Day 69, Trouble in the North

Part 3, Northern California, Day 69

Trouble in the North

Miles: 22.22

PCT Mile: 1039.19

I have so much to tell and so little to show. First off, I'd like to welcome you all to part 3, Northern California! It's been a long journey and there is still so much more to go. 

Second, I apologize for the lack of pics today. There is usually much more, but today was crazy. My phone has reached its memory storage limit, so I'll have to cut down on pictures to continue this blog. To make room, I'm deleting old pictures starting from the beginning of the hike, and I think it may delete these pics from earlier blog posts. In order to stay alive, This blog must cannibalize itself. Don't worry readers, this blog will continue for you. You are the exclusive and only audience. Future readers will not get the same experience. 

I woke up at 6 in the hiker dorm and went downstairs to the restaurant and had breakfast with Roadwalker. All weekend I've ignored talk of a fire, the Washington Fire, burning near the PCT below Lake Tahoe. Everyone was talking about it. Roadwalker filled me in. The fire had burned close to 10,000 acres 1 mile east of the PCT near Ebbets Pass, and is 0% contained. Highways near there are closed, and the town of Markleeville is being evacuated. I though nothing of it and packed up. I walked to the highway and tried to hitchhike at 8am. There was barely any traffic. Roadwalker, myself, and a hiker named Logan waited for three hours with no luck. We finally paid a guy 20 bucks for a ride to the trail head.

When I arrived at the trail, I met Casey, from Sonora Pass Resupply. He informed us that the trail was closed and that it was too dangerous to hike North. This trail has had one shitstorm after another! After many questions, Roadwalker decided to skip the section and hitchhike 40 miles east to Bridgeport and take a bus to Tahoe. Apparent many other hikers did the same. My heart sank, as I couldn't fathom skipping a whole section. We walked to the road and saw trail magic.

A man named Chipmunk was cooking eggs and beans for hikers, and there was lots of other food items. I was far too preoccupied to enjoy the magic. I was more concerned with the fire and I called the ranger station, who informed me that the trail was not closed yet, but that there was extreme danger in hiking North. He said it would probably be closed soon. I relayed all the info to the other hikers there. Everyone looked nervously at each other. Logan and I decided that we would try and hike through the fire. I hope this isn't the dumbest decision I've ever made. 

We left Sonora Pass at noon with a big climb out of the canyon. Here's Sonora Pass behind me:

The trail was beautiful, but I was filled with dread about the fire. We wouldn't reach it until tomorrow, and the anxiety was building. I am doing the right thing?

We reached the Carson Iceberg Wilderness and what a beautiful place it is! 

We decided to hike fast all day to make up for the late Noon start, so I had little time to take pictures. We were hiking nervous. 

Although it was a beautiful day, the Northern sky was filled with smoke; a constant reminder of what awaited us. 

The hiking wasn't difficult and the miles flew by. By 3pm we'd hiked 10 miles and were aiming for 20 by dark. We want to get past the fire before it jumps the trail or the wind shifts. 

My camera did a poor job today. I tried to capture the smoke:

Hiking 20 miles in half a day is something I've never done before, but I was motivated. Logan is a good hiker too, and we pushed each other to go far. 

Around sunset, we'd gone over 20 miles and continued until after dark. My feet were killing me and I was limping.

There is so much to tell about today, but I'm utterly exhausted. The photos are crap today, but the story is more urgent. We're 10 trail miles away from the fire and mere miles as the crow flies. We turned a corner and saw flames on the hillside just miles away. The camera doesn't do it justice:

We set up camp around 9:30.

As I type this, ash is gently raining down fro the sky. Tomorrow we cross the closed highway 4, and will try and hike through the fire and smoke. I hope we don't get turned back, and I really hope I don't get torched! Smoke inhalation is probably the real danger. It's all part of the adventure.