On 7/18 we did 9.7 miles to Sierra City, CA for a resupply and slept at 7,143 feet. On 7/19 we did 24 miles to East Hopkins Seep and slept at 6,362 feet. On 7/20 we did 24.3 miles to a large campsite north of the Feather River and slept at 3,256 feet. On 7/21 we did 24.6 miles to Clear Creek and slept at 6,211 feet. On 7/22 we did 9.1 miles to Belden, CA and slept at 2,210 feet.
SketchPad's parents brought a large map of the PCT to the cabin. It was cool to see all of the towns and points of interest we crossed during our hike on one map; but the one thing that became very obvious when looking at the map was we still had a LOT of trail left in front of us. In fact when we located our current position on the map we were still in the southern section of it. We certainly knew how many miles we already completed and how many more we had to do, but seeing it visually really made it clear we were going to have to up our mileage per day. I don't have a hard end date for the hike (since I am unemployed and living in the woods), but SketchPad is on a sabaticical and does have a firm end date. But that is not the main driving factor for needing to increase the miles. The main reason we need to increase the miles is to out-hike winter. I mentioned in the first blog post the PCT is all about timing. We managed to time the Sierra correctly and did not have to hike through too many feet of snow, now we need to get through the Cascades in Northern Washington before the first major snow comes. It's any body's guess when the first snow will hit and how severe it will be. Most thru hikers can make it to Canada with a little snow by October 1st and be okay, anything after that and the odds of completing get worse. In 2013 the first bad snow hit in the middle of September and ended a lot of thru hikers attempts even though they were only 100 miles from the border. We are not going to run the rest of the trail, but we will be cognizant of our timing thru Washington to give ourselves the best chance of finishing the trail.
Speaking of snow, California has had low snow levels for the past 5 years but this year was back to average snowfall in the mountains. The Northern Sierras were hit harder by the snow than the southern Sierras and were still in the process of melting when we walked through them. Even though it was July, spring was just staring in the Northern Sierras because of the heavy snow. This allowed us to catch blooms of some of the plants we have been seeing since the desert and allowed us to see some plants that only bloom during the early spring. This is probably one of the few times I'll ever have to wear my down jacket in the middle of July.
Part of our strategy to outrun winter is to also spend less time in towns. Breaks in towns are a necessity to resupply and they are also a much needed moral boost filled with showers, laundry, greasy food, and my favorite beer. Nonetheless one can get stuck in town and spend more time (and money) than planned. After Pinecrest, our next resupply was in South Lake Tahoe. Our plan for SLT was to resupply and get out and we were going to pass up the laundry and shower for the sake of time. All was going to plan as we were at the checkout line of the grocery store, until I struck up a conversation with the guy behind me in line about the trail. He seemed very enthused with us and told us that he hikes all of the trails around the area in his free time. He asked us where we were staying and when we told him we were going back out that day he said it was nonsense and invited us back to his place for laundry and showers. I told him we were on a timeline and he told us he would drive us back to the trail head by 5 am the next day. Well I guess the trail provides, so I went back into the store and picked up a 6 pack and SketchPad and I jumped in his truck and headed back to his house. Once at his place I did a quick inventory to make sure there were not an unusual number of axes laying around, or any dolls made out of human skin. After my search came up negative I relaxed a little bit.
We sat in his kitchen and cooked dinner as he recounted stories for hours about how he used to hitch hike across the country back in the 70s and the good luck and bad luck he had a long the way. We stayed up till hiker midnight and went to bed after getting our laundry and showers knocked out. As promised, he drove us out to Echo Lake at 5 am the next morning for us to start the day. I don't think we will get that lucky again but it's nice to hit the trail with a full stomach and clean clothes, even if it only lasts for a few hours.
I realize this blog post is full of random topics so I'll add one more. When we hiked down into the extremely small town of Belden our plan was to resupply and keep moving. We had to decend a steep mountain to get to Belden and when we hit the valley floor we encountered a large number of people camping out at the base of the mountain. It turns out we stumbled upon Sunset Campout, which is a 3 day EDM rave. We got to Belden around 10am but decided to stick around and watch the clothing optional circus unfold. Suprisingly the production was cool with thru hikers (then again, the events were being held directly on trail) and let us volunteer for 4 hours to get into the party. We directed traffic and then got access to all of the events. By the time it got dark there were over 3,000 people there. It was way past hiker midnight so I took my favorite drug, caffeine, to stay awake while all of the other ravers were taking their favorite drugs too - which I believe is all of them. We stayed up till midnight dancing, but after hiking all morning and directing traffic in the sun, we were exhausted so we decided to hike out. We only went a half a mile away and could hear the music all night long; the music literally does not stop for 72 hours. We could have stayed the whole weekend for an unexpected experience but it really wasn't our scene. Maybe some other time when we are not thru hiking we would take advantage of the party. On the climb out of the valley I couldn't help but laugh at all that I had seen and the fact that the tent city they were all camping in was in a huge field of poison oak. I'm sure they will be itching for weeks and not know why.
Just before shower lake the irises were blooming
Awesome Campsite, but we did not get much sleep since we had to literally hold the tent from being blown away all night.
Echo Lake
The wolf lichen show the snow line, in this case about 15 feet.
Lake Tahoe in the background
Wildflowers!
Lake Aloha
SketchPad climbing up Sierra Butte
Just a typical rave on the trail
This is how I relax after a day of hiking
SketchPad with Mt. Lassen in the back