-> Mammoth Lakes -> Lake Tahoe ->
6/26 – 7/11
Being back home for two weeks was the best and I soaked up the time with family and friends the whole week.
We went to Frazier Park for Jaden’s bachelor party, spent time with some extended family for Father’s day since Dad was out of town (love you Aunt Pat!), had the best time at the beach with our Washington family, and filled the days with lots of other outings.
The only times I’ve gotten emotional on trail have been when I thought about how lucky I am to be a part of my huge immediate and extended family.
After a surprisingly busy couple of weeks, I got my gear in order to return to trail. I had to fix my snapped trekking pole and replace the lower section, which required some epoxy and tape. Thankfully, I could leave my microspikes and ice axe at home this time! I can’t believe all the snowy miles are behind me already.
I took the Metrolink north and had some delicious B+ health rated Chinese food in Lancaster. My fortune cookie said, “friends long absent are coming back to you,” which made me think of catching up to my trail friends.
The 5ish hour ride up the 395 was gorgeous. Hikers were waiting for rides at various spots and I enjoyed seeing Mount Whitney from a comfortable seat knowing I had finished those jagged peaks.
It was raining and I imagined all the hikers up in the poor weather, knowing I would hear stories of it in the coming weeks. I surely have – stories of hail and pooring rain and numb feet and hair standing up from an electric charge in the air. Thankfully, I avoided this storm.
My last town chore was to get new socks since my original pairs had holes in them. I was pretty stoked that I got 900 miles out of two pairs of socks. Darn Tough socks are worth it!
I arrived in Mammoth too late to take the bus back to Horseshoe Lake, so I texted Melissa and booked another night at the Motel 6. I made it back to trail the next afternoon.
My trekking poles felt clunky in my hands for the first hour or so and I felt so heavy. I didn’t want to look at the map or plan out my resupply, so I unnecessarily packed more than a full week’s worth of food.
My legs still felt strong but I have found that my feet tire first. I planned to take it easy for a couple of days and did not go above 20 miles daily.
I had no idea that I would be walking by Red’s Meadow the first evening. It was a pleasant surprise that I got to sleep in a campground!
The campground was not open yes but the hosts let us stay there for free, and they were the sweetest! They raked out flat spots in the dirt and showed me a cool secluded spot under a large tree where I set up my bed.
Red’s Meadow also had a hot spring. It was hotter than Deep Creek and had been built up with cinderblocks.
The host offered us beers from his massive supply and brought a few more by in the morning. His dog is named Guinness.
The only other hiker there was named Dylan and we hung out at the hot spring for a bit.
I saw a coyote while I was cowboy camping and Dylan shared in the morning that he was woken up by a heavy-breathing bear that stepped on his tent line.
After leaving Red’s Meadow, I made it to Devil’s Postpile! Compared to my first two weeks in the Sierra mountains, these parts were far more accessible with occasional non-PCT hikers. I only had Donohue pass left and then the high Sierra would wind down into the less intense peaks of northern California.
There was a small detour around a fallen bridge, but the rivers were already far less threatening than the others we had crossed before.
One of my favorite parts of backpacking is having the freedom to plop my things down and camp at any given time. If I like a view, it’s bedtime.
We’re *technically* advised by the PCTA to camp 200 feet away from trail as a ‘leave no trace’ practice, but nobody does that. I can’t see how it leaves less of a trace if we all stomp around in search of flat spaces so I sleep wherever it looks convenient.
This was one of my favorite sunsets by far and I think some distant wildfire smoke made the color more vibrant. Fires are starting to creep into the conversations on the trail as they break out hundreds of miles ahead. So far, they aren’t too big of a problem for the PCT this year, but any active fire is discussed routinely until it’s ruled out.
The terrain had begun shifting as I moved north past the high Sierras. The valleys widened with new, less enormous rock formations.
Banner Peak across Thousand Island Lake
I had a fantastic break at Thousand Island Lake and was pleasantly surprised how much the lakes had warmed up while I was off trail. I mustered up the courage to dive in but it wasn’t that bad!
With summer settling in, the trails were rarely muddy or waterlogged anymore which made each day a bit more relaxing.
After a climb to the top of Donohue Pass, I was already entering Yosemite Wilderness.
Some Marmots welcomed me to the valley.
There were now mosquitos around and they disrupted my routine.
I couldn’t sit and eat without them swarming my face. I had lost my bug spray one day out of Mammoth so I had to walk in circles at camp to keep them off while I ate my dinner. I was mostly humored because I knew these days would come . I had hiked long before mosquito season and hope to hike long past it.
Every high pass in the last couple weeks had led to steep, rocky, beautiful, challenging canyons.
Donohue pass was different. The horizon had softened with huge sprawling meadows and rounded forest-covered mountains. It was the flattest and longest stretch in many weeks and I was grateful for some truly easy miles.
I made it to Tuolomne Meadows and decided I’d try hitching into Yosemite Valley for a night. It feels wrong not to “stop by” Yosemite whenever I get the chance.
It was a 1.5 hour drive into the valley so I was surprised to get a hitch within minutes. I rode with two siblings named Luke and Alia who were fresh off a backpacking trip and heading back down to Curry Village where Luke was working a summer job in the valley. They’re from Santa Cruz and Alia works in NorCal doing meadow habitat restoration for beavers. We talked the whole drive and it went by so quickly.
In Yosemite, I stayed for free at the backpacker’s camp in North Pines.
Even though Yosemite is top tier hiking, I decided not to do any of the trails and just ate lots of food and lounged around. I spent many hours in the Peet’s Coffee while catching up on my last blog post. I was an unofficial resident and culinary connoisseur of Curry Village.
During my 5 hour inhabitance of a Curry Village patio table, I was joined by an Israeli family on a long US road trip, the sweetest couple from Sherman Oaks (Audra and Allen), and some new hiker friends named Riff Raff, Wet Feet, Five Spice, and Teach.
I tried to hitchhike back out of the park the next day but gave up after a solid hour. Although 7 lovely people offered me a ride, they were all going west and I needed to go east out of the park. I wasn’t confident I could get back to Tuolomne Meadows before sunset so I took the bus back to the backpacker’s campground.
Back at the campground, I found all of the same hikers I had stayed with the night before (Hazy, Big Cat, Teach, ET, Shady, etc). We laughed because they also planned to leave that day and it made me feel better about being there another night. They ate too much pizza and got vortexed.
The next day, I swam in a sun-warmed creek by the Merced river and then took a scheduled bus out of the valley and back to trail.
I tried the water in Soda Springs and can report that it tasted like a Perrier that had sat out for 6 hours. Not bad, but not that bubbly.
The miles north of Tuolomne were gorgeous and I would love to come back here for a weekend backpacking trip in the future. I walked up a huge slab of rock and camped with a view.
I strolled along on and enjoyed everything I could, even when mosquitoes were challenging. I found tiny Lupine flowers, moved baby trout out of a drying creek, and swam in Miller Lake.
The weather was warming up considerably and I had to filter water frequently to fight dehydration. It was a sweaty couple of days with multiple rocky climbs up to small passes like Benson Pass.
Smedburg Lake was a gorgeous place to spend the night. I set up my bed on a rock by the water and enjoyed watching fish jumping as the sun set.
As I was about to nod off for the night, I was disturbed by a sneezing deer or fish splashing close to the lake’s edge. The nights were getting noisier after the insulating snow had melted away and summer loomed.
Smedburg Lake was at mile 969 so I thought it would be a cool challenge to make it to mile 1000 by bedtime. I was also 48 miles away from Kennedy Meadows North (the next town) and the next day was the 4th of July! If I could pull off a long day, I could make it to town on the 4th.
It wouldn’t be an easy day for a 30 – there would be multiple ascents.
The first half of the day was discouraging because I was so exhausted. There were three big uphills with rocky root tangled steps that made each mile feel like two.
One of the challenges of big mile days, as I have learned over and over, is to enjoy the early miles instead of fixating on the end goal. I forced myself to take a nap by a river and then a substantial lunch break to recharge. It was a hot and tiring day.
I had only made it 17 miles by 4 pm. 17 miles isn’t an awful effort but it feels that way when you want to make it to 30!
Everything shifted in the late afternoon at Wilma Lake when I saw Ollie and Bianca who I hadn’t seen since just after Julian (mile 77). It was so exciting to see old faces since I was still getting plugged back into the trail.
I took a swim despite the biting flies and mosquitos and threw my clothes on while still dripping wet. Now, I was confident I could make it to my goal.
I was wired for the second half of the day and it felt like all of the good came at once. I saw friends, played music, drank caffeine, and the miles were magic from that moment on.
I’ve been holding off on music and caffeine in case I need a push in the second half of the day and it always pays off.
I used my headlamp for the last 1.5 miles and made it to mile 1000 by 9:30 pm. It was a mixed bag of a day but I felt good about accomplishing my goal and knowing I could make it to Kennedy Meadows by the next evening!
I drank 7.5 liters of water that day which must have been a personal record.
The miles towards Sonora Pass were fantastic and brought the first break from mosquitos in a few days. As much as I love the woods, I am a sucker for clear views and open trail.
Looking south, I got my last glimpse of the high snowy Sierra mountains. It was interesting to me how quickly the geology was changing. The big granite mountains in the south were done and the new mountains were starting to crumble down to lower elevations with volcanic rock and shale.
Before I made it to Sonora Pass, I stumbled on Pony boy hiking with some of his friends from college (India and Quinn). Always the best to run into old friends again!
I hitchhiked into Kennedy Meadows north in the afternoon and spent a night there. It was 90 degrees and I overheard that 39 hikers were checked in for the night!
I was told by a local that Kennedy Meadows South and Kennedy Meadows North are not affiliated at all. It’s interesting because they sandwich the most challenging section of the trail.
The southern KM is the definitive start of the high Sierra section, and the northern KM is the end of it.
I did my regular resupply and laundry in Kennedy Meadows and enjoyed some impromptu boxing that broke out on the night of the 4th.
The locals assured me that “this never happens!” but I joked with the European hikers that this was a normal 4th of July everywhere in the states.
Any room or campsite booked at KMN came with a free ride back to trail. The driver was named Gary, and he was accompanied by his dog, Jessie.
Gary gave a very interesting history lesson on the Sonora Pass region as we drove. We learned about the Mono Pass trail being built during the gold rush, the ghost town of Bodie, and Deadman Creek.
The origin of the name ‘Deadman Creek’ was no mystery, but I wasn’t expecting Gary to pull over and point out a pile of rocks that are the grave site of the dead man. Back when they were building the mono pass trail road, settlers encountered the frozen body of a man. Since they couldn’t dig him a grave in the granite, they stacked rocks on him. Seeing that unmarked pile of rocks just off the modern road really stuck with me.
The trail after Kennedy Meadows North was one of my favorite sections in a while because it was easy to follow and less rocky. I took naps on top of wildflowers in the shade, walked past interesting new plants and Mariposa Lillies, and watched the sunset each night. There were loud grasshoppers that crackled when they flew, the smell of wild mint, hazy sunsets, and clear blue skies during the day.
One night, I went off trail to sleep up higher with a view and had a little peak to myself. I woke up all sweaty in the morning sun but it was worth it.
I had no idea there was a road coming up at Ebbett’s Pass until a day hiker told me there was trail magic ahead! Trail magic is the perfect excuse to take a long break and I get to have longer conversations with people I’ve seen in passing.
The trail magic did not disappoint. I had a hot dog, cereal, cookies, an apple, an orange, some candy, orange juice, and a couple of sodas. No, I did not feel full after.
Phil and George are neighbors from Lodi and thought it would be fun to give food to hikers since they had enjoyed hiking in the Sierras for many decades.
I waited out the midday heat for three hours while talking with the trail angels and Momentum, Stinky Fish, Tangerine, and Little Wing. As amazing as the food was, hanging out with a big group was just as nourishing and gave me lots of energy to enjoy the trail afterward.
After the pit stop, I walked along beautiful crags that looked perfect in the evening shade. I hiked with Tangerine for the rest of the day and we cowboy camped up on a saddle where I could look down into Carson, Nevada. It was exciting to see into another state and know we were almost to Lake Tahoe.
Tangerine and I talked for a bit before bed and reflected on how normal some of the trail experiences had become, like plopping down and sleeping in the open air wherever we saw fit.
At this point, I had hit 40% completion of the PCT.
The next day was one of my favorite trail days in a long time, and not only because I went up to a summit called The Nipple. Some day hikers gave me plums that their neighbors grew in Sacramento, and then I hiked the second half of the day with Momentum.
The views were sprawling and I was enjoying the open space with occassional pockets of forest instead of being in a tree tunnel the whole time. After the gray and green palette of the high Sierras, I didn’t mind some brown. Sometimes, I see sages or low growing manzanitas that remind me of the beginning of trail and its comforting to feel like I’m in Southern California for a mile or two.
The most relaxing days on trail for me are the days before entering town when I don’t have to ration food or think ahead. Since I was on track to get to Tahoe in time, I took my time and enjoyed a long break at Lost Lake with Momentum.
Momentum is in her late forties and lives close to the trail by the Washington/Oregon border. I met her at Kennedy Meadows North when I gave her one of my spare charging cords and we had a great time talking. She has been using her vacation weeks to section hike the PCT for over a decade and will finish her last section next year!
My favorite people to hike with, like Momentum, are great conversationalists and I can walk with them for hours without tiring of it. We weave between subjects about hobbies and interests and religion and family and hiking and tv shows. It’s amazing how much you learn about somebody when you spend so many consecutive hours together and have nothing to do but walk and talk.
Some other hikers have held me captive with one-sided story telling and I eventually run out of “wow that’s crazy” responses. I won’t name names but dang.
I inflated my sleeping pad to float in the water and can’t believe I waited to try it out. I was babying my gear, but I’ve already gotten 1000 miles out of this secondhand pad. Momentum and I stayed out on the water, paddling lazily against the breeze, for over an hour. It was the perfect mix of cool water and warm sun and we both left with nice new sunburns.
Momentum called it a day at 6:30 pm so we looked for a spot for her to set up camp. We jokingly judged the available spaces like we were on House Hunters until she finally “closed on a property.” It was a little out of budget but you couldn’t beat the river access or the view.
I kept hiking for two hours so I could have a lighter hike in the morning. The view at the end of the day was phenomenal. I could see the sunset over Lake Tahoe to one side and hazy purple mountains on the other as I walked through a field of Iris flowers.
I hiked the remaining 12 miles in the morning and got an instant ride into town from an older couple named Mike and Charmagne who live in Meyers.
I stayed at Mellow Mountain Hostel in South Lake Tahoe for two nights and made sure to visit Cuppa Tahoe to work on this blog. I met Michèle from Switzerland at the hostel and we spent the next day together. She is on a gap year trip to the US for a couple of months and is trying to improve her English. I helped her out as best I could and tried to help make a trip itinerary for what she should see in California.
We made use of the hostel kitchen instead of eating out every meal and went to one of the beaches in Nevada. Tahoe has an app called Lake Link that’s essentially free Uber. I scheduled rides around town throughout the day and it was incredibly useful.
Back at Cuppa Tahoe for the second day in a row and gearing up to go back to the trail. Up next, I have Desolation Wilderness which I am excited to see!
There is a bit of a tone shift on trail as we head into northern California because it’s said to be a mentally challenging part of the trail. It’s known as the Norcal blues and I fully intend to skirt around the slump.
There’s a handful of reasons that hikers get the blues here.
Some people have a hard time going from gorgeous snowy mountains to often hot and fire-scarred miles. Some start to reconsider their budgets and realize they will have to make changes or go home early. Others get scrambled out of their trail families and don’t adapt to hiking alone. The cherry on top of the discouragement is that you are a few months in and not even that close to Oregon.
This might be where the mental game kicks in, but I’m going to do my best to not play into the expected depression. I don’t mind some warm days and I think I enjoy the dry areas more than most. We’ll see how it goes!