P18.9 Belden to Donner Pass, 127 PCT miles

Climbing southbound out of Belden the trail transitions from a landscape where volcanic forces had the upper hand to the beginning of the Sierras with their tectonic and glacial influences.  As if to punctuate the change, I surprised black bears on both the first and second days.  One was just a bit off trail and went crashing away through the underbrush, and the second was actually standing on the trail with his back to me until he looked around and also galloped off.

The scenery was dominated by mossy forests, fast-running streams, and craggy mountains.  There were also beautiful mountain lakes, including Tamarack Lakes, where I camped one night.

This was an interesting section for meeting other hikers.  In the 127 miles of this section, after passing one other hiker on the first day, I didn't see another southbound hiker.  Many of the dozen or so northbound hikers that I met had "made it through" the Sierras.  To paraphrase their common experience:  Wet, Cold, Exhausting, and sometimes Sketchy.  Oh, and almost as an afterthought, very beautiful. Undoubtedly, fresh snow creates a magical scene.

"Sketchy" has taken over on the PCT for:  dangerous, irritatingly difficult, or unpleasant.  This nearly all-purpose term can be applied to steep snow traverses, river crossings, weather conditions, and campground bathrooms.  Unfortunately it's use is now so widespread that a "sketchy" traverse could be anything from life-threatening to simply one where extra caution makes sense.  More on the "trail of 1,000 opinions" later.

In an earlier post, I outlined three things that I like about long-distance hiking:  traversing vast landscapes; living simply; and, tolerance and acceptance.  Here are a few more:

1. Beauty:  The photo sets give you a very small taste of the beauty that hikers are immersed in.  It's an extraordinary blessing to be soaked in the beauty of nature day after day.
2. Community or comraderie:  Whatever term you use for it, the mutual positive regard between hikers, and between hikers and others in the wider community, is a constant source of positive feedback that all of us enjoy.  It's also fun to be a "D list" celebrity ("hey are you hiking that trail?").
3. Relaxation:  Remember this is my list ... and I have to add the profound relaxation that follows a long day of hiking, as well as the brief relaxation of taking a break in the sun.  
4. Weight loss:  A bit prosaic, and hard to maintain, but losing 20+ pounds feels great, even if it doesn't all stay off once back at home.
5. Fitness:  Hiking 10+ hours a day has increased my fitness significantly, and being more fit is a great feeling.
6. Craft:  Backpacking, like most activities, relies on a great deal of specific knowledge and judgement gained through experience.  I get pleasure out of becoming more skilled at the craft of backpacking.  

Most of this trail section was uneventful.  Simply one amazing day after another.  I did have some trepidation over the Sierra City to Donner Pass section, as I knew there would be significant snow in that section.  Naturally I consulted northbound hikers that had passed through this section in the last few days.  Ask two PCT hikers a question, and you are likely to get three opinions.  Some of the feedback that I got was: 

• quite a bit of snow, but you can make it through
• snow for 21 miles of the trail
• a lot of snow, but "doable" (always a very subjective and vague assessment)
• traction devices would be helpful (this refers to using crampons or microspikes to get over a "sketchy" section)
• I glissaded down some of the switchbacks ... not sure how you can climb up them
• cold, wet feet for two days

The trend of these comments had me a bit concerned, but basically I was committed to hiking that section, so I didn't worry too much about it.  You can leave extra time for a difficult section, but ultimately once you decide to hike it, there isn't much point in stressing about it in advance, and you can be sure that your own description of the section will be different from most of the people that you consulted.  In the end, there were seven and one-half miles with significant snow cover, just one 0.8 mile continuous snow field, and only about 0.2 miles of direct-route climbing past switchbacks that were snow-covered.  In net:  not a big deal.

The last full day on trail I awoke to heavy winds and cold temperatures, and had a hard push to make it 22.5 miles, including getting through most of the snow section.  My reward was staying at the Peter Grubb Hut, which is a Sierra Club hut just 3.2 miles short of Donner Pass.  A group of five hikers from Reno were already at the hut when I arrived, and they had a fire going in the stove which brought the temperature up to about 50 degrees in the hut.  Caveman, an Austrian PCT hiker, arrived shortly after I did.  Following a quick dinner and chat with Caveman I called it a night and slept soundly, as usual. 

The next morning I popped out of the trail at the I-80 rest-area at Donner Pass.  My wife Christine had driven up from Richmond to pick me up and we are enjoying a chance to catch up, not having seen each other since April 1st.  I'll start back on trail in a few days.

You can see some of the amazing scenery for this section, as well as some of the snow near Donner Pass at this link:  Photos for Belden to Donner Pass

P18.8 Castella to Belden, 214 PCT miles

After reaching Kennedy Meadows, I went home for a six day break.  To get back on trail, I took a night train up to Dunsmuir, which is just a few miles from the PCT.  While waiting for the train to pull in at 5 AM, a former park ranger on the train offered me a ride to the trailhead, which saved me an early morning road walk.  There were a few other hikers on the train, but since they were in business class, they ended up walking to the trail.

The trail up from Castella rises so smoothly that another hiker described it as having been designed by railroad engineers.  I tried to get up a head of steam, but was tired, and already making slow progress when rain started falling at 11 AM.  At 13 miles in, I pitched my tent in the rain, and didn't budge until the next morning,  breaking camp as a light rain continued to fall.  So much for the desert, and welcome to Northern California!

The weather cleared up on the afternoon of the second day, and it has been pleasant since then.

Flipping to Castella put me in a much smaller group of hikers, giving me a lot more solitude.  Chatting with other hikers is enjoyable, but beauty, birdsong, and fresh air really carry the day for me.  I was thinking about why people hike the PCT, and it seems to me that there are three reasons: athletic challenge; fun adventure; and, self discovery or growth.  I'm mostly in the camp of fun adventure, but I have a dose of the others as well. 

Before starting the PCT someone who isn't a hiker commented to me that thru-hiking is more of a mental challenge than a physical challenge.  I've puzzled over that comment and realize now after talking with other hikers that have experience on both trails that the AT is not physically demanding in the same way that the PCT is.  In fact the PCT and CDT are both physically difficult for most people to complete in a season, so just finishing the trail is a meaningful athletic achievement.

In this section the trail runs through areas that have been shaped both by volcanic eruptions and plate tectonics.  The Hat Creek Rim runs almost straight for 29 waterless miles along an escarpment of volcanic rock.  I was lucky to have cool weather crossing that section.  On my second day on the rim, I was rewarded for rising early by meeting a skunk crossing the trail in front of me. 

The next day I woke in a beautiful pine forest and hiked into Lassen National Park, moving quickly to make it the 23 miles to Drakesbad Guest Ranch by 4:30 PM to pick up a resupply package.  I didn't see a single person during the hike, but did surprise a bear about three miles from the ranch.  They didn't have my package afterall, but did invite me to join their staff dinner of salmon, broccolini, and rice pilaf, finishing with strawberry shortcake, so any worries were forgotten.  I had only 19 miles to a road crossing for Chester, so I got on trail early and hiked through the park and on to the road.  Minutes later I had a ride into Chester where my package turned out to be waiting for me at the Post Office, despite being addressed to the ranch.  I enjoyed a late lunch and was hiking again by late afternoon, again getting a ride back in just minutes.

By day 10 of being back on trail I was ready for a rest day, so I've settled in on the porch at Belden.  Shorts, Crush, and Newt showed up, who I knew from the desert section, and we enjoyed a meal together, but since they are headed north I probably won't see them again for awhile.

I took pictures every day, so to get more of a day by day sense of the landscape, please see: Photos from Castella to Belden

P18.7 Tehachapi to Kennedy Meadows, 136 PCT miles

For those of you who saw the movie or read Wild, Cheryl Strayed's book that features her PCT hike, this is the section where she began.  After a couple of miles paralleling the freeway, the trail switchbacks sharply up, with 3,900 feet of climbing before reaching Golden Oak Spring after 17 miles, the first water in this section.  When I reached the spring about a dozen hikers were lounging there, including Scuba Steve, a trail friend who achieved a rare thru-hike in 2017.  They were mostly fired up to do a 27 mile day, targeting a large campsite further on.  In contrast, I was feeling like a 22 mile day would be perfect, so I encouraged them to blaze a trail and waved goodbye as they took off.

Hiking on, at about 6:30 I came to a camping spot that was so perfect it seemed almost like a desert vision.  Flat areas for tents, and tree cover to cut the wind.  I abandoned any thoughts of going further and pitched next to a newlywed couple that was hiking the PCT for their honeymoon.  We talked for about an hour about their lives, and it struck me how privileged I was to have this intimate glimpse into their hopes and dreams, even though we just met and might never see each other again.

The following day we had a repeat of the perfect hiking weather of the day before, with a cool breeze and warming sun.  This was also Mother's Day, so when I found a spot with cell coverage, I called my wife Christine to remind her of what a great mother she is.  I reminded a few other hikers to call their mothers and reflected that most of the people on trail were at least a generation younger.

Hiking on, the trail reaches Landers Camp, the last natural water source until a spring 35 miles distant at McIvers cabin.  That spring is sometimes dry, which then makes the next water source at Walker Pass, seven miles further on, potentially resulting in a 42 mile water-less stretch, the longest water-less section of the PCT.  I carried 5.5 liters from Landers Camp, which would be adequate to get to McIvers Spring given the cool weather we were having, but hoped for a water cache at Bird Springs Pass to supplement what I was carrying.

Along the trail I caught up with Shorts who I had night hiked with out of Hikertown, and Crush, his current hiking partner, who had taken a three month NOLS course in Alaska and was therefore prepared for Sierra snow travel.  The three of us hiked into Bird Springs Pass together and were rewarded with a fantastic water cache of about 150 gallons.  We all cooked a meal at the cache and I drank about a liter of water.  Christina and Luke had arrived ahead of us and were lounging in the very small patch of shade made by a Joshua tree at the cache.  Suddenly the two of them jumped up so fast it was like a Jack-In-The-Box had sprung.  A Mojave-green rattlesnake had come out of the bushes and headed straight for them, giving them an adrenaline-fueled bounce to their escape.  The rest of us at the cache were more amused by the spectacle of their retreat than worried about the snake, although a strike would be serious and probably require a rescue operation.  Just another minor trail drama.

Hiking out of the cache I surprised another rattlesnake who was just one foot off trail in a bush and dazzled his rattle at me before slithering off.  Although rattlesnakes are obviously dangerous, since hikers don't fit their prey template, strikes are rare even though encounters are frequent in the desert section.

This section is one of the more beautiful in the lower 702 miles of trail, and it also has many transitions between ecosystems with elevation changes as well as ridges that separate weather systems.  It also marked 2,700 miles of hiking on the PCT between last year and this one for me (the trail is 2,650 miles in total), and it gave me some reason to reflect on what I like about long-distance hiking.

1. Traversing vast landscapes - long-distance hikes go through and past wilderness areas, cross major ecosystems, and give a literal as well as metaphorical meaning to being on a journey.  Walking 25 miles in a single day gives a rich experience of the natural world.
2. Living simply - living out of a backpack for weeks and months as a time simplifies life down to few possessions and activities. Possessions are not the key to happiness, and I experience this everyday on a long hike.  Spotify and Audible, on the other hand, do make life great!
3. Tolerance and acceptance - on trail I meet and share living space and water sources with people of many ages and backgrounds and from many countries.  Customs and habits differ, and within limits it's possible to accept these differences without a lot of stress.

After the water-less section the trail drops down to Walker Pass where Kirk, a friend of Shorts, had brought a cooler of sodas, beer and sandwich fixings.  Hikers around cold beer and fresh food could fairly be compared to sharks in a feeding frenzy, although with the obvious difference that sharks don't drink beer.  After every slice of bread and lunch meat had disappeared Kirk gave me a ride into Lake Isabella where I enjoyed a hotel room for one night, and a Cobb Salad at the Dam Korner Cafe.  I took a Kern County Bus back to the trail the next day.

The last 52 miles into Kennedy Meadows are beautiful, and relatively easy hiking.  For some reason, I carried 4 liters of water out of Lake Isabella even though there was a spring at 13 miles in and just one-quarter mile off trail.  If everything happens for a reason, it made sense to have so much water as I met Jonathan and his dog Bonnie who had completely run out of water, and I was able to give them a liter even though I had skipped past the spring to wait for the next water source.  The rest of this hike was uneventful. Hiking this section for the second time I was able to appreciate it more as the weather was perfect this time, and by contrast it was storming, wet, foggy, and cold last year.

Once at Kennedy Meadows, I was underwhelmed by the KM General Store, and moved onto Grumpy Bear's Retreat, which has a cafe, showers, and laundry options for hikers as well as places to pitch a tent.  I reunited with several other hikers, including Mike Sauget, Shorts, Crush, Dirty, Waltzing Mathilda, Sweet Tooth, and True Grit, who is hiking with her two kids.  A friend had offered to give me a ride home from Kennedy Meadows, but got a knee injury just before leaving ... so after asking around at the bar, sending a few texts, the magic of the internet and a lot of kindness an alternative plan came into being composed of a ride to Inyokern from Bob, a local old-timer, a ride from Inyokern to Barstow from Lori Getzlaff, my hiking partner with the injured foot, a bus from Barstow to Bakersfield, and a train to Richmond, CA where I live.

Right now I'm home for a few days and will get back on trail on Friday May 25th.  My plan is to take the Amtrak up to Dunsmuir, get a ride to Castle Crags State Park, and hike south from there.

The photos for this section are in an album here:  Tehachapi to Kennedy Meadows Photos

PCT 18.6 - Agua Dulce to Tehachapi, 112 PCT miles

From Agua Dulce, the prosperous home of Hiker Heaven, hosted by Jeff and Donna Saufley, I joined a handful of other hikers making an early morning dash up the mountain range going north.  Higher elevations promised cooler temperatures in the middle of the day, but barely delivered relief.  We sweated out 24 miles to the next major road where trail angel Nancy Pants waited with drinks and a ride to Casa de Luna, where Terri Anderson and her husband host hikers for a Taco Salad dinner, pancakes in the morning, and "hippie daycare" during the day.  I took a rest day and reconnected with other hikers.

The next 40 miles also started with a morning scramble to beat the heat, but with an early start I made 25 miles the first day and then hiked down to Hikertown, another rest stop, on the second day.  Not wanting to linger at Hikertown, after a shower and doing my laundry in a bucket, I hiked on at 4:30 PM with another hiker named Shorts that I had camped with the night before.  We hiked along and over an aquaduct for hours, then were treated to a spectacular sunset.  Finally we flipped on our headlamps to hiked on until about 10 PM, making for a 28 mile day, my longest so far.

The next morning we were hiking by 5:30 AM to avoid some of the desert heat.  The wind picked up dramatically as we neared one of the many wind farms in this area.  Shorts out distanced me by midday when I made it into Tylerhorse Canyon, one of the few water sources in the area.  Mike Sauget was at the water and he hiked out with me through one of the driest landscapes we have traversed so far.  Mike and I had not hiked together since Deep Creek Hot Springs, so it was nice to reconnect.

We camped 17 miles out from highway 58, which is the main road into Tehachapi.  On the hike in we met Randy Masner of the BLM who was checking on a recently completed bridge and had the pleasure of thanking him for some beautiful trail improvements that he worked on in the past year involving what seemed like enormous rocks being moved by hand into position to prevent washouts.

Tehachapi has an extremely well organized community of trail angels, so Mike and I only needed to send a text to get a ride into town.  Christine had reserved a room at the Ranch Hotel for us, so we got settled easily.  The highlight of Tehachapi so far has been Kohnen's Country Bakery, which creates outstanding pies and pastries. 

In contrast to this last section, I don't know of any major hiker gathering spots until Kennedy Meadows.  I plan to hike out tomorrow.

Here is a link to the photos for this section: Photos for Agua Dulce to Tehachapi

PCT 18.5 Cajon Pass to Agua Dulce, 112 PCT miles

At one point in "The Teachings of Don Juan" by Carlos Castenada, Don Juan explains

"All paths are the same: they lead nowhere. They are paths going through the bush, or into the bush. In my own life I could say I have traversed long long paths, but I am not anywhere. Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn't, it is of no use. Both paths lead nowhere; but one has a heart, the other doesn't. One makes for a joyful journey; as long as you follow it, you are one with it. The other will make you curse your life. One makes you strong; the other weakens you."

I thought about this while hiking this section.  On the PCT hikers are often asked where are you going.  Usually we answer "To Canada," but really that is only the briefest of stops.  Maybe it would be better to say towards calm, gratitude, and equanimity.  Or different hiker might be headed towards mischief, fun, and romance.

This section began with a 27 mile sub-section with access to Wrightwood.  I tackled the first 20 miles on the first day with 7,000+ ft of climbing, leaving me knackered as I set up my tent at 8,000 ft.  The reward was a fabulous sunrise the next day, with clouds stretched out below the campsite.  The next day I did the last 7 miles to highway 2, hitched into Wrightwood and picked up my resupply box.  A few other hikers were having breakfast at a local cafe, so I enjoyed a hamburger while marvelling at the enormous breakfasts being downed by Doc, 15-foot, and David Overturf.  It only took a few minutes to catch an afternoon hitch back to the trail, and I just went on a few miles before pitching in a pine forest.  

The next day I got an early start and summited Mt. Baden Powell before continuing on.  By the afternoon a heavy fog enveloped the mountain, and the temperature dropped.  Rain was forecast for the next day, so most hikers made an effort to get as far down the trail as possible, with only limited success, forcing us all to pitch in heavy fog.  The next morning I packed a wet tent and dug deep to get as far as the Mill Creek Fire Station in a 26 mile day.  My reward, included getting blasted by grapple on the trail and a rainy night camped below the fire station.  

The following day promised relief 21 miles down the trail, but the first 17 miles were in intermittent fog, and a howling wind at the unfortunately-placed North Fork Ranger Station.  Finally the trail wound to the lee side of the mountain range and dropped 1,000 ft into a canyon.  I pitched in late afternoon sun and slept soundly that night.

The last day was a relatively short 14 mile hike into Agua Dulce, where the Saufley's host "Hiker Heaven," which lives up to it's name with showers, laundry, and lounging areas.  I will take a zero day there tomorrow.

Here are the photos for this section:
Photos for Cajon Pass to Agua Dulce