Remembering an Important Check-In (2653.6 mi +7.6 -136.1)

The northern terminus! I finished!

As always, the complete Tracker and Photos are available for your perusal.

The final days made for some interesting hiking. In Stehekin I learned that the weather was gonna be pretty bad around the finish, and that my Uncle Rich Roehner wasn't going to be able to hike with me. In his words, "You gotta want it to hike in that weather. You clearly want it enough, but I don't." (Also, "light and fast means cold and dead", but I did my best to ignore that one.)

Tuesday night I camped near a shelter with about 10 other thru-hikers. Then Wednesday was a 4000' net elevation gain day. Above 5000' of total climbing. In the cold afternoon I got trail magic from Germinator ('17). He was wearing a Critical Role shirt, so we chatted D&D a bit before I got too cold to hang out and went on to make camp. Wednesday night was the coldest night on trail.

On Thursday I wanted to lay up just short of Hart's Pass, so that I could have an easy day into Hart's before meeting up with Robbie. Everyone was talking about waiting out the weekend storm, but I didn't have that luxury, since the plane tickets were already booked. (The weekend weather was 25-40 degrees and precipitating. The ranger in Stehekin accurately called it "hypothermia weather".)

The storm started on Friday, so I changed plans. Instead of waiting at Hart's Pass all day in a cold rain, I got a ride into Mazama with all of the people waiting out the storm. I called a few people for the last conversation before my finish. And talked with a bunch of hikers. ("Oh, you came down before finishing, too? The weather should clear up on Monday." "I'm actually gonna be hiking at 7 am tomorrow with my brother." "...")

I stayed Friday night in a teepee at Ravensong's Roost. (Ravensong is the first documented woman to thru-hike, and she was awesome.) Then on Saturday (before the sun was fully up) Robbie picked me up for the final stretch. We met some thru-hikers who were wet and miserable and hoping for a ride, and they christened Robbie "Rainy Days", because the end of the AT had similar weather when he met me. I'm not sure if he'll stick with it.

We started in a foggy mist on Saturday, with Robbie unsure how much he wanted to hike. We did 24 miles, which was much more than I expected, but it made sense to him. The weather went from foggy mist to just fog and back. We crossed a number of great viewpoints with 100' of visibility.

Sunday was the day I actually finished. We woke up in an inch of snow, and Robbie decided to not actually tag the end with me, to nurse his various wounds. (Basically a few blisters and overall lack-of-sleep.) I did the 6 mile out-and-back as a slackpack, and boy was it hypothermia weather. Nice heavy snow pulled down the plants into the trail, so walking forward meant dumping slush onto your legs and feet. My toesies were frigid until I got halfway down the border, below the snow line.

The border itself was amazing! I ran about half of the last 3 miles to get there. A bit to stay warm, but mostly out of anticipation. I spent half an hour drinking a beer, signing the log, thinking about walking into Canada, and reveling in the accomplishment. And remembering to check into my Spot tracker, unlike the Southern Terminus.

It's still surreal. I almost can't believe I made it. I'm so thankful to all of the people who helped along the way.

Eventually I remembered that Robbie was sitting in our tent waiting for me, and turned around for the 2000' climb back to camp. (By this point, pretty routine. I was happy to be going uphill so I could stay warm.) We went another 11 miles after eating lunch in the tent and breaking it down. We didn't go farther so we could camp at lower elevation, and not get snowed on again. It worked, and we got overnight rain instead of snow.

Monday was a nice easy 13 back to the car. Well, easy for me. Robbie was having a bit of trouble with his knees on the downhills. It was also intermittently raining and snowing and sunny. Fist-bumping all of the hikers on the way out felt so much cooler than doing it on the way in. I met Littlefoot (the 6 year old hiking the PCT this year) when I was less than a mile from Hart's Pass again.

Some final thoughts, and pre-emptive answers to what will be FAQs:

10/10 would recommend. Going on long hikes is wonderful.

I had to slow down a fair bit to almost perfectly hit my schedule. I believe I could have made it in time even without the 136.1 miles I needed to skip. I do intend to hike those miles when the trail reopens at some point in the next few years.

You can't really compare the AT to the PCT. The best thing I've heard is that the PCT is like a highway: fast, smooth, but only goes through cool areas, instead of hitting the points of interest. (The AT is like a local road, winding toward everything cool.) That said, do side trips from the PCT. At a bare minimum: San Jacinto, Mt. Whitney, Burney Falls.

I'm considering the CDT, but definitely not in the next 5 years, and probably not in the next 10. Maybe it'll be a retirement thing. It would be sweet to get that Triple Crown, though. I'm looking forward to a lot of hikes in the weekend-long to month-long range in the coming years. (I've started to think about the Long Trail more seriously...)

- Happy Meal, 1140

Final Resupply in Stehekin (2570.0 mi +50.0 -136.1)

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Just imagine the scenery, since the mornings have been too foggy to see anything.

Leaving Leavenworth was, uh, slow. I got on trail at 6 pm after a few beers and a late lunch, and managed a solid 2 miles before finding a nice campsite.

Friday was a foggy morning and a wet afternoon. But I went over Grizzly Peak! An actual mountain peak, not a pass between peaks. It was nothing special (especially with the fog), but the PCT doesn't go over the top of many mountains, so it was cool nonetheless. After hiking all day I ended up at Lake Sally Ann, with dozens of other hikers. It was wet and I had condensation inside my tent.

Leaving camp on Saturday was predictably cold. And the foggy weather stayed around all day. Though most of the wet was from the plants I was hiking through, not from the sky. There were patches of sun throughout the day that were very warm and enjoyable. Camping happened at Fire Creek, which also had a ton of hikers. I had to camp on some wet grass, since all of the good sites were taken well before I arrived.

On Sunday afternoon there was finally some good weather. For lunch a big group (I am so sick of big groups of PCTers at this point) found a spot exactly where I planned to eat lunch. It was cloudy but windy, so things did dry out. Later in the day the sun made an appearance. I camped at Miners Creek next to a raging river. There were a bunch of other people there, but I found a spot around the corner and out of the way.

Monday was actually nice. My tent was dry when I woke up, both inside and outside. I started with a big long climb during a cool morning, and then a big long descent on a warm afternoon. I was pretty much solo all day, other than some people on the other side of the river from where I ate lunch. I made camp an hour outside of Stehekin, for a nice easy Tuesday morning.

Now I'm excited to get into town, since I haven't had any service since leaving Leavenworth, which has significantly negatively impacted my ability to plan the end of my trip.

I'm not at all ready for the end, both in the sense of "I have not coordinated with the people I intend to end with", and in the sense of "I am not ready to return to civilization". One would hope that big groups of people would get easier and not harder to deal with less than a week out from the finish. My reintroduction to society is going to be, uh, interesting.

Happy Meal, 1140

Leavenworth (2465.2 mi +50.2 -136.1)

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I spent a few days in Seattle being a tourist and seeing friends. Good times. I returned to Snoqualmie and restarted my hike by getting water. And leaving my dirty (as in unfiltered) water bag behind. Again. (Actually the 4th time at this point.) Thankfully I was in no rush, and realized it after just under an hour. So my first day out of Snoqualmie was 9 miles of hiking, but only 4 miles that counted.

Then Monday was interesting mostly because I took a wrong turn. I ended up skipping about a half mile of the PCT by accident. I'm not too bummed about it, because the path I took seemed to be harder than the actual PCT, particularly the ford of Lemah Creek. I almost managed to get across on the rock hop, but there was a tree stump that was floating as part of the hop. I decided to just walk along a submerged log instead of jumping onto a floating stump and maybe losing my balance.

Tuesday had another ford that I made it most of the way across before getting wet. This time I intentionally put my foot down on a shallow white-water bottom. It was only a single wet step to get across the creek, so naturally it was actually a pool more than 2 feet deep and I almost ate it. Got my left leg wet past the knee, but the bottom was stable. (It was in a location where even falling in would have been safe, because the part that continued downstream was only a few inches deep.) Honestly I was pretty pleased by getting my legs wet, because it's been hot and humid out. (Hot for WA and humid for the West, not actually that hot or that humid. Enough to complain about when going uphill, but lunch in direct sun is still pleasant.)

On Wednesday I got into Stevens Pass, and from there into Leavenworth, where I stayed the night. Smoke rolled in overnight, which was annoying to smell during the day. The climbs were pretty short but steep, so I was nice and sweaty after doing 17 miles by 3 pm. The town has a distinctive German/Swiss/Scandinavian architectural theme, and is surreal to walk through.

Today I'm planning to get back on trail, with only one more resupply at Stehekin before the end. I'm definitely not ready to go back to normal life yet.

- Happy Meal, 1137

Pumping the Brakes (2394.1 mi +84.1 -136.1)

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It's been both cold and warm since my last post. Here's me all bundled up hiking in just above freezing temps. Note the new hat under my normal hat.

I'm planning to spend at least part of this weekend in Seattle, to see friends and hang out. This is happening because I finalized plans to meet my brother Robbie at Hart's Pass on the 17th, which means I need to start slowing down a fair bit. Some time in Seattle seems like a great way to slow down.

Leaving White Pass was a slow process, as it was a cold morning and there was a great little coffee shop. Definitely had too much caffeine that day. It was really hard to find a campsite my first day out. There were over 20 tents at the spot I picked near a creek, but thankfully there were still flat spots open. The far side of the creek only had 6 or so people.

That first night was cold. But the next day felt colder than the night. There was a persistent cloud cover around 5500 feet that I ascended into with a few hundred feet of visibility, and then descended out of to see good views with a hard ceiling. I was supposed to have great views of Ranier on Tuesday, but it wasn't meant to be. The cover photo is of me on this Tuesday morning. And the one privy spot I passed by at Chinook Pass (with 4 toilets!) was locked.

Tuesday night I camped with about 10 other tents. That night was frigid. I stopped at 6 pm and got in my tent by 7:15 pm, and it had already gotten very cold by then. It was cold enough overnight that I woke up in the middle of the night hungry and cold after eating more than my usual amount of food during the day. If you don't know what that feels like, lucky you.

On Wednesday the cloud cover dispersed, I got another good view of Ranier, and the highs were back above 65. That's mountain weather for sure. And there was an operable privy by Government Meadows cabin. With trail magic by Tom, Grant, and Bill(?). The meatball subs were wonderful, and fueled a solid 30 mile day.

On Thursday I only did 26 miles, to make sure that I didn't get to Snoqualmie too fast. And again got trail magic! This time from Steve, who made pulled pork sandwiches and coffee, with a spread of candy bars and protein bars. I've been getting spoiled out here. Thursday night I camped slightly off trail at Lodge Lake, and it wasn't even cold! When I woke up I almost didn't even put my puffy on to break down camp. (I did, but more to feel warm than to not feel cold, if you understand the distinction. I took it off before I started moving.)

This morning has been an easy 2 mile downhill into Snoqualmie and a pancake breakfast. I'm thinking about hitching to North Bend with Maverick and taking the bus from there, but we'll see what the day brings. I'm "only" 84 miles ahead of pace because I'm counting today as done, 2 miles in. Thursday night I was +102.9 miles.

First Frost! (2295.9 mi +90.9 -136.1)

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I got to see Mt. Ranier today!

Leaving Trout Lake went smoothly. But that night it got cold. Literally freezing cold. I got to see the morning frost on some plants for the first time on trail. I'm pretty stoked, but I also need a warmer hat, and maybe some gloves.

Before I got into my campsite on that first night, I got tons of good views of Mt. Adams. I particularly like the photos near sunset when the low-angle sun only hits the mountain. I probably should have been making dinner in camp by then, but I got delayed. By huckleberries.

The first two days out of Trout Lake had so many huckleberries! They are so good that I felt like I was doing more foraging than hiking for a lot of the early afternoon. I probably ate a full cup of the two days. There are some that are on trail at convenient hand-height. But there are more and larger berries available if you're willing to go off trail into the patch. And I was more than willing.

Today has been amazing in its own way. I was exposed for a significant section (~10 miles) for the first time since the Sierras. The views were incredible, both back towards Mt. Adams and off to the side to see Mt. Ranier. And all of the ridges and creeks that I don't know the name of, but was happy to hike through and take pictures of.

After I got back below treeline this afternoon, it was just smooth downhill cruising to White Pass. Now I'm waiting for my pizza in Packwood, and am planning to do all of my resupply tomorrow, since it's getting late tonight.

- Happy Meal, 1124

Wonderful Wet Washington (2219.1 mi +77.6 -136.1)

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Even after a long weekend off trail, I'm still ahead of pace!

Getting back on trail was a struggle. After a late night into Portland, I got on trail a little after 10:30 am, mentally and physically exhausted. I managed 11 miles and fell asleep at 6 pm.

During those 11 miles, I ran into Sunshine! I met her back before my birthday, on day 4. It was awesome to see her again. She was hiking with her non-thru-hiking friend, who I also met back on day 6. It was great to see them both, and they hung out well after I fell asleep.

On Wednesday I got my trail legs back under me, though I still hadn't caught up on sleep. Got 28 miles in, finishing on a climb that made me doubt whether my trail legs had actually returned. (Sunshine made the call to drop off a few miles shorter.)

But everything actually clicked on Thursday. Did 31 and met a whole bunch of new and old friends. Trail Days and a bachelor party completely shuffled who's where, so plenty of people who haven't seen each other in 1000 miles are bumping into each other.

And now I'm in Trout Lake, eating huckleberry everything while drinking a huckleberry mimosa. It's a good life, but my battery's about to die.

- Happy Meal

Oregon? More like 俺GONE! (2148.0 mi +174.0 -136.1)

Have I been waiting since before the start of Oregon to make a bad multilingual pun? Of course

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Unsurprisingly, I took a zero day in Bend. It did wonders for my mental and physical health. I got a ride out on Sunday with UberDucky, and restarted my adventure just north of the Olallie Lake closure.

Sunday was pretty uneventful. I met up with Hazmat on the ride out, but was almost entirely alone through intermittent burn areas for an easy 20 miles, starting at 1 pm. Filtering water with my new bag was great. So was setting up my tent with my new adjustable-length trekking poles. (Sadly aluminum, since I couldn't find the carbon fiber version at the Bend REI.)

On Monday I listened to the start of the new Critical Role campaign while I hiked through a smoky day. The characters in the campaign were in a situation where they were taking levels of exhaustion from breathing in too much ash. (I'm a pro at demotivating myself via too-real fiction at this point.) I tried not to think about it too much, and kept my breathing slow, steady, and through my nostrils only. (Mouthfuls of ash taste bad, unsurprisingly.) I cruised through my 29.9 mile day pretty easily, unlike the characters in Critical Role.

The easiest way to drive from Bend to Olallie overshot north on the way, so I had a bunch of moments where I crossed a road and thought, "I could have been dropped off here instead." I felt a mix of wistfulness and strength of will from hiking those extra miles.

On Tuesday there was a cold rain all day. I was pretty stoked about it from a "maybe some fires will go out" perspective, but it was annoying to hike in. But honestly, Tuesday was easy and awesome. I hit Timberline Lodge for a breakfast buffet after the first 2 miles of cold rain walking. Then, near the end of my day, there were 3 unrelated groups doing trail magic at the same parking lot! I got a cocktail (Dark and Stormy), hot food (pulled chicken sandwich), and dessert (brownies). They even had canopies to hide from the drizzle for a bit, which were sheltering about a dozen hikers in ponchos. I hung out from about 5:30 to 6:45, then did another 5 miles before setting up camp.

It got cold Tuesday night, and waking up to a wet tent and a cold morning Wednesday was not encouraging. I powered through the morning, wearing more clothes than was strictly optimal, since I wanted to stay warm more than I wanted to go fast.

Then the weather decided that Wednesday was gonna be a beautiful day instead. Around 10 am the rain cleared up and the clouds went away. The sun felt so good on my cold legs, since the high today was only in the 70s. The low was sub-40. The descent into Cascade Locks was fast and easy, giving me plenty of time to spend on the phone.

I made sure to walk far enough on the Bridge of the Gods to get into Washington before turning around. Let the final state commence!

Then I had to get to Portland's airport. Since Uber and Lyft and my own thumb let me down, I had to take a very expensive taxi ride into a Walmart, where I bought town clothes for the flight. I then went to a Planet Fitness, where I had a discussion with the clerk about a guest pass. I was attempting to not get a monthly bill, since gyms in general have a bad reputation about that. He was trying to gently turn away this homeless guy. I ended up winning the standoff, and somehow also didn't have to pay at all. I'm still a little confused about that one.

But anyway, I'm now clean, wearing mostly clean clothes, and ready to take a long weekend off trail, after a stupid-early flight into Philly.

Happy Meal, 1119

PS - I'm now posting this just before getting back on trail, but I wrote it last Wednesday night.

The Bad Week (1983.7 mi +114.7 -73.1)

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I'm in Bend! After a hell of a time getting here. It's been hot. My feet are pounding due to suboptimal equipment, changing back to minimalist footwear, long days, and sharp rocks. I just spent $200 at REI bringing my gear almost up to par with what I had before this week. Ugh.

In Mazama Village, the resupply was awful. I had heard about it, but still was unprepared. The only protein options were overpriced jerky and peanut butter. I made do, having packed in an extra dinner and some good trail mix. I was warned about the quality. The general store also had the slowest internet you could possibly call internet, shared among a bunch of teenagers who were unhappy about being pulled out to a National Park for a day, and a bunch of thru-hikers trying to upload pictures and download podcasts and audiobooks.

Then I made a huge mistake: I hiked the PCT. Almost everyone near Crater Lake takes the Crater Lake Rim Trail, an alternate trail that cuts a few miles off the PCT, but has harder climbing than the actual PCT. As a consequence of this mistake, I never actually saw Crater Lake. Whoops.

And then I made another mistake: eating lunch in a parking lot in a national park. When I finished my meal, my trekking poles were gone. There was enough person-traffic and car-traffic that I have no idea when in that hour my poles were taken. They were just on the other side of the tree from me! I was fuming mad about this for a while, obviously.

And then, bam, trail magic! Sam's (not the Pizza Brikk Sam that I know) grandparents were waiting for him, and had a nice spread by the side of Highway 138, where I interrogated every thru-hiker about whether they had seen who took my poles. No luck, obviously. Not a great Sunday out of Crater Lake.

Monday was mostly uneventful. But I found a walking stick that miraculously managed to pitch my tent, so I was reasonably optimistic about getting into Bend without being eaten alive by bugs, which started to show up as water became more plentiful. Ponds and lakes everywhere. (The reason I ate lunch in a parking lot on Sunday was the water cache located there.)

Then Tuesday was a relatively short day (25 instead of 30+) into Shelter Cove, which also had a low-quality general store, though well above Mazama. I also reconnected with a bunch of hikers I hadn't met in a long time there: Splash and Tamale, Near Miss (formerly Brian of Brian and Jasper fame. Jasper had to drop off trail to start senior year), FKAT (Formerly Known As Tall. Small dropped off trail), and some of the Blob, who I briefly met near Cajon Pass. The Blob remembered me better than I remembered them, since I met all 12 of them at once, while they met me when I ate my first Happy Meal on trail.

I was feeling reasonably optimistic about getting back on trail Wednesday morning, and had a hard but satisfying day Wednesday. I even got trail magic again for lunch! Ducky's parents do magic pretty regularly near Charlton Lake. I almost stopped before there for lunch, but pressed on just long enough to see the unique signs that they had posted.

So naturally Wednesday afternoon had to suck. I was hiking near the end of the day through an area with a ton of downed trees. On one of those trees I leaned on my walking stick a little too hard and broke it. It had been buggy all day, so pitching a tent was necessary. I was only a mile or two out from camp at this point, and I did not find a stick that would pitch the tent well. I did find one to pitch the tent poorly, but bloodied my left hand a bit snapping it down to size. My feet were also killing me at this point, after a 31.6 + 1.5 mile day (Shelter Cove was a decent way off trail.) As the mosquito swarms woke up, I managed to get inside my tent, but without enough room to sit up. And barely enough room to roll onto my side.

I don't remember if I cried or not that night, but I was certainly miserable enough. I didn't have the room to cook dinner, instead eating Hershey's and Skittles for a 600 calorie (read: not nearly enough) meal. I woke up as miserable as I went to sleep. And also dehydrated, since I hadn't gotten water in the tent-setup-fiasco. I debated taking a picture of my sad, sad, tent, but instead broke camp as fast as humanly possible on Thursday morning.

I got water pretty early on Thursday (yay ponds everywhere) and had plenty to drink at that point. Dumbbell Lake is a cool name for a place to accidentally leave your dirty bladder. I realized that particular mistake about 12 miles later, well past the point of no return. I definitely enjoyed cooling off my legs at Sisters Mirror Lake after failing to call some people. (It was probably better that they didn't hear me bitch relentlessly.) I demoted one of my clean bladders to dirty, and finagled the lines so that the gravity filter still filtered. It didn't work very well, so it took a while.

I did the same long filtration at dinner, at Bitch Please Pond (not it's actual name, but there's agreement among hikers that it should change). I also took a poop that used the last of my toilet paper on Thursday night. That's always a worrying spot to be in.

I picked a spot where I could cowboy camp without dealing with mosquitoes. But oh boy did I not sleep well  I woke up twice to night hikers coming through. (One of the groups made a wrong turn off the PCT, and I directed them back. My cowboy spot was 50 ft down a side trail.) I woke up 3 or 4 times to insects in my ear. Would not recommend. Since I wasn't sure whether they were flies or ants, they didn't add to the kill count. And I swear I heard a mosquito once, but I may have been drifting in and out of a nightmare.

I woke up later than usual, exhausted. I would have mixed my last instant coffee, but I was worried about stimulating my digestive system. I got water without filtering it at the beautiful natural waterfall in the cover photo. Of course, once I had drank this water, I walked up trail to find a group of weekenders camped within 20 feet of the source of the falls, with a line strung up indicating that they had recently done laundry. I drank all of the water unfiltered anyway. This was a bad idea.

Naturally my easy 15 mile day today was mostly over lava rock, which made my feet feel like they were on fire. At one point, when I was ready to hit a climb hard, I had to wait a few minutes for a pack train to pass. I've waited for freight trains that moved faster than this group. When I finally got to Mackenzie Pass, I was convinced the hitch was gonna be impossible, since there was nowhere for cars to stop.

But then everything improved as I walked up the road a tenth of a mile to the observatory, where there were multiple people giving hikers rides. I got fruit and soda and brownies and beer and a ride into Bend. The REI had more or less what I was looking for (trekking poles, but not as good as the ones I lost, and a dirty bladder, but not Platypus brand). The Red Robin had a good burger with endless sweet potato fries. I'm now sharing a room with Splash and Tamale, about to go out to dinner with other hikers. I'm clean and optimistic about the future, and neither of those have been true since last Sunday afternoon.

Happy Meal, 1112

Welcome to Oregon! (1718.7 mi +59.7 -73.1)

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I'm in Oregon! Pretty hyped up to have made it out of California. CA was great, but I am ready to move on.

Leaving Etna was a bit more difficult than expected. Mostly because we ended up getting lunch in town before we left, so it was a short day out. We only made it 10 miles on the day, when I had originally planned a full day. Denny Bar (a distillery in Etna) was an awesome place to get lunch, though.

The next day was a pretty standard 31 mile day, with some rain at the end of the day. I used my phone a bunch, stopping to talk to my family for a bit whenever I had service. I got rained on a bit at the end of the day, camping at the end of a dirt road. (With a bunch of other hikers, including Third Wind, Train Wreck, and Lost & Found, who I've been with consistently since Etna.)

The resupply from Etna to Seiad Valley was very short. The descent on Saturday was awful: overgrown trail and fallen trees all over the place. But I got down by lunch, and ate in Seiad Valley for lunch after a frustrating 15 mile morning. The 10 miles at the end of the day were hot and uphill, but the heat broke when a thunderstorm rolled in. It's been nice remembering how to hike in and around the rain, but I'm hoping I get some dry nights in the future.

On Sunday I saw a helicopter dropping water on some new fires started by the lightning. Other than that the day was uneventful, until we got to the state border! We hung out a bunch there, with a few other hikers including Tea Time, who hiked with us a few miles at the end of the day to our tentsite, again on a dirt road. (This one was rockier, which didn't matter after my pad was inflated, but was annoying while cooking dinner.)

Yesterday we got into Ashland for lunch, and are doing another zero here today. (The header includes today's zero.) Oregon has been wonderful for the first few miles, and people here have been so nice! I think I'm going to be pretty close to Portland for my long weekend off trail starting on August 19th. 

I am very amused by housing comparisons between Etna, CA and Ashland, OR. In Etna, our AirBnB host talked about how they use strict zoning to prevent buildings from being "too close to each other or on top of each other". (This was shortly after talking about how charming the downtown was. The downtown is all multi-story contiguous buildings...) In Ashland I've seen my first ongoing construction, with our trail angel hosts mentioning that there has been a lot of new construction responding to increased demand.

- Happy Meal, 1069

AirBnB in Etna (1594.0 mi +82.0 -73.1)

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Next stop for packages is still Ashland, definitely on 8/2:

Hold for PCT hiker ETA 8/2

Matt Wismer

c/o General Delivery

Ashland, OR 97520

It's been a beautiful couple of days. Leaving Shasta was one more smoky day, and then finally I got to see blue skies! I even got rained on, but it was a very California rain storm.

I got a bit vortexed in Shasta, and only left town after 6 pm. My original intent was to hike another 10-15 miles, but when I saw Rudolf camping only 3 miles out, I stopped for the day. (That made a total of 5 miles on the day.) I hadn't seen Rudolf since Big Bear (mile 260), so we had a few months of hiking to catch up on. Apparently the Dixie Fire is continuing to get worse, and I am very happy to be north of it.

The other side of Shasta is also on fire, which gave me some smoke to deal with on Sunday. There was also a hard climb in the morning, but not Sierras hard. It's been fun hiking near Rudolf, since he has such a unique hiking style. He goes hard and takes breaks. I've been going probably 20% further than him most days, but he's been hiking almost 50% faster than me when he's hiking. Most PCTers settle somewhat close to the same pace, but he's almost running when he's moving. I've been passed going uphill more in the past few days than in the month prior.

I ended up on the phone more than was strictly optimal on Sunday, so I missed my opportunity to go kayaking on Porcupine Lake. I probably still could have still gone for a swim at 7:30, but I'm a little baby around cold water unless it's hot out. Or trusted the kayak to prevent me from falling in, but I'm not that dumb. It was a free kayak left on a backcountry lake.

The highlight of Monday was a clean pit toilet. I wish I was joking. Everyone was talking about it all day. Clear blue skies and a 33 mile day were nice, but the pit toilet was nicer. It's rare to find one that doesn't smell like, well, a toilet. I theoretically could have hitched into Etna from Highway 3 here, but it would have completely messed up my resupply plans.

I hiked with Train Wreck and Third Wind off and on through the afternoon, and it was nice to have some conversation partners to work through some stuff with. (Most of the time I've been hiking within a few miles of them, but walking by myself.) That night we got rained on as we set up camp. I had brief hope for California, but instead it was just a few light drizzles over the course of a half hour. Maybe next time.

Tuesday felt much harder than the elevation profile looked. I had to earn that 29 mile day. My phone consistently claimed to have service while not actually having service, which made for some frustrating phone calls. "Huh, what? Oh, now I can hear you. Wait, what was that?" Apologies to my Jimmy and Lauren for having to deal with that.

I did just under 6 miles by 8 am today, and got my resupply done fast after breakfast. The day has been spent lounging around our nice Airbnb, and on phone calls with family. Train Wreck has hyped up Lost and Found's cooking skills, so dinner should be something good pretty soon. Then we'll watch the 2016 Ghostbusters movie, and probably call it an early night.

- Happy Meal, 1052

Half-Asleep in Shasta (1498.3 mi +70.3 -73.1)

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Next stop for packages is still Ashland. 7/30 (Friday) is looking like a pipe dream, so 8/2 (Monday) is when I'll pick up there:

Hold for PCT hiker ETA 8/2

Matt Wismer

c/o General Delivery

Ashland, OR 97520

I did take that zero day in Burney. The rest was greatly appreciated. I got another Happy Meal for lunch, and this one came with a toy! Space Jam Yosemite Sam will now be hiking the rest of the way with me. I also got dinner with Jon, who caught up during the zero day.

My first day out of Burney started a bit late, with me on trail after breakfast just before 10 am. I hiked a few miles and then hung out at Burney Falls for about 2 hours. The falls were nice and cool, and just awesome to look at. I ran into Beekeeper there, and we ended up hanging out a bunch over the next few days.

The coolest part of Burney Falls is that the water doesn't just come down over the top. It also seeps through the rock and comes out in seemingly random other places partway down the falls. So it's not one waterfall - there are dozens. It's well worth the drive if you find yourself in the area, or want to plan a trip. There was also a small general store with soft serve ice cream.

That night I did a dry camp, which hasn't happened to me in a while. A 3L water carry - the horror! (If I start needing to do 4L and 5L carries again I'm gonna actually be mad.) The views of Mt. Shasta from my campsite were awesome, and I was optimistic there would be more and better views as I got closer. Silly me. (The pictures from here all have Smiles' tent in them, because I was too lazy to stand up.)

Then Thursday morning I stayed up between 5000' and 6000', before descending a bit at the end of the day. The ridge was mostly wooded, so the views didn't line up with the magic I got as I woke up. That night I camped with Beekeeper, Balloons, and Matador at a pretty unremarkable spot.

On Friday the descent continued. McCloud River had a perfectly timed pit toilet, but I couldn't convince myself to go swimming in the murky water at 9 am. Instead I took lunch by small stream, and then washed off my legs (one at a time - the photo of being halfway done gives a good sense of how much dirt we're talking about) once I got to Squaw Valley Creek, which had some swimming holes, but none near where I got water.

Friday was very smoky. Presumably from the Dixie Fire to the south, but also maybe from any of the other fires raging through NorCal and Oregon right now. There were some really good places for views of Shasta, but at that point visibility was under a mile, not nearly enough to see it. The afternoon sun looked a really cool red (that didn't turn out right in the photos), and you could look directly at it after about 4 pm, which was odd. I didn't even have to do the partial-eclipse-squint, I just looked normally.

On Friday night I pushed a little further than usual (34.4 - tie for longest day) to get into position to take an early morning (7:09) bus into Shasta. I wasn't able to set an alarm, because my phone was just about dead after talking with my brothers the previous afternoon. I didn't sleep particularly well, since I kept waking up and checking the time on my Kindle, until I eventually got up at 5:15, getting to the bus stop around 6:45.

But, uh, the bus runs M-F. While confirming that my phone ran out of battery. So I was looking for a ride near a rarely-used onramp, and met Swiss Miss and Hobo, a Swiss couple. (Swiss Miss also does drink hot chocolate every night, since I know you were wondering.) I got first-hand experience with how distinct Swiss German is from High German. (They occasionally talked to each other in German, and I could barely pick out individual sounds, let alone understand what they were saying. I did understand when Hobo say "80 kilometers", by that was about it.) We eventually got a ride into town from someone who just dropped off a hiker (since why else would you use the Soda Creek Rd exit of I-5), and we ate breakfast together before I went to do my resupply.

I am officially in the bubble now. There are crazy numbers of hikers on trail right now. There was a trail log that I hit early this morning. I was the first hiker to sign it today, at 6:15, but about 35 hikers signed in on each of the past two days. While moving you still feel like you're alone, but during hiking hours (an hour after sunrise to an hour before sunset), you'll see people if you sit down for more than 15 minutes. It's weird meeting so many new people all of the time.

- Happy Meal, 1051

Might be taking a Zero in Burney Today (1411.3 mi +67.3 -73.1)

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Next stop for packages is gonna be Ashland, with my estimated arrival on 7/30 (which is a Friday, so 8/2, that Monday, is probably more realistic):

Hold for PCT hiker ETA 7/30

Matt Wismer

c/o General Delivery

Ashland, OR 97520

It ended up being a "free" 44.1 trail miles to get north of the fire, and then I've been hiking fast from there to Burney. Now I've got two fire closures to come back and hike. There have been some cool off-trail sights recently, and it is beginning to get hot and dry again. Most of my water carries are around 10 miles still, but I had a 13.3 mile carry yesterday that worries me a bit. Hopefully it doesn't get worse between here and Oregon.

After calling some family members on Saturday morning, I had some weird bear canister-related constraints on where I could camp. Lassen National Park requires bear-proof containers for overnight food storage, which meant that my options when leaving Chester were either under 15 miles, to not enter the park, over 34 miles, to get past the park, or 19 miles, to stay at the campsite with bear lockers. I went with the 19, and ran into Bonobo and Third Wind, along with meeting Train Wreck. And a bunch of others, since the fire has caused a thru-hiker bubble by taking people who were hiking aross multiple days and putting them all in the same spot.

Getting to Warner Valley Camp had me pass by Terminal Geyser, which is the above photo. Apparently it's technically a steam vent and not a geyser, but I was nonetheless pleased.

Third Wind and Train Wreck went for the 24 hour challenge when leaving Warner Valley Camp on Sunday, and they successfully hiked over 50 miles in those 24 hours. Bonobo and I hiked a measely 34.4 miles (my furthest day so far), and wished them luck as it got dark.

Around 27 miles on Sunday there was a convenient gas station to get some extra calories at. And the Subway Caves, where I dropped my pack before entering, and so didn't have my phone to take pictures. Lava tubes are pretty cool, in case you were unsure.

I was definitely feeling the 34 miles when I started on Monday, but wanted to get into Burney anyway. Third Wind and Train Wreck split a room with me, and we all got takeout Chinese and went to bed by 7 pm. 10/10 great night, would recommend.

I'm now waiting for laundry to finish and wondering if I should get on trail around dinnertime and Nero out (probably 5-10 miles), or if I should take my first full Zero since staying with Chris and his parents in LA. Some tough decisions.

Happy Meal, 1334

My World's On Fire. How 'Bout Yours? (1087.0 mi +6.0 -29)

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Halfway! Ahead of pace! More wildfires! Huzzah!

I left Sierra City into a long, hot 3000' climb, starting right at 4 pm. It honestly wasn't as hard as it sounds. I ended up behind Third Wind and Maverick and ahead of Jon, and haven't seen any of them since. I also saw my 4th rattlesnake that day, and got rattled at for the 3rd time. Still not a good ratio. Got a good tentsite near a lake at the end of the day, but didn't do any swimming. (Swims are reserved for the heat of the day for me.)

Then I did a longish day through some cool old burn areas that were also being logged. The orangish brown of dead pine needles combined with the black of burned bark was very Halloween. The talk of the day was the upcoming wildfire, though there was no official communication from the PCTA (as far as I saw) at that point.

Early the next day I decided to try out a 32 mile day, and the PCTA recommended not hiking north of Belden. Which meant a 32 mile day and then a 19 mile day into Belden to resupply. I had barely enough food for it, but was struggling hard when I rolled into lunch (18.5 miles in) and met Cheese Slice, AM Drive, and Magnet. They saw my sorry state and gave me a Honey Bun and some Pop Tarts, which put me from "barely enough food" to "hiking is fun". I ended up not camping with them because I Zen'd passed the campsite we all intended to camp at.

They beat me out of camp this morning, so I was weirdly alone for the first 12 miles. I saw the smoke from the fire when I got on a ridge, and also got cell service. I learned that the PCTA closed the section of trail I was on, while I was on it. The smoke also looked extremely worrying, not that I'm an expert in how wildfire smoke looks. At that point I had 6.5 miles down to Belden or 12.5 back out of the closure. (And there was a typo that confused me about the southern edge of the closure.) Naturally I decided to descend into the valley at double-time. And by double-time I mean I was running most of it. I made 6.5 miles in about 80 minutes, passing some of the friends I made the day before.

Now I need to figure out how to get past the fire closure. (More free miles! Now that I don't need them anymore...) I'm currently thinking a stay in Quincy with hiker friends, then the bus up to Chester and a hitch to trail. But the plan is still flexible.

- Happy Meal, 1033

Sierra City Siesta (1187.0 mi -10.0 -29)

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Steadily gaining on pace, which is fun to see. I should be on pace by the halfway point if I keep hiking like this!

These past few days had a lot of good quotes. Leaving South Lake Tahoe, I got a ride from a guy who hiked the AT back in 1999, and "had a lot of trail karma to pay back". He was talking about hiking, and mentioned "that place you go in your head where the miles melt away", which definitely resonated with me at this point. Sometimes it feels like every mile is a struggle, and sometimes it feels like 10 miles just passed in the blink of an eye.

Went for a nice swim in Aloha Lake a few miles out of SLT with Third Wind, but then pressed on to camp, since there were a lot of weekenders. Maverick (who I met after this, but he camped there) confirmed that this was the right move a few minutes ago. There were a couple of poorly behaved off-leash dogs that kept him up all night.

The next day Third Wind and I decided to do a 30, so we could meet up with Jon again. (There was a small general store right by trail that he resupplied at instead of going into SLT, so he ended up a few miles ahead of us.) It was a good day for a big day, since the miles were pretty easy, and there weren't many breathtaking views until where we camped. We watched sunset and sunrise there, along with Slip n' Slide and Goat. It was awesome, and so was the stargazing. I stayed up way too late stargazing, then woke up in the middle of the night and stargazed some more after the Milky Way was fully visible. (It wasn't ideal conditions, as you could see the city glow from Reno off in the distance, but it was still marvelous.) Maverick camped a few miles earlier, and woke up very early to hike to our spot for sunrise.

Did I mention that I caved to the thru-hiker hivemind and got Altra Lone Peaks in SLT? So far they've been alright. I'd prefer something more minimalist, but zero-drop + wide toe box makes for a pretty good shoe, even if there is a little too much padding. I mention this because the next day, Third Wind was with me and Jon at a poorly marked trail intersection, and said "I see more Altra footprints going left, so that must be the PCT." She was right.

We hiked from the amazing sunrise to the Donner Ski Ranch, which was hosting a dirt bike race, and giving away free 40s to thru-hikers. I spent a ton of money on food while drinking my 40 (and then waiting a bit for everything to settle). It was a hot afternoon, so the rest was doubly appreciated. Some other hikers mentioned going back to a siesta schedule.

I stayed that night in Peter Grubb Hut, which was wonderful. Multiple indoor tables and a wood stove which was totally unnecessary in summer. And a 2-story privy!

Yesterday had a nice swim in a reservoir with an early dinner at East Meadow Campground, with Roller, Jon, and Third Wind. Roller stayed there, I pressed 3 miles on, and the other two went a bit further.

Now it's Maverick, Third Wind, Jon, and I in Sierra City all by 10 am. We're planning to stay in town until the heat of the day breaks, and do a shorter day today. (It will still probably be about 21, since I'm technically at 1195.4 right now.)

- Happy Meal, 1028 flying insects killed

Kennedy Meadows, North (1092.3 mi -20.7 -29)

I'm actually in South Lake Tahoe (gaining on the schedule but behind my ETA because math is hard), but I had to reuse the title. And I got some wonderful packages! Thanks to Heather for the snicker doodles and Mom for the new socks (which arrived just as my old ones got holes - moms are psychic) and some nice backpacker meals to pack out, including delicious freeze-dried ice cream.

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No new care package drop yet. It likely won't be for a couple of weeks, maybe even until I'm in Oregon.

This is a good picture, because I just turned off the PCT without realizing it, and would be walking next to the stunning Thousand Island Lakes for another 10 or 15 minutes before realizing that I wasn't climbing up to Donahue Pass the way I was supposed to be...

Last post left me in Mammoth, and my hitches in and out were definitely the most noteworthy. Into Mammoth I hitched with Arun, a 3-time JMTer who was doubtful he'd be able to go again anytime soon, given his 2.5 year old son. We talked a bit about housing in LA. (I didn't bring it up, I swear! It's been a frequent topic of conversation as we get into the areas that have been poisoned by the spillover from the SF and LA crises.) Anyway, he literally used the phrase "Not In My Backyard" when I referred to multifamily housing, but then assured me that the real NIMBYs were in the Bay Area, so it was fine. I was going through an internal emotional rollercoaster for sure. Then we got picked up by a couple who left their car interface in French and worked for JPL in Pasadena, which made for a cool change of topic.

The way out was just as noticeable, because I left my orange dry bag behind when I got picked up. It had everything electronic in it, except my phone in my pocket, as well as all my ID. John was more than happy to turn all the way around after I freaked out in the passenger seat, than we talked religion, politics, and generational change for a while in a way that was very enjoyable. Definitely my best conversation during a hitch, and it gave me some good things to think about on trail.

On the day out of Mammoth I did some side trails at John's recommendation, and ran into him hiking the other way twice, including shouting a final goodbye as he was eating lunch next to a roaring river that the PCT took a footbridge over. If you're ever in Mammoth, Devil's Postpile and Rainbow Falls come highly recommended, and are both pretty short hikes.

I only made 10 trail miles that day by 5 pm, because I ran into a group who stopped the day short to play D&D, many of them for the first time. I jumped into the conversation and then the game, playing a cleric to keep all of the new characters alive. Phone apps for 5th edition are pretty sweet, and we were camping on a rock with good cell service. I was the only one to almost die (to a trap after the main fight had ended, of course), as it should go. They mentioned continuing, though I ended up getting ahead of the group the next day.

The next day I went 27 miles to get into Tuolomne Meadows, a little general store I got a little resupply at. (Not including wandering around Thousand Island Lakes, off trail, for a mile or two.) I normally crave ice cream on trail, but their freezer was broken, so I drank two quarts of milk instead. Then I went to the Tuolomne Meadows Backpackers Campground, where I found a confusing phrase: "Walk-in Backpackers Campground 15 Minute Parking". Apparently many car campers use the Backpackers Campground because it's cheaper, so you can drive into the campground to drop off your stuff, and then put your car elsewhere overnight. (By elsewhere I of course mean street parking just outside the campground.) It made for a weird vibe, and I re-met Third Wind (previously Amanda seen between Walker Pass and Kennedy Meadows, South), and met Jon, who was hiking with her. We all left somewhat late the next morning, but managed 25 miles anyway.

I also forgot to charge my phone at Tuolomne, which, combined with aggressive battery usage while playing D&D, gave me just enough to get into Kennedy Meadows, North. So I didn't call anyone over the holiday weekend...

The next day, 4th of July, I was feeling my first 30 mile day since the Sierras. I woke up early and went out hard, and after 5.5 hours had made just over 10 miles. Which is, uh, not fast. The trail had other plans for me that day, getting "only" 23 miles in after what felt like my hardest day all week. Thanks, Yosemite.

The next day I did 25 by 4 pm to get into Kennedy Meadows, North, so it was just the one day that had to be ridiculously hard. Naturally the shuttle left at 3:30, so I got to see it load and hang out for a few minutes, while descending to Sonora Pass. Then it drove away while I was still descending. Getting a ride (from a Matt, none the less) was very easy, and happened when I passed him on trail, before getting to the pass.

In Kennedy Meadows, North (aka Kennedy Meadows Resort and Pack Station), Third Wind and Jon already booked a teepee for the three of us when I arrived. (They both were on the shuttle.) I received my bear canister from home, giving me two separate bear cans. Then, since bear cans are no longer needed north of Sonora Pass, I shipped one home and returned the other. The non-bear-can goods (a better poncho, resupply, and encouraging note) were very much appreciated, better late than never. Then I closed down the bar at 11 pm and woke up hungover the next day, after having slept away most of the morning. (I got up at 7:15, and the first shuttle out left at 10:00.)

Leaving Kennedy Meadows, North, I also ran into Bonobo, who has done a bunch of cycling around the world. Some good conversation made the day go fast, and now we had a group of 4. (Third Wind is named for her motivation coming late in the day, opposite to me, so often we wouldn't all necessarily camp together, but we tended to see each other at least once a day.)

And then we actually did a 30 mile day! Well, everyone but Jon, who laid up a few miles short. Went from mile marker 1040.0 to 1070.0, passing Kale going SOBO for a section. (Who I didn't know but others did.) This area had a ton of beautiful lakes, and was great to hike through. Wednesday was definitely the day I got closest to swimming in a lake, and did dip my feet a few times.

Finally, we made it to South Lake Tahoe. Third Wind contacted a trail angel for the 4 of us to stay with, but then Bonobo missed a message and Jon decided to stay on trail, so it's now me and Third Wind who just stayed the night with Kathy and Jon. They've been hosting hikers for a few years now, with the two of us as numbers 136 and 137. We are a wonderful taco salad and I was just given coffee while writing this post. It's been a great stay so far, but I'll be back on trail for at least a few miles today.

I still need to go into town for a resupply and a new pair of shoes, but those sound like problems for after breakfast.

The Long Resupply (908.7 mi -36.3 -29)

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Lunchtime on top of Whitney at 14,500'. Used my emergency space blanket for warmth, since I didn't have my sleeping bag handy.

Next PO stop: South Lake Tahoe, at mile 1090. My optimistic estimate is still July 6th, but I'll probably actually be there on July 7th. Address:

Hold for PCT thru-hiker ETA 7/6

Matthew Wismer

General Delivery

South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150

Since the last post, I carried 2 days of food in a bear can until Lone Pine, then 7 days of food in a bear can till Red's Meadow. I'm staying in Mammoth tonight. And I didn't lose mileage in the Sierra, even though I basically did a full extra day off trail!

The 2 days were to judge how I did at altitude, before committing to a count of days for the long haul. I managed a 27 mile day up 6000', then a 20 mile day ending at 2 pm, so I felt convinced I could average 25 miles a day through the Sierra, which is well known to be the hardest section of trail. (Lone Pine to Red's is 158 on-trail miles plus 21 off trail miles, 16 of which were Whitney, which was non-negotiable. The others were to get to a road from the PCT.)

Lone Pine itself was great. An easy hitch in, and a relatively easy hitch out with Megan and Olivia. A few town meals and I was back on trail within 25 hours, which is impressive for a 20 mile hitch while Whitney was on fire. Yeah, Whitney was on fire. But only the part near Lone Pine, not the part that I would be hiking. So it was fine.

Day 1 out of Lone Pine was just an afternoon getting set up for Whitney the next day, and oh boy was that bear canister heavy with 7 days of food. I was happy to drop it to day-hike Whitney, which is why I also didn't have my sleeping bag at the top. The top was breath-takingly beautiful after the breath-taking high-altitude ascent. I got down around 5 pm and made a few more miles before ending my day.

Then came the seemingly endless series of grueling and beautiful passes that made me reconsider my 25 mile a day plan. Forester and Glen on day 3, then Pinchot and Mathers on day 4. Each pass was a 2000' to 4000' climb, ending around 12,000'. (Except Forester at 13,200'.) I only did 23 miles on day 4, and had some worries that I was gonna have to bail early for food reasons. (Probably at VVR.)

On day 5 I had what looked like a miserable 5000' climb to Muir Pass, but it wasn't hard at all. It was a gradual climb, so I only did one pass that day. And one Muir Pass was much easier than day 3 or 4. At this point everything got much easier, as the following passes peaked well below the previous ones.

Day 6 was just Selden Pass, but I randomly got shin splints in my right shin, so called the day a bit early. And then my favorite enemy arrived, the mosquitoes.

I kept a flying insect kill count on the AT, and added it to my journal entries and blog posts. I've been keeping the same count on the PCT, but I didn't go out of the way to kill the few desert bugs I encountered. My kill count as of last post was 2. When I entered Lone Pine, 4. Then there were a decent amount in the Sierras, so it was 71 as I approached Selden Pass. When I fell asleep that night, it was over 300. (I killed them between my tent's bug mesh and rain fly with the extra hour I had to burn because of shin splints calling the day short.)

They continued to be bad on the morning of day 7, so I hiked with a single trekking pole and got to 611 at lunch. Then, just before the relatively easy Silver Pass, a thunderstorm rolled in, hailing on me briefly with very close lightning strikes. I was glad to still be under treeline with Small, Tall, Tamale, and Splash, discussing how bad it was. Tall and Small had a schedule to keep, so they pressed on after a bit, while the other three of us set up our tents for a half hour to let the lightning finish completely before crossing the pass. The sky still looked ominous, so I got back under treeline quickly.

Then this morning was an easy 15 miles into Red's and a resupply. I still had about 1000 calories left in my pack, down from around 21,000 at the start of my resupply. Basically perfect. Tall and Small did a short resupply at Red's Meadow (small general store like Kennedy Meadows), and the three remaining hitched into Mammoth, where I ran into Sam and Margo, who are now 40ish miles ahead, after doing one less resupply and skipping Mt. Whitney. Maybe I'll catch them.

I'll add that it's very weird hiking in the Sierras, with so many people backpacking out for a weekend or a month. Normally, 90% of the backpackers I see are PCT thru-hikers, but now I can't make that assumption. I've met some cool JMTers, but they tend to do fewer miles, not having the extra month of training that PCTers do at this point. So I basically only see them once, or possibly a few times over the course of one day.

Did I mention how beautiful this part of trail is?

- Happy Meal, 626

KENNEDY MEADOWS! (702.2 mi, -32.8 -29)

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I made it out of the desert! Before summer hit, too! I'm so pumped for the Sierras! I'll be above 10,000 feet tomorrow, where I'll finally leave this heat wave behind.

Next PO stop: South Lake Tahoe, at mile 1090. My optimistic estimate is July 6th, but I'll narrow that down in my next post, probably around mile 900. (Mammoth) Address:

Hold for PCT thru-hiker ETA 7/6

Matthew Wismer

General Delivery

South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150

(Edited the above because the next month is July. I'm not stuck in an Endless Six.)

I'm doing well physically. My foot problems have been resolved by messing with how my shoes are tied multiple times a day, as I now have the classic thru-hiker circadian rhythm in foot size. My muscles are feeling strong, but the Sierras may have something to say about that, especially with the lack of oxygen at elevation. My knee has been holding up nicely, but still isn't 100%. It swells up if I sleep on it weird, which leads me to my gear:

My Neoair X-Lite has developed some slow leaks due to the pointy small rocks of SoCal. It now loses its air an hour or so after inflating, which is making my sleep much less comfortable. I've also worn through two pairs of Darn Toughs due to those same rocks getting inside of my shoes. I bought an Uberlite and a new pair of socks here at Triple Crown Outfitters, and will warranty the old gear after I finish. (It's been shipped home for now.)

I had to rent a bear canister, because I gave my dad the address to Kennedy Meadows Resort, at mile 1018, and not Kennedy Meadows General Store, where I am. I'm blaming this one on the heat ruining my ability to think straight. (It was before the heat wave, but still...) I also picked up a little emergency poncho that will fall apart after a storm or two, and will get my real poncho at the resort, along with a few days resupply to get me to South Lake Tahoe.

Now, the play by play of the heat wave. Leaving Tehachapi last Monday I knew that I had a heat wave shortly behind me. I got a good 13 miles in after leaving at 4 pm, even after meeting two PCT hikers, Tiptoe and Ducky, who went thru in March 2020. They came with advice and good conversation, but some of the advice didn't quite fit, as starting in March and in 2020 made the trail a lot different than my experience. Me and In No Hurry appreciated the chat for sure, and the later parts of trail will overlap with me considerably. (It was hard to go fast in 2020, for obvious reasons.)

From here it was a matter of making sure that the siesta occurred at a water source, and hiking as fast or as slow as needed to make that happen. Tuesday morning was a leisurely 13 miles to Golden Oaks Spring, when I ran into a bunch of hikers, who I mostly haven't seen since. I've been out of a relative dead zone now. I met Dubs and Mud Dog (?) on the way to lunch, and then three other hikers who don't have trail names (and therefore I can't remember, Zoe was one...) while taking the siesta.

The next siesta was with Curious George, who I met just before entering Tehachapi, at Landers Meadow Spring. Wonderful pine forest for shade, though I had to reposition a bunch to stay in it. Then there was a stretch of ~42 miles without water, but there were two reliable caches to make it workable in the heat. I stopped at the first around dinner on Wednesday then the second for siesta on Thursday.

And I met Devilfish! He's a wonderful angel who supplies a bunch of caches, but didn't take donations. I helped him resupply the Bird Spring Pass cache, which also included battery banks! Spent this siesta with Curious George again, and Ninja as well.

Then on Friday I went into Lake Isabella. It rained a bit while I was there, and all of the employees of the pizza shop went outside to watch like it was a child's first snowstorm. I'm pretty worried about California's drought after seeing that one... Even with the resupply I managed 20.7 miles. And met Amanda after dark. She's big into night hiking.

On Saturday I mostly hiked with Amanda, Quickdraw, Margo (who I knew back from Idyllwild and before), and Sam, though I was asleep for most of my siesta at Chimney Creek. We laid up 8 miles short of Kennedy Meadows, which I hiked in time to attend a Father's Day brunch virtually today.

Happy Father's Day to all you fathers out there, especially mine.

- Happy Meal

47.9 mi in 27 hours (558.5 mi, -29.5 -29)

7 am on Friday to 10 am on Saturday, but you can mostly get that from the vlogs.

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But let's start where the last post ended. LA was awesome, but this is a hiking blog, so we'll start when I got dropped off at mile 403 at 6 pm on Monday, doing only 8 miles for the day. (-50 -29 is hopefully the low water mark of the entire journey. Only making up miles from here.) The coolest part of this first night was the way the fog hung on one part of the mountain, which I took a bunch of pictures of.

I met a really cool older couple on Tuesday, Maya and Jay. Maya is hiking the PCT up to the Oregon border, and Jay is both hiking it and supporting her. Jay drives their car around to the next road, hikes SOBO until he meets up with Maya, then hikes with her until they get to the car. It's been fun to pass Jay a few more times since then, as I've gotten ahead of Maya, but not by too much. The ranger at the North Fork Ranger Station was also generous with trail magic, which made for a good day.

On Wednesday I met up with Julianne and her parents, Mike and Jodi, for lunch where the trail road walked through Agua Dulce. They met me on trail at the Sweetwater Bar and Grill, delivering fresh batteries and fresh produce, both of which I was in short supply of. The conversation was so good I was forgetting to eat at times, but I still managed to put about 2 normal sized meals down. Supposedly it was at this point where Timothy Olsen, who is currently attempting an FKT, passed by. He was the talk of the trail for the next few days. Best of luck to him! (Though it certainly puts my attempts at maintaining pace in perspective.) I ended up doing my first 29 mile day, both because of needing to get to Agua Dulce and gaining the FKT inspiration.

At lunch on Thursday I was asked what my plan for the LA Aqueduct was, which was not a good way to learn about a section of trail. I needed some rest after my 29, so I figured that I could do a 21, then a 20-high, then cross the aqueduct early in the morning. 

(On Thursday I called a few people with mixed success. The most notable thing was that my Dad asked if I could see the solar panels in Antelope Valley. I had barely seen them until that point, but I ended up pretty close to them on Saturday, with a really good view as I left on Sunday.)

But then there was a 15 mile stretch with no water, so instead I did 30 miles on Friday. Hikertown was a cool town-themed hostel on the edge of the valley I would be hiking through. I stayed in City Hall, then woke up at 3:30 am to do the aqueduct in the dark, as most people do. First light freaked me out, as I had to beat the sun, so I decided to vlog it to calm me down and give me something to focus on. It worked well. I talked at my phone once an hour through that section, and kept above 3 miles an hour, even including breaks. (Let me know what you think of the vlogs!)

I did another 6 miles after the day cooled off, then did 17 miles today to get into Tehachapi, where I just enjoyed a motel shower, then a burger and a milkshake, and found a 6 pack of Hofbräu Dunkel. I'm planning to take just over a full day of rest, from 1 pm when I got to the road crossing today up until the day's heat starts to fade tomorrow. It's looking like it's gonna be hot the next couple of days, so maybe predawn starts and long siestas are gonna be normal. Until mile 700, when I get into the Sierras and can stop worrying about the sun quite so much.

- Happy Meal

Gaining Miles the California Way (403 mi -38 -29)

Tracker Photos

*EDIT*

I forgot to put my next care package drop in this post, because I'm dumb. I'll be picking up packages in Tehachapi on 6/14, or maybe 6/15. (It will be at mile 566, in the hottest portion of trail that I'll go through.) Any packages should be addressed to:

Hold for PCT Hiker ETA 6/14

Matt Wismer

General Delivery

Tehachapi, CA 93561

Reminder that you can add yourself to the Google Photos album to get notified when the blog updates. I post at least one new photo whenever I update the blog.

*END EDIT*

Why are there two separate numbers in the header now? Wildfires. The answer is wildfires. The header represents my theoretical state as of Sunday 6/6. I've only hiked to mile 374, but I'm not allowed to hike between there and 403, so I'll be getting dropped off at 403 on Monday in order to continue my journey. So the first number is the same old marker for how behind schedule I am, while the second number is the miles of trail that I haven't hiked. (Currently there's one other ~20 mile closure in Oregon, with a few advisories that I will likely be safe to hike through.)

Immediately getting a "free" 29 miles and using it to take some time off in LA may turn out to be a bad decision, but I've wanted to visit Chris in LA since graduating college, so this was gonna happen regardless.

Hiking recent has been hot and unexpectedly wet. After getting some delicious cookies and Manuka honey (thanks, Cecilia and JJ!), descending out of Big Bear went fast. I started late, at 9:30 am (about 3 hours later than usual), and still made a 23 mile day.

Then I started hitting swimming options. The PCT crossed Deep Creek a few times, and I went swimming at 2 of them, the second one being at the Deep Creek Hot Springs. I was not ready for a bunch of people who made a 2 mile hike in for a clothing-optional experience. I got one delicately framed picture of one of the 5 pools, and that was after asking permission from the people relaxing nearby.

Then I camped next to Deep Creek 5.5 miles down from the hot springs. Camping right next to a solid source of water was wonderful, and the mosquitoes were downright nostalgic.

The next day we hiked around Silverwood Lake, where I ran into "The Blob", a group of 12ish hikers that includes the Professor, Commissioner, Librarian, Dan, Woof, and AWOL (who I'd met the day before my birthday at Warner Springs, and ran into at Paradise Valley Cafe), among others. I swam there for a bit, then took an aggressive siesta from 12:30-4:30. The high in nearby Victorville was 97 degrees. After the siesta I pressed on to the McDonald's at I-15 where I, naturally, ordered a Happy Meal. (Along with a Big Mac combo and milkshake.) The other hikers in the Blob (who caught up with me during my long break) were downright jealous of my apple slices and milk.

On 6/4 I tried to race the sun up the side of a mountain, and vaguely succeeded. I started with 6 flat miles, and got to my last water source in 17 miles with about 5000' of climb. (3500' to 8200', with some ups and downs to add on). It's cooler up top, so I just needed to get high before it got hot. After my 6 flat miles and a longish conversation with Pop Top, a SOBO thru-hiker, I started the climb just before 9 am. One problem: it was already really hot. But my strategy mostly worked, as it didn't really get much hotter as I climbed. I only needed a 90 minute siesta from 1:30 to 3, though I drank 4.5 L of water during the climb in order to keep my speed up during it. My quads are finally keeping up with me on the climbs, so I'm really just heat-limited when going uphill. I can mostly just go faster if I'm willing to sweat more, but water is the resource to manage here.

Then I had an easy 10 miles before noon (including an hour long break to charge my devices), and got picked up by Chris and Nat, where we immediately hit up a Korean BBQ spot. Then I saw Chris's parents for the first time in a while, and got to shower before my weekend out on the town, in Chris's clothes.

- Happy Meal