Old Station to Burney Falls

We left Old Station a little later than intended. Maureen lured me in with fresh coffee, then Cowgirl, and before we knew what to do we had a hot stack of blueberry pancakes placed in front of us. Yes, we had another great breakfast before our start out of Old Station.

The plan for the day was to hike the first 7 miles in the morning. Stop for a long mid day break. Then continue on to the Road 22 cache where we hoped there would be water (17 miles in to a potential 34 mile waterless stretch). If there was no water there this could end up being a parched walk for us.

On our hike to an overlook, that would be our rest stop during the heat of the day, we took a detour to the Subway Cave.  This cool subterranean walk is 1/3 mile long through a lava tube. The lava rock  floor is very uneven. Combine this with the narrow cone of light from your headlamp and you sometimes feel like you have vertigo. We turned our lights off in the middle of the cave. This is what "pitch black" really is. Lucky for us there was light at the end of the tunnel despite the disturbing name "rattlesnake collapse" at the end. Climbing out of the cave the temperature rose back up 20 degrees and we headed back to the trail.

We arrived at the overlook and our mid day waiting area around 11:30am. The sun was already hot and the only shade was on the backside of the pit toilets. Lucky for us we arrived just behind Chief and he was on the same game plan and... Maureen was there with the camper. So we had an alternate option for shade other than toilets.

About 4:30pm we pulled ourselves away from Maureen's traveling vortex. We made our way across the top of Hat Rim. About half way to Rd. 22 there is an abandoned lookout and weather station with several roads nearby. It was nearing 8:30pm and we knew our sun light was fading fast. By the map it appeared that we could take a road paralleling the PCT. The road would be less overgrown and in the fading light we wouldn't have to worry as much about stumbling over the bulbous lava rock trail.  We happily took off down a well graded wide road hoping to sneak into camp just under the last rays of light. In 5 to 10 minutes there was a feeling of unrest. Something wasn't quite right and upon further thought the terrain wasn't matching up with the topo maps. As it turned out our brilliant idea led us in the wrong direction. We were glad to catch our mistake so early, but still lost 20 minutes of light. Frustrated we trod back to the junction. Near the junction I found the road we had intended to take in the first place. It was very overgrown and looked worse than taking the trail. Mental note; not all red roads marked on the topo maps are equal in width, maintenance, or general appearance.

Yeah! We made it to the Rd 22 cache at 9:15pm and it had lots of water. We took about two liters each and then found a flat spot for the night. There were limited flat and smooth spots large enough for the tent footprint so we ended up camping next to Chief. For the first time on the trail we cowboy camped. With little light pollution and close to a new moon the stars were amazing.

From the Rd 22 cache we slowed down. We only had 25 miles and 2 days to get to Burney Falls State Park. We did still get a decent start to the day in order to avoid hiking through the heat over the more open lava beds. On our leisurely stroll we ran into an asphalt truck driver where the trail comes near a road under construction. He was surprised to see hikers wandering so close to the road. We had a brief conversation, and before he said good bye he offered us two cold drinks. He said his son worked for this small company, Yerba Matte. What a coincidence, my brother was just working with a film crew at our family cabin this winter filming an advertisement for this very drink. Sometimes the world seems so small.

The second exciting event to our day of leisure was seeing Anish (sp?) fly by us. She is trying to beat the PCT record, obtaining the fastest known time. Ironically we were taking a 3 hour nap by a small stream to beat the heat after doing about 10 miles. I would guess that when she waved hello and sped past she already had 25 to 30 miles in for the day.

That night we camped in a not so picturesque, but flat spot within 10 miles of Burney falls state park. This gave us an easy morning hike into the park. We choose to take an alternate route into the park. This alternate follows the main creek and begins at the headwaters spring. The creek starts as a muddy pool then gradually gets larger as the bed elevation drops and more springs and underground streams find their way into the drainage. This is caused by the porous and non-porous layered geology in the area. Eventually the large creek cascades over the side of a rock band creating Burney Falls.

Once in the park we found the general store and got down to business. First up, we got a swirled soft serve ice cream; followed with a chocolate milk, then a package of meat and cheese for lunch. ...maybe we are not losing weight for reasons other than being girls.

While polishing off the rest of our lunch we watched hikers come and go. Most of them where staying at the park and before too long the picnic table we were at was full. Then we got kicked out of the vicinity for drinking beer on the patio of the general store. We all moved to the campground with Chief and Maureen where alcohol was allowed.

That night 10 hikers camped together. We polished off 6 or 7 packages of hot dogs (I think Maverick won eating 10) along with too many beers and some "Redneck Red" wine. Luckily for Cowgirl and I we knew Saturday was a sleep in day because we were meeting my parents in Burney to get my dog Xena.

Happy Trails!

Trail Stats:
Mile: 1,423
Day:86
Showers: 16
Bears: Still 1

Belden to Old Station

Belden:
Belden is a super small town stop on the trail. Crossing over the tracks you literally cross over into a whole new world. The town is known for its weekend raves.  The PCT takes you right through the heart of the festivities. It appears to be a cross between country fair, burning man, and hipster hang out. We looked quite out of place walking through the hordes of bikini and board short clad campers, some carrying around decorated parasols. The quiet of the trail leaves you in a bit of shock when you are all of a sudden around so many people.

In recent years they closed the post office at Belden. If you want to receive a package you have to mail it to The Braatens. These are local trail angels that take hikers in and hold resupply packages. Luckily, they live far enough away we could not hear the rave music through the night.  We picked up not 1, not 2, but 4 packages here. We were lucky enough to receive 2 care packages on top of our normal resupply and new sleeping pads. Thank you to all of those who wrote us such nice notes and words of encouragement. This helps us keep on truckin' even on those rare difficult days. I will note the gift that received the most laughs and questioning looks was the paddle ball and condoms package. "Why..." And "who...". We had to explain our failed badminton conquest. This combined gift could only come from my physical education and heath teacher friend. Keeping us active and safe...

Back on trail:
Once again, what goes down usually climbs straight back up. We got an early start on our day out of Belden. The trail climbed for 5,000 feet out of town through a South facing exposed burn area. We knew if we hit it early enough we could stay in the shade of the hillside until we were through the burn. Luckily the climb only took half the day and the rest was on easy rolling terrain.

Our second day out of Belden we hit a major milestone. The Halfway Marker! It felt so great to reach it, but also to know that we still have 1,325 more miles of great hiking ahead of us. The only downside to the day was that it was one of my worst days. I was happy to make it to the halfway marker, but wanted the day to be over so I could fall asleep and wake up to a whole new day. I am not sure why, but for some reason I woke up exhausted. I felt like I was drugged. I also had rapid movement diarrhea. Crappy! (literally) I went slow and it seemed like all I could do to make it our 21 miles that day.

Luckily my halfway hell day did go away. The third day out proved to be much better hiking for me. I must have slept hard, because I don't remember waking up at all that night. Usually I wake up at least once or twice during the night. Our third day we entered Lassen National Park.

At the recommendation of our guidebook we had intended to stop in at the Drakesbad Ranch for a drink and possibly dinner before finishing our last 2 miles of the day. When we got to the turn off we found two other hikers. It turns out management had changed recently and dirty hikers trash was no longer welcome. Oh well, we had a snack and settled on a new camp spot a little further up trail. However, we got side tracked just a half mile down trail walking through the Warner Valley campground. Chief was camping with his wife near the trail. We greatfully drank an ice cold lemonade and visited before intending to head out. Then Chief said his wife, Maureen, was slack packing him tomorrow and offered us the same option. Hmm, it didn't take long for us to decide that making this our stopping point for the day and getting more miles in tomorrow without a heavy pack was a darn good idea. Then we switched from lemonade to beer.

Slack packing:
Slack packing is when someone takes the majority of what you normally carry in your bag for you and you hike with just what you will need for the day. We were so lucky to have this opportunity. We were also lucky to camp with Maureen. She made us fruit, bread, and eggs for breakfast before we set out at 6am.  I kind of felt guilty passing Lefty with my next to nothing bag.

In addition to our wonderfully light bags we also received a little trail magic. 3 miles out of Old Station we saw a banner on the left side of the trail reading "Hiking Fools". We veered left on a path that lead us out to an open camp area with a ring of camp chairs, coolers, and our hosts, Pocahontas and Legasouras. They hiked the trail previously and have come back to provide trail magic. We enjoyed cold soda, watermelon, and bagels with Chief and Mr. Clean.

Old Station:

We rolled into Old Station around 3pm.  What a luxury to cover 24 miles before 3pm.  We found Maureen at the Hat Creek RV park and campground.  Thank you so much to Maureen for shuttling our extra gear around for us.  What a life of luxury.  At the small hat creek store we got milk shakes and some tacos since it was
Taco Tuesday.  Yeah!  Hat Creek campground also had showers and laundry.  We know it won't last long, but at least when I meet up with Mom and Dad i will only have 3 days of stink instead of 7.

That night we got two meals.  We made our Knorr rice meal and Maureen treated us to homemade chili and fresh bread.  What are we going to do when she leaves Chief?

Happy Trails!

Trail Statistics
Mile: 1,378
Days: 82
Showers: Averaging 1 per 5 days!

Sierra City to Belden

Sierra City:
Sierra City is a small town 1.4 miles off the trail with a population around 225. We stayed at a hiker-friendly place called the Red Moose Inn. You get a free shower, free laundry, and free camping in the back yard. During the day they are pretty much only open for hikers. They serve an all you can eat rib dinner that was delicious.  They open to the public for breakfast and we were sure not to miss out on that too.

In the corner of the bar reserved for the hikers there is a scale. All of the guys have lost from 10 to 30 lbs, the most lost at the weigh in was 50. All of the girls, 0 lbs lost. Wonderful to be so efficient at conserving our energy, storing and converting fats.

Like most places in Sierra City the grocery store closed early and opened late. We didn't have enough time to count calories and resupply after chores so we had to wait until they opened the next morning. Then due to the heat we chose to wait until later in the day to begin our hike.

Back on trail:
Our hike out of Sierra City starts with a 3,500 ft climb. Seems like we hadn't had a good long climb in awhile. The wind must be blowing smoke from another fire as our views to the south were blotted out by a thick haze.

We didn't make it as far as we were hoping in our half day, but found a flat spot. We still didn't have a reprieve from the bugs. On the first night there were so many flies under the tent at the end it sounded like rain. Thank goodness we have netting in the tent.

The highlight of the second day out of town was the thunderstorm. Mid day some dark menacing looking clouds appeared in the sky. Naturally the rolling thunder started just as we were to start a long climb over an exposed ridge. Before we got above tree line we decided to stop and cook and watch what the weather might do. It rumbled for an hour or so, then appeared to be clearing. So we made our way to the top of the ridge.

When we flipped to the other side of the ridge we could see that the storm had not cleared. It was in the distance, but not far enough away to make us comfortable staying on the ridge for too long. After watching a couple lightning strikes stretch to the distant ground we hustled our butts along. The ridge was exposed for a good three miles. I cannot say we were in the smartest place, but it was really cool to watch the storm from our vantage point.

Not long after descending from the exposed portion of the ridge we found our camp on a broad saddle in the trees. For the night we were across the trail neighbors with Gumby and Double-It.

Third day out was hot hot hot!  The humidity made it seem even warmer. At least in the desert you could dry out. The motivation for the day was knowing that a fork of the Feather River was at the end of our day. The camp site was supposed to have a good swimming hole. We beelined it down our 3,000 ft decent into the drainage and found it.

When we got to camp we dropped our bags and headed straight for the water. It felt so good. Refreshing, but not so cold your limbs went numb like the high Sierra streams. After washing off we ate our big meal of the day. Chili with a package of Ramen. Other hikers arrived and we went back down to the river to join. I was still hot just sitting around and I was looking forward to another cooling dip. When I got back to the river I saw a snake on a rock, then saw it swim into the water. Brownie said they were water snakes. Gumby said she saw several swimming on the other side, but they were small. I was glad to have swam in ignorant bliss of their presence on my arrival. No matter how small they were there was no way in hell I was getting in that water now.

Fourth day out and Fourth of July. The heat wave did not relent. Law of the trail dictates that what goes down must come back up. We had an early morning to get a cool start on our 4,000 foot climb out of the Feather River. The climb actually didn't end up being nearly as bad as everyone was making it seem like it might be the night before. Even so, the day was hot and being it was the 4th of July, this gave us all the excuse we needed to hitch out for a beer and pizza at Lakeside Resort.

Kiddo, Brownie, Cowgirl, and I got an easy hitch into the resort. Brownie said he wishes he could hitchhike with three girls all the time. To our delight the Lakeside bar was really a bar. We had plenty of beers to choose from and a great place to sit away from the bugs.

When we were waiting in the lounge area before we left a lady came up to us and asked if we were hiking. When we said yes she asked if she could shake our hand. I thought, there are a couple hundred of us who do this each year and even after washing my hands they are not the cleanest, but sure, if you want to shake my hand go for it. She said she read the book, Wild, and told herself if she saw any of us she would shake our hand. Ah, Ms. Strayed has put hikers in the celebrity category again.

The rest of our hike into Belden was fairly uneventful and marked mostly by the 4,000 ft decent into town. If I had to choose between a steep descent or ascent; I would climb all day. ...unless the descent was covered in snow. This one was not, instead it was covered in poison oak.

We had heard some interesting stories about Belden. We crossed the railroad tracks and into "Belden Town". We hoped finding the Braaten's where we mailed ourselves a package would not be too difficult.

Happy Trails!

Trail Statistics
Mile: 1,290
Days: 79

Echo Lake to Sierra City

South Lake Tahoe:
Due too the extended forecast we decided to take a zero day in South Lake Tahoe. Not only did this allow for us to sleep in, we also got a lot of town chores completed.

First on the list was to get to the outfitter where we bought new stuff bags for hanging our food. We are finally past the point where we don't have to use the bear vaults. They are heavy and a pain in the ass to pack into the backpack. That means second on the list was a stop at the Post Office to mail our bulky BV 500's home.

Then shopping! One of the stops was a K Mart where we purchased a 6 pack of cheap socks. We are going through socks so fast there doesn't seem any point to buying more expensive wool ones. I still carry 1 pair to sleep in and 1 wool pair to hike in if the weather turns really cold. Otherwise I would rather put the wear and tear on socks I don't feel bad about throwing away in 4 weeks.

Note, as the rain came down throughout our day of chores we felt better and better about our decision to zero in South Lake Tahoe.

We already had 3 days of food that we mailed ourselves to Echo Lake when we originally intended to hike through. Instead of stopping in Soda Springs off of Donner Pass we decided we would add two days of food to our load. The grocery store was great here and I ended up with more like six days of food. That is why you should not shop hungry! Hiking I have grown accustom to always having a snack on hand and continually feeding myself thought the day. I did not have a snack with me on our hike through town running chores.

That evening we spent re-packing food, eating in the room, and catching up on unimportant, but very entertaining TV shows. We turned in at hikers midnight (9pm).

Back on trail:
This stretch of trail has been marked with mosquitos and flies. We pass through so many boggy Meadows and green hillsides. You cannot complain about the veiws, but the bugs are horrible! We are both happy to have head nets. They look ridiculous, but provide a slice of sanity when you can no longer take the constant high pitched buzz by your ear.

Our first night we found it hard to find a good camp spot near where we wanted to stop. We were hoping to gain some elevation and put ourselves out of mosquito range. No luck. We camped with Papa Joe and Postholer, but everyone was in their tents to avoid the mosquitos.

The next morning we walked 2 minutes out of camp and found Brownie packing up his camp. Funny how you can be so close to other hikers and not even know it. We hiked off and on with Brownie and Team Siesta throughout the day. I didn't get the whole story, but as far as I understand Team Siesta is a group of 5 that has been hiking together since near the beginning. As their name suggests, they enjoy long breaks in the middle of the day. We have not seen them since their break at Barker Pass.

On our second night out we camped with Brownie and the three of us discussed what we were hoping to order tomorrow at Donner Ranch. According to the guide book and trail rumors Donner Ranch is a .2 mile walk off trail to a restaurant. They were supposedly giving hikers a free beer. Free beer or not, we all wanted a sandwich.

We planned it so that we would have 16 miles to Donner Pass. This should be late enough that we would be ready for some food. The day was hot! We had about 2,500 ft of climbing. By the time we made our way down the switchbacks through the ski area to Donner Pass we were all ready for something cold. Ice cold! We could almost taste it. Then we saw it. A sign was posted at the trail head listing services in the area. Under "Food and Beer" they had a description of our restaurant. However it also had a disappointing hand written note across the food and beer, CLOSED. We were heart broken. No ice cold soda or ice cream or beer or ravioli with meat sauce or Ruben sandwiches with extra dressing. We had to settle for our sun heated water and a thin strip of shade under a corrugated steel building beside Hwy 40.

After an hours rest we continued on. We were now aiming for another spot 7 miles from the highway. There are very few huts and shelters on the PCT, but we were supposed to be passing one we could stay at called the Peter Grub hut.  We thought it would be fun and a break from hiding from the mosquitos in the tent. Luck did not favor us this day. When we got to the hut we found that it was closed for repairs. Strike two. We continued on and found a mosquito infested camp next to the meadow.

The next two days into Sierra City were hot hot hot and filled with flies and mosquitos. Before we crawled into our tents we went through the entertaining process of hanging our food. It usually takes a couple throws, some untangling of rope and branches, then balancing our food bags (see Tiffany's blog for a picture). Brownie finds it especially funny to watch.

We made a huge decent into Sierra City which is at 4,200 ft. Switchbacking down we heard familiar voices. We soon happened upon Gumby and Double-It. Yeah! Part of the six pack. We finished the rest of the decent to the hwy with the group. Near the trail head we found some trail magic. We took a break in the shade drinking some not so cold beer.

While lounging Gumby was able to hitch all five of us a ride in a huge van. How lucky are we!  Soon we were in town headed to the hike friendly Red Moose Inn. We were ready for an all you can eat ribs dinner.

Happy Trails!

Trail Statistics
Mile: 1,197
Days: 74
Showers: 13

Sonora Pass to Echo Lake

Sonora Pass is the location that is used to determine the earliest entry date to hike into the Sierras. Many use this to determine their start dates for the PCT or the John Muir Trail. Other than that there is not much to say about Sonora Pass. It is simply a high mountain pass you can drive over. Just another beautiful place flanked by towering peaks, with snowfields, and streams.

Carson Pass:
The one pass to note on this stretch was Carson Pass. Not so much that the trail was any nore or less spectacular, another beautiful place. The visitor center and the volunteers inside made our day.  Half way through our hike the weather rolled in and it started to rain, then rain and hail, then back to rain. When we got to the visitor center the rain had cleared, but we were still quite damp. We were pleasantly surprised to find a warm stove, other hikers, and a few spare seats in the visitor center. The two volunteers sign up to work in the summer when the PCT hikers roll through.

That evening we hiked 7 miles further to a camp that was one of the only spots we could find sheltered from the wind. We were happy to be out of the wind, but we could still hear it ripping through the tree tops. I didn't sleep well, waking up to large gusts.

Our hike into Echo Lake was only 8 miles, but it rained the whole time. By the time we got to Echo Lake we were cold and soaked. Neither of us had brought rain pants. It wasn't supposed to rain like this... So we thought. Oh well. We had planned to spend the night at a nearby youth camp, but we found out they stopped taking hikers in last year. Tiffany loaded the forecast for the next few days. The storm was to continue. Between the closed camp and poor weather outlook we decided to find a ride into South Lake Tahoe.

To get into South Lake Tahoe we connected with a local trail angel. It turns out she had read the book Wild and when the local outfitter put out an ad in the paper for those who wanted to be on their trail angel list, she signed up. This was just 3 days ago and we were her first hikers. As much criticism as I have for Sheryl Strayed's book, I do owe the ride in and out of South Lake Tahoe to her.

In South Lake Tahoe we stayed at the Apex Inn with Spoons and Whistler. It was a cheap hotel, but had everything we needed inside and was in proximity to all that we needed. As always, the first order of business was a shower, then laundry, then food and beer. We found out there were several other hikers in the motel as well. One of which was Papa Joe. For those who might remember from earlier posts; Papa Joe is Joe Anderson of Casa De Luna or The Anderson's one of the infamous trail angels of the desert.

As the rain poured down outside I think we were all glad to be in a solid structure.

Happy Trails!

Trail Statistics
Mile: 1,094
Days: 68
Showers: 12

Toulumne to Sonora Pass

Toulumne:
Toulumne is a small stop with a general store, grill and PO attached in one building in Yosemite National Park.  We stayed with 10 other hikers in the hiker/biker camp. This included the Buffalo 6 pack. They got in earlier and had found a ride down Yosemite Valley to see Half Dome. They said there were so many people down there that it was like Disneyland, they where overwhelmed. While they were touring the park Tiffany and I enjoyed a hot dog in a tortilla dinner with Kip and Backup. That night we had a fire, drank wine, and shared more stories and brain teasers.

The next morning we packed up early enough to be at the Toulumne post office as soon as it opened. We picked up our food package and found we also had two additional packages. Thank you to Beth and Shannon for the birthday food and the XL glasses. Also thank you to Linda and the Metro gang for sending a care package too. It was so fun to hear from you.

We organized and re-packed our food so that most of it would fit in our bear vaults and into our packs. We had another 8 day stretch ahead of us which means a lot of food. This was also our last stretch with the damn bear vaults. They are required in both national parks.

Yosemite and beyond:
Despite what little most others see, there is a lot more to Yosemite than half dome. The hike out of Toulumne Meadows is so beautiful. Some of the trail is a few cairns placed over one massive rock.

On the third day out of Toulumne the rock began to change. Instead of the huge white rock slabs we started to see dark brown and red rock that looked like one big conglomerate of all sorts of other rock. I call it the trash rock, but I would guess it is some kind of sedimentary formation. The rock is very erosive and this makes for some pretty cool looking shapes.

The fourth day out marked two major milestones; Tiffany's birthday and passing Mile 1000. I wish we could say we celebrated mile 1000 with at least a photo, but we sailed right past it without even knowing it. We got to a trail junction we knew was mile 1002 and both looked back wondering were under the snow on Dorthy Pass had mile 1000 been.

Tiffany's birthday was supposed to be more exciting too. In Toulumne I had coordinated secretly with the Buffalo 6 pack and Texas Grit to meet at Sonora Pass to camp together and celebrate. The location changed to 1012 the first day out when Double-It said they wanted to take it slower on the first half of the stretch. 

On her birthday T and I didn't break camp until 9am and I tried to go slow in order to ensure that we would be behind someone in the 6 pack. Although throughout the day I didn't see anybody's footprints. After a long rest, drawn out by me to stall, it was time to climb to the crest and up to mile 1012. Tiffany couldn't understand why I didn't just dump the extra 3 liters we filtered. She didn't know I was hauling it to spend the night up high. I was slow on the climb, in part due to the water weight and part to stall. When we got to the spot I stopped for a break. Tiffany looked at me exasperated, "here!". It had been a very windy ridge walk and the wind was not better here. I could tell just sitting around was not going to work. It was already 6pm, as far as I could tell no other Buffaloes were anywhere near us and Tiffany wanted to keep moving. So I had to tell Tiffany about the whole plan. "Is that why you were so slow, and always looking back, and carried way too much water?" She said that was nice, but there was no way she was spending the night on this windy ridge. As disappointed as I was I cannot say I was too keen on spending the night up there either. So we left a note and carried on.

We made our way to a nice camp spot on Sardine Creek just before Sonora pass. The trail down was a bit more tricky than I was expecting. We crossed several large snow fields that were beginning to ice over for the night.  By the time we got to camp we had just enough light to set up the tent and throw back a swig of the Crown whiskey I had brought for the party.

Happy Trails!

Trail Statistics
Mile: 1,018
Days: 64
Showers: 11

VVR to Tuolumne

This time I will try to do a better job of editing as I feel that the last two posts were a little rushed and maybe not as easy to read.

Vermilion Valley Resort (VVR):
To get to VVR you take the ferry or a four mile walk around the reservoir. Tiffany and I chose to take the ferry. This year the water is so low the ferry is a small fishing boat. At the other end you get a one mile ride in a truck to the resort, driving over bare land that would normally be covered in water.

I'm not sure that I would describe VVR as a resort. I would consider it a camp or half Lodge & RV Resort. The main building has a store and restaurant with covered seating outside. Hikers camp for free in the wooded area adjacent to the store. One of the outbuildings has shower rooms and a few washer and dryers at the end. We took advantage of both. It was fun to take a zero day here. It seems to be a bottleneck for hikers and again you realize how many fun people you're hiking with.

Back on the trail:
Leaving VVR Tiffany and I split up between the first ferry and the second ferry because they were trying to maximize the number of people in each ride out. It always feels good to be back on the trail again after a zero day. Although back on the trail the winds were picking up and the skies were turning grey. As we climbed towards Silver Pass the weather got worse and thunder rolled in. Near treeline we decided to hide under a group of trees. Shortly Brownie joined us to watch the weather. As the thunder came closer we all agreed that staying put was a good decision. It didn't seem long before the three of us were huddled under our ground cloth to avoid getting soaked and pounded by hail.

Luckily the storm was just a short afternoon bout. Our group of 3 joined the 2 Australians and we made our way over Silver Pass. The pass didn't have much snow and it was a short walk down to camp that night. We made a fire which seemed to draw more hikers in and ended up with another 2 joining our camp.

Reds Meadow Detour:
The second day out of VVR was more of the same beautiful country. In the lower elevations the meadows seem to be longer, wider, and more green. We had a 20 mile day into Reds Meadow. Here I made a decision I was not originally going to write about, but just in case anyone else has a similar situation I thought I would share.

In the previous 5 and more often in the last 3 days in and out of VVR I had been having trouble breathing. At times it felt like someone was sitting on my chest. This was not a normal working hard going up hill difficulty. I was really reluctant to get off trail. Even more reluctant to see someone in the case they might tell me to get off trail for the year. But I also thought getting checked out here would be better than being air lifted out later if something was seriously wrong.

So we got a ride out to Mammoth Lakes and found a cheap hotel. There was no urgent care in Mammoth Lakes, only an emergency room. So the next day we took a shuttle down to Bishop where I was able to get an appointment at a clinic. I saw a PA and got a few tests. Everything came back normal and they found I had good blood pressure, a low heart rate, and to be in great physical condition. The PA handed me a prescription and told me to take one of these the next time I felt the pressure and see if it helped. As I left the clinic to walk back to the hotel I looked at the prescription; Xanex. Great, so he thinks the problem is all upstairs. Well, there was only one way to see if this was a fluke, or maybe it was altitude, maybe the unplanned 2 days off would be the rest my body needed, or maybe drugging myself up would settle the crazy in me.

Back at Reds Meadow:
Reds Meadow is kind of in the middle of nowhere, so getting back took a while. In the morning we took a shuttle back up to Mammoth Lakes, then got a hitch up to Mammoth ski resort, then got another hitch up over the ridge and into the meadow.

Little did we know what a surprise we were going to get back at Reds Meadow. As I was talking to the people who gave us a ride I heard screams of glee and delight coming from the front of the small restaurant. As it turned out our detour put us right back with Gumby, Double-It, Samba, and Tallywa. Hugging and lots of chatter you would think we were old friends who hadn't seen each other for a year. The Buffalo 6 Pack was back together again! Tiffany and I decided to split a second breakfast (brunch by this time) with the group so we could all hike out together.

Back on the trail:
Armed with my crazy pills and some natural recommendations from my sister I was set to continue on.

The first night out of Reds Meadow is a National Monument, Devils Post Pile. It is an amazing look at a wall of basalt columns. Then we headed back UP!

As fun as it was to hike together again with friends Tiffany and I stopped an hour or two short of everyone else. Considering recent events we were taking 3 days to get to Toulumne vs 2 like everyone else. Our first camp back on the trail was a rewarding rock outcropping overlooking a valley and a view across to the John Muir Trail and the magnificent mountains framing it.

The second and third day into Tuolumne Meadows included Thousand Island Pass and Donahue Pass. Neither had significant snow and provided us with rewarding views of the broad valleys below. Because of our relaxed schedule we had long 2 hour breaks by lakes and late starts. I could get used to this! Although, I might not finish the trail until next year...

We had a beautiful walk into Tuolumne. You can always tell when we are getting close to a road or town by the number of people you run into. You can smell their clean clothes before you see them!

Walking into Tuolumne we found some fellow Hiker Trash hanging out at the picnic tables in front of the small store/post office/deli. We found out we made it just in time to get some hot dogs for the night and a swirl ice cream cone.

Trail Statistics
Mile: 942.5
Days: 60
Bars: 45
Bags of Chips: 11
Doctors Visits: 1