Tag: PCT

Day 93: July 4th
Sierra City to Mile 1216.1

We awoke on the Fouth of July in Sierra City to find that the electrical power was out for the whole town. This caused us to cancel holiday calls home (Verizon cell service was down too, we were surprised how well it worked yesterday), breakfast at the Red Moose Inn (the cafe was closed), phone charging and blog updating.

Not much we could do but eat some pastries Deb bought yesterday and hike the Pacific Crest Trail where electrical power is never an issue.

It’s pretty big climb out of Sierra City. The trail gains about 3,000 feet in the first seven miles as it winds around the massive Sierra Butte. Deb and her new ultralight pack almost flew up the trail.

We do need to pick up our pace if we are going to reach Canada before the snow starts flying. 22-24 mile days should become routine. We are both optimistic that this is possible now.

Today we passed the 1,200 mile mark.

Photo: Sierra Butte.

Mileage: 18.6

Day 92: July 3rd
Mile 1176.5 to Sierra City

Wow, what a difference Deb’s new pack has made. She is practically skipping down the trail. Lon may have to put rocks in it to keep up.

We easily made the 21 miles of pleasant hiking in time to pick up our resupply package from the Sierra City store.

The community church allows Pacific Crest Trail hikers to camp on the small lawn so we set up our tent along with 12 others for a restful nights sleep.

Photo: Camping Sierra City style.

Mileage: 21

Day 91: July 2nd
Highway 40 to Mile 1176.5

Today we met our friend Kaboom at the Highway 80 rest area. Deb had ordered a new Golite pack and Kaboom delivered it to us along with some food to make it to Sierra City which us just two days down the trail.

We are lightening Deb’s load and she has now switched to a Golite Jam 50 from the ULA Catalyst pack she was carrying. These packs are almost opposite ends of the thru-hiker pack spectrum. The Catalyst is a large pack for heavy loads while the Jam is a very light frameless pack. Deb also sent a few more items home and gave Lon the Jetboil stove to carry. Combined, this probably shaved about five pounds of weight from Deb’s base weight.

The new pack fits Deb well (surprisingly she uses a size medium) but she has used several other Golite packs in the past so she was familiar with the sizes.

She also has a trail name, Staying Afloat, courtesy of Neon, who hiked past us a few days ago after talking with Deb about trail woes by saying “stay afloat”.

The highlight for the day was a singing pine tree – yes, the wind was blowing at just the right angle through the wood cone at the top of the tree. Deb could swear she heard Bon Jovi, Lon was convinced it sounded like Bob Dylan.

Photo: Peter Grubb hut.

Mileage: 20.9

Day 90: July 1st
Mile 1129 to Highway 40

The trail walk in the morning continued to give great views of Lake Tahoe until the PCT departed the Tahoe Rim Trail. We then began walking the trail as it wound on the west side of the mountains, until we neared trails leading to Squaw Valley ski area. At this point the PCT wound its way quite steeply up to an incredible ridge line where we had beautiful views east and west. All the hikers talked about this endless climb because the top was such a great reward for all that hard work.

We stopped at the top briefly to cook dinner, hoping the dark clouds would stay at bay, which they did. We hurried down the ridge many, many miles all the way down to Donner Summit at highway 40. This was a marathon day for us, a first for us, 26.4 miles! By the time we found water (a hose at the closed ski chalet) and made a stealth camp, we crashed: Deb with sore and tired legs,but Lon exhilarated by the day.

Mileage: 26.4

Day 89: June 30th
Dicks Lake to Mile 1129

Today was a relatively pleasant day of hiking as the Pacific Crest Trail travels west of Lake Tahoe. We were occasionally treated to lovely views of the very blue Lake Tahoe as we hiked.

The trail mostly stayed in the woods and there were fewer lakes and streams. We began treating our water again when we resumed hiking yesterday, just to be cautious – the water levels are already low.

There seem to be few good campsites (maybe because of storms leaving blowdowns and rockfalls) and we are camped with 3 other hikers here. It is only 7:20 p.m. but everyone is already quiet.

Mileage: 19.5

Day 88: June 29th
South Lake Tahoe to Dicks Lake

Overheard on the trail today:

“Daddy, this is hard,” said the three-year-old day hiking the Pacific Crest Trail along Echo Lake.

“If it were easy everybody would be doing it,” replied the father.

Truer words have never been spoken.

The day today was filled with day-hikers and weekend backpackers enjoying the trail. Even the dogs were carrying packs.

We returned to highway 50 to resume our hiking, refreshed and fed and rested. The trail was very gentle and kind today as we walked up to and around and above numerous clear blue lakes. We want to go swimming, but they are still a little too cool for us – maybe a few more hot afternoons will make them more appealing.

We passed the 1,100 mile mark and are camping at mile 1,109.7 tonight.

Mileage: 17.7