged the whole way. The terrain wasn't what I expected at all and was pleasantly surprised that I didn't need to use my umbrella. Even though I was traveling as fast as I could, I was still overtaken by the thru hikers. Man, are they fast. As I continued northward, I couldn't help but reminisce of all the PCT trips since 2009, all the fantastic people I met and hiked with, all the support from family and friends, especially my dear husband Dave, and I got quite emotional over the whole thing. Sheesh. It took me eight tries to record the darn video.
I arrived at Hwy 138 at 3:20pm, threw a big cheer of Hallelujah, and only one thru hiker from Sweden named "Canon" (because she carried a DSLR Canon camera) who was trying to hitchhike heard me. She waved and yelled "Congratulations"! I knew Dave couldn't be there at the exact moment as Hwy 138 is an extremely busy road and Dave couldn't park the motorhome anywhere near where the trail crossed the road. I could see the motorhome over a mile away parked at the north entrance to the national park. So off I went to walk to him. Meanwhile, he had unhitched the Jeep and was driving towards me. We met in the middle and had a great big hug (and lots of kisses) on the side of the busy road. He really wanted to meet me as I came off the trail but I arrived a tad too early. Oh well, things never seem to happen as one wants them to happen.
So that's it! I started section hiking the Pacific Crest Trail in 2009 and completed it in 2018. Wow, it was an AMAZING adventure!!!!