It rained and snowed pretty hard last night.
Luckily, the worst of it cleared out by the time we got up.

Shortly after leaving camp we gained some elevation and were hiking through a lot of snow from this past year’s big winter.

We actually had a lot of water crossings but they were all much tamer than the Sierra. We worked pretty hard to find logs since air temps were only in thirties (not good for warming up after wet crossings.

After 6+ hours of stream crossings, snow travel and navigating we had only covered 7.5 miles. Our goal of 24 miles looked to be out of the question and we’d have to push hard just to get in the additional 9 miles to exit the park.

We didn’t stop much today…we would get too cold. All of the sudden we were surprised to see ourselves out of the snow and finally took a lunch break. We had made a very gradual descent which was just enough to get us below snow line.

The rest of the afternoon was a mixture of drizzle, snow, gropple, and occasional sun. The best part was the exposed trail with no snow or navigation required. We were able to cover the last 13 miles in just over 4 hours as make it the full 24!

Our celebration for a long day were some drinks and snacks at an rv park near the trail.

We then utilized the tiny lobby of the closed post office to warm up and dry off (and eat dinner). (You are literally looking at 3/4 of the PO in this pic.)

It rained and snowed pretty hard last night.
Luckily, the worst of it cleared out by the time we got up.

Shortly after leaving camp we gained some elevation and were hiking through a lot of snow from this past year’s big winter.

We actually had a lot of water crossings but they were all much tamer than the Sierra. We worked pretty hard to find logs since air temps were only in thirties (not good for warming up after wet crossings.

After 6+ hours of stream crossings, snow travel and navigating we had only covered 7.5 miles. Our goal of 24 miles looked to be out of the question and we’d have to push hard just to get in the additional 9 miles to exit the park.

We didn’t stop much today…we would get too cold. All of the sudden we were surprised to see ourselves out of the snow and finally took a lunch break. We had made a very gradual descent which was just enough to get us below snow line.

The rest of the afternoon was a mixture of drizzle, snow, gropple, and occasional sun. The best part was the exposed trail with no snow or navigation required. We were able to cover the last 13 miles in just over 4 hours as make it the full 24!

Our celebration for a long day were some drinks and snacks at an rv park near the trail.

We then utilized the tiny lobby of the closed post office to warm up and dry off (and eat dinner). (You are literally looking at 3/4 of the PO in this pic.)

It was about an 8mi hitch from Chester to the trailhead…a lonely road at 6am on a Saturday. Luckily Gandhi rolled up in his sweet VW bus.

The four of us were riding in style (me, Loco, Bronco and Salty).

Gearing up at the trailhead. A beautiful Northern CA forest with giant trees.

They even have bridges over their creeks!

A great lunch spot on a cooler day with just enough sun to stay warm.

As we entered Lassen Volcanic Park we checked out a smokin’ hot fumarole!

Approaching Drakesbad Ranch in Lassen NP.

Loco and Bronco showing off their stuff.

There were about a half a dozen of us at the Warner Valley campground under the big trees.

Today was a pretty relaxing 20 miles. By the time we started hiking it was 6:45. We took a couple relaxing breaks in the sun and still made it to our destination near the Drakesbad Guest Ranch by 3:00. We would have normally kept going but Lassen NP has a rule requiring backpackers who stay overnight use Bear canisters (which we had already sent ahead). So most PCT hikers get in and out of Lassen in one day (16mi). So we are camped the last place before the boundary.

It’s raining a bit right now while inside my tent. Tomorrow it’s supposed to snow and there is quite a bit still on the ground at elevations over 6500′ which we’ll hit tomorrow. At least there aren’t dangerous stream crossings to contend with 🙂