Day 17 - Lacey Creek - Mile 1172'ish

Even though I slept well last night, I started the day out tired. As it turns out, the 700' climb up to Mules Ears Creek would have been too much for me last night. In fact I was pretty slow at it this morning, as it took me more than an hour to hike less than two miles. 

Part of the difficulty is that my ribs are sore and when I have my pack on I can't get a full breath on the uphills. With out the pack on I have much less discomfort but, the pack is part of my daily wear right about now so there is nothing for it but to suck it up. 

One good thing about stopping to suck air on the climbs is I am able to take more pictures. Here are early morning shots. 

And what a great place to eat breakfast, eh?

I stopped for lunch and to make a decision about my plan for the day. I am feeling the effects of my tumble yesterday so I think I'm just gonna let go of trying to get to the PO tomorrow before 4pm and just have a couple of leisurely days, getting there on Saturday. This for sure means I won't get to Tuolumne Meadows this trip. Too many down days have put me far off my schedule so that's just the way of it. It also likely puts me in South Lake Tahoe on Labor Day weekend so I don't know where I'll find a place to stay. I have a box of food at a hostel there so I have to go in. I'll call them the next time I get reception. Anyone know of any other options?

The lunchtime view from my hammock. 

I'm glad I decided to take it easy today. After lunch I climbed up onto a bald area, which is the highest I've been so far on this trip. Here's a screen shot of the app I use for the PCT. 

As you can see it tells me lots of information, most of which I ignore. PCT mile and elevation are the two things I generally look at. The rest could be important for an emergency or if I were somehow lost. I must say though, it would be pretty hard to get lost on this trail. 

After that high point I wound down to my spot for the night. The flowers were stunning, the snow must have just melted around here. 

After hiking around 9 miles, I'm settled in here at Lacey Creek. 

(That is good to know.)

By 4:30pm I've finished dinner, washed up and gathered water. It's slightly harder to do here since the water is a bit low, so I had to use my scoop and transfer the water to my containers. 

The only downside to camping here by this creek is that it is the lowest spot in this area and at night the cold air drops down to the lowest spot, so it could get cool tonight. I did put the tarp up in case of condensation. I'll find out!

Day 12 - Bear Trap Creek

I listened to some podcasts last night which were informational and entertaining. The name of the podcast is SYSK, aka Stuff You Should Know. I listened to one on stuttering where they presented historical ideas as well as the current scientific understanding, which is not very full. Then I finished one I started earlier on Bioarchaeology. All quite interesting. I must say though I am jonesing for another Harry Potter book so I'll download one when I get internet service in Sierra City. 

Also last night there were sunset clouds that I captured from inside my hammock. The netting gave it an interesting quality. 

All that was yesterday but my day today began at 6:30 when I began walking. I had an immediate 500' climb which is tough on a breakfasted stomach. I had to stop a lot and I was wondering why it's so hard for me to do these climbs - very discouraging for sure. 

I eventually did get up into some pretty areas and the smell of skunk cabbage was so powerful. Lower down it is turning yellow but higher up it is still green with a few flowers. 

At 7:30 I came to a clear area where I tried, yet again, to send off the last two days of blog posts. Voila! They sent so I am now caught up and feel better about my communications. I called Angela and chatted with her for a bit which was nice. I checked in with the latest news and found that Steve Bannon was fired, which cheered me up immensely. I'm always happier when there are fewer Nazi sympathizers in the White House. Then I watched ants eating aphids on plant leaves. 

After an hour break I took off again and for some reason I started to feel the groove. I made great time and by 10:30 I was hungry again and pulled off to have lunch and rest for a bit. That long rest seemed to work for me yesterday so I reasoned maybe it would work today. I needed to go 5 more miles to get to water and I was hoping to do a couple miles more after that.   

There was some climbing up to pass one water source at Whiskey Spring, which I didn't take as I felt I had enough water. 

More climbing to pass Duck Soup Pond. This is a car camping place but the pond looked awfully murky. Glad I didn't need to get water there. 

Can you see the funky water? I guess ducks like it. 

More climbing till I reached the highest point I've been so far, Bunker Hill Ridge at 6,997'. It was spectacular. But what goes up must, well you know. Down into a canyon where it started getting hot again. Wild flowers, which have been lean the last day or two, were still going strong down in this protected area. 

I was hopeful I would have more energy this afternoon but it wasn't to be. One reason is the heat. Another is that I'm not eating enough. I know, hard to imagine for me. 

Let me back up. Day 5 of this trip found me walking into Belden with half my food uneaten. It's common for lots of folks to take a while for "hiker hunger" to set in. It usually takes me a couple of weeks to be able to eat much during the day. When I opened my food resupply in Belden, in furnace heat and facing that 7 mile climb up out of there, I looked at all that food and said "Nope, not going in my food bag." I donated lots of stuff to the hiker box. Jerky, nuts, fruit, all got left behind. This has been fine, till yesterday, and for sure today. I'm more hungry than I have food to eat. I mean I have food but not snacky stuff to munch on between meals. Grazing as it were. So I think today, after getting back on the trail around noon, I just didn't have the get up and go I think I should have, and I was hungry. It's not gonna kill me but I think it is a factor with my energy level. 

This is a long winded way of saying I did 10.5 miles and no more. However I passed, or rather he passed me, a young man named Gadget who is trying to do a 44 mile day today. He didn't tell me as he was moving too fast to chat but his buddy did and well, wow. I'd be happy to get 13 miles in. 

So I got to this spot around 3:15 and went first to the creek to gather water. I usually try to go upstream from the crossing to gather it from the cleanest place, which had me in the bushes upstream. I got my 3 liters and walked back to my pack to start the purification process. I use Aqua Mira drops and I've had great success with this method. 

However, this afternoon, for some unknown reason, part A of the duo treatment is empty. I still have plenty of part B but both have to be used to be effective. So, from now until I get out and buy something else, I have to depend on my knowledge and wits. Springs only, no open water sources if I can manage it. Well damn. 

I did get to eat a favorite dinner tonight. Turkey Stroganoff. Yummmmm. 

Well, that was my day. I'm settled in and inside my hammock, tired and sleepy from my good dinner. I'm gonna try to stay awake till dark. 

Day 11 - Alder Spring Junction, 6016'

When the alarm went off this morning I was tired from not sleeping well. I had a headache and I could hear the mosquitoes whining just on the other side of my hammock netting. This called for a strategy that required being more awake so I let the snoozer go off a couple of times before I got up to face the day. 

Last night it had taken forever before it cooled off enough to even pull my down quilt out of my pack and bring it into the hammock. Of course it's just guessing but I'd say it was around the mid 60's, temperature wise when I woke up. Yikes! Time to gain some altitude!

I started walking at 6:45 but I was slow and lethargic most of the morning. After 2.5 miles I needed to water up so I got 2 liters of water at Fowler Creek, requiring a 500' steep downhill detour. 

I have these handy devices that make it possible to hold the bottles and still use my sticks, since these off trail sources are often quite a downhill trek. I normally don't use too many gadgets but these are worth their .7 ounces. 

I continued to drag and finally at around noon I gave up the ghost and pulled off the side of the trail and hung my hammock for a small nap. I set my alarm for two and I think I snoozed a bit. It was quite the right thing to do. 

 When I got back on the trail I had to go five miles to reach water and tonight's camp. The heat was quite draining and an umbrella is just the thing for hot sun. 

For some unknown reason this afternoon I experienced gastro intestinal shenanigans and I had to stop twice to dig cat holes. Not fun, especially when one is lacking in toilet paper😬. (You'll be pleased there are no images.)

Even with that I managed the 5 miles here in pretty good time. First things first, I had to take the long walk to Alder Spring to get 4 liters of water. Steep but I met another hiker there, a southbounder! Or SOBO in hiker speak. Her trail name is Pooh Bear and she is probably in her 50's. She has completed the AT and is now working on the PCT. She hopes to get to Campo this season, beating the snow in the Sierra. Lofty goals but if one can do the AT then the PCT should be a cinch. 

Sorry the blogs haven't been coming through. I try numerous times each day but there isn't enough of what is necessary out there in cyber land to send them along. They will go through sometime. Patience grasshopper. 

10.5 miles today. Off to sleepy land. 

Day 6 - PCT mile 1274... 10 mile day

Trains came by three times last night. 9pm, 1:30 am and 4:00 am. Guess which time they blew their horn? Yup. Right in the middle of the night. I had my earplugs in but it still woke me up, though I was able to go back to sleep. Dang it was loud in that canyon!

My alarm woke me at 5:30 but as usual, I ignored it till closer to 6. Quickly packing up I wove my way through many campsites, trying to find a way to get back up to the road, which leads to the PCT trailhead. I surprised a few folks walking by but I had to do it. 

Crossed the railroad tracks 

and found the trail register, the first one so far this trip. It appears there were two folks more energetic than I. 

Then this...

Hang gliders? Really? Who knew?

Then the day started in earnest. Four miles of up. In fact, to keep myself occupied I counted the switchbacks... 39 of them. 

For real. Fortunately the temperatures were cool at the beginning and even later when I started sweating buckets, switching to face up canyon would allow a cool breeze to begin to evaporate the sweat. Nice. 

This area is known for having tons of poison oak and it is true, though not so much it couldn't be avoided. It is starting to turn colors now. 

Once having gained those switchbacks I still had another 3 miles of climbing to do. It was just kind of a grind and the trail moved from oak woodland to manzanita and ceaonathus bushes. Scratchy and pokey but doable. Just difficult and in the full sun. 

There were springs along the way so I didn't have to carry too much water at any one time. 

I finally got to the top of the climb and eventually the trail entered pine trees again. Much nicer for hiking in, for me. Cooler and more to look at. I passed a lilly pond. 

Then, 2 miles shy of my target mileage today, I gave it up. I guess the climb did me in and I wasn't into walking any more. So here I am, hammock up, dinner eaten (spaghetti tonight), locator beacon sent off to wherever it goes and I'm done for the night. Hopefully I'll have more energy tomorrow. 

This spaghetti is ground turkey cooked at home with Trader Joe's sauce, then dehydrated. I added freeze dried carrots and previously cooked and dehydrated pasta, zucchini and basil. With Parmesan cheese it makes a pretty good dinner. Much better than the commercial stuff and way cheaper. 

Day 1 - mile 1318.5 - Near Butt Mt

The day started with breakfast at the hotel and it was just so-so. I realized how I measure the quality of a hotel breakfast by how they cook the eggs and the ones here were little round disks, about three inches across. They didn't look very tasty so I passed. But, it was good enough to get me going.

Angela dropped me off about 7:45 and after the obligatory photo, the last time I'll be clean for a while, I was off. Thank you Angela! You saved the day.

The trail climbed a bit then dropped into a meadow where a "seasonal" stream could be found. This year it was a running creek, right down the middle of the path. Nothing for it but to just slosh along till I got through. 

After about three miles I stopped at Soldier Creek to water up. This means I left there with 4 liters of water since I would be stopping for the night before the next water source. Many times in the next seven miles I wished I hadn't committed to limiting my milages to 10 miles a day for the first section. Not because I wanted to do more but carrying 9+pounds of water for 7 miles is harder than carrying <5 for 10 miles. Which is where the next water source is. But no matter. I got here just fine though I am feeling the effects of carrying so much weight on day one. Hopefully rest will cure what ails me. 

I stopped to rest a bit and take an image of the "official" PCT mid point, for those walking the whole trail that is. 

At that point I started to notice the clouds building and it looked like there could be afternoon rain. A welcome event for me as it keeps things cool. About a mile from my stopping place it started to sprinkle so when I arrived at the listed campsite area I went looking for some likely trees. I did manage to get my hammock and tarp up in time to keep things mostly dry. Luckily it never poured. My umbrella kept my stuff dry while I scurried about getting things set up. 

I've seen 5 or 6 deer circling around this spot...apparently they are used to just walking through this area. They don't seem scared, just cautious. 

Dinner tonight was Cowgirl Pasta, a dinner of my own design. Even without a stove it rehydrated just fine. 

It's only 5pm but I'm laying down in my hammock to rest. I did manage to stop a couple of times and do some stretching and a bit of Gyrokinisis. For those of you who don't know, Gyrokinisis is a kind of yoga that is done sitting down. This style of exercise has saved my back so I'm definitely a fan. 

Tomorrow is another 10 mile day, with another heavy water carry. I may also pass the spot where I injured myself last year and I'm looking forward to getting past that area. Injury free of course. I guess I'm a bit nervous 😬