Day 50 (June 28th)
Mile 1158.1 – mile 1170.5
Today: 12.4 miles (20 kms)
Total: 715.8 miles
Our first day in NorCal was exhausting but beautiful! If you have ever skied on snow the consistency of instant mashed potatoes, then you may begin to understand our day. But instead of skis, we were hiking in running shoes with microspikes (though that didn’t seem to stop us from sliding down the hill) and carrying 40lbs on our backs. Despite the tough conditions, I felt like a little kid playing in the snow all day. Falling, slipping, and slide moves all made me laugh. At one point I watched Salty slide at least 15 meters while standing up and then look around to make sure someone had seen it. We also did several glissades (i.e. choosing to sit on your butt and slide down a hill, instead of falling to your butt to slide down a hill). Water was everywhere so we barely had to carry any and the forecasted thunderstorm stayed in the distance.
We had lunch at a nice cabin and made some new friends!
Hiking on wet, soft, melting snow is *hard work*, and today made me very glad that we are skipping the Sierras for now. NorCal is beautiful and I am excited to see what the next days bring!
Day 51 (June 29th)
Mile 1170.5 – mile 1191.8
Today: 21.3 miles (34.3 kms)
Total PCT miles: 737.1 miles
Another beautiful day in NorCal! I (shockingly) really enjoy hiking on snow. It keeps your mind busy and I find the sliding around sort of fun! Of course it does get old after a while.
Fortunately, today we only had about 7 miles of consistent snow before we came across mostly bare trail. Yesterday, we were joined by a hiker named John who is only 10 days in to his PCT adventure, having started near the end of the Sierras! He said we were among the first people he had seen on trail and we all enjoyed the company both yesterday and today. After those first snowy miles we began hiking through a beautiful alpine meadow covered in wildflowers like Mule’s ear, lupine, buckwheat and so on. It was beautiful! Without the snow to slow us down, we realized we might actually be able to pull some bigger miles today. As the snow dissipated, the tramily spread out a little on trail and we each retreated to our alone time– listening to books or music as we hiked. All day yesterday and for most of the morning we had hiked together so that we could put our heads together to ensure we didn’t lose the snow covered trail. As much as I love my tramily, I also love my Wheel of Time books! I am back into the series, having started book 4 today.
I was completely enchanted by the beauty of these mountains: wildflowers, lakes, and snow capped leaks in the distance. My feet are bothering me a bit– presumably due to the change in shoes. I didn’t replace my plantar fasciitis insoles and (surprise!) my plantar fasciitis is really hurting. Tonight I am spending some time rolling my feet out with my favourite hiker-box find: my Rubz roller ball, which I picked up in Banning. So hopefully it will feel better in the morning. I am sleeping next to a beautiful roaring river and very excited for a cozy night.
Day 52 (June 30th)
Mile 1191.8 – mile 1210.5
Today: 18.7 miles (30.1 kms)
Total PCT miles: 755.8 miles
This morning we had a quick 5 mile jaunt into the little town of Sierra City, which we completed by about 8am. Sierra City was a hiker paradise! We got some breakfast (they made a special vegan hashbrown, veggie scramble just for me) and then we went to hangout at the best public bathroom in the world. It had a free (cold) shower, picnic tables outside, a charging station, wifi, and it was right next to the general store! A hiker paradise. I enjoyed my cold shower with minimal gasping and also washed my sad, ripped sunshirt. I am excited to pick up my new one in Quincy!
We then headed down to the general store where I found some vegan backpacker meals for nearly the first time on trail! Hallelujah! By the time our showers, charging and groceries were finished it was about noon. Time to keep moving! There seemed to be two options to hike out of town– a 2.5 mile road walk back to the PCT or an unmarked alternate route that went straight up the ridge at a grade of 35% or so. Thunder and Salty opted to head back to trail, but Corpse and I liked the straight up option. Unfortunately, after hiking 10 minutes or so towards the supposed trailhead we came across not one, but two signs saying “this is not the PCT/ Private property”. After the second sign, we decided that they really were serious and so, dejectedly, we headed back to start our road walk. But, the trail smiled on us today– a man who was outside tidying his lawn offered us a ride back to trail and on the short drive we saw our first bear of the PCT!
And so began our nearly 3000ft climb back up onto the ridge. It was hot by now and the ridge was quite exposed, which made for a tough few hours. At the top of the climb, I encountered more snow. I begrudgingly put my microspikes on and began to navigate my way though. Fortunately the snow only lasted about a mile and I was back on bare trail for most of the afternoon. Before starting our afternoon hike, the tramily had made plans to hike 15 more miles before making camp.
I was exhausted by the time I reached the 12 mile mark, and I was just resigning myself to camping alone when I rounded the bend and came across my tramily hiked in a little clearing looking down over a frozen lake. It was a beautiful place, made only slightly less idyllic by the thousands of biting flies swarming around as soon as I stopped hiking. I had had a hard day, but finding the gang and looking down at that beautiful lake lifted my spirits back up. I enjoyed one of my fancy vegan meals (biscuits and gravy) and crawled into my tent feeling exhausted and proud of a challenging day of hiking.
Day 53 (July 1st)
Mile 1210.5 – mile 1231.0
Today: 20.5 miles (33 kms)
Total PCT miles: 776.3 miles
Another hard day in NorCal. A crazy heatwave, rotten mashed potato snow, and sooo many bugs. Did the views and the camraderie make up for the pain? Well, laying here in my tent I can say yes– but the me of several hours ago would have said no.
The temperature last night was so warm that I was basically spooning my sleeping bag, rather than sleeping inside it. As a result there was no cold snow for us– even with an early start. We all hiked together again for safety on the slippery ridges. We spent much of the morning sliding on slushy snow and bushwhacking or rocks scrambling around particularly treacherous parts.
Both the comments on FarOut and the SOBO hikers we encountered warned us of a “Traverse of Death” that was yet to come. Apparently the switchbacks were covered in impassible snow, so the only option was to bushwhack straight down the steep ridge– essentially sliding from tree to tree for several hundred feet– and then bushwhacking several miles over snow and river crossings to rejoin the trail. We stopped for lunch at the top of this traverse and watched SOBO hikers ‘Possum’ and his visiting girlfriend ‘Skunk’ hike up the traverse. It made me glad that we were going down rather than up. They gave us some tips and intel and we were on our way. It was steep and slippery, but navigating our way down was actually a lot of fun! Bushwhacking and hiking in and out of tree wells was challenging but, since we were headed downhill, the miles went by quickly. Traverse of Death completed! And as our reward we were back on mostly dry trail for the rest of the day. Camp was overrun by biting flies and mosquitos, so we all ate quickly. In the words of Corpse “I want to eat in my tent, but I love you guys so I’ll stay out here with you”. We crawled into our tents shortly after… Luckily, since they are pitched close together, we can still chat with one another.
NorCal, I hope we have passed your tests. Perhaps we could have slightly less snow tomorrow?
Day 54 (July 2nd)
Mile 1231.0 – mile 1254.0
Today: 23 miles (37.0 kms)
Total PCT miles: 799.3 miles — so close to 800 miles!
I prayed to the trail gods for less snow and my prayers were answered. Today we hiked on dry trail– overgrown, but blessedly dry.
The morning started with a small climb into a beautiful alpine meadow and then the trail headed down for most of the day — nearly 6000ft down! The landscape was filled with the blackened, skeletal remains of burned trees. Hiking kicked up a fine layer of ash and there was no shade to shelter under. It was easy hiking until lunch, with gravity doing much of the work. Thunder and I crowded in the feeble shadow of a burnt stump to eat. The hike after lunch was entirely different. It was so overgrown that it was nearly impossible to find the trail. Growing tired of checking my GPS to see if I was still on trail, Thunder and I decided to bushwhack down the ridge to a road that eventually crossed the trail farther ahead. It was a steep bushwhack, but Thunder and I made it down. We were black from the ash on the trees, but we were on a road so the hike should get easier– or so we thought. We hiked until we found the spot where the trail should cross the road, but we couldn’t find trail. We decided another bushwhack was in order to join the trail a little farther of the road. This one was even steeper and the undergrowth was so thick that you had to pull it back to check that there actually was stable ground underneath. By grabbing from tree to tree, slipping, bum sliding and encouraging one another, Thunder and I eventually found the trail again. Scratched and blackened, we joked that we had gone to battle with the forest.
We were happy to be back on trail and even more glad that we were heading towards a river! We found the boys at the river and the four of us all took a much-needed dip, rinsing off days of sweat and grime in the cold water. This was our first swim in a long while and it was a highpoint of not only today, but my whole trail so far! We dried off and finished up our day, ending at the bottom of a massive climb.
Day 55 (July 3rd)
Mile 1254.0 – mile 1264.6
Today: 10.6 miles (17.1 kms)
Total PCT: 809.3 miles
Knowing I had to hike up 3000ft this morning, I woke up early to ensure I could make at least part of the climb while it was still cool. I was packed up and hiking by 5:45am. On my way up the mountain I saw several deer run off trail and some fresh bear scat. I listened to my audiobook all the way up and the climb actually passed relatively quickly. Usually I am quite slow on uphill climbs, but because I had left so early, I managed to get to the top of the mountain without anyone passing me! Always a good feeling. I made the ridge around 8:30am and waited for my friends to join me at a lovely look out. Only 4 more miles to town!
We had service at the lookout so we reserved a hotel room and contacted some trail angels who would hopefully be able to drive us to the town of Quincy. However when we got to the road, we no longer had any service. Time to stick out our thumbs! Shortly after, a man driving the wrong direction pulled over to offer us some cold drinks and fruit. His name was St. John the Baptist and he hiked the PCT in 2015. He was just heading home from a music festival and pulled over to offer us the remaining contents of his cooler. It was so nice to have a cold drink while we waited for a hitch. Once in town, we got lunch, did our post office run (my new shirt was delivered! No more holes!), got our hotel room, went to the laundromat and did our grocery run. With our chores done, it is now time to relax before we head back to trail tomorrow!
