The sunrise was solid, but would have been perfect if I was a couple miles further down the trail…

…because it would have been directly over my first view of Lake Tahoe.

Most of the late morning was spent hiking along this high ridge past the tops of several ski areas (Alpine Meadows, Squaw Valley).

There were many views of Lake Tahoe to the East.

Most of the afternoon was dodging thunderstorms. The umbrella performed admirably. Mostly just my feet and legs were wet from all the wet brush. Lots of Sierra granite can be seen in the background here.

I’m camped just inside the Desolation Wilderness Area, a very popular place for backpacking. I’m looking forward to checking it out tomorrow… hopefully, with clear skies.

My campsite was a great location for watching the sunrise…

…the first couple miles of trail was an encore performance.

I made a brief morning stop at this Sierra Club backcountry cabin. The door on the 2nd story is how they get inside during the winter (snow).

I like the two story outhouse as well 🙂

I want to introduce you to a trail angel extraordinaire, Mrs Focus. Her husband is hiking the trail an I have seen them both on and off since Warner Springs (Mile ~110). Mrs Focus drives an RV and meets her husband every couple days at road crossings. In between she has helped 100’s of hikers whether it’s a ride to town, a slice of watermelon or mending clothes (my shorts). She is also a very accomplished quilter and has been working on an incredible PCT quilt.

I sure hope get to see the finished product. She has made dozens of 10×10 squares celebrating so many of the places and things we’ve seen along the way.

After crossing I-80 and then Donner Pass (yes, THAT Donner Pass) I made a stop at this Sierra Club Lodge where I had sent my bear canister back in June. It is required to have it through Yosemite which I will get to in about a week. Luckily, Mrs Focus agreed to take it with her in the camper to Sonora Pass where I can grab it (140 miles away…no sense lugging that thing further than I need to!) I was also able to get a hot shower and do laundry at the Lodge for a modest donation.

The climb out of Donner Pass in the early evening was gorgeous.

I found a great little campsite at 7:30, about 15 minutes before dark.
And a great sunset to end the day.

This is definitely starting to feel like the homestretch. I have about a week to get to Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite and then another week to finish. For those keeping track at home, my end will be M-788, where I left the Sierras back in June.

The day started with a 1.5 mile road walk back to the trail from town (not much traffic to hitch a ride at 6:15am).

Shortly after getting back on trail a bridge crosses the Yuba River…kind of a cool gorge.

The climbs today weren’t too bad considering the trail went from 4000′ to over 8000′. All in there was over 7000′ of climbing. Not as hot today, especially at the higher elevations.

This a view looking back toward Sierra Buttes which the trail traversed around yesterday.

There are definitely signs of summer’s end…all the ground cover changing colors. And what is that in the upper left corner? A rain cloud? A short afternoon thunderstorm was the first I’ve had in 2300 miles.

This transitional time of year is fantastic as there are still wildflowers hanging in there.

Some giant whales of snow will likely not melt by the time the next snow arrives. Try to imagine what it was like here two months ago in July.

Beautiful cold, clear mountain spring water.

This is home for the night at 8100′ 🙂

I hope these sunrise pics aren’t getting boring for anyone out there.. I’m still loving them !

Lots of lakes in the valleys below… but none on the trail 😦

Still the occasional snow patch.
I almost hitched a ride to town.

The Sierra Buttes… will be hiking over the right shoulder in a couple hours.

Descending into Sierra City…zoom in to see the trail snaking down.

The Sierra City general store was a happening spot… cold drinks (98+ degrees outside) and free wifi.

Definitely time for new shoes…

…luckily they arrived as planned!
Best $7 spent today!

Temps were very mild this morning even at 5000+ feet of elevation. I was hoping that wasn’t a sign of what was to come later in the day!

The smokey haze makes for an eerie sunrise.

Most of the day was either hiking above treeline through dry desert landscapes …

..or densely wooded forests (most of the day) providing much needed shade. It wasn’t quite as hot as the last several days since the trail stayed at higher elevations (5000′-7500′).

This deer walked about 20′ ahead of me down the trail for a couple hundred yards…could have cared less about me.

I called it quits a couple miles earlier than I had planned when I saw this great campsite…there was even a creek nearby, which have been rather scarce the last couple days.

Tomorrow is a shorter day into Sierra City (“city” in the loosest sense of the word). Maybe I can give my feet a good scrubbing, perhaps even a shower! Plus, I have some new shoes waiting for me. My current shoes gave me 650 tough miles and are starting to get more holes than I care to mend…although plenty of other hikers out here would squeeze another 250mi+ out of these.

This was the view I woke up to in my sleeping bag. I might miss this the most in a couple weeks!

An unexpected bathroom was a nice surprise mid-morning.

I think I found some squirrel’s mother lode!
(Most of these are 12-18″ long)

There were a couple views today, but mostly obscured by smoke-haze.

The temps got into the mid-90’s but the trees kept things reasonable most of the day. By mid-afternoon it was just hot everywhere… until an oasis like this!

This was an impressive bridge built just for the PCT over the middle fork of the Feather River.

The crickets are getting loud for the first time. Kind of soothing after a while.
It was a long dusty-dirty day.

I almost saw a bear today, instead I only heard it. Bears have a very distinct sound when they run off through the woods. Kind of like a bull in a China shop breaking every bush and branch in their path. Where as deer tend to glide through the woods when they run, barely touching the ground.

I’m still adjusting to how late the sun comes up down here, and obviously it’s just going to keep getting later as the equinox approaches and I hike south. I’m definitely getting more sleep 🙂

A beautiful sunrise and mild temps for the big descent into Belden, CA.

I dropped about 5000′ over 11 miles.

Belden is on the banks of the Feather River.

The town consists of one commercial building, a hotel/saloon/cafe/store which is a popular stop with hikers since we walk right by it. I hung out for about two hours and the temps were getting hot. The last couple days were 100+ down here.

The climb out of town was a tough one (4000′ in 8mi)… mostly because of the heat. There were a couple things working in my favor though: now that I’m hiking southbound the climbs tend to be north facing like this one which can provide some extra shade. There was decent tree cover on the climb (huge difference) and there was a thick haze easing the sun rays from a fire nearby (but not affecting the PCT). I was also listening to a podcast about the WWI and the horrendous conditions the soldiers had to endure in the trenches…needless to say I wasn’t complaining about my situation. The smoke obscured the views and gave off a perpetual campfire smell.

This is the view from my campsite overlooking Silver Lake. The haze just above the horizon is from the smoke.

A perfect night and location to cowboy camp.  

A respectable sunset even with the haze.

Once again, I saw next to no one on the trail…actually I think it was a zero
which might be a first. I did see a scout group breaking camp to do trail work as well as the hikers hanging out in town, but no one actually hiking!

It was great to be back hiking on the trail again. I’ve had enough public transportation for a while. It was kind of a hot day (90+) but nothing too terrible in the shade of the trees all day. The trail wasn’t anything too exciting. The occasional giant old growth tree, some views of Lassen Peak and the typical Northern California dry climate understory (sage) as well as lots of volcanic rocks.

The official halfway point Monument was rather anticlimactic…but still with a pic.

The last time I saw Lassen back in June there was a lot more snow on it. I even got snowed on while camped there (June 10 ?).

Things can get a little hairy on Butt Mtn. even in late spring. It’s the Butt of a lot of jokes around here.

Another view with Lassen on Horizon.

More Butt jokes.

It was 23 miles today to the next on stream water source. Luckily, there was a spring that was still flowing just 1/4 mile off trail, about halfway through this stretch.

Tonight is the first night I’ve camped alone in quite a while (somewhere in Oregon ?). It’s pretty much dark by 8:00pm and in the morning it’s not light out until about 6:15 (I get to sleep a bit longer 🙂

I had all day Saturday and most of the day Sunday to relax in Vancouver before my flight to Reno Sunday eve, and then the a series of busses to get me back to Chester, CA where I would begin hiking Southbound picking up the 500+ miles I had skipped over due to snow and dangerous water crossings back in June.

I’m sure the neighbors love the sketchy dude setting a tent up in the front yard (to dry it out).

We spent half the day on Sunday cruising all over town on bikes checking out the beach and other fun stops.

Dave dropped me off at the airport around 2:30 for my 4:00 flight. And this is where all the fun begins. When I went to check in and presented my travels docs I was informed that my Passport ID Card (good for travel to/from Canada and Mexico) was only acceptable for travel by land or sea and that I’d need my full passport to travel by air with United Airlines. I showed them a copy of my Passport I had saved on my phone…no good. I informed them I was cleared for expedited immigration processing with Global Entry and was electronically fingerprinted. This perked up the rep a bit… “if you have your global entry card we can use that”. I never travel with the card because it’s not needed…they just scan your hand print. She told me my only option would to be rebooked on a flight out of Seattle…earliest flight she can get me on is in two days (Tues). Surely, there is a better option than this. Since, the USA has you go through customs/immigration before you get on the plane at the Vancouver airport I paid them a quick visit. They had no problem with my docs but I’d need a boarding pass to get through. (I had already tried online check-in) I went back to the counter with the new info I had gotten but the rep told me it was United’s “policy” and “I could lose my job if I give you a boarding pass”. I politely explained that I was willing to take that risk… no go!

I was sure there was a flight earlier than two days from now to get me from Seattle to Reno but decided it would be better to fight that battle from the SeaTtle airport. Now I just needed to get there. Luckily, I had already looked into this briefly when I was figuring out travel options originally and new there were Amtrak, Greyhound, and private bus options. This is how the rest of my travel went:

1. Train from airport to downtown Vancouver (arrive at 4:00, walk 15mins to bus/train station)
2. Amtrak at 5:30 full. Greyhounds next bus is tomorrow, Bolt bus at 5:00 says booked but they might have space, 6:30 bus says same thing. 3. 5:00 bus shows up at 6:00 and only have room to Bellingham…I’ll take it !
4. While on bus look up all the different flight options on United from Seattle to Reno. My other constraint is that the shuttle that gets me from Reno to trail (3.5hr ride) only travels on m/w/f and leaves at 1:30. So I need an early flight! Only one flight from Seattle that would work and looks pretty much booked.
5. Look into one way rental cars. Available from both Bellingham and Seattle to Reno. Only ~$70 with taxes and fees, but 12hr drive. Look into flights from other cities (Portland, Eugene) to Reno. I could drive then fly…def possibilities. 6. I wind up being able to take bus all the way to Seattle (some no shows).
7. I find a Southwest flight leaving Seattle at 5:30am and getting to Reno at 9:30am via SFO. It’s only $150 and I even have points to pay for it 🙂 8. Arrive in Seattle at 9:30pm and walk to SkyTrain to get to airport.
9. Go to United counter and try to rebook flight. The best she can do is get me in at midnight tomorrow…I take the ticket as a backup.
10. Bed down for the night on a comfy couch near the Southwest gate. No issues at security carrying pack with collapsed trekking poles and tent stakes. 11. 5:30 Flight to San Francisco goes smoothly
12. 8:30 flight to Reno leaves 20mins late.
13. Arrive at 9:45. Figure I might as well stop at hotel I didn’t use last night and get a shower, plus I need to pick up my resupply box that was sent there. Take free hotel shuttle. 14. Hotel agrees to let me check-in for a couple hours. They have my box 📦 🙂 15. Shower, relax, then shuttle back to Reno airport at 1:00 16. 1:30 shuttle to Susanville, CA.
17. 3:45-5:00 hotter than blazes and hangout at Walmart while waiting for next shuttle. 18. 5:15 shuttle to Chester, CA
19. 6:30 get dropped off and meet Trail Angel Jeff who will give me a ride the last 6mi to the trailhead.

I’m tired just writing this all down!

Home for the night at the Seattle Airport

All the Burning Man folk were converging on the Reno airport.

2.5 hours in my comfy hotel room.

Last but not least…love the marijuana billboard propaganda in Vancouver.

It was an exciting morning knowing we’d be reaching Canada in just a couple hours. It was also fairly cold…not below freezing, but a damp biting chill.

He we are packing up from our last campsite.

This is our first sighting of the Border… It’s the swath cut through the trees.

…and here I am at the actual Border Monument.
(swath cut seen under Canadian flag)

Me and Darth Vada.
Here’s another dude, sporting the Stars and Stripes. The stretchy tights were cached in the metal obelisk (on the right) for anyone’s use.
It was about 9 more miles to civilization in Manning Park. The last several miles were on a dirt road.

Here’s a selfie with DV photo-bombing…kind of looks like I have a some weird horns on my hat.

We hung out at the Manning Park lodge for a while (wifi and drinks). I also made a sign to help my 200km hitch to Vancouver. I got a ride pretty quick to a town called Chilliwack an hour West… where I caught a Greyhound an hour later the rest of the way to Vancouver.

The AC on the bus crapped out, but the skylight was open and the wifi was working so all was good.

Some old friends from Denver, who live in Vancouver picked me up and I stayed with them (thanks Dave and Christine)…
…after stopping for some delicious Ice Cream.