This morning I got up bright and early and was hiking right at 5:30 AM. There had been a couple tents nearby where I was set up, so I was as quiet as I could be. It felt nice to be walking really early this morning. Lately it seems like I just can’t manage to get out of camp before 5:45 AM. Though I was motivated by the idea of getting to Sonora pass as quickly as possible today.

When I left camp, I only had about 11 miles to go to get to the highway where I can hitch a ride into Kennedy Meadows North. The morning began with a long but very gradual climb. I could see the switchbacks off in the distance and I knew exactly where the trail would be taking me. It was such an incredible start to the day and as I climbed to the top of that first mountain, I was able to watch a beautiful sunrise. Unlike a lot of the mountain passes recently, this one was completely bald and exposed. It was pretty windy up top but not too bad. It just felt like the perfect way to start off the day.

Once I got on top of the mountain, I just rode along the ridge for the next handful of miles. Every now and then I would drop down a bit and climb back up. I wound up walking past a guy going southbound and went by one PCT hiker who was going north. But I didn’t stop off for anything and just continued along the trail.

Then the last few miles of the morning were basically all downhill until I reached the road. Of course, every now and then the trail had to sneak in a cheeky little climb. But overall, it was a really nice and easy morning. I was also walking past loads of bright, beautiful, wildflowers. The pinks, oranges, purples, and blues, almost don’t look like they should exist in nature. It was absolutely incredible. This morning in particular, there were tons of bright pink flowers adorning the side of the trail.

When I got out to the road, there was one car in the trail parking lot and a guy there on his bicycle. He was taking photos of himself at the Sonora sign with a big rubber chicken. I talked to him briefly and then continued on to the next parking area. I knew from having been there before that the parking area slightly further north would be easier to hitch a ride from from. There was just a lot more visibility there.

At the parking lot, someone had left a sign behind that said “PCT Hiker to Kennedy Meadows“. So I was able to hold that up as I tried to hitch. As I stood there, another hiker walked by who had been going southbound. Apparently he is a northbound hiker, but decided he wanted to quit the trail. So he turned back around and walked back to the highway. I spent a few minutes trying to convince him to stay on trail, but he didn’t want to hear it.

After maybe 10 or 15 minutes another northbound hiker arrived and joined me at the road. She was from Germany and she must’ve been my good luck charm, because almost immediately after she got there, we got a hitch. The guy who picked us up was ridiculously nice. I had totally forgotten that the drive to Kennedy Meadows north was long and winding. It took much longer than I expected it too. But eventually, we got there and I certainly arrived a whole lot earlier than I would have if I had to wait for the 10:30 AM shuttle.

Once I got into town, I headed straight to the restaurant and grabbed some breakfast. The girl who I had hitched into town with joined me and we hung out for a little bit. Then I very quickly resupplied for the next few days. I just need enough food to get to South lake Tahoe in about 2.5 days. I also grabbed some drinks to have before I left town and a couple to pack out with me.

Then I was able to coordinate with OutsideJay and leave my bear canister behind. I was borrowing one of his bear canisters and he said I could leave it at KMN and he would come and get it. Then in a couple days he’ll leave another bear can for me in South lake Tahoe. Because of regulations, I don’t need one today or tomorrow. But I will need one when I head north from South lake Tahoe.

While I was at KMN I got a few things posted which was nice. It’s been hard falling so far behind and not having Internet ever on trail. Considering I’ve been hiking for almost 200 days, it’s crazy to think that I’ve had service almost every single day of the year. Prior to parts of southern Maine and the Sierra, I would get service at least once every couple days.

Before heading back to trail, I wound up chatting with some thru hikers. And a couple drove up and dropped a hiker off in their van. They hiked the PCT last year and their trail names were Birdbath and Trinity. They were both super nice and I wound up talking to them for a while. And it actually worked out perfectly because they said they were able to give me a ride back to Sonora pass. Otherwise I would have to try to hitch or wait for the 2 PM shuttle. But I was hoping to still get a pretty decent amount of mileage in. Which meant the sooner I can get back to trail, the better.

Birdbath and Trinity brought me back and it was really nice talking with them while we drove in their car. They were both super cool and actually met and started dating during their PCT thru hike. It was only about 1 PM when they dropped me back off at the trail. And I felt pretty productive having gone into town and done everything I needed. And I was already back, ready to hike out again.

When I left the trailhead, I had to start a climb for the next few miles. But it was only about 1000– 1500 feet of elevation gain. I felt very strong and fueled by my big breakfast. Once I got up top, I began a long descent. And for the rest of the day I only had a few small climbs to do.

Around this time, I did start to notice a strange sensation in my hip flexor in the area where I had gotten injured about a month ago. Recently, I got a very large fly bite right on the top of my thigh. And it wound up getting immensely swollen and it was about the size of a half dollar. So I’m thinking that the swelling might be irritating the hip flexor. Because the sensation is more of a odd shooting nerve pain than a tight or sore tendon pain. I’m just going to keep an eye out and see how it does over the next couple of days.

The timing was pretty funny though. Because this morning I vividly remember thinking about the fact that my injury was finally completely healed. Over the last few days I’ve been feeling really good and haven’t even had any inkling of the residual pain from the injury. It’s funny how timing works out. Truly, almost immediately after thinking that I started to feel something in my hip flexor.

I was shocked how quickly the rest of the day flew by. I listened to an audiobook, and the trail was quite nice and easy. I would just have one last climb to do toward the end of the day. But it was looking like I would be making it further than expected and getting to camp before dark. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Over the course of the remainder of the day I listened to a new audiobook, “To shake the sleeping self” about a man’s journey on a bicycle trip from Oregon to Patagonia. This book was so incredibly good that it basically just distracted me for the entire rest of the day. And I felt like I just floated all the way to camp. I surprisingly didn’t see very many hikers for the rest of the day. I figured there would be more people who left KMN this morning and then just did a half-day out of town.

But I wound up really not running into anyone until later on in the evening. After I’d gone about 27 miles for the day I stopped off and grabbed some water. There were a bunch of marked campsites up ahead and I figured I would just stop at which ever spoke to me. Not long after that I went by a nice looking spot, but there were two other hikers getting set up there. And it just seemed like too tight of a space to set up nearby.

As I walked past, though, I heard someone yell my name. I apologized and said that I could not tell who they were from a distance. I was way too far away to make out their faces. But it wound up being Van Gogh and another Hiker who I met earlier this year whose hiker whose name is escaping me right now. I met Van Gogh in January at the Florida Trail kick off. Then ran into him in the first week or two in the PCT desert. Now here I was running into him for the third time this year.

It was really cool to see him, but I did decide to continue hiking. I had already walked pretty far past his campsite when he called over to me. And within a mile of there, I wound up finding a really nice tent spot. There was no one else set up and the space was huge and flat. There was also another designated camp spot just down the trail north of where I was. And I was honestly pretty eager to camp alone. Recently, I’ve been showing up to camp spots pretty late in the evening and they typically have a handful of other hikers already there. Which is great, but doesn’t really allow me to enjoy camp the same way.

It’s nice to be able to do editing and video stuff. It’s also nice just to be able to cook and make noise and be alive without having to feel bad about the other hikers around me. Sometimes I do enjoy camping with other people and it does give you good peace of mind. But it was really nice to camp alone for the first time in a little while. I got situated pretty fast and then boiled water for dinner and hot chocolate. Then got a bit of writing and video work done before calling it a night.

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Day 86

Hangover CITY! Wow I was not expecting to feel it as much as I do. We drank a 40oz, then a pitcher, then cowboy camped right by the trail. I woke up with a dry mouth and I was ready to get the miles done.

The first bit of today was tough but really beautiful! We hiked up a mountain that overlooked another with the famous Donner Tunnels. They’re these old train tunnels that are out of service and people now graffiti and paint murals in! We were hoping to go but the beer guided us elsewhere.

We hiked to I80, where there was water and restrooms. There was also a Donner Party plaque that told me they got lost only 5 miles from where I stood!

We did 18 miles total today which is less than what we planned. The elevation wasn’t too bad but we did climb for a while. There was a lot of up down up down up down and in snow! I’m ready to be done with the snow.

I’m looking forward to getting to Sierra City tomorrow! We have about 20 miles to get to the campground there and were debating camping close to the trail or getting a ride into. Either way, we’re dropping off our bear cans and warmer clothes at the post office! We are very excited to make our packs lighter.

Songs today: “Edge of the Earth”- The Beaches, “Tieduprightnow”-Parcels

Day 87

We did the 20 miles to Wild Plum Campground! It’s been a lovely day, even if I was itching to get to town and it felt super long.

We woke up at our usual time and hit the trail quickly, punching in the miles with little to no snowy sections. We had quite a bit of ridgeline walking today, which was super beautiful because the wildflowers are starting to be in bloom! It was pretty windy up there, but I’d rather that than deal with the heat.

We had a huge descent into the valley of Sierra City. All I wanted to do was swim! I felt pretty gross. We walked along a dirt road for what seemed like forever but had insanely beautiful flowers and butterflies along it. We came to the Wild Plum Campground and took our swim there. It was nice and cold on my muscles, but having to walk after that was not enjoyable.

Once we started hiking towards the exit of the campground, we saw a sign for trail magic! We met John and Sandy, who gave us ice cream, fruit and a beer! We sat and talked with them for a while and it was really nice. They even invited us back for breakfast tomorrow! Teri the camp host gave us a free campsite right on the river. It had a fire ring, so we had our second fire of this section and ate the rest of the s’mores we packed out. Another beautiful day on the PCT! I’m so grateful for the community of people who go out of their way to brighten our day.

Songs today: “Walking on Sunshine”-Katrina and the Waves and “I’m Like a Bird”-Nelly Furtado

Day 88

Today we had a forced day of rest. It’s Juneteenth and we didn’t realize and forgot that the post office would be closed. We want to send our bear cans and extra clothes home, so we took the day off and had a lovely zero in Sierra City!

We woke up at Wild Plumb, packed up and headed over to John and Sandy’s for that breakfast they invited us to. It reminded me of summers with my parents, camping in the RV and having breakfast together. ❤️ John made bacon egg and cheeses on english muffins for us. We had some DELICIOUS coffee and juice too. Again, we stayed for an hour and had a great conversation with them. They’re so happy to be doing this!

We walked into town afterwards and picked up our resupply. As we were splitting it up, we heard from Benoit that the post was closed today. Immediately realizing we couldn’t just grab our resupply, hit the post and leave, we grabbed some beers and took a breather.

Resupply finished, we ate lunch (delicious deli sandwich!!) and had a few beers. Max showed up and we hung out with him for a bit before heading down to the swimming hole we kept hearing people talk about. As we were on our way, we ran into Mikey and JoJo! It was nice to see them and chat.

Swimming was BEAUTIFUL. It’s been one of those perfect days where the breeze hits just right and the sun warms every part of you. The landscape was gorgeous. The riverhad a waterfall flowing right in front of us, and the butterflies were flying back and forth all afternoon. We swam and explored and drank a beer and just relaxed. It felt so freaking good.

Once the sun left the valley, we headed back up to eat a large burrito and check out the local bar. Upon arriving, we were told that the town was having their weekly potluck! There was so much food offered to us but we were stuffed from the burritos. We sat at the bar, had a beer and chatted with a really nice woman from the town.

We headed back just as it was getting dark and set up a bit up from the general store. We’re going to cowboy tonight, even though there are a ton of street lights. I’m looking forward to getting back on trail tomorrow. It’s been a lovely day of rest. The post doesn’t open until 10 unfortunately, but we’ll get some breakfast and then head out after. Til tomorrow!

Day 89

Wow. What a difference 7 pounds makes. This morning we woke up and both ran to the bathroom due to that burrito from yesterday. We laid back down for another hour then packed up at 730 and headed to breakfast at the Red Moose Cafe. It was delicious! The coffee was great and we both got savory and sweet dishes (pancakes, french toast, bacon and eggs). I worked on my blog and Noah read trivia.

We headed back over to the general store where I plugged in and finished my blog. We headed out after mailing home around 14 pounds of stuff combined. Boy can I feel a difference!

We did the first 8 miles after grabbing a hitch from Pipe Dreams mom! She’s meeting him in Belsen. Anyways, we knocked out those 8 miles like they were EASY! Our packs were so light and I could feel my speed quickening as opposed to the few days before that. Some guy told us it was 33 switchbacks to the top but I think he just meant the first 4 miles because Noah counted 41 total.

We took a quick break then did 4 more, seeing Jojo and Mikey on a break! We stopped at the campground nearby for water and snacks. Then we did another 4 to the top of the next hill, which was when I hit my wall. My stomach hurt because we didn’t break for that long so I took it slow and made it up listening to music.

The rest was pretty easy, minus some snowy traverses that were just annoying. We planned for 18 miles, hoped to hit over 21 and ended up doing 20 overall. Not terrible for starting at 11!

Hoping to hit our first 30 tomorrow. I plan on eating lots of food tonight to prepare. Oh, and it’s also solstice today! Overall a beautiful easy LIGHT day.

Songs today: A guy behind us was listening to Mulan’s “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” so that was stuck in my head for a while. Also “Manchild” -Sabrina and “on top of the world”-Imagine Dragons and of course Cha Cha Slide

Day 90

Well we didn’t hit 30 miles today! But that’s okay. Tomorrow will be the day I can feel it. We took a nap mid day and I think that’s what did it for us.

Anyways we woke up and apparently a few people camped near us, including Max and Smokey. We were the last ones out which didn’t do us any favors.

We did an uphill climb, then downhill, and repeat that a few times throughout the day. There were lots of blowdowns (logs on trail) and that was a bit frustrating. We also dealt with some snow in the beginning of the day but we conquered it quickly and moved on!

Around 17 miles in we took our lunch break. it was almost two, and we filtered water and napped until 3 :’). Waking up and attempting another 13 miles was tough. We saw Mikey and Jojo and they were shocked to see us because of our 30 mile attempt.

We made it a marathon today. 46 miles to Belden, so if we do 30 tomorrow then it’s a quick 16 to pick up our resupply and hopefully get a shower.

Anyways, after the nap we had some small climbs but after a bit I could feel myself slowing down. We took some breaks and ate food but I think we both knew the 30 wasn’t happening. Our campsite is gorgeous though! We’re surrounded by tons of flowers and have some beautiful views.

Songs today: “I’ll Make a Man Out of You”-Mulan soundtrack on repeat all day long

Day 91

Did not make it to 30 yet again and feeling so down about it! Which feels crazy because we did 28 and that is more than enough, especially if our bodies had enough. I had a really tough day and it involved lots of tears.

I don’t think I want to say much, other than this:

Hiking can be really hard. Mentally and physically. I want to hit 30 miles so bad but it feels like there’s some invisible barrier once I hit 26 where my body is yelling ENOUGH!!

I need to eat more food. I think my body is yelling ENOUGH and also FEED ME MORE FOOD!! So more of that, please.

Noah is an angel, truly. He is so supportive and understanding. I was feeling so down about not making it to 30 miles and he knew exactly what to say to make me feel better.

I’m having a hard time appreciating NorCal in the way I appreciated the Sierra. I knew it was going to be different, but it’s been mentally tough to get through the day.

I’m still feeling so grateful to be here and for this experience. I do NOT plan on quitting this trail. I will not! I think I’m just in a bit of a valley currently. Time to climb! Hoping tomorrow goes better.

Oh and also – it’s always a visually beautiful day on trail. We had some hard climbs that gave us rewarding views. I’ll always try my hardest to appreciate that.

Songs today:”Island in the Sun”-Weezer and “Not Like Us”-Kendrick

Day 92

A MUCH BETTER DAY HAPPENED TODAY! We were both pretty excited to hike into Belden, so we crushed the miles quickly.

We woke up at our normal hour and quickly got moving, ready to be in town. We made it by 1:30, hitting 20 miles for the day!

The first climb was really gorgeous. We entered Bucks Lake wilderness, an area that was protected by a family for years and years. It was cool to read the history then walk through. The climb wasn’t too tough so we did it pretty quickly.

After this, we headed into the forest and traversed some beautiful meadows with flowers and butterflies galore. The smells are incredible and the nature out here feels untouched by mankind. I’m trying my best not to take it all for granted. 

Anyways, we had another small climb and then a seriously intense descent into Belden. My knees were so angry! It was brutal, hiking switchbacks into the valley. It got hotter and hotter, and all we could talk about was the river we were hiking to. 

Once we arrived, we realized the festival that was over the weekend (it’s Monday) was still going on. There were food trucks and tons of people! Some gave us water and a lift to the center of town. We ate some pizza, had a root beer float and charged some of our stuff. 

Then we headed to the RV park, grabbing a hitch from a nice guy. We grabbed our resupply from my brother and sister in law and had the best time opening it. They sent some really incredible items, like thin mints (!!!!), peeps, jelly beans, and some personal keepsakes (polaroid of my nephew!)

We settled in there for the night, enjoying some milkshakes and dinner, then meeting some of the people that lived there. This guy named Yoda was an awesome dude. He has slingshots and slingshots at a target nailed to a tree. He taught us how to slingshot and we drank some beers and hung out with him. It felt like an incredibly chill summer night. We showered and did our face masks given to us in our resupply (thanks Calamoneris!) and talked to my brother on facetime for a bit. It was a beautiful end to a tough day on the knees. 

Songs today: “YMCA”, “London Bridge”-Fergie and “Hollaback Girl”-Gwen 

This week was a pretty good one, especially since it started with a bit of a hangover! The towns in Northern California are some of my favorite so far. They’re small and are filled with some of the kindest people I’ve met. While I’m beating myself up for not doing the mileage I want to be ready for, I really am enjoying the landscape. The forests are lush, the views are immense, the flowers smell great and I’m on my way to finishing California. We’ve got a big burn to walk through next, so I’m hoping we can up the mileage and speed through them!