This week we transition from the northern Sierra to the Lost Sierra to straight up Northern California. As always, I am dictating this using voice to text as I walk and making any corrections I detect with my chunky thumbs. Please forgive any errors!
Day 43 // Miles today: 29, Total: 1111.9
Last night and this morning were the coldest of the trip- happy first day of summer! Thank goodness I set up the tent last night. Frost was all over everything in the morning including a very interesting, and crunchy beneath my feet, kind with a vertical spindly structure within the trail.
The cold slowed down breaking camp and made it so I couldn’t use my hands for about an hour. But I hiked excitedly toward echo summit, where I’ll meet my friend bill and we’ll spend a little time in South Lake Tahoe.
Bill and I drove into the cute town of Myers. There, he gave me a care package containing the perfect amount of calories to make it to truckee, a bear can to abide by food storage rules between here and there, and treated me to breakfast at the cute getaway cafe. Warm food (chilaquiles for there and breakfast burrito to go) and coffee!!
Returned to the trailhead and bill joined through my FarOut app transition from the sierra to the Northern California map and a few more miles to the boundary of the desolation wilderness. Excited to see him again on Monday.
Soon after bill departed, the sky grayed over and produced sounds of weather indigestion. Right when I hit the iconic lake aloha, about 3:30 pm, the temperature dropped about 20 degrees, the wind picked up, and snow began falling. The initial flurry escalated quickly into moderately heavy snowfall with limited visibility. This led many a hiker to quickly set up their shelters and hide.
I put on most of my layers and continued, the good Minnesotan that I am. Within an hour the system broke and the sun reappeared, treating me to the most beautiful snowscape and I’d have to say the most magical moment of the adventure so far.
After the wintry microdose the trail climbed gently up to dicks pass. My expectations for neither the pass nor the lake below of the same name were met. The view from the top however, with a fresh coat of snow covering everything, was stunningly beautiful. I navigated gently sloped but voluminous snowfields on the way down, enjoying another amazing PCT sunset (it sets at 8:30 pm now!), and proceeded toward my home for the evening at trail mile 1111.9.
Day 44 // Miles today: 33.7, Total: 1145.6
Another chilly one! Woke up to a frost encrusted tent and frozen stiff shoelaces. Moving slowly while cold, I took an hour to self extract from the tent, pack up, and hit the trail.
Exited the wicked cool desolation wilderness, passed through about 12 miles of also neat Tahoe national forest, and spent the rest of the day in granite chief wilderness. Passed the barker parking area and its pit toilet midday, prior to bopping over its namesake pass. Within a quarter mile the thought of the pit toilet kept bouncing around my head like an ear worm of a song. Problem was I was on a lightly vegetated rock avalanche slope with no cover. Had to mind over matter the situation for about 10 minutes before I got to a solid patch of trees. Came very close to becoming a “true thru hiker.”
Spent most of the rest of the day following the spine that runs from barker pass to palisades Tahoe, parallel to the west shore of the lake. Spent some of those miles with a new friend Sean, the first person I’ve met out here who is also going for sub 100 days. He started in late May in Tehachapi, is hiking to Canada, and will finish by hiking from Tehachapi to Mexico. I hope we get some more time to hike together.
Enjoyed another beautiful sunset as I hiked north of granite chief, the mountain, found an awesome place to call home for the night, had some jello pudding for dessert (good at the time but heartburn city later), laid out my cowboy setup, and drifted off.
Day 45 // Miles today: 29.0, Total: 1174.6
The wind picked up overnight, waking me up earlier than planned. I still spent a solid hour under my quilt before getting in gear and continuing the northward pilgrimage at 6:30.
The wind died down throughout the morning and remaining miles were pretty cruisy. One exception was a steep snow field at Mt. Judah. The existing boot track was a bit steeper than I wanted, so I decided to cut a new boot track that was gentler. I got about a half a dozen steps worth before my right foot slid out from under me and I was at speed immediately. I dug in my heels as much as I could. Before I knew it, after maybe 75 feet of sliding, I splashed into the soft mud at the bottom of the field. I looked back up at the top of the slope and there was one of my poles still faithfully anchored into the snow. I climbed up using the steep, pre-existing boot track, retrieved my pole, and retraced my steps back down. Then I rolled around in the snow to cleanse myself of the mud and make it look like I had not just pooped my pants.
Hiked after that for another couple hours before meeting Bill again at a parking lot off of interstate 80. So great to see him again! We went into town, and got some breakfast burritos and coffee (I also got a sandwich and a chicken pot hand pie each intended for the trail). It was wonderful. Next stop was the Safeway for a two day resupply to get me to Sierra city.
We returned to the trailhead and hiked together again for another couple miles before he turned back. As was the case the last time Bill went back to his car, that’s when the weather started. It began as rain, and picked up to marble sized hail, which was accompanied by thunder. I’d just heard a backpacker radio podcast on lightning safety the day prior and was basically doing everything wrong.
At the time of the storm I was hiking with a couple other folks, first oats (a new friend) and later Sean who I met yesterday. Great to roll with him again. It was tough going, though, as the trail was in some places, completely obscured by snow for long stretches.
The storm lasted a couple hours and we mercifully got a couple hours at the end of the day of sun to dry off our stuff.
Rolled into camp, laid out all my gear, and went to dig a cathole. It started raining at the worst possible moment and I rushed to my gear pile to quickly set up the tent and toss everything inside. Once warm, dry-ish, and nestled into the tent it was bedtime for sure.
Day 46 // Miles today: 31.9, Total: 1206.5
First off, I’m sorry to those following along to scratch your adventure itch but instead end up hearing about how I almost poop myself on a daily basis. If such tales make you uncomfortable, or if you can’t relate because you don’t poop, it’s probably best you stop following because the trend is here to stay.
If you’re still here, today began with me nearly shitting myself before I could get out of my tent. I normally take time to give my feet some TLC, brush teeth, and slowly pack up the tent contents from the inside. Not today.
With the crisis managed, I packed up and started walking toward sierra city, my next resupply point and where I anticipate arriving by mid afternoon. This will involve a 3000 plus foot drop in elevation to below 5000 feet. I’m knocking on the door of the thicker air and hotter temperatures that the Northern California section of trail will bring.
Sean caught up to me about mid morning and we began the long cruise downhill together. Oak trees (and poison oak) joined the party somewhere around 5000 feet elevation. He took a break for lunch and not long after I was joined by sled dog, from Minneapolis (real name Jack and a fellow ultra runner who has done arrowhead a couple times!)
We bonded and walked into Sierra city together where he picked up a box and I did some grocery shopping at the really expensive general store. They had good stuff though and I really enjoyed a chicken sandwich and a blackberry milkshake. After about an hour and a half, I had done everything that I needed to, said goodbye to my friends, and caught a hitch back to the trailhead in about 10 minutes – nice guy in a beautiful truck going for a ride with his dog on a Tuesday afternoon.
The goal for the remainder of the day was to hike as many miles as I could to keep the dream of completing 50% of the trail by day 50 alive. From the trailhead this involved a 2000+ foot climb, starting with gentle switchbacks in some nice packed dirt. Then upon emerging above tree line, the trail sits on a talus field originating from Sierra Buttes above. That part really sucked and was very slow going. At one point one of my empty water bottles escaped my pack and fell about 50 feet below the trail on the talus. I was able to recover it but microwave sized boulders were moving under me as I did so.
Once out of the Sierra Buttes bowling alley the trail eased up, I was treated to a lovely sunset, and I descended into the lovely Tamarack lake basin where at least a couple dozen folks were already set up camping. First time camping with others in a while. I found an unoccupied spot, set up my cowboy camp in record time, and fell asleep to frogs ribbeting on the lake shore.
Day 47 // Miles today: 32.1, Total: 1238.6
Slept great last night. I recall waking up once, opening my eyes, seeing a ton of stars, thinking oh that’s nice, and being unconscious the rest of the night. Packed up quick and was walking by shortly after 6 AM.
I am officially a bottomless pit for whom food does nothing. By 9 AM had taken in over 2000 calories and at no point felt satisfied. Sat down for lunch shortly after noon and ate an entire box of Cheez-Its in 20 minutes. Great meal.
The terrain I’ve been in since yesterday afternoon, though technically still in the Sierra Nevada range, feels distinct. Some mark the boundary between the Sierra Nevada to Northern California as early as Sonora pass. I’ll personally call it somewhere between Truckee and Sierra city, where the transition is pretty abrupt from sparkling well-exposed granite and rugged mountains to large mountains with relatively poor rock exposure and more forest. Water is definitely becoming more scarce as well.
Oh, and I almost forgot – I got my first glimpse of Mount Lassen some 65 miles as the crow flies (and 120 miles as the hiker hikes) from the mountain! That’s a big milestone!!
Throughout the afternoon, my feet killed. I yielded and took an ibuprofen late in the day, at the same time I got some macaroni and cheese cold soaking, and it was a game changer. I don’t want to get into the habit of popping ibuprofen regularly, but I’m able to move far more fluid when my feet don’t hurt so bad. I’ve also had good luck soaking my feet in icy streams, but again those are becoming fewer and farther in between. Just would’ve thought that after close to 50 days of hiking 12+ hours per day, my feet would’ve strengthened by now.
The last mile of the day featured a fair number of blowdowns – hopefully not a harbinger of things to come. After hurdling over the blowdowns, I arrived at the intersection for Alder Springs. found a nice flat spot, set up my cowboy camp, and got horizontal.
Day 48 // Miles today: 30.6, Total: 1269.2
Within a mile of starting today, I entered an area affected by the Bear fire of 2020 and the Dixie fire of the following year. Lots of down trees, lots of regrowth choking the trail (including poison oak), and generally tough conditions to hike in. I did a road walk recommended by the PCTA around the worst of it.
Upon reaching the gorgeous Middle Fork of the Feather river, I had arrived at a sanctuary. I immediately plunked my sore feet into the water, soaked my sun hoodie, and ate 90% of a bag of tortilla chips. I saved the other 10% for dinner tonight.
The trail had less debris in it north of the feather river, but it was still pretty choked out, and required a 2000+ foot climb. Near the top of it I realized I was weaving all over the trail, so I ate about 20 Oreos and felt pretty good after that.
The final couple hours of the day was on a portion of the trail that had clearly received thoughtful maintenance recently. It was pretty dreamy. Great way to finish the day while eating the rest of my tortilla chips stirred into cold soaked beans and rice on the go. Reflected on the fact that today was the first day that my feet did not touch snow since early June. Found a lovely spot, set up quick, and felt my feet throb as I drifted off.
Day 49 // Miles today: 30.5, Total: 1299.7
Fantastic night sleep. Woke up at first light around 4:30 AM with a feeble mosquito buzzing in my ear. Felt pretty refreshed so slowly started packing things up and was ambling down the trail by shortly after 5:30.
Enjoyed the sunrise golden hour and was treated to nice views on this well maintained section of trail through the “Lost Sierra” – a region that I’ve never experienced before.
The rest of the morning and early afternoon went by pretty uneventfully. It was nice and cool, trail was easy, all was good. Then came the epic 4000+ foot descent into Belden. The trail was in great condition though with each foot descended the temperature seemed to go up 1°.
Arriving in Belden, a tiny town, I became aware that there is some kind of festival happening this weekend. People were hanging out by the water, and their RVs, dancing along the river, just generally having a good time. It was pretty unexpected. Also unexpected was the power outage. This made resupplying challenging as I only had $19 in cash (cards could not be used) and everything was priced outrageously (five dollars for a tuna packet are you kidding me??) I bought a box of offbrand Ritz crackers, a five pack of top Ramen, three packages of skittles, and four string cheeses. This came out to $21 and a kind stranger at the bar contributed two dollars to the cause.
Fortunately, a food truck across the street had just fired up his generator and was starting to make food. Credit cards could be used there. Got a fried chicken sandwich, two cokes, and charged my electronics partway off of his bumper.
I departed Belden around 3 pm, my weirdest trail town experience so far, and began a 5000+ foot climb in the midday heat on a south-facing slope. The first couple hours really sucked. It’s the sweatiest I’ve been all trip. Fortunately there was ample water. The next few hours until camp cooled down significantly. The climbing, once again through a burn area, was tough but sustainable.
Saw some nice structures in rocks as well! Got to the sign that marks the divide between the Sierra Nevada and the Cascade range, which also happened to be free of burned widowmaker trees, and set up camp. Got a big day tomorrow going to try to push the 34 miles to Chester. Tomorrow’s gonna start with some night hiking!
