Day 76, The Outland Party

Part 3, Northern California, Day 76

The Outland Party

Miles: 28.05

Total Miles: 1163.95

What a difference a day makes. After my little pity party yesterday, I made some adjustments and checked my attitude. Bad days will happen on the trail occasionally. I was just worried about the pain I'm experiencing. 

I woke up at 5:30 an was hiking by 6:20. There was no rain in the night, so my tent was dry. I made some coffee and began the long uphill climb. 

I fear that after 2 months of eating these, I'm finally starting to get sick of them:

I never thought this day would come.

After 5 miles of steep uphill, I came to the chair lifts at Squaw Valley.

My shoulders began hurting early today. It feels like the strap cuts off my circulation and my shoulders ache. The pain, no exaggeration, is unbearable. I simply can't exist like this. I tried something different while adjusting my straps, and I was able to shift more weight to my hips. It worked! At least for now. My pain went way down to mere discomfort. At least it doesn't feel like my arms are going to fall off. I climbed the next uphill section with renewed morale.

Taking zeros in town softens me, and today, after those 2 zeros and 1.5 hiking days, I finally had my hiking legs back. I was crushing the miles. The trick is to fool your body into becoming a machine. Taking zeros, while sometimes necessary, reminds the body of its humanity. I'm at a time in my hike where I'm getting down to business. 

I gained the ridge and was in for a long and beautiful ridge walk. 

The weather was very nice today. It's interesting how much the weather can effect my mood. 

The town of Truckee is at the end of this valley.

At this point, I still hadn't seen any thru hikers except for J, who was behind me somewhere. I talked to a lot of local backpackers though. The trail displayed some awesome wildflowers.

It was hot out. Here's me listening to music.

I arrived at Roller Pass. 

This is simply amazing to me. Read this info chart for the details. The picture will give you the jist of it. 

Here's the view at Roller Pass:

I met many day hikers there who were eager to hear about the trail. One guy said there was sodas for PCT hikers down at the highway.... It was so hot today, and I ran out of water hours ago. Before the hike, I hadn't had soda in years. On the trail, I'll guzzle that shit. It was on. I bolted the 2 miles to highway 40. I passed the Donner Ridge Ski lifts:

The last mile was agonizing. I'd already hiked 17 miles by 1pm to get here, but the path was covered in sharp stone, making the descent slow. I reached the highway and saw nothing. That lying bastard! Wait...there was a cooler. Please don't be empty. I looked inside and found trash.. And one cold root beer! Thank you trail magic! 

I also found these:

I sat on the steps of Sugar Bowl training academy and ate lunch, using the spigot there for some much needed and greatly appreciated water. I met a thru hiker who had just been dropped off after a zero in Truckee. An older guy named Throbbing Thrill Hammer.... Epic. I took off down the trail at 2:30. 

50 feet later I came to something I've been waiting for. Donner Lake: 

I sat there and stared for awhile. I've read several books about the Donner Party. This tragic event is such a fascinating failure, and I thought about their journey and the journey I was on. Obviously not much comparison there, but some. 

It was so cool to see the site of the Donner Party, but I had miles to hike. Though the lake and the pass gave me something to think about while hiking. 

The hike up was hot. Somebody kindly left some water jugs out:

I crossed under Highway 80 through 2 dark tunnels. I hadn't done this since the desert. 

I found myself on yet another rim trail for a brief moment:

I was tired, but knew I was in a zone. The more I hiked, the more invincible I felt. I also needed water, and it was miles away, so stopping was not my plan.

I eventually out hiked my bubble. I met two thru hikers, Nightshift and Copenhagen, sitting by a creek, and they said that 6 other thru's had passed them recently. I'm not all alone after all!

I hiked up and over the stunning Castle Pass:

At 5:30pm, I arrived at the Peter Grub Hut, a backcountry Sierra Club hut that is solar powered and that hikers are free to use. 

It has what appears to be a two story outhouse: it'd be weird to be in the bottom one while someone uses the top one, I'd think. 

Inside, I met Limey, Goulet, and Space Kitty, who were staying there for the night.

It was rugged but quite nice inside. After talking with them for a half hour, I took off to hike a few more miles.

Northern California is so beautiful. The trail feels familiar to me in a way that the other sections did not. Remarkable ridge walks appear to be the theme.

I got water from this signed spring. Cool name. 

Right when my feet were done walking, I saw a flat spot in the woods.

I made potatoes with a secret ingredient

I added crushed up Cheez Its. It tastes like victory.

The Mosquitos are bothering me, even in my tent. All I can hear is buzzing. I hate them. It feels like bear country around here, and I'm hearing sticks breaking all around me. I feel like bear bait. Oh well. Hopefully tomorrow is as beautiful as today was. 

Day 75, Rainy Day Blues

Part 3, Northern California, Day 75

Rainy Day Blues

Miles: 27.27

Total Miles: 1135.90

The thunderstorms aren't what bothered me today, it was my ailing body. I hurt. It's probably because of all this hiking. 

I slept bad last night because I kept waking up and going outside to check the skies. When I finally packed up around 6 am, the dark clouds surrounded me. I hiked fast. 

The trail this morning was thick forest. After a few hours if became somewhat monotonous, but no biggie. The real offense was given by the mosquitoes. They have returned! 

Not quite as bad as the Yosemite section, these skeeters are sneaky. Stop once, and I'm covered in mozzies. Here's a pic of the most filthy, disgusting pond I've seen so far. 

Here's a pic of a giant fungi. 

The sky was black behind me, so I spent the morning trying to out-hike the storm. I had very low morale this morning. The weather constantly sucks, and my feet and shoulders and back were beyond painful. The shoulders and back have become the worst of the pain. I have pain all over my back, including the vertebrae, and after a few hours of hiking, I lose feeling in my arms and shoulders. 

To add to the weather, pain, and boredom, I didn't see one PTC hiker. Nobody. I felt very lonely today. I wasn't just hiking fast to outrun the storm, I also hoped I'd catch up with another thru. When I got to Richardson Lake, I performed some trail surgery on my sleeping pad. 

I used the squares as a cushion between my shoulders and my straps:

It helped a little, but not much. I saw a large group of off road drivers camped at the lake and they asked me questions about the thru hike. It was actually nice to see people. 

There was major air traffic today. I'd never seen so many helicopters, jets, and single engine planes on the sky at one time. I wonder what the deal was. 

I ate lunch by a stream and befriended this big frog. The frog was super cool. I named him Alduin World Eater:

The whole morning I was thinking of ways to improve my hiking health. I need to drop some pack weight for sure, carry less food, and consider changing packs. I'm worried about my back, shoulders, and feet, and doing permanent damage to them. 

For the time being, the PCT is also the Tahoe Rim Trail.

I ascended Barker Pass and hiked parallel to Lake Tahoe:

There was thunder all around me, and the sky finally opened up and the rain poured down. 

I talked to a hiker going South named Santos. He's a south bound thru hiker! The first one I've seen so far. He left Canada last April. 

The rain wasn't so bad. It was actually a beautiful rainy hike. I entered the Granite Chief Wilderness. 

The sky was too dark for pics, but I tried:

The next 10 miles was an exposed ridge walk very high up; not where I wanted to be in a storm. I hurried on, though the storm had nearly moved passed me. It was such a beautiful hike.

Here's Lake Tahoe in the distance. 

Here's me trying to put on a brave face despite my shoulder pain. I was dead on the inside:

Below is my favorite picture of the day:

My goal is to make it to Sierra City and rethink my inks, so to speak. I need to reevaluate my pack configuration. I've also decided to lower the zeros and dial up the miles for NorCal, so I need to get my house in order here. I can easily lower my food weight. I carry way too much. One great thing about NorCal so far is that the trails have been so mellow. 

I hiked to Whiskey Creek and camped. There's a few other campers here, and it's kind of nice. When the hell did I get so lonely out here? I'm losing my edge; too many zeros. 

I'm prepared for rain again, since thunderstorms are forecast everyday for the next 20 years, it seems. Hopefully tomorrow will be less painful.