Day 80- weather

Today I was hot. Not in my usual sort of way, but in the weather sense. Although I am very good looking after not having taken a shower in 200 miles, the temperature got up there today. It was nothing like high 90s. Just we are not used to the heat, we were exposed all day, and the temperature probably was in the low 90s. The good thing was that this gave me some opportunity to get enough charge in my phone to live to blog another day. This is great because my phone did die today. Aside from the weather I actually saw people today. Even better was that they were thru hikers. First I me wrangler. His name is perfect for him. He looks the part with his cut off shirt and he's from north Carolina. Next was a group of section hikers who wanted my picture just because I was one of the few who went straight through this year. I should have asked if they wanted an autograph as well. Near the end of a 15 mile waterless stretch I met ironman's mom and dad. they offered me snacks and juice! Even though I had taken a nutella (my new favorite snack on tortillas or bagels) break only 5 minutes previously I could not say no. We ate and ironman and no knees showed up and I got to meet them finally. Then when it was time to leave, wrangler showed up to the amazing and unexpected trail magic. Only a couple miles down the trail was a bucket with soda inside. Talk about a lucky day! Over the next few miles I met a few day hikers and knowing I smelled bad did not have enormous conversations with them. Finally two miles from deadfall lake (camping destination) I met serenity and three times the lady. The female couple that I had met earlier in the trip ended up flipping up north to Ashland. They said acorn (another previously met) was only a couple hours ahead. The next two miles into camp were filled with thunderstorms and a bit of rain. So I went fast. I got to camp and put up the tent, but my stuff in, washed my feet in the creek and the. Proceeded to cook and do all my nightly chores in my tent. This was smart because only a half hour later it began to pour and I got to test out this new tent in the weather. It will be much better as soon as I get the missing piece from seiad valley. Lots to talk about today. Hopefully tomorrow is as eventful. On the major bright side this section is much prettier than the previous ones. We walk on ridges with great views, there are flowers, and I am seeing familiar faces.

Day 79- gametime

Overnight my status for being on the trail today went from questionable to probable. My feet didn't get better, I just always feel better in the morning. I went to the trainer (me) and got taped up, tested it out and then told the coach (me) that I was good to go. For some reason I was mentally a lot better today too and the miles went by pretty fast. It was the end of the lame section that is basically made in order for us to rejoin I-5. Towards the end I did get into castle crag state park which was kinda cool. Then after I passed under I-5 and right at the border of castle crag I saw another black bear. This one was black instead of golden or cinnamon. It was also much smaller. When I did end up making camp after I had put in another 32 miles I decided to put on the apron and get out the oven mits. Despite the incredible number of Mosquitos, I was going to make bean burritos. Using some homemade beans that someone gave me because it was their extra food, an some tortillas, I cooked up the first meal my mom would actually be proud of. They tasted pretty good too. Tomorrow I have a day filled with lots of climbing. My phone has been on the edge of dying recently since my plug to charge it with the solar charger is warn out and when bumped it stops charging. So I can't charge it while walking anymore. I will try to conserve battery in order to keep my streak of not missing a day alive!

Squaw creek: mile 1490

Day 78-a bit of everything

Another day, another hill with snow on it, but the same trail. Today was different for a few reasons though. I walked all over the trail, trampled on the snow and flew up the hill. The only problem was that this really tore up my feet. I tried to wash them in deer creek late in the afternoon, but this may have made it worse. To add to my tender feet, I pushed myself ten more miles after they began to hurt, bringing the total to 32. Hopefully with some gentle treatment they will heal up in a couple days. I am currently camped just a couple miles past where we crossed the mcloud river. Thankfully my pack weight has reduced and I am eating well. I am just hoping my feet are ok to walk on tomorrow.

Mt. Shasta

Day 77- a heavy pack again

It's been so long since my pack was fully loaded I had forgotten what it feels like. After putting it on in the morning I immediately wished I had bought less food. But I wad stuck with it so I just pushed on. The only way to get my weight down was to eat more. So by early afternoon I had eaten so much I could feel the difference. I flew through burney falls state park in the morning, only stopping to look at the large lake britton. From here It was all uphill and I really started to feel all the weight in my pack. When I say I bought too much food it's true. I had 2 pounds of cheese, 1 pound of summer sausage, tons of pop-tarts, and many other things. These are not really things I needed, mostly just things on sale at Safeway in burney and they sounded good. That's basically how I shop now and it kills me for a couple days every time. So climbing this medium sized hill was a real chore and required many breaks. I was just real tired. But when I finally got to the top I had a wonderful view of Shasta. The rest of the evening was spent skirting around on the nearby ridges heading mostly west. At the end of this section (60miles) we join back with I-5. Near the end of the day I was extremely exhausted again and decided to stop a little early (around 7) and get some extra rest. I keep getting closer to Oregon!

Day 75- exhaustion

The plan was to do 38 miles. It would have been done if I had not opened my food bag 31 miles in an realized all I had left was beans and top roman. I figured I better resupply for the first time since truckee. I hitched in on the highway and did not have to wait too terribly long. In town I had a nutritious meal at McDonalds and bought way too Much food. It will work out since I need to eat more. The hitch out was real easy. A guy in an old beater sedan with motivational tapes playing picked me up. When he dropped me off at the trailhead he promised to pray for me. I then walked 1 more mile and camped...exhausted. Prior to all this I got up at 430 to hike the hat creek rim while it was cooler. It was a very pretty view of Shasta from it. But as the day went on it went from pretty to just hot. All us hikers are used to snow not heat, so a lot of breaks took place. At least the cache at the midpoint was full and my solar charger worked pretty good to get some kind of charge into my nearly dead phone. When I finished the waterless stretch at the Crystal lake fish hatchery I met two section hikers who looked like they were exhausted. They were amazed I was hiking on. Well I am exhausted now and cannot stay awake to write another line.

Hat creek rim

Day 75-night hiking again

Even when the opportunity exists for my body to sleep in, I still wake up between 5 and 6. It's hiker time. Since I was up at 6 and it was a chilly morning I decided to go for a dip in the hot-spring fed pool at drakesbad. It was a great idea until I had to get out. At that point I froze. At 730 they had a great breakfast for us: chorizo breakfast burrito and an all you could eat in an hour breakfast buffet of cereal fruit oatmeal toast and bagels. Of course we ate the whole time. At that point it was time to leave. We closed our tab which was very cheap for two meal and walked on. The nice thing about the walk was that it was extremely flat. No big hills or surprises and we could really get some decent miles in quick. With a view if Shasta most of the hike I got in 25 miles by 5, after starting at 9! It was an average hike as far as scenery goes. Most of it was in pine forests, but we would get an occasional glimpse of the surrounding from a small ridge along the way. When I arrived at old station I went directly to the store and got some good snack food for the next couple days, 3 tacos, and a drink. Surely after only 3 tacos I needed 3 more. While us hikers were sitting around eating the topic of all the recent trail magic came up and how there were so many possible shower options. We decided that it was almost too much and that 2 showers in a row is nice, but 3 in 4 days was almost conforming to society. Then pine, top shelf, lovebird, raven, and myself decided we should at least make it 4 more miles to the last water before the 40 mile waterless stretch (longest on the whole trail). So we walked 4 more miles to the subway trailhead. At this point I felt so good I decided to night hike a few miles of the waterless stretch. So I got in about 5 more. No one else wanted to go with me. It brought my total to 34 miles today. Hopefully tomorrow I can make it to burney falls state park and inch a little closer to Oregon.

Day 74-drakesbad

I woke up at the midpoint of the pct and began my quest to drakesbad where I hoped to have dinner. I made good time an got a quick ten in to the highway to Chester. As with nearly every opportunity to get into a town, as I neared this option I began to weigh the pros and cons of going into town. On one hand I could resupply to get me to seiad valley, but on the other hand it could impact me making dinner at drakesbad. I decided to keep walking even though I am creating a dilemma with my shortage of food and the shortage of places to resupply ahead. I figured it would work itself out. Sure enough, after flying through the 28 mile day into drakesbad and finding a pct section hiker (hotshot) going the wrong way on the trail, I made it for a wonderful dinner of bread salad potatoes and chicken. Then even brought us the extra food. It was wonderful. After dinner other thru Hikers that were leaving gave me 4 extra meals they had. I then got my shower stuff and got cleaned up for the 3rd time in 4 days! After the shower came the pool. I soaked for a good while and told my stories to a couple ladies. They were impressed and gave me a bunch of food and 2 lunches! I am becoming a pro at getting food from impressed people. My night ends later than usual stealth camping just off the dirt road into drakesbad because I could not find the campground that is a half mile away. Maybe I didn't walk far enough, but who wants to at 1030. Tomorrow will be a drakesbad breakfast and then hopefully a resupply out of the old station gas station 24 miles away.

Day 73- another thirty

Another day over thirty miles today! I believe the count is at 7 now. It's really starting to drag me down. I believe it's due to the inability to come even close to keeping up with the calories I burn day after day and also it is just 30 miles which is a long way. Tomorrow I am going to do a high 20's day into drakesbad guest ranch which is very hiker friendly and I heard has big meals. I hope to spend the night there to eat breakfast and dinner and hopefully use their hot tub. Today was a decent day starting off with the end of the 16 mile climb that I had started yesterday. At the top there was quite a bit of snow, but it did not last long at all. At this point we could finally see mt Shasta well and I assume into Oregon past that. The rest of the hike was up and down around 7000 feet with a view of Shasta the whole time. I started to drag around 3 and suddenly came to a sign that said trail magic was coming up. This gave me new energy and I picked it up for the last quarter mile to humboldt summit. A lady named Katie who I actually met while she was hiking around Sierra city was making hiker hot dogs and hamburgers and also had beverages for us. She said she hopes to hike the trail in 4 years when she can retire. It was real nice but I had to not stay long if I wanted to stay at the mid point mileage wise of the trail (I am already past half way time wise hopefully). So I left the trail magic and basically did a horseshoe around some ridges and ended up climbing butt mountain and shortly after I made it to the mid point where I camped and made some tuna fettuccini Alfredo. I am going to bed somewhat early to try to get some energy for tomorrow.

Day 72- a change in scenery

The trail magic at the Williams was so amazing. This morning they cooked had eggs bacon pancakes fruit coffee and juice for us. Actually eggman cooked the eggs. But What more could a through hiker want? Alas I had to leave around 830 to get back on the trail, hike to belden and then get part of the way up the hot, steep, 16 mile climb out of belden. Everything seemed to work out. We walked through a forest for a while on flat dirt trail! It's nice to see that again. Then we had a short 1500 foot climb to Spanish peak. Along the way I saw 3 ruffed grouse right by the trail and many fawns once again. After a while I soon caught half fast and red blaze who had started 5 miles ahead and I decided to take lunch at that point. A short lunch and I was back on my way to hiker haven in belden. Around 7 miles out you could see the highway many vertical feet below you, all knowing a long series of switchbacks would ensue to get you down there. I just walked for a while and finally made the highway.'from here it was a 1.3 mile walk to the trail angels or you could call and they would get you. Sadly none of us had their numbers. We walked it and I got a nice shower for the second day in a row along with my new camera and new pair of shoes. I was set. So I planned to walk out 6 miles and make it a 31 mile day. Unlike when I was in the snow, I was able to accomplish my goal. Along the way I saw a rattlesnake and 2 more fawns. Must be the northern California dessert area now. I also talked to some flip floppers today who said the snow is really over until at least crater lake and hopefully that snow melts by the time we get there. We have a unique view of the flip floppers (not doing the trail straight through) because we went through the hardest section at the hardest time in the hardest year. Hike your own hike though.

Brutus the dog at the wonderful cabin at honker pass

Day 71- out of the snow

A day with no snow is so nice. By 3 in the afternoon I had 30 miles done. In the snow it would take all day. I began just past the Quincy-Laporte road and worked my way up a large trail. I didn't see anything special in the morning, but when the afternoon came and it began to get hot I saw lots of deer. One fawn was just in front of me and ran down the trail about 100 feet in front of me. It would run ahead and then wait for me to catch up and then run ahead again. Since my camera's zoom got ruined when it got wet, I did not get any pictures. The large hill climbed today was rewarded at the top with a view of a giant valley with no snow. We wound our way around the hill and then I saw an awesome sign saying trail magic was taking place at a couple's cabin. I hooked up with the couple raven and lovebird and we walked to their cabin. At the cabin we found beverages, snacks, laundry, and a shower. When they got back from town they cooked us tri tips for dinner with corn salad and rice pealoff. It was awesome. Tomorrow I will be getting into Beldin and getting a new camera and new shoes.

Day 70-what? More snow

Today was hard. Today was long. And worst of all, today had snow. I began from the top of the highest ridge in the section and descended into the mountain roads of the Sierra buttes. I met a few people on these roads. First off a guy who is newly retired and out enjoying the outdoors. Second was a group from silicon valley doing some hiking. They had an enterprise truck that had all their food for the trip. My skills at getting food out of groups has gotten good so j gave it a try. I first asked for water, they gave it and then when I started telling my story they gave me a sandwich, 2 apples, and a bag of brownies. Yogiing(the bear) at its finest. From here it was lots of up and down with tons of snow until I met serious guy and banana warrior (the southbounders). They are only walking for a month and they started at Dunsmuir, but they had great information: according to them today would be the last day of snow! So I trucked through it, climbing up to mid seven thousands an then dropping back down only to climb again. It was a bit of a struggle. I did get my "your not in the sierras anymore" moment late in the day though. Because I havent carried water for over a month, I wasn't carrying it at the end of the day and when I wanted to start looking for a place to camp by water on the map the next one was 7 miles away, and it was already 715. I picked up the pace but ended up being saved by alder spring. It was 3/10 of a mile off the trail and not on the map. But I saved me 5 miles. Lately I have been dragging and not havin much energy so at the end of my 33 mile day I am eating 2 dinners, as that is what I believe the problem is. I JUST CAN'T EAT ENOUGH!

Day 69- ending of snow?

Last night I camped at 8000 feet and saw a great sunset. Tonight I have witnessed the same. I usually hike until about 8 and then between cooking and setting up camp, by the time I go to bed the sun is setting. But the best thing about today was not the sunset, or my visit to Sierra city. It was the transition from snow... To no snow! Finally! In a normal year I would have been walking on solid trail for over a month. But not in this crazy record year. I descended In many miles from 8000 feet to 4000 feet and highway 49. As I did so I witnessed the snow slowly becoming more and more scarce. Actually as I neared highway 49 it got hotter then I am used to. At the highway I decided to hitchhike the 2 miles into Sierra city, only to find that no one would pick me up. Then finally after over a half hour I got a ride in to town. Sadly it was 3 and since it's a small town none of the restaurants were open except at meal times. Since I was not going to stick around I had to settle for some mediocre, and extremely overpriced hot dogs from the general store. I also got a drink in order to have another waterbottle for the next section and then left town. It was as tough to get a ride out of town as it was into it.'the guy who gave me a ride dropped me off a half mile past the trail so he didn't save me much time. Here I began the steep 8 mile hill. But after the high Sierras and climbing the equivalent of mt hood every day for two weeks, this hill did not stand a chance. At the top I met wet smoke, wiz and one other guy I can't remember. I moved on and camped with an amazing view and made some wonderful new Mexican stew.

Day 68- the best meal on the trail

The stay at my moms cousin Darrens ended as well as it began. I had an awesome time with the whole family an was almost considering staying another day, but I need to keep moving to finish this trail. This morning I got up at the same time I do in the woods, sunrise, and had the rare luxury of coffee. Then Darren made me eggs on toast. It was awesome. I uploaded some photos and soon everyone was up. The kids and Sheryl had to go to football camp so I said bye to them and began getting my stuff ready to go. Once I was all packed Darren asked me if I wanted a chunk of salmon. Of course after growing up on a fish heavy diet, I said yes. So he gave me a five pound chunk of frozen salmon. That may have weighed me down but it was worth it. I walked for a long time with the sound of interstate 80 in my ear, and then the quiet followed along with a trail blanketed in snow. This would continue all day, and I thought I was out of it. Either way, I went by Peter grubs cabin (special hiker something I didn't stop). And then up and down many snowy ridges. Before I knew it, it was 630 and that was the designated time I would cook the salmon. I figured I should cook it before I camped as I'm sure it would attract animals just with the smell. I cut the large piece into chunks and poached them separately. I added some salt when they were done and enjoyed the best meal ever on the trail. I'm sure it's a better meal than most people had at home! After I cleaned up I dropped into a valley only to climb up the other side and ended up camping on a ridge and got to witness a spectacular sunset. There were for sure red orange an yellow in the sunset if not more. Colors are not my forte. I will sleep good after 23 miles with this salmon in me!

Day 67- seeing cousins

Another day of touring Tahoe and skiing the resorts. Today i got three ski resorts to myself. I got to ski/slide down the snow of squaw and sugar bowl ski resorts and then a quick 15 miles and I was into Donner pass and shortly after in Truckee. Here I could stay with some cousins I have not seen in years. We were thinking around 6. I got up around 530 (I'm trying to get back to my schedule from the dessert because it is not so cold in the morning) and I walked a few miles before I realized I had lost my water bottle somewhere in the last 24 hours. It was not terrible, as I would be in a town within a day, but it did limit how much water I could drink throughout the day. I would have to drink out of my bowl. With that small problem aside, I got to got through most of the ski areas around tahoe and then walked a long ridge that had great views all around. As I neared Donner pass there became more and more day hikers. I did not really feel like talking to them so I put in my headphones. I finally got to Donner pass and hitch hiked to the safeway in truckee where I did some shopping and was soon picked up by my cousin Darren. I got to his house and got to see his wife Sheryl and son Quinn for the first time in 6 years. Later his other son Carson got home from football and it was nice to catch up with all of them. They even fed me a great tri tip steak for dinner with potatoes! It's sure better than trail food. To make things even better, Darren gave me a ride to Reno where I exchanged my broken trekking pole for a good one! The night ended with me getting to watch one of the rare giants games I have gotten to see during the year. Hopefully tomorrow I can replace my broken camera.

Lake tahoe

Day 66- tahoe

Much of today was spent walking around lake tahoe. It's amazing there is still snow on the ground here too. According to one ranger, 6 ski resorts were open until the 4th of July. I walked through a few of them. At one, we had many downhill switchbacks so I cut them by sliding down the snow. I was essentially skiing in one of the tahoe ski areas. I wasn't feeling my best all day by still pushed on and got a high 20s day in. Tomorrow it's on to Truckee to stay with some cousins. It's the first time I have stayed with people i know since the beginning. Hopefully I can replace my trekking pole there and get some snacks for the push to Beldin.

Day 65- mom knows best

I'm sure everyone remembers when they were a kid and wanted to just eat junk food all day but your mom wouldn't let you. Well that is exactly what I did today with no mom around. All I had was ice cream for breakfast and then cheetos and Oreos for the rest of the day. It was a terrible idea and I was dragging all day. So tonight for dinner I had some really good new Mexican stew (dehydrated). Even with the terrible food moving through me I got 20 miles in after starting at 1030 from echo lake. Not bad! There were many day hikers out in desolation national forest. The ranger Brent who I talked to said that it is the most used national forest, at least on the pct. He is also the first ranger to check my thru hiking permit. So I showed him and moved on. Even though they said there was not going to be much snow and I went over my last 9000 foot pass (dicks pass) there was still snow all over around 8000 feet. It really drained my energy. Of the hikers I saw today, there was one very nice lady who said she was following all the blogs and was amazed at the few of us that were walking still through this record snow year. It was nice to hear someone talk about how we were inspirational. Hopefully tomorrow I can get close to Truckee, but tonight I am real tired.

Aloha lake in desolation wilderness, mile 1102

Day 64-mikes place and echo lake

I finally made it to echo lake and south lake tahoe through all of this crazy snow. In the last 200 miles I have been frustrated beyond anything I've experienced before but also more excited and had fun. Between walking on vistas above everything and valleys with trees all around and no footprints to be seen, this section had everything. Today was going to be my last day in it if I could walk 26 miles to echo lake post office and get my package. All in all, I made it! Through treacherous snow, the worst so far, for an 8 mile stretch with so much cloud cover i couldn't tell directions without a compass that had no footprints to be seen. The best part of today was when I went through Carson pass and the volunteer, Ginger, at the visitors center had snacks, banana bread, and soda for us thru hikers! I was the first one of the day and the banana bread was a fresh loaf. It was wonderful but i had to finish the 16 more miles into echo lake, so I had to say goodbye and walk through nice meadows and wildflower covered hills until I came to the snowy forest. After that, I decended into the valley where echo lake was and regained service to post all my blogs. I am now staying at the trail angel mikes with 15 other hikers including the phenom 12 year old girl sunshine and her dad balls.

Safe and sound just not any data service to post to blog

Day 63-falling

Today I had a couple interesting falls. It as a whole today was a lot less snowy than the previous days, so when there was snow, I was trying to power through it. All up over bear creek pass was snowy, but the snow really became patchy. It was nice for getting in fast miles. Just before the bear creek pass i met outlaw, bob and 2 other people I didn't catch their names. The falling occurred on one of the steep snow covered decents into a canyon than occurred many times today. Most the time when we get to one of these we just put our feet down and ski down it. This method is only good when its short. This was a long steep one and i just decided to go for it. I got to the bottom and it was mud, when I expected dirt and BAM! faceplant. It was not so bad, at least it was soft. Well I brushed myself off and kept going. I ended up making it about 27 miles today, leaving 26 to get into tahoe. Other events of today are I met an Austrian named garfunkel, I slipped crossing a creek and broke my trekking pole trying to break my fall, and I passed an empty cooler of trail magic. I would say an eventful day. And also no worries I only hurt my pride on both the falls.

Day 62-wow

I don't know why it took so long or why it cost me lots of walking and time but after 2 months I finally have the gps on my phone up and working the right way. It seemed to be just a setting I should have had on from the beginning. Today was a day I could have used it. I left Sonora pass early and the was greeted with the usual heavy dose of snow walking. I walked over some beautiful peaks and meadows covered in snow which makes for slow walking. Then I lost the trail right before boulder lake trail cutoff. I looked for maybe a half hour and then just decided to have lunch. I usually make it my rule to have found the trail in order to have lunch or camp but I had put in a strong 13 miles and was hungry, so I ate. After lunch I was so lucky and ran into the trail right away. I was fine until it passed golden lake and there I lost it again. I went up the hill and back down it 3 times looking and finally found it at the top. During this time the clouds moved in and made the mountains into a hazy shadow. It was pretty amazing and thankfully it didn't rain. I then went over a pass and mistakenly went into the canyon because that is what the map made it look like. So I had to climb straight back up the peak to meet the trail. Somewhere in here I lost the cap to my water bottle literally capping off a pretty terrible day. I did find a beautiful place to camp in a nice meadow! All I can say is I wish I had gps figured out earlier due to the fact it was the worst snow year in over 50 years.

Day 61- two months

I have been out on the trail 2 months. I have walked 1018 miles in 47 days of walking. I have been through 3 packs, 2 tents and 2 sleeping bags but my body is holding up and i am still enjoying it. Today I got up along fall creek which is huge and attempted to follow footprints all the way out of the snow and to Sonora pass 25 miles away. It took 13 hours but i made it in about 830. It was a pretty straightforward day and a special one because it was the longest stretch of walking I had without snow in week: 6 miles. When I got to the end of this stretch i got to the end of the canyon and knew how i had to climb the 1500 feet out. But I was having trouble finding the trail, so I went straight up the mountain. Sure enough the trail was there at the top and who knows how it got there. I raced the darkness across the crest of the mountains and finally came to where we decend to sonora pass. Lukily i could glissade (slide in my but down it and covered the 2 miles in 20 minutes. I set up camp at a snowy campground here and am ready for the 3 day push to echo lake.

Day 60- a lot for nothin

Today was a rough day. The 19 miles I did felt more like 30. I was either walking on a snow covered trail or attempting to locate the trail. I'm sure I walked over 25 total miles today as was the plan. I woke up at benson lake and began my climb towards Pearson pass. There was snow all over as I neared the top. I was just hoping the footprints were right. I made it over the less than spectacular pass with ease and began the decent into Kerrick canyon. It was one of the scariest parts of the trail so far. I had to walk along a 60% grade hill, if I fell I would have ended up in rancheria creek. Which was really moving. I made it along and decided to cross the creek before the trail did and walk the other side until I saw the trail crossing. This was a bad idea and after I crossed I walked for so long i thought I missed the trail. Then the brilliant idea came to try to cross the creek back to the original side and walk along that to find the trail. This did not go well as I forgot to put my camera up high and it may be ruined now from the wetness. I made it fine and the trail ended up crossing only 100 yards further down than I was at. This ordeal took up all morning so I had lunch only 8 miles into the day. Next uncounted out of that canyon into another with some easy log walking to cross the creek. Around wilmer lake I met mowgli and shaker. They had a gps so I stuck with them for a while. Eventually we got to Fall creek. It was enormous and very scary so we walked upstream for a mile or two looking for a place to cross. Since the water does not bother me too much an I do well in crossings, I would always try out a potential crossing place. After maybe 10 different spots that looked just a little too deep or fast we got to one that looked manageable. The only problem was that we could only see the near half of the creek because it was so wide. I tried it our. I got halfway and it was waist deep with a mild current. A little further and it was to my belly button but I only had 20 feet to get to the other side. It got deeper but I went for it. It was almost to my shoulders so I went diagonal downstream with the current and made it across, and i was also soak and wet. I looked back at the other side and they said it was too deep and would move on. I surveyed the damage and all that was wet was a little bit of my sleeping bag. Not too bad! I laid it out, had a snack then pushed on for a couple miles before having my first fire in over a week. It was needed to warm up. Tomorrow hopefully I can get in some bigger miles.

Day 59- picking it up

I decided it was time to pick up my miles. Even with the amazing amount of snow that is still on the trail. I would say in the last week, over 60% of my time is spent on the snow. It really slows me down as well. I got a much later start on the day, not leaving glen aulin until around 8. This is probably due to the overstuffed state I went to bed in and needed the extra break. It was an easy walk for the first 10 miles including an easy ford of return creek. It has gone down a couple feet in just the last week or so rangers said. Then I pushed on and hit tons of snow above matterhorn canyon. So much that I lost the trail and spent an hour finding it. When I did find it I ended up going the wrong way for maybe a quarter of a mile before I saw goodness and Zim walking towards me. After makeshift skiing and sliding down the side of the canyon we somehow got separated. I was unsure if they were in front or behind me so I walked fast for a while then took an extended break to no avail. I kept going on my own. I easily made it over the 10000 foot benson pass, and on the way down I began following some foot prints that lead me to a foursome who figured out they had gone the wrong way. We knew where the trail was, 1000 feet below the granite cliff we were on. Instead of staring as the rest of them were, I just climbed down. It took a while and lots of scheming but I made it safely. At the bottom I saw lafonda and eurotrash whom I had seem in mammoth, and tualumne meadows. They had a gps and from there we found the trail. I soon passed by them and headed for benson lake which required 2 creek crossing. The first was just snow melt and I walked on a log across. The second was piute creek and it was huge. I just walked upstream to before all the tributaries came together and did a combination of wading and log walking to get across the five separate creeks. I set up camp having gone 26 miles with close to half of it in snow. The Mosquitos have slowly gotten terrible and going through a very pretty yosemite meadow I got eaten alive. Tomorrow I should reach mile 1000 if everything goes well!

Day 57-old hiking friends

Tonight for the first time in over 500 miles I am camped with goodness and zim. It was nice to walk the second half of the day with them as well. I was really starting to drag. I just woke up next to Johnston meadow with no energy but still made myself keep going. In a day with many more breaks than usual, I still got in 22 miles which is a decent day in the sierras. The trail began with seeing a dow in the meadow when i woke up and other hikers said the fawn was sleeping right on the trail. I walked by many lakes in my hike today including thousand island lake which was very beautiful. It had many islands as you could guess and was surrounded by snowy peaks. After passing that lake among other smaller ones I began the brutal climb to the last 11000 foot pass I climb, Donahue pass. This is where I met the fellow hikers and together we powered through the multiple miles of snow walking. We made it up over and into yosemite where we are camped a few miles over the pass.

This is my favorite picture I have taken on the trip so far!

Day 58- trail magic reappears

It's been 300 miles since we had on the trail, magic in walker pass and it was so welcome again. It was extremely awesome to have rides in onion valley, but the unplanned trail magic is the best. After camping a couple miles down from Donahue pass, we walked through the patchy snow and thick mud all the way through yosemite valley. It was beautiful. The meadows were green and usually full of snow and for a while it was out of reach of most day and weekend hikers. Sadly though, we entered the national park where it was a zoo. I did get plenty of congratulations and handshakes from people amazed at the pct hike. Finally I got to the store and got my ice cream. We hung out for a while, ditched our bear cans, and sat at the picnic tables and then the magic happen. Shamus and his daughter I believe showed up to perform some trail magic. They had chips pop beer and burgers what more could we want, and the Danes mom came with brownies bagels and cream cheese. It was so awesome! I love the unexpected trail magic. Sadly everyone began to leave even the trail angels and we decided to hike to glen aulin campground for the use of the bear boxes. Along the way it was real flooded over the edges of the bridge and the trail, but not too terrible. Apparently it peaked a couple weeks ago. Tomorrow we will hike 24+ miles to get out of the bear canister zone and be home free for the rest of the trail.

No new posts from Legend - Here's a few photos from his trip thru the Sierras

Day 56-new gear

Thanks to some of the nicest people I know and also the post office for getting most of it here in time, I got some lighter, better, and cooler gear to use for the rest of the trail. Escalator and hot cheese were so nice as to mail out some of their old (but still very good) gear to me while they are off trail. It was like Christmas when I opened those boxes! No more having to use a pack that needs sewing up every evening just to make it for another day. The one downfall was that I had to wait until 130 for the post office to get it all in. Then I had to go through all my old stuff and mail 3 boxes home. Finally around 4 it was off to the mammoth bus. I rode one trolley to the village, another to the main adventure lodge and then a third to reds meadow to get back on the trail. On the last bus I was a celebrity. One family wanted to get pictures with me and the man bought me lunch. People are so great! I was happy to answer any and all questions the back of the bus could throw at me. It was fun to be able to share my experiences and hopefully inspire others to do something they have always wanted to do. When I finally got to reds meadow I talked with some fellow hikers for a while the moved on to the trail. Almost immediately I noticed that there was going to be snow almost this whole section to tuolomie meadows. Its going to be interesting. Due to getting on the trail at 6 and wanting to sort out my gear, I only got in 5 miles today. Conditions holding up, I still hope to make tuolomie tomorrow. By the way I have no idea how to spell tuolomie meadows. Its by yosemite.

Camp spot at 11000 feet!

Day 55- bear 2

I woke up on silver pass to an amazing sunrise. Everything is better at 11000 feet. I ate a cinnamon roll for breakfast and then began my long 21 mile trek into town. The first three miles was down hill skiing down the steep ridge into the valley that I would walk along to reds meadow. After finally reaching the ground we ended up climbing again up to the beautiful purple lake. After leaving the snow surrounding purple lake, the hiking became somewhat monotonous only broken up by patches where it was tough to find the trail in the snow. The whole 21 miles was patchy today. After I was finally getting close to reds meadow, I saw a black bear. It was a small one, could have been a cub, so I didnt want to get too close. I did however snap some solid pictures of it. It was golden brown in color just as the first bear we had seen. The excitement ended after around ten minutes and I gave one last effort to try to make it to the post office before it closed. I didn't make it and it seemed my downfall may have been watching the bear too long. It all worked out because I met a nice man on the bus who seemed very interested in my journey. Once I got to town it was the boring town chores to do such as laundry, shower, shopping, and getting batteries charged at a fast food place. About halfway through the chores dr Chonzy called me and said that he and noodles romanoff wanted to get a room at the motel 6. It was done and it is around my 5th real bed in 2 months.

Day 54-vvr

Today I woke up feeling very sick. That is when I decided i would go to vermillion valley resort(vvr). I was running low on food and a day without food would be the worst thing for me. I walked the mile to the cut off and then avoided paying 10 dollars for the ferry by walking five miles around lake Edison.'when I finally got there i saw lots of people i knew. But first things first i ordered a large breakfast burrito that went down well. A good sign. Then i was on the hunt to try to sew my hip belt back on to make it the 30 miles to mammoth where escalator was sending me a new pack. A kind lady outside said that they had a needle in their car if I could just wait a little while I could have it. Of course I was in. My old needle's eye had broken during the last repair. While we were waiting she kindly gave me some summer sausage, and good cheese. Some of a hikers cravings! She and her two kids and husband had been on a few day trip around bear creak. The car showed up and I got my needle. At this point I decided to have a cheeseburger and say goodbye to vvr. I went on my way, walking again to save 10$. After i rejoined the pct, i had two scary river crossing. Mono creek was waist high with good current, but I managed. Then I walked under a waterfall. Finally I began the climb to silver pass. It was my favorite so far because there was a snow covered meadow with a beautiful river running through it. I camped at the top of silver pass and hope to make it to mammoth tomorrow before the post office closes.

Day 53- bear creak and a wrong turn

Happy fourth of July. It started with a 14 mile walk to the top of selden pass for us. It was a tough climb to the pass, about 3000 feet. Once at the top we heard loud booms. It was a thunderstorm that we were right in the middle of at 11000 feet. To make matters worse it began to rain. We took cover under a small tree on the top of the pass to avoid going over the snow field in the lightning. We ate lunch here as well. As soon as we were thoroughly soaked, we walked the three miles to the treacherous bear creak. According to rumors the hardest/scariest parts of the trail are the 5 main passes and then the crossing of bear creak and evolution creak. We crossed it no problem about 60 yards down stream of the trail. It was moving fast though. At this point it was about 330 and we decided to try to make it to vermilion valley resort (vvr)(13miles). The problem was we accidentally turned off onto the bear creek trail and walked 4 miles down it before we realized to turn around (8miles total were lost) The day ended with dr Chonzy (current hiking partner) pushing ahead to vvr and me camping about a mile before the cut off. Out of frustration for the day I over ate which was a terrible idea.

Day 52- muir pass and evolution

Waking up in sweat was definitely something new. The night was much warmer than usual in big Petes meadow. We had 7 miles to the top of muir pass, which was the last of the five major passes in the sierras. We climbed two miles and then the snow began. People have told me that it is the longest of the passes, but also the easiest. It held true to form. After the five miles past frozen lakes and flowing streams of snow melt we reached the rock hut built on the top of the pass. We were done with the fearful five passes! It was a bitter sweet moment that was once again celebrated with hot chocolate. Shortly after we got up there, Slim (worker from Kennedy meadows showed up). Let's just say his name is ironic. After the long walk down, we passed by ranger Dave who is in charge of the evolution creek area and he told us how to ford the overhyped creek. We ended up just walking right through the slow flowing water that flows through the meadow and it got to my waist. It was not too bad. We then set up camp about a mile away, just past some section hikers. It was still early so I went fishing. I tied some fishing line on my trekking pole and a fly on the line and was off. I found a decent hole and ended up catching a golden trout. It was small so I didn't eat it. I figured my goal was accomplished, and the hunger in my stomach told me to cook. I made angel hair pasta with herb something or other with tuna in it. It was four serving but still could not satisfy the hiker hunger. Thankfully the section hikers came down to talk to us and they brought gorp! It was very good homemade stuff too. From the looks of it, it was two dads and their early teenage daughters just doing a different section around the sierras every year. Once again we had a fire and am hitting the sack about hiker midnight (9).

Day 51- Mather pass and a broken pack

5 miles from the top of the most feared of the passes we began our day. Mather pass was going to be reached today. It was long and hard snow walking for four of the miles and then the last mile was just plain scary. We had to scale a rock ledge, cut steps in an ice wall and eventually pull ourselves over the top of the wall to reach the top. It was definitely the scariest of the 4 passes so far. Tomorrow we will climb the last of the five major passes in muir pass. Rumor is that there is tons of snow on it and that does not sound fun.
When we were glissading (sliding on our butts) down the backside of Mather pass, my already ruged pack broke. The hip belt was then only connected on one side and killed my back during the last 14 miles we hiked today. The only thing that made it better was the amazing valley that we walked through. Grouse meadow was surreal with a Doe grazing not 20 feet from us. There was a slow river running through it and grass all around it. Sadly we did not camp here but moved on to big Pete meadow which was not as nice. But liking on the way we saw some amazing waterfalls, some hundreds of feet tall just from snow melt. When we got to camp I sewed my pack up with a needle and dental floss in a way which I hope lasts until mammoth where I should have a new pack!

Day 50- a bear sighting

Around 7 we left dollar lake. Dr Chonzy and me both had our breakfast of home run pies (49 cents from the grocery store in lone pine) and were ready for our big day. It would involve around 5000 combined feet of climbing over 15 miles. Early in the morning walk we spotted a very large black bear. It was the biggest one I have seen and was not more than 40 feet from dr Chonzy and probably 55 feet from myself. As soon as it saw us it bolted up the hill. It was gold in color and much bigger than the ones I have seen in washington and in the zoos. It made my morning, and I ended up getting a half decent picture. The day continued with the crossing of a very rickety old bridge over the very swift wood creek. At this point the 4.8 mile 3400 foot clim began. On this grueling stretch we saw many John Muir Trail hikers and they all wanted to know about the snow conditions on forester pass. This slowed us down substantially. Around 1 and after scaling a large ice sheet and crossing a four mile snow field we finally reach the top of Pinchot pass at 12000 feet. Here we took a much deserved lunch. About 40 minutes after us the womens group of serenity, 3times the lady, yardsale, and tails with her dog skeeter. We took a long break and decended 4.5 miles to our camp site. The scariest river crossing so far took place in this segment. It was across the south fork of the king river. I was very afraid and at one point thought I was going to fall. But luckily I made it across and survived to cross the fourth of the five major passes tomorrow in Mather pass.