Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Summit Lake Road to Forest Service Road 120. 23 miles, 1235 miles total.

Had to get off the PCT here because of the closure due to fires. There are some new fires (within the last day or two) that are in addition to the other fires that have been going for several weeks.

I will try to make it to the town of Quincy (26 miles along Forest Service Road 120), but might have to camp along side the road because there is so little traffic here.





This cloud of smoke is from a new fire that just started today at 1:30 p.m.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Sierra City, California to Summit Lake Road. 20 miles, 1212 miles total.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Peter Grubb Snow Hut to Sierra City, California. 29 miles, 1192 miles total.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Squaw Peak to Peter Grubb Snow Hut. 22 miles, 1163 miles total.

Friday, July 25, 2008

Barker Pass to Squaw Peak. 15 miles, 1141 miles total.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Dick's Pass to Barker Pass. 20 miles, 1126 miles total.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Echo Summit to Dick's Pass. 12 miles, 1106 miles total.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Showers Lake to Echo Summit / Highway 50. 12 miles, 1094 miles total.

Needed to stop and get some supplies in South Lake Tahoe, so I was able to hitch a ride in to town.





This is fairly close to where my motel is located.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Blue Lakes Road to Showers Lake. 14 miles, 1082 miles total.









The flowers in this section of the trail have been amazing. Sometimes, the trail is almost completely covered with flowers to the point that you can't see the ground!

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Noble Canyon Trail to Blue Lakes Road. 22 miles, 1068 miles total.





I talked to some trail maintenance workers today. This is a part of the trail that they were working on.



There was some light rain today, but not too bad. It was windy, too.

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Boulder Lake Trailto Noble Canyon Trail. 15 miles, 1045 miles total.







I got a good start today at 6:30 a.m. I slept very well last night.

I ate a good lunch at about 2:00 p.m. and took a short nap. It always feels good to take a short nap in the afternoon. I feel like I can hike later in the evening when I've rested during the day.

The trail seemed fairly flat today. There were a few ups and downs, but nothing like Yosimite! It's also easier to find the trail. There were times about 100 miles back where it was difficult to tell exactly where the trail went at times. There are still a lot of small creeks, but no fords, so my feet are staying dry. That's a good thing!

The zipper on my back pack gave out today! It might be a real problem. I need to decided if I need a new pack or if I can make this one work.

Friday July 18, 2008

Sonora Pass to Boulder Lake Trail. 12 miles, 1030 miles total.





It didn't take too long to hitch a ride back to Sonora Pass. It took two rides, but I still didn't have to wait too long.

I was able to mail my bear cannister home today. That's a good thing. Save some weight!

I made it to the trail by noon, ready to start hiking again in my new shoes. I'll take it easy for the first 50 miles or so, until they get broke in a little. The bugs were a little better today.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Zero Day in Bridgeport, looking for a new pair of shoes! Hitched a ride to Bishop and back with my new Montrail hiking shoes (Size 12.5!) I was able to get a ride in both directions farily easily, and that was a good thing.

I stayed at the Bridgeport Inn Motel. This was a very "Hiker-Friendly" place with good food and reasonable prices for a room.



The Bridgeport Inn served a great breakfast.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Forsyth Peak to Sonora Pass Highway 108. 23 miles, 1018 miles total.



Another great day for photos!





I passed a hugh milestone today: 1,000 miles! It's hard to believe that I've hiked that far!

I started early at 6:30 a.m. I also had my first blisters today! My shoes are wearing out ... can you believe it? It's time for a new pair of shoes.

Finally at 8:00 p.m., I made it to Sonora Pass. It was starting to get dark, and I didn't know if I'd get a ride 30 miles to Bridgeport or not. The first vehicle by was a pickup truck, but he didn't even slow down! About 15 minutes later, the second car stopped to give me a ride. They were a very nice couple, and we had a great chat on the way to town. I bought them dinner after we arranged our motel rooms.

I'll figure out how to get a new pair of shoes in the morning. Hopefully, there will be a store in town that will have something that will work. I also need to buy 4 or 5 days worth of food.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Kerrick Canyon Creek to Forsyth Peak. 15 miles, 995 miles total.



All the rain helped to clear out the smoke. The sky is so blue!





There was another beautiful sunset tonight!



By morning, Kerrick Canyon Creek had calmed down and it was actually fairly easy to cross. Once on the other side, I stopped to dry out my tent and my gear. Everything was wet again from all the rain.

The afternoon hiking was in a large meadow. There were a lot of flower and a lot of bugs! It was a fairly flat hike through the meadow. That was nice.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Benson Pass to Kerrick Canyon Creek. 14 miles, 980 miles total.



After the afternoon rain, there was water everywhere! This rock wall had several waterfalls pouring off of it.



I slept warm most of the night. In the morning, my sleeping bag was damp, but not too bad. The first order of business was to find some sunshine to dry everything out. About 80% of everything I had was wet from the rain.

On my way up Seavey Pass, it started to sprinkle, then it really started to rain hard. There was a lot of Lightening and Thunder, too. I stopped under a dry tree for a while, but I could tell that it wouldn't let up. I put on my rain suit and continued to hike because I had to make some distance. I hiked all the way to Kerrick Creek Crossing, but the water was so swift and strong that it was moving small boulders! I decided to make camp on this side of the creek, and wait until morning to try to cross it.

My sleeping bag wasn't wet ... that's a good thing. Everything else was soaked again. I tried to start a fire, but my matches were too damp to light. I found a nice place to put up my tent that wasn't too wet. At least the ground was soft! That will help me to sleep better tonight.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Virginia Canyon Trail to Benson Pass. 10 miles, 966 miles total.

This couple was hiking South with 4 Llamas.



More flowers ... I love these purple flowers. They are everywhere!



The day started out warm and sunny. Then it started to rain in the afternoon. It was refreshing at first, but it wouldn't let up. I ate my dinner in the rain ... everything got wet. I was able to set up my tent and my bag was still dry, so that was good.

Finally at about 7:00 p.m., the rain stopped and the sun came out. I thought about getting out of my tent and trying to hike some more, but since everything was wet, I just stayed in my tent and slept. It was a short day, but what can you do?

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Lyell Canyon to Virginia Canyon Trail. 21 miles, 956 miles total.

These Marmonts are so curious. They love to run around on the rocks.





There has been so much water ... streams, creeks, waterfalls!





I was glad to make it 21 miles today. I can't believe that I made it that far. I have to get up earlier and hike later in the day, but it's worth it.

I stopped at Tuolumne Lodge to get breakfast, but they stop serving breakfast at 9:00 a.m., so I rode the local bus to the Store / Post Office. There's a small grill there that serves food all day long. The breakfast there was great!

I also stopped at the nearby outfitter. I switched shirts while I was in Salem, but the blue shirt I brought back doesn't wick very well. It just stays wet all day long. I threw it away and bought a new shirt. I'm liking it alot.

My next stop was at Glen Aulin. There are cabins there to rent, and they even serve dinner, but it was early, so I hiked on..

I saw the first park ranger today ... had to ask them to inspect my wilderness permit! I'm carrying it all this way, I'd at least like someone to look at it once in a while! They asked me about my bear cannister, and I was glad to report that I was using it. Haven't seen any bears, though.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Garnet Lake to Lyell Canyon. 17 miles, 935 miles total.





It was a good hiking day today! I didn't make it 21 miles, but I had a good day anyway.

I had a light rain tonight. There hasn't been rain for a long time, so it was actually refreshing to have some.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Red's Meadow to Garnet Lake. 12 miles, 918 miles total.



I took the John Muir Trail today rather than the Pacific Crest Trail. There was a lot of smoke in the air, so some of the photos didn't turn out very well.



There was a lot of smoke in the air, so the sunset photos from my tent were unbelievable! I must have taken about 50 photos just of this one sunset!