The Chester Pit Stop

Day 78-June 30th
Destination: MM 1327ish
Miles: 16.5
Cumulative Miles: 1035

It was not a very eventful day. We woke up and hiked down to the highway to Chester. Along the way, we passed through the Dutch Line Ditch, which was not anything spectacular, but we did notice that the trail was manicured differently than usual. Apparently, we were walking along the old remains of a hydraulic mining operation, which was shut down in the 1880's when California outlawed hydraulic mining.

A few miles later we arrived at Highway 36, where a water cache awaited our arrival, with phone numbers to call for rides in to Chester. Old Scout called and set up a ride with "Piper's Mom", an avid PCT enthusiast since her daughter hiked the trail two years ago. Thirty minutes later, we had a ride in to Chester where we picked up resupply packages. One friend sent an mp3 player loaded with books, while another sent a solar charger, to keep it charged. (Thank you Cody and DK).

After the post office, we ate a hearty lunch, and grabbed a few groceries before heading back to the trail. Coincidentally, the driver who picked the three of us up was "Piper's Mom's Husband". He drove Old Scout, Apricots, and Psycho back to the trail. At the trail head we bumped into "Compass" a fellow flip flop southbounder, and "Adelveiss" (sp?) a northbound jumper who did three weeks in the Sierras before jumping up to Belden. She told us of trail conditions ahead, and then we parted ways.

Seven miles later and 1500 feet (or so), we pulled in to a reasonably flat site to camp at. The four of us enjoyed dinner together, while Apricots and Psycho enjoyed a bottle of wine for the 1000 mile celebration.

Tomorrow...a forecast of snow and blowdowns..... It never ends.


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Bubbly Mud

Day 77-June 29th
Destination: Feather River
Miles: 16.5
Cumulative Miles: 1018.5

Rising and moving fast, we were met with the expected snow. Our progress was slowed, but the trail was easily followed, as the snow was only patchy. We made our descent down to the Kings Creek crossing, which we had heard to be difficult. We sized up the creek, and found it to be fordable. Psycho crossed first and put his pack down on the other side, braving the cold water to offer a helping hand to Apricots.

As the water turned out to be nearly waist deep, as opposed to what we expected to be shin deep, Apricots had become a little anxious when she stepped into the deeper faster portion of the crossing. As Psycho stepped back into the stream to help out, he nearly lost his footing, but Apricots was able to keep him from falling in. Once his footing was regained, he helped Apricots finish the crossing.

On the other side we thawed out our frozen legs and toes, and made the final two mile walk to Drakesbad Guest Ranch, a place purported to be very hiker friendly. It was. Upon arriving, employees dropped whatever it was they were doing to help us out. The proprietor greeted us with a hug, and offered us showers, and laundry service if we needed it. All this kindness, and we were not even paying guests.

We ate a large buffet style lunch after taking a shower down by the hot spring fed pool. Psycho ate a salad, two servings of fruit salad, two enormous sandwiches, and five cookies. This may seem like a lot of food (and it is), but this type of gorging is typical in trail stops. Despite the quantity of food consumed on a regular basis, Psycho still has lost 20lbs so far, and Apricots has lost 10lbs (much to Apricots' chagrin, "Men Suck.")

After leaving Drakesbad, we were treated to one of Mother Nature's festering wounds. A milky blue sulfuric lake with bubbling gurgling mud and water gave us a more complete experience of the volcanic nature of Mt. Lassen National Park. As we walked by, we could here the earth churning just a little bit away from the trail.

Eight miles later, we arrived at Feather River, where we enjoyed our dinner with "Old Scout", before the mosquitoes overwhelmed us, and forced an early retreat into our tent. Tomorrow, we will roll in to Chester for a quick resupply, and then start our next leg to Belden, another short leg with stretches of difficult snow.

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1000 Miles Baby!

Day 76-June 28th
Destination: Swan Lake
Miles: 17
Cumulative Miles: 1002 Miles

After the Heitman's spoiled a small collective of hikers to cheeseburgers last night, they continued their gracious offerings by making biscuits and gravy for breakfast. It's amazing the energy the 72 year old lady has for hikers. Her and her husband are Grade-A trail angels.

After breakfast they returned us to the trail for our continued trek. They even sent us off with left over biscuits which were enjoyed later in our day. We began our hike with a gradual easy climb skirting Hat Creek, which is swollen above high levels due to the snow melt off Mount Lassen. Georgi "Firefly" Heitman said she has never seen the creek running so high.

The heat was not too bad, but we were thankful for it. The heat wave passing through this area is doing a great job at melting the abnormal snow quantities. The most recent report said that we would be snow navigating the last three miles of our day, and while there was snow, the trail was easy to find. Overall, today's hike was the easiest we have had in a month.

We hiked with "Old Scout," a middle aged man (and scoutmaster), and "Wyoming," a quiet lady our age. Both made similar jumps as us, and are the only other thru-hikers we have met thus far (outside of "Colter"). Taking lunch with them, and generally hiking the latter part of the day in their company brought back a bit of the trail culture we have been missing since the jump.

Tonight we are camping with them at Swan Lake, just past the 1000 mile mark for us. The frogs and birds at the lake are engaged in a rather heated debate about who's the appropriate resident of Swan Lake. It should be a fantastic night of "soundfull" sleep.

--side note--

Today we walked past a series of 15 foot wide clear cut strips of land...stretching straight as far as the eye could see, all spaced evenly apart... One every hundred feet or so... About 10 of them, all total. Kinda curious what they were.

Any ideas?


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Northern California Photo's - Batch 1

Hiking the PCT in 2010, we jumped from Independence up to Ashland, Oregon to allow more time for the snow to melt in the Sierras. Confronted with more snow we skipped a portion of the PCT in the Trinity Alps and Marble Mountains.

This is a collection of photo's covering Ashland - Seiad Valley, and Castle Crags to Old Station.

Kennedy Meadows - Independence Photos

This is a batch of photos taken on our Pacific Crest Trail 2010 Thru-Hike. The photos cover the miles from Kennedy Meadows to Independence (Via Kearsarge Pass). Due to heavy snow conditions, we have opted to jump from Independence up to the Oregon-California border to hike south, allowing for more snow melt time.

Hiker Hideaway

Day 75-June 27th
Destination: Old Station
Miles: 15
Cumulative Miles: 984 Miles

We woke this morning before the sun rose, and were treated to a beautiful display of the full moon descending over the mountains to our west. The sun had not yet risen, and it cast a beautiful orange pink glow on the horizon as we began our 15 mile descent down to Old Station. Breaking camp, we were moving before 6am to beat the heat of this dry stretch. It is a strange sensation bouncing between snowy cold mountains abundant with water, and hot dry stretches where you hope that someone has provided a water cache to lighten your water load.

Our descent took us along the Hat Creek Rim which continued to offer us excellent views to the west of Mt. Shasta, Sugarloaf Mountain, and Mt. Lassen (which we will be passing by in a few days time). The walk traversed terrain which was relatively flat, aside from the cliffside we flanked, but the tread was overrun with rocks providing great variations for our feet. Every step required thoughtful placement, lest we roll an ankle. This mental fatigue was annoying, but a welcome respite from the snow and fallen trees we have become accustomed to experiencing.

Before long, the trail entered into a burn zone. The blackened trees stood out in contrast to the snow covered Mt. Lassen to the south. The black-brown ashen soil was a welcome tread after the rocky terrain we had just come through. By 10am, we had covered 11 miles, and only had four more to go before we arrived in Old Station. Once we arrived at Old Station, we went to a store to grab some ice cream and treats, as the day was already very warm. We sat outside the small store enjoying our cool treats while talking to a small collective of Bikers who had traveled from Idaho down to Old Station on their way to Reno, for a 10 day Bike tour. It wasn't long after we told them that the temperature was supposed to climb to 100 degrees before the turned on the motors and moved along.

We finished our drinks and headed to Hiker Hideaway. The Heitman's, Old Station locals, have opened up their home to take in hikers and treat them with the gracious kindness of a well-practiced Trail Angel. Out back they have several tents, a tree house, a couple hammocks, and a refreshing creek to soak in (should you wish to brave the 40 degree water). Tonight we will barbecue some hamburgers and continue our "in town consumption" trend. We plan on rolling out early morning tomorrow, but the Heitman's hospitality might force us to linger longer.

Hat Creek Rim... Where's the creek?

Day 74-June 26th
Destination: MM 1392ish
Miles: 22.5
Cumulative Miles: 969 Miles

Hiker Tip:
When camping in an area infested with ants, do not leave your pack outside the tent over night. We woke this morning to Psycho's pack so covered in ants, we were surprised the collective of ants did not carry the pack off into the forest. Psycho spent the better part of twenty minutes beating ants of all kinds and sizes off of all the nooks and crannies with his socks. Even later in the day, he kept finding more ants crawling all over it.

We started our hike this morning with a short three mile walk to the Crystal Lake Fish Hatchery. Along the walk, we passed a deer who seemed lost. She kept walking back and forth, with little concern over our presence. Briefly, we felt that the deer was more interested in following us, rather than doing whatever it was doing.

At the hatchery, we loaded up on water for a 30 mile stretch of no water. Not wanting to put on our extraordinarily heavy packs, we lingered for 90 minutes before facing the reality of the trail ahead. As we made a small climb away from the hatchery, we approached Lassen National Park. The landscape was overrun with lava long ago, and so the vegetation was interrupted by sink holes of porous brown-black lava rock.

Roughly ten miles into our day, we ran into some northbound section hikers. They told us of a water cache which was well stocked, and only eight miles away. We immediately sat down and drank copious amounts of water to lighten our load. We even offered some to the local vegetation. After the short re hydration break, we climbed up onto the Hat Creek Rim. With the valley floor below us several hundred feet, we walked along a cliff side of lava rock with stunning views of the mountains around us.

At 5pm, we arrived at the water cache, located just off Road 22. The cache supplier has creatively named the cache, "Cache 22". Lawn chairs, plastic flowers, and pseudo garlands awaited us under a built up canopy of sticks, twigs, and branches.

We pulled into camp a few hours later, where we watched the sun set over the hills and mountains. Tomorrow, we will rise early, to beat the expected 100 degree temperature. Ideally, it'll be a quick 15 miles down to Old Station.

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Back in it

Day 73-June 25th
Destination: MM 1414ish
Miles: 9
Cumulative Miles: 946.5

After a good restorative half day in Burney yesterday (all you can eat BBQ ribs, yumm) and a late start today, we returned to the trail. To avoid the heat, we lingered at the state park until after 5pm to start our hiking day. First we wandered over to admire Burney Falls, and then we hit the trail; flat, downed tree free, and not a lick of snow.

Following the creek which feeds the falls, we crossed upstream over a bridge and began this leg of the journey. At first the trail went along the edge of Lake Britton, where the hillside dropped dramatically to our left. Moments later the trail passed a wall of volcanic rock, where the hill climbed dramatically to our left, all while the trail remained flat.

As if the red volcanic rock were not red enough, as the sun set, it cast brilliant golden flames across the landscape. A vast heatless energy tangling itself with the elongated shadows. Our shadows stretched several yards from our feet, reminding us that the end of each day we have grown stronger and closer to nature.

We wandered past several varieties of flowers, one of which was particularly soft. Its gentle purple-pink hue looked like a tiny cloud stuck to the end of a skyward reaching stem. Other white and purple flowers showed signs of regeneration after the Hat Creek fire which passed through this area recently.

When we pulled into camp, the sky was so rich with color, it seemed unreal. It was as if someone had stretched a canvas across the sky and painted the sort of prismacolor sunset you see in idyllic paintings. As the clouds faded into the night, the near full moon rose, casting a new illuminating light upon our canopy of endless sky.

Tomorrow should prove to be an interesting day. We have full packs, and a thirty mile stretch without water. One day at a time... That's the best way.
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Getting out of the Mess

Day 72-June 24th
Destination: Burney Falls State Park
Miles: 14
Cumulative Miles: 937.5

It's sad to say, but Section "O" of the PCT will probably go down as one of our least favorite. It is not that it was not a pretty section, because it was fairly beautiful. It is the fact that we hit it at the wrong time. Snow, bugs, downed trees, and copious amounts of overgrowth lent the trail to trying miles.

We met some people from the forest service who were cutting downed trees. They said that the two of them can usually clear the trees over Girard Ridge in two days time. This year, it has taken six people more than five days to clear half the downed trees. As our arrival in this leg was prior to their completed work, we had to scramble over, under, and around several hundred trees.

Added to the trees, was the heavy snow fall this season. We had several miles of navigation and snow walking, complete with the first serious mosquito hatch of the season. A slow moving hiker is an easy target for blood sucking fiends. As such, our tired legs and feet are riddled with red welts from voraciously hungry bugs. We know the snow we dealt with is nothing compared to our friends in the Sierras, but is tiring to say the least.

Recent emails from fellow hikers have enlightened us to the woes of the Sierras. Calorie (the 16 year old hiker) fell while glissading and had to be helicoptered off the mountain. Another hiker, 10 Spot, fell in Tyndall Creek and lost his backpack, forcing a 30 mile walk over two Sierra Passes relatively free of gear. Uncle Tom and General Lee climbed up a treacherous pass, only to find that they summited at the wrong point.

Read about Uncle Tom's (and our old crew MeGaTex's) harrowing adventures on trailjournals.com (search Uncle Tom).

As a result of the brutality of this leg, Apricots and Psycho beat feet down trail this morning to Burney Falls State Park. It was one of those days where the scenery was nice, but we were too dedicated to moving to slow down and take pictures. As we descended out of the bugs and pine trees, we were dropped into a valley overrun with oak trees.

Four hours into the hike, we walked across the dam which backs up water to fill Lake Britton. A construction crew was doing repairs to the dam, probably routine, but perhaps a result of the excessive precipitation the area received this winter and spring. The crew offered us ice cold water, which we gladly took to help fight off the heat.

A couple miles later, we were relaxing at the state park, eating ice cream and drinking a beer. Oddly enough, the restorative nature of a town stop actually motivated Psycho to want to hike a little more this evening, and start the next leg of our journey. We, however, need to head into the town of Burney to handle some loose ends resulting in our flip-flopping of the trail.

While resting, Colter (another thru-hiker) walked up. We shared our stories of peril and triumph, and our distaste for bugs and fallen trees, before heading to the road to catch a ride to Burney. A car pulling out of the park offered us a ride to town.

While Apricots cleans her shoes in the bathroom, visions of all you can eat BBQ ribs dance through Psycho's head. Shortly we will go satiate our hungry bellies.
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So Many Bugs

Day 71-June 23rd
Destination: Peavine Creek
Miles: 20
Cumulative Miles: 923.5

Last night as we were falling asleep, we heard something nibbling on our gear. Psycho looked outside and saw a small bunny hopping around outside the tent. Knowing all our food and gear was safe, we went to sleep. It WAS a bunny after all.

We woke this morning, and the bunny was still hanging out. Not shy at all, he hopped up to our backpacks and tried chewing on them, while we were six inches away. It was nice to have the cute company this morning, as the rest of the day was pretty much dominated by bugs; very few of which were the beautiful butterflies we have seen so frequently lately, chasing one another effortlessly over the hill that we struggled to get up and down.

We chose to follow a road today, rather than the trail, for a few miles. It was going to be the same distance, but the road stuck mostly to the south side of the ridge, thus resulting in less snow. It didn't really work out that way, as the entire top of the hill was covered in snow. Navigating our way across the snow covered land, we worked our way up and down the ridge.

At times, we had to pull out our ice axes and use them to cut steps up the frozen over snow. Psycho moved up the hill quickly, as his boots grab the snow better. Atop the ridge, he grew crazy as bugs swarmed him while Apricots put more effort into cutting sensible stairs up the steep hillside.

Constantly wandering between the trail and a road, we made slow progress. The road should not even be considered a road, as it is wide enough for a motorcycle, and overgrown so much, that at times we had trouble seeing one another, let alone the tread.

In the first three hours of the day, we covered only three miles and swatted three million bugs. Fortunately, the entire day was not slow going. Once we were past the snow, we were only slowed by the occasional blow down and frequent over growth. The incessant humming of bugs in our ears kept us moving.

Early evening, as we walked through a clear cut (perhaps the only clear cut we'll be thankful for), Psycho spotted a bear. This time he was able to take a few pictures as it milled about oblivious to our presence. After we had taken the pictures, we made a noise to let the bear know we were around. He stared directly at us, and we both thought for a moment "uh oh, this one's not skittish." We made more noise, and he stared at us. Fortunately, as soon as Apricots started walking forward, the bear shot off down the hill, fast and far.

We pulled in to camp around eight, beat and ready to eat. Just before setting up the tent, Psycho saw another bear looking down the road at him. As soon as Psycho moved to get a picture, the bear disappeared. We set up the tent, and prepared a dinner, where we dined while mosquitoes dined on our exposed skin. Barely able to enjoy a dessert, we quickly brushed our teeth and dove into the bug free comfort of our tent.

Tomorrow we head to Burney Falls State Park, 14 miles downhill from here. Ideally, no snow and no bugs.
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Trees, Bugs, Cuts, Splinters, a Snake, and a Bear

Day 70-June 22nd
Destination: MM 1458ish
Miles: 19
Cumulative Miles: 903.5

What a hard day.

There are a few hard things about hiking in a forest. First of all, all the trees block the view. Seldom does a hiker get to look back and marvel at the distance they have covered. Yet today, a few times early on, we had great glimpses of endless tree covered hills, and later in the day, we had climbed to an elevation and location relatively free of trees, thus resulting in a very scenic panoramic of the mountains to the south and at times Mt. Shasta to the north.

The next hard thing about walking through a forest is the potential for blown down trees. And while the trail crews have been out working to fix that in this section, there still have been hundreds of blow downs, slowing our progress. It's not just the fact that we are slowed down, it's that dealing with the trees is very tiring. When we hike, we get in a rhythm, and if something interrupts the rhythm, our bodies get tired.

That was the case today when Apricots was stepping around a downed tree and miscalculated, thus scraping her knee causing blood to flow. Also climbing over trees can cause splinters. Psycho got a splinter in his finger that made it painful to use the trekking pole, so we had to stop to pull it out, just 15 minutes after cleaning the cut on Apricots. All while dealing with both of these incidences, we were swarmed by countless varieties of loud biting insects.

Speaking of insects, this morning we started our hike by climbing up Centipede Gulch. Moments after we both simultaneously said "Centipede Gulch," we passed two centipedes on the trail; one dining on the other. Later in the day, we passed a large gopher snake on the trail.

Just prior to reaching our camp, five miles shy of our goal, we entered a wasteland of trees. The wooden graveyard was littered with endless piles of sticks, twigs, branches, limbs, and bodies of those who starved after not packing enough food to make it through these blowdowns. While sitting among the hundreds of topless trees, Apricots noticed a bear fifty yards away. Before Psycho had a chance to snap a picture, Apricots made a noise in an attempt to scare the bear. He quickly fleed the scene.

We hiked the final two miles to camp and had dinner as the blue grey sky turned pink and purple. We have now passed the 900 mile mark, and are 1/3 of the way done with the trail.

On a side note:

Section O is ridiculously overgrown in places, often lending itself to bush whacking through shoulder high and higher vegetation. It is also a sunglasses vortex, as we passed a pair on the first day and the second day, and lost a pair on the third day.
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The Nekkid Landlubbers

Day 69-June 21st
Destination: McCloud River (MM 1476.5)
Miles: 20.5
Cumulative Miles: 884.5

(In honor of "Talk Like a Pirate Day" and "International Hike Naked Day" we present you nekkid(ish) pics of our intrepid explorers)

Arr, thar be trees in the way mates. Our two intrepid landlubbin explorers woke this morning to continue their walk through the forest. Like yesterday, the ship drifted slowly due to all the flotsam and jetsam debris littering the trail.

We had lunch among the butterflies, eating our couscous and drinking our electrolytes to ward off the scurvy. The stream flowed idly by, reminding us of our sea days. Crossing a bridge, reminded us o the day we almost walked de plank.

We came across two other sea dogs who were running the trail wherever there was no snow. Their landlubbin route was more convoluted than a recipe of bootleg rum, and involved more hops than a good IPA.

Finally arriving at camp on the aqua silty McCloud river, our two wary travelers were exhausted and barely managed to eat grub before bunking.