Day 13 PCT Mile Marker 1256.00 – 1265.40 Miles Hiked 9.4 People were heading the other way. Southbound. Toward Sierra City. They’d already heard about the treacherous snow conditions from whomever they saw before me. Mitch? Double Cross? Could be anybody, really. We all survived something and had something to Read more…
Day 12 PCT Mile Marker 1243.10 – 1256.00 Miles Hiked Today 12.9 I woke up and couldn’t find my hat or my pen. What the…? Did I sleep walk and lose them in the woods? I literally had both when I fell asleep. I know I did. I shook out Read more…
Day 11 PCT Mile Marker 1229.09 – 1243.10 Miles Hiked 14.01 I felt good. I’d made it through the worst, and I’d grown as a person. I felt so…alive. Sick of carrying extra weight, I put a good splash of whiskey in my coffee. I went into the woods to Read more…
Day 10 PCT Mile Marker 1217.19 – 1229.09 Miles Hiked 11.9 When I woke up, one of the hikers “Double Cross” was already packed up and gone. Mitch hung around so we could hike the next part together, and we left the third hiker to her coffee and breakfast. I Read more…
Day 9 PCT Mile 1208.85 – 1217.19 Miles Hiked 8.5 I slept really well, and the forest was very still when I awoke. I eased myself down the trail through the snow and delighted in a chorus of frogs singing in a large pond while I gathered clear, cold water. Read more…
Day 8 Trail Marker 1204.2 – 1208.85 Miles Hiked 4.65 The Pacific Crest Trail Association’s website said the first seven miles out of Sierra City were an extreme trail hazard. It said the trail has suffered landslide type activity and is effectively blown out in places. It also says the Read more…
Day 4 Trail Miles 7.5 Actual Miles Hiked 13.5 Protein drinks are good for you! Right! But they’re not so awesome tasting. But they’re good for you. So I’ve been having them in the morning. But they’re not awesome. But anyway. Snowshoes. First thing. But we knew this, so we Read more…
Day 3 Trail Miles 7.25 Actual Miles Hiked 12.58 It was a long, cold night. I woke up cold over and over, but it somehow felt too difficult to put on my down jacket or my fleece pants. Somehow, willing myself back to sleep seemed a better plan. I walked Read more…
Day 2 Trail Miles 4.2 Actual Miles Hiked 6.5 I woke early and watched Aidan sleep for about an hour. So relaxed and wonderful. Then coffee, then toaster pastry and cheeses and dried fruit and nuts. Then more snow and snowshoeing and exhausting route finding. Maybe one or two people Read more…
Day 1 Trail Miles 2.5 Miles Hiked 6.5 It only took us two miles to realize we went the wrong way. Backtracking eventually led us back to the junction we missed and Northbound on the PCT. Finally on the right track, we put down our packs and fell sound asleep Read more…