Day 71

There was a steep descent into Belden today where we happened upon an electronic music festival happening literally on trail. The town had been rented out for the festival and hundreds of people were camped there for the weekend to go to shows and hang out in the river. The cacophony of the festival was the biggest culture shock I've had since coming out here. We sat in the shade for a few hours to avoid the midday heat and had the most interesting people watching session. In the evening I hiked out a few miles and left Plumas National Forest for Lassen.

Steps taken today/total: 44,573/2,838,702
Miles walked today/total: 22.35/1,290.16
Elevation gained today/total: 2,667/227,030
Elevation lost today/total: 5,665/238,093

Day 72

I woke up early this morning with the intent of going at least 30 miles to have a short day into Chester tomorrow, but around noon I hit a good piece of trail magic. Some professors from the University in Chico, CA were camped at a trailhead for the weekend and had a table laid out filled with all sorts of fruit and sandwiches. Since it hasn't been this hot since the desert I justified sitting there until 4:00 before heading on. One of the professors is coming to Lincoln in October for a conference so hopefully I'll be able to meet up with him then.

Steps taken today/total: 50,102/2,888,804
Miles walked today/total: 24.92/1315.08
Elevation gained today/total: 6,980/234,010
Elevation lost today/total: 2,949/241,042

Day 70

We moved quickly this morning to get to Quincy and pick up food. While we were packing up our pickings a man offered us a ride to the trailhead so we took him up on it right away. While we finished we started talking with him and I learned that his ex wife coached basketball at Nebraska for a few years in the seventies and he was friends with Bob Devaney. He told us stories of when he coached football for a small college in California and talked about his good friend, Dick Vermeil. As he drove us up I noticed a Husker tire cover on a trailer and he said there are about ten families who moved here from Nebraska who he watches the games with. He said he'll always root for Nebraska unless they play his alma mater, Stanford.

Steps taken today/total: 42,408/2,794,129
Miles walked today/total: 20.56/1,267.81
Elevation gained today/total: 7,001/224,363
Elevation lost today/total: 2,699/232,428

Day 69

The plan this morning was to go about 28 miles, but we happened across a  campsite that was too good to pass up. After coming down to only 3,000 feet above sea level we were in a canyon formed by the Feather River. As we crossed the bridge high above the water we could see rapids upstream but a large pool downstream with hikers swimming. We stopped here and swam for an hour before getting a big campfire going to warm up and dry clothes. There was a grate by the fire ring do Ultralight grilled some of his salami for us and I made quesadillas. Tonight was definitely the best cuisine I've had on trail. Later, we were joined by Peter Pan, from Poland.

Steps taken today/total: 53,516/2,751,721
Miles walked today/total: 25.78/1,247.25
Elevation gained today/total: 3,986/217,362
Elevation lost today/total: 7,305/229,729

Day 68

We were all dreading the climb we knew we had coming after descending yesterday, but it didn't end up being too bad. After the big climb we hovered around 7,000 feet all day, so it wasn't too hard of hiking. At camp we met French Fries, a hiker from Japan. He works for Montbell, an outdoor gear company, but surprisingly wears mostly Patagonia clothing.

Steps taken today/total: 51,456/2,698,205
Miles walked today/total: 26.07/1,221.47
Elevation gained today/total: 5,554/213,376
Elevation lost today/total: 4,230/222,424

Day 67

We hustled today to get to Sierra City, an old gold town a mile and a half off trail. We had heard about the burgers they served and that proved to be an excellent motivator. We got to town around 2:30 and put in our orders. Sam and Babu got veggie burgers and Ultralight and I got the one pound "gutbuster" burgers. The patties were a couple of inches thick and were too big to take a bite out of, but somehow I managed. I don't think I'll ever get tired of non-hikers reactions to someone downing a burger that big with a tall milkshake and fries.

Steps taken today/total: 47,378/2,646,749
Miles walked today/total: 23.17/1,195.4
Elevation gained today/total: 2,696/206,822
Elevation lost today/total: 5,721/218,194

Day 66

This morning I got to Donner Pass and went down to Truckee for food. When I got back I saw Ultralight, a hiker I haven't seen since before Tehachapi. We hiked together until we caught up with Sam and Babu at a rest stop on I-80. We hiked together for the rest of the day, a welcome change of pace from hiking alone. We met a hiker who jumped the Sierras while they were still snowy and he told us that Lassen Volcanic National Park in a couple hundred miles had great hiking despite the long water carries.
We also hit mile 1,154 today which wasn't very special itself, but that's the straight line distance between the southern terminus and northern terminus of the PCT.

Steps taken today/total: 50,746/2,599,371
Miles walked today/total: 22.20/1,172.23
Elevation gained today/total: 3,463/204,126
Elevation lost today/total: 3,655/212,473

Day 65

Today was fairly uneventful until I ran into Sam and Babu whom I haven't seen since Mt. Whitney. I've been hiking alone since Tuolumne, so it's nice to have caught up with people I know. Hopefully our mileages line up so we can keep hiking together.

Steps taken today/total: 69,620/2,548,625
Miles walked today/total: 31.45/1,150.03
Elevation gained today/total: 5,737/200,663
Elevation lost today/total: 5,478/208,818

Day 64

This morning Phil and Mel dropped me off at the trail and I assumed I would never see them again, but I was wrong. They drove down to Echo Lake and started doing a little hiking themselves so I was quite surprised when I caught up to them. We talked for a bit more and they let me go on my way around the lake, which I think is the biggest I've hiked beside yet. After Echo, the trail got pretty rocky for a few miles which slowed me down a bit and made my feet sore. I had one pass today, but it was only 9,400 feet, which seems like nothing after what I've done.

Steps taken today/total: 65,809/2,479,005
Miles walked today/total: 27.78/1118.58
Elevation gained today/total: 3,848/194,926
Elevation lost today/total: 3,734/203,340

Day 64

This morning Phil and Mel dropped me off at the trail and I assumed I would never see them again, but I was wrong. They drove down to Echo Lake and started doing a little hiking themselves so I was quite surprised when I caught up to them. We talked for a bit more and they let me go on my way around the lake, which I think is the biggest I've hiked beside yet. After Echo, the trail got pretty rocky for a few miles which slowed me down a bit and made my feet sore. I had one pass today, but it was only 9,400 feet, which seems like nothing after what I've done.

Steps taken today/total: 65,809/2,479,005
Miles walked today/total: 27.78/1118.58
Elevation gained today/total: 3,848/194,926
Elevation lost today/total: 3,734/203,340

Day 63

Today was my first true zero since Hiker Heaven at mile 454. Phil and Mel made it an easy decision to rest today because of their almost gratuitous hospitality. They helped me get around town to do chores and dropped me off at an all you can eat sushi bar so I could gorge myself for over an hour. They took me down to see the lake and we went to the amphitheater to listen to Sting and Peter Gabriel. At the concert they introduced me to their friend Mike who is a trail angel and has hiked the JMT. We talked about our experiences in the Sierras and how gear has gotten so much lighter than even ten years ago, when he did his hike. When I got back I realized that this is the first bed I'll have slept in twice on the entire trip.

Steps taken today/total: 0/2,413,196
Miles walked today/total: 0/1,090.80
Elevation gained today/total: 0/191,078
Elevation lost today/total: 0/199,606

Day 63

Today was my first true zero since Hiker Heaven at mile 454. Phil and Mel made it an easy decision to rest today because of their almost gratuitous hospitality. They helped me get around town to do chores and dropped me off at an all you can eat sushi bar so I could gorge myself for over an hour. They took me down to see the lake and we went to the amphitheater to listen to Sting and Peter Gabriel. At the concert they introduced me to their friend Mike who is a trail angel and has hiked the JMT. We talked about our experiences in the Sierras and how gear has gotten so much lighter than even ten years ago, when he did his hike. When I got back I realized that this is the first bed I'll have slept in twice on the entire trip.

Steps taken today/total: 0/2,413,196
Miles walked today/total: 0/1,090.80
Elevation gained today/total: 0/191,078
Elevation lost today/total: 0/199,606

Day 62

I think I got more trail magic today than I've gotten any other day. It started at Carson Pass where volunteers had lunch for PCT hikers including fresh fruit and cold cheese, something usually reserved for town stops. When I got to the highway I got a hitch into South Lake Tahoe and the girl who gave me a ride let me into her gym so I could shower. When I got out, I was sitting there looking up places to stay when two older couples, Phil and Mel and Laura and Charlie, asked if I was hiking the PCT. When I told them I was they asked where I was staying and after I responded that I didn't have a place yet they invited me to their home. They let me do laundry and traded me a root beer float for trail stories. I can't say enough about what their kindness meant to me.

Steps taken today/total: 63,916/2,413,196
Miles walked today/total: 26.98/1,090.80
Elevation gained today/total: 5,870/191,078
Elevation lost today/total: 5,062/199,606

Day 61

he landscape has slowly been changing since I got out of Yosemite and today was the best example of this. It's becoming more and more dessert-like but there are still elements of the Sierras. I go in and out of forests throughout the day and there is still plenty of water and snow about. The Desolation Wilderness has plenty of lakes and wildflowers are in bloom.

Steps taken today/total: 62,003/2,349,280
Miles walked today/total: 25.53/1,063.82
Elevation gained today/total: 4,889/185,280
Elevation lost today/total: 5,690/194,544

Day 60

I left North Kennedy Meadows this morning after a hot breakfast of biscuits and gravy  and sending the bear canister home so I was feeling pretty good. The mountains are turning into foothills so after a rocky descent it was smooth sailing. I stopped earlier than normal and met Eric, John and Terrence, three section hikers going from Sonora Pass to Echo Lake. We talked about our hikes and traded stories and food.

Steps taken today/total: 49,721/2,287,277
Miles walked today/total: 21.36/1,038.29
Elevation gained today/total: 4,094/180,391
Elevation lost today/total: 5,270/188,854

Day 59

After stopping short of my goal yesterday, my plan was to take it easy today and stop at the last camp before Sonora Pass, around mile 1,006. However, when I got there around 3:00 I just couldn't convince myself to stop. I had 11 miles to the pass and the highway to hitch into Northern Kennedy Meadows, so I decided to go for it. Along the way I went down the steepest and most fun glissade I've done and crossed more snow than the rest of the passes combined. I got close to the road around 7:00 and was prepared to camp at the trailhead but there was a car there picking up some other hikers that I ran to and caught just in time. Tomorrow I'll be able to ship my bear canister home with some other equipment I don't need anymore so my base weight will be around 3 pounds lighter.  

Steps taken today/total: 68,918/2,237,556
Miles walked today/total: 30.07/1016.93
Elevation gained today/total: 4,993/176,297
Elevation lost today/total: 3,358/183,584

Day 58

I think today was my toughest day yet. The terrain is still as steep and rocky as the JMT was, but instead of having passes separated by long flat meadows, the ups and downs come back to back. In addition to the constant elevation change, there are no natural barriers like the passes, so I have no reason to stop early like we did before. The length of today wore me out so much I settled for an earlier campsite than I was shooting for.

Steps taken today/total: 65,034/2,168,638
Miles walked today/total: 24.47/986.86
Elevation gained today/total: 6,182/171,304
Elevation lost today/total: 6,257/180,226

Day 57

I left Tuolumne around eleven after the post office opened and I could get my food and I soon saw one of the more curious things on the trail. Soda Springs is a naturally occurring, carbonated spring in Yosemite that bubbles up about a mile from the post office. Scientists are still unsure exactly how the water becomes carbonated underground, but the water comes up tasting just like mineral water.
The landscape here is like a more subdued version of what we were just in, but it offers views that are just as beautiful. At one point I came around a corner and the rocks on either side framed a landscape with rounded granite faces in the foreground and spires of peaks in the back. I had heard reports of the snow and mosquitoes being bad in this section, but I ran into neither today, so hopefully those reports are outdated.

Steps taken today/total: 46,648/2,103,604
Miles walked today/total: 19.38/962.39
Elevation gained today/total: 3,193/165,121
Elevation lost today/total: 3,289/180,226

Day 56

I'm now officially a thru hiker! Today I finished the JMT by hiking into Yosemite Valley from Tuolumne Meadows. Along the way I hiked up Half Dome and by waterfalls and rivers that formed the valley. Yosemite is different from the other national parks I've been in do far due to the sheer number of people who are in the park. Due to its beauty and accessibility, Yosemite is much more of a tourist destination, with a veritable town in the valley. At this point it's so developed it's practically nature's Disneyland. While it's great that people want to appreciate it, it makes me wonder what it was like before the development, when John Muir was just discovering it.
When I got back to Tuolumne, I found Cowboy who is ending his hike in the Valley tomorrow. It was nice to share one last campfire with someone I've been hiking with for 600 miles.

Steps taken today/total: 65,418/2,056,956
Miles walked today/total: 28.10/943.01
Elevation gained today/total: 1,040/161,928
Elevation lost today/total: 6,542/176,937

Day 55

I finished the JMT alternate and rejoined the PCT this morning just before the last pass of the high Sierras . After the pass the terrain leveled out and followed a slow, peaceful river into Yosemite National Park and Tuolumne Meadows where I saw Legend again who was throwing a spaghetti feed for hikers. I'm camped with Sugar and Matt and we are going to finish the JMT tomorrow into Yosemite Valley.

Steps taken today/total: 63,595/1,991,538
Miles walked today/total: 24.79/943.01
Elevation gained today/total: 2,976/160,888
Elevation lost today/total: 3,255/170,395

Day 54

I got back on trail around 3:00 and quickly saw some really cool geology. Red's Meadow is close to the Devil's Postpile, a columnar basalt formation formed by cooling magma and exposed by glacial activity. The hexagonal columns stretch up and around and the top looks like a tiled floor with regular cracks beneath the tiles.
After the Postpile, the PCT and JMT diverge for about 14 miles. I took the JMT branch since the maps made it look more interesting, going through some steeper terrain and passing by more lakes. The section I'm through has delivered beautiful views of the minaret peaks and some beautiful glassy lakes.

Steps taken today/total: 27,951/1,927,943
Miles walked today/total: 11.51/918.22
Elevation gained today/total: 2,542/157,912
Elevation lost today/total: 1,331/167,140

Day 53

Today was one of the easier days since I got into the Sierras as I got to Red's Meadow today by 1:30 after starting 20 miles out. We went into Mammoth Lakes to spend the night where we met up with Sugar and Matt, two hikers from Virginia.

Steps taken today/total: 48,100/1,899,992
Miles walked today/total: 20.3/906.70
Elevation gained today/total: 2,670/155,370
Elevation lost today/total: 5,252/165,809

Day 52

Today I went over Silver Pass, the second to last pass of the JMT. This pass was a little frustrating because to get there you climb a steep thousand feet, then lose two thousand, then gain three back. Then once you get to the pass, there is another quarter mile of climbing until you start descending again. Once I started down, I found a good campsite by a lake that I took a cold bath in. This leaves about 20 miles into Mammoth tomorrow for a resupply.

Steps taken today/total: 39,560/1,851,892
Miles walked today/total: 15.52/886.44
Elevation gained today/total: 4,191/152,700
Elevation lost today/total: 3,007/160,557

Day 51

When I woke up this morning Cowboy pointed over my shoulder where there was a deer about ten feet away. The deer in the park are much less timid than those at home and I've been able to get close to many of them since they have never been threatened by people.
A few miles in today we crossed the border out of King's Canyon National Park and into the John Muir Wilderness. The the climb up Selden Pass is shorter than those we have had, but it has some pretty steep switchbacks. Going up those switchbacks I met Dave from North Bend, Nebraska. He lives in L.A. now, but he said he was at the UCLA game in Lincoln, which means we technically watched a game together. Selden Pass is the first pass I've gone over that is under the treeline so it was quite a different experience. While I ate lunch at the top three marmots were constantly eyeing my food waiting for an opportunity to move in for a snack.

Steps taken today/total: 43,600/1,812,332
Miles walked today/total: 17.86/870.92
Elevation gained today/total: 3,403/148,509
Elevation lost today/total: 2,667/157,480

Day 50

Today we went over Muir Pass which is my favorite pass so far. The climb up had us traversing snow fields and scrambling over talus beside beautiful frozen lakes. It culminated in a steep climb up a snowy mountainside to the summit and Muir Hut. The hut was built in 1930 and has been an icon of the Sierras ever since. The descent started off gently so there were no opportunities to glissade, but the snow led to some interesting route finding when the trail was covered.
This evening Cowboy and I crossed Evolution Creek, the most dangerous river crossing on the PCT. The river was very swollen from the day's snowmelt, so we crossed higher than normal where the it was a bit wider and shallower. Even at the alternate site the water was up to my thighs and the force was concerning. We made it across and down into a canyon to cap off our longest day since starting the John Muir Trail section of the PCT.

Steps taken today/total: 51,427/1,768,732
Miles walked today/total: 20.41/853.06
Elevation gained today/total: 3,453/145,106
Elevation lost today/total: 3,785/154,813

Day 49

We woke up dry at the base of Mather Pass this morning after sleeping in to allow the snow on the backside to soften up a little bit. We got over the pass much more easily than Pinchot and glissaded down the back. We began the long descent into the canyon, stopping along the way to swim in the freezing snowmelt of Palisade Lake. The canyon was formed by the largest river we've seen yet, a raging torrent that tore through the air beside us. We then went down the steepest switchbacks I've seen and felt bad for the southbound hikers who had to struggle up them. We camped a few miles up the ten mile ascent of Muir Pass, but we'll have a steep climb tomorrow to get over the last of the 12,000 foot passes.

Steps taken today/total: 40,023/1,717,305
Miles walked today/total: 17.31/832.65
Elevation gained today/total: 2,002/141,653
Elevation lost today/total: 4,314/151,055

Day 48

This morning we were shooting for two passes again when Pinchot Pass got in the way. There was a 3,500 foot gain in the first seven miles out of camp to take us over the 12,000 foot pass. The brutal climb and uninspiring landscape left us wiped out and the prospect of another pass was too unappealing. When we set up camp there were a few dark clouds rolling in and some brisk wind so I set up my tarp in the cramped spot and Woodsmoke, Cowboy, Lopsong, and I managed to get under it in case of rain.

Steps taken today/total: 40,713/1,677,282
Miles walked today/total: 15.66/815.34
Elevation gained today/total: 5,010/139,651
Elevation lost today/total: 2,237/146,741

Day 47

Today was the first time we've done two passes in one day, starting with Kearsarge in the morning and doing Glenn in the afternoon. Glenn gave us our first good opportunity to glissade down, essentially sledding without a sled. It was a fun, if cold, experience that I hope to do again. We camped in a popular spot just before Pinchot Pass and met two hikers, Andrew and Elijah, who are hiking the Southern Sierra High Route. This route has very little trail walking and a lot of route finding so it is much more intense than the PCT or JMT.

Steps taken today/total: 42,673/1,636,569
Miles walked today/total: 16.60/799.68
Elevation gained today/total: 3,089/134,641
Elevation lost today/total: 4,901/144,464

Day 46

When we got back to Independence there was a thunderstorm at the pass, so we decided to wait it out. After a few hours the storm cleared and we were able to get a ride up to the trailhead. It was still threatening rain, so I put up my tarp for the first time since Big Bear. Hopefully the weather is nice tomorrow so we can get over Kearsarge and Glenn Passes and to Rae Lakes.

Steps taken today/total: 9,631/1,596,896
Miles walked today/total: 2.06/788.50
Elevation gained today/total: 1,303/131,552
Elevation lost today/total: 0/139,563

Day 45

We went over Kearsarge Pass today and hitched a ride to Independence for a food resupply. From there we hitched 40 miles to Bishop since they have more to offer to replace any lost or broken equipment.

Steps taken today/total: 24,208/1,587,265
Miles walked today/total: 6.3/788.50
Elevation gained today/total: 1,246/130,249
Elevation lost today/total: 2,575/139,563