#pacificcresttrail2019

[halfwayanywhere]

I’m taking a quick break from Lowest to Highest to let you know that the Pacific Crest Trail Hiker Survey for the Class of 2019 is going live Monday! . After a lot of hours spent in front of my computer (and some help from @paulinadao), I have the results from the most comprehensive PCT survey to date. . Head to the link in my profile to make sure you’re subscribed and get notified as soon as the results are live. . Make good decisions, friends! Don’t die out there. . #ForesterPass #PacificCrestTrail

[yesimmortalspiritblog]

Second series of my weekend road trip to Plumas National Forest to work on my 3rd edition manuscript. However, there was a phenomenal detour in plans. Stay tuned for more forest and cabin experience footage. . . . . . #plumasnationalforest #portolacounty #laporte #clippermills #pacificcresttrail2019 #roadtrip🚗 #travelfootage https://www.instagram.com/p/B2xRSf4BpWf/?igshid=jaxn3mtzzyxa

[tynatunis]

#Repost @sunsetmag • • • • • Man Eaten Lake, Marble Mountains Wilderness A favorite stopover on the Pacific Crest Trail, the ominously named Man Eaten Lake glints and glistens in all of its emerald-hued glory. | Photo by @boyfriday . . . . . #sunsetmag #pct2019 #pacificcresttrail #pct #usinterior #pacificcresttrail2019 #hikemoreworryless #idhikethat https://www.instagram.com/p/B0rNJvrhcyq/?igshid=9il7qbnfgaj5

[tjarriaga]

The Flowers Smell Wonderful #flowers #hiking #pacificcresttrail2019 #tahoerimtrail2019 #backpacking #pct2019 #TRT2019 #camping #camp #tahoe #tahoerimtrail #californiawildflowers #trails #wildflowers #california #californiahikes #californiahiking #naturebliss #relax (at Pacific Crest Trail) https://www.instagram.com/p/B1uX2IMg5EX/?igshid=1qge7xqz639i9

[halfwayanywhere]

Pacific Crest Trail Day 48: This morning Pumper (@bound_away) and I hit Thousand Island Lake - another frame of the seemingly endless Sierra highlight reel - and have perfect weather for the thirteenth day in a row. . After crossing Island Pass (which is hardly a pass compared to everything we’ve come through the past two weeks) we head up to Donahue Pass where we reach the border/entrance of Yosemite (National Park). A quick note to international readers - this name is pronounced yoh-sem-i-tee, not yo-sem-ite, don’t say I never taught you anything. . Despite Yosemite being a glorious place overflowing with natural wonders, it’s also overflowing with mosquitoes. Yes, the terrible, fun-ending, nature-ruining, blood sucking, harbingers of horrible times outdoors are out in force (and I’ve been foolish enough to not carry any repellant with me). The days of snow and cold temperatures keeping them at bay are apparently over and now the suffer-fest commences. . I am starving by the time I reach Tuolumne Meadows (where there’s a road) because I haven’t been able to stop and eat (mosquitoes, etc.). I decide to hitchhike down to Yosemite Valley where I spend the evening poaching people’s leftovers outside the General Store (where everything is absurdly expensive). By the time the sun starts going down I’m filled with chicken strips, french fries, and salad - time for camping. In two days I’m hitchhiking back to Mammoth for more hot springs activities and so tomorrow I’m thinking of just bumming around the Valley. Pretty good plan me thinks. . Day: PCT 919.9 to Tuolumne Meadows via Island Pass and Donahue Pass Day's distance: 22.09 mi / 35.55 km Day's elevation gain: 2,712 ft / 827 m #Sierra #PCT

[halfwayanywhere]

Pacific Crest Trail Day 37: The section of the PCT between Kennedy Meadows and the junction(s) to drop into the town of Lone Pine (where I will not be going) is sort of like the transition zone between the desert and the Sierra. You're definitely not in the desert anymore, but you're also not really in the mountains yet either (despite breaking the 10,000 ft / 3,000 m mark for the first time on the trail). . The water sources have yet to be extremely plentiful and we've yet to encounter any significant amount of snow, but it feels good to be in my favorite mountain range, the Sierra (NOT the Sierras), again. . What's not great? Carrying all of this extra gear for the snow and bears that I may or may not end up using. I struggle a lot today - don't know if it's the weight, the altitude, the eight-day break, or just me being a weeine - but we still manage a solid 34.19 mi / 55.01 km. The plan is to get to the base of Forester Pass (the high point of the PCT) tomorrow night. We'll see how we go. . Day: PCT 713.4 to Poison Meadow Spring Day's distance: 34.19 mi / 55.01 km Day's elevation gain: 6,927 ft / 2,112 m #Sierra #PCT

[yesimmortalspiritblog]

Took a road trip over the weekend. Rented a cabon in Plumas National Forest to work on my 3rd edition manuscript. However, there was a detour in plans...stay tuned. Today, I plan to visit Pacific Crest Trail while I make my way to Monterey to visit my son and the ocean. Stay tuned for more forest and cabin experience videos. . . . . . #plumasnationalforest #portolacounty #laporte #clippermills #pacificcresttrail2019 #roadtrip🚗 (at Plumas National Forest) https://www.instagram.com/p/B2weaYahESH/?igshid=1nc0dzxkgtu1m

[halfwayanywhere]

Pacific Crest Trail Day 49: I wake up late today and make my way over to a couple who appear to be doing some longer-distance backpacking. They’re just starting out on the John Muir Trail and, in true JMT hiker fashion, they bequeath to me some of their expensive food that they’ve brought way too much of. Oh what a glorious (and free) breakfast it is today. . Part of me says that I should go on a hike today (Yosemite, etc.), but more reasonable feelings prevail and I instead decide to spend the day writing postcards, drinking wine, and continuing to poach food from people attempting to throw their leftovers away into the bear-proof trashcans (which, I learn, are also quite people-proof). . Towards the end of the day I hitchhike back up to Tuolumne Meadows for the camping as tomorrow I need to get myself to Mammoth for more non-hiking activities (I expect there will be a lot of "in front of Vons (a supermarket) lingering"). . Quite a gripping day, I know. . #Sierra #PCT

[halfwayanywhere]

Pacific Crest Trail Day 45: There are a few ways into Mammoth Lakes from the PCT - Mammoth Pass, Red’s Meadow, Devils Postpile, or Agnew Meadows. The last three options typically offer a bus up to Mammoth, but this bus won’t start running (this year) for another two days which means that I will either have to walk the road or get a hitch (which will only be possible with a Red’s Meadow employee because the road is closed for the next two days as well). I consider hiking 2.5 mi / 4 km over Mammoth Pass, but this will require a 1 mi / 1.6 km road walk on the other side and will then mean that I have to come back in to the PCT this same way (I would rather do more miles now to help out Future Mac). . I end up hiking to Red’s Meadow and have a rather frustrating morning filled with icy downhills and a freezing lake crossing. It’s not that the trail this morning was more difficult than the trail south of here, but rather that my expectation for the 19.73 mi / 31.75 km to Red’s Meadow was that it would be an easy and snow-free hike (where I got this idea, I have no idea). When expectations don’t match reality is when things get frustrating for me (best to just not have expectations of what’s to come). . From Red’s I begin the long hike up the road (there’s a trail option too but there’s a chance of a ride if I walk the road) out to Mammoth. After half an hour of walking, I catch a ride from a Red’s employee heading home for the day. We are stopped halfway up the road by forest service crews who are cutting down trees in preparation for the road’s opening to the public in two days. Stopped in the middle of the road, we watch as the crew fells a huge tree right in front of us. We spend the next forty minutes watching them chainsaw it in half and push it off the road (and down a large hill) with a bulldozer. . Once I make it to Mammoth I check into a hotel where I get myself two nights - tomorrow is going to be a zero day (my justification is that the last section was hugely challenging and that if I zero tomorrow, the bus will be running the next day to take me back). . Day: PCT 887.5 to Mammoth Lakes via Red’s Meadow Day's distance: 19.73 mi / 31.75 km #Sierra #PCT

[halfwayanywhere]

Pacific Crest Trail Day 44: Two more passes, Selden and Silver, stand between me and Red's Meadow (access point for Mammoth Lakes), and today I'm aiming to make it over both (from what I remember, they aren't as challenging as what I've just done the past two days). . Selden Pass has the least snow on the approach of any pass thus far and at the top I run into Dash (@jondashkyle) who I haven’t seen since before Forester Pass. I feel like Selden Pass is also the point in the trail where the PCT jade starts to make an appearance. It's a beautiful view in both directions, but compared to the views of the passes south of here, it's certainly the least exciting. . North of Selden, I cross Bear Creek and find Dash with Psyched (whom I haven’t seen since Kennedy Meadows) at another (smaller) river crossings. We continue past the turn-off for Vermillion Valley Resort (where I stopped in 2013) and continue toward Silver Pass. On the way up we hit a waterfall that floods and crosses the trail and I'm the only one of us who decides that crossing this is a good idea this late in the day. . Leaving my friends behind, I continue up to Silver Pass just in time for sunset and some of the longest glissades of the entire trail. It's under 20 mi / 32 km to Red's Meadow tomorrow. Hopefully, there's not much snow between here and there. . Day: PCT 854.5 to PCT 887.5 via Seldon Pass and Silver Pass Day's distance: 33.52 mi / 53.95 km Day's elevation gain: 7,864 ft / 2,397 m #Sierra #PCT

[halfwayanywhere]

Pacific Crest Trail Day 43: I want to make it to Mammoth without having to stop at Muir Trail Ranch or Vermilion Valley Resort (two off-trail locations for either hiker box raids or expensive resupplies in the Sierra) and as part of my mission to do so, I’ve decided that I need to start waking up early. My alarm goes off at 4:45 this morning (until now, I haven’t been setting an alarm and have been waking up naturally around 5:30). I put on a dry (and clean) pair of socks and set off; In true Sierra fashion, my shoes and socks are both soaking wet within the first hour of hiking. . Muir Pass is the last real challenge of the Sierra (from what I remember in 2013), as the passes north of here (Selden, Silver, Island, and Donahue) are relatively easy compared to what I’ve just come through (Forester, Glen, Pinchot, Mather, and now Muir). I find myself mostly alone this morning before meeting a group of four PCT hikers and then running into some rangers who check my permit (for the second time on trail). The trail drops to around 8,000 ft / 2,438 m before beginning a 4,000 ft / 1,219 m climb up to Muir Pass. Fortunately, climbs on the PCT are generally quite gradual; unfortunately, most of this climb is covered in snow. . I arrive at the Muir Pass Shelter on top of Muir Pass and meet a group of PCT hikers taking full advantage of the patch of dry ground near the shelter (this is the only pass with a shelter on it). The way down is just as snow-covered as the way up and it’s nearly 7 mi / 11.3 km of snow walking before I’m back on dry trail. I begin spotting lots of deer as the trail crosses Evolution Creek (I take a thigh-deep alternate via Evolution Meadow to avoid a potentially hazardous crossing) and continues down to close to 8,000 ft / 2,438 m. I’m hungry (the food rationing has begun). . My campsite tonight reminds me greatly of one I had in 2013 and I think there’s a chance it might be the same exact spot. This place must hold some significance in my life. Too tired to think about this now. Sleep. . Day: The Golden Staircase to PCT 854.5 via Muir Pass Day's distance: 32.29 mi / 51.97 km Day's elevation gain: 4,724 ft / 1,440 m #Sierra #PCT

[halfwayanywhere]

Pacific Crest Trail Day 40: After a lazy campground morning and a full resupply for what I expect to be the longest section of trail (I'm guessing five days up to Red's Meadow/Mammoth from Onion Valley), I take the rest of the day off from extreme walking and spend the remaining daylight hours hidden inside one of Bishop's hotels. . Fortunately, yesterday provided enough picture taking opportunities that I have some leftovers to share with you today. . I chose not hike out of the Sierra via Kearsarge Pass when I hiked the PCT in 2013 because I didn't want to do the combined 14 extra miles (22.53 km) up and over a pass going out from and coming back to the PCT. On my first thru-hike, I instead opted to do a long stretch from Kennedy Meadows to Vermillion Valley Resort (VVR) that took me an entire week (and that required the gathering of food from unsuspecting southbound John Muir Trail and weekend hikers). However, the trail was also completely free of snow my first time here. . Kennedy Meadows to VVR in these conditions would be ambitious to say the least, and is a prospect that sounds even less appealing than hiking out and then back into the mountains via Kearsarge. And so now I find myself taking a zero day in Bishop. . The next section of trail requires crossing six passes (seven if you count Kearsarge Pass on the way back to the PCT) and conditions are uncertain at best. Should be a party. . #Sierra #PCT

[halfwayanywhere]

Pacific Crest Trail Day 39: After falling asleep with hopes of waking up early, Pumper (@bound_away) and I get our latest start thus far (and perhaps my latest start of the entire trail not counting days leaving town). However, I mostly blame our frozen shoes and bathroom excursions for the delay in our breaking camp. . After a short bit of dry trail, we make the transition to "melting snow-filled trail" (because it wouldn't be a complete day without wet feet), and then to snow-covered trail. The approach to Forester Pass (the highest point of the PCT at 13,123 ft / 4,001 m) is gradual until the (completely snow-covered) trail steeply switchbacks up to the pass. . We have a number of tracks to choose from to follow over the pass and we take a more direct route following a single steep switchback through the snow up to an exposed (as in dry) section of trail above us. A quick bit of dry trail followed by a short traverse and we're at the top. Honestly, the pass is far easier and less intimidating than I had imagined (don't listen to the fear mongering, friends). . The north side of the pass is less steep and we slowly make our way down to the snow-free(ish) valley north of Forester before climbing once again toward the turn-off for Bullfrog Lake. We take this trail east (off the PCT) and up over Kearsarge Pass from where we descend to Onion Valley (where there's a road leading east and down out of the mountains). . Waiting for us at Onion Valley with a time machine (car), beverages (beer), and nourishment (ribs) is Pumper's dad - he hiked the PCT 40 years ago and clearly knows what's up. We drive down to a campground where we spend the night in anticipation of a day off tomorrow - my favorite part of thru-hiking. . Day: Tyndall Creek to Onion Valley Trailhead via Forester Pass and Kearsarge Pass Day's distance: 20.9 mi / 33.63 km Day's elevation gain: 4,689 ft / 1,430 m #Sierra #PCT

[halfwayanywhere]

Pacific Crest Trail Day 35: My final day of hiking in the desert takes me past mile 700 (1,126 km) and to the PCT landmark Kennedy Meadows - the official (unofficial?) start of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. . I have waiting for me (I've mailed them ahead of time) an ice axe, snow gaiters, microspikes, waterproof socks, and a bear canister - all things that I may or may not need (except the bear canister, definitely need that) for the next section of trail. What I don't have is bug repellant (forgot it). Hopefully, this isn't a huge mistake. . There's been a lot of fear mongering around the snow in the Sierra this year but I'm mostly on the side of "trust nobody and go find out for yourself" than I am on the side of some anonomys internet echo chamber of "we're all going to die!" It's probably going to be fine. . The majority of people whom I speak to at Kennedy Meadows are hiking to Lone Pine (just 40-ish mi / 64 km away) and then jumping up to Northern California to avoid snow. To me, this sounds like a huge mistake, but none of us have any right to judge anyone else's hikes - I wish them all luck (though, they should know, as I just learned, that skipping ahead will invalidate their PCT permits which are only valid for a continuous footpath). . I spend the night catching up with faces from the desert and proselytizing the glory of the Sierra. . Day: Chimney Peak Campground to Kennedy Meadows Day's distance: 21.91 mi / 35.25 km Day's elevation gain: 3,818 ft / 1,164 m #KennedyMeadows #PCT

[halfwayanywhere]

Pacific Crest Trail Day 20: Getting back on trail after a couple of days off is typically one of the worst parts of thru-hiking (for me), but surprisingly, I had a relatively easy day of hiking (mentally, that is). When I hiked the PCT in 2013, I skipped the section between Aga Dulce and Highway 138 (around 65 mi / 105 km of trail) because of the Powerhouse Fire which closed the trail (and I wasn’t about to do a ridiculous three-day road walk) Today, I find 2013 Mac didn’t miss much - this section blows. . I get a relatively late start as there were (as always) a lot of things I left for the last minute (a habit I will probably never break). This means I end up night hiking for the second time this thru-hike. I’ve been challenging myself to do things I haven’t necessarily been comfortable with in the past and night hiking (alone) is one of these things. . There is a trail angel house in Aga Dulce (Hiker Heaven) that I skip because of my double zero (two days off) in Los Angeles. Tonight, I also make it to (and pass) the road to another trail angel house, Casa da Luna, which I also missed in 2013 (due to the fire). These houses are owned by people who open their homes to literally thousands of PCT hikers each year (if you stop at these places PLEASE make a donation). These trail angels can be a well-needed escape for many PCT thru-hikers, but they can also suck hikers in for days at a time. Personally, I’d rather hold up alone in a motel room, but that’s the beautiful thing about thru-hiking - there’s no right way to do it - everyone’s hikes are different. . When I make it to my campsite on a ridge overlooking the city of Lancaster, there are already some thru-hikers setting up camp who tell me that they’ve just spent three whole days at Casa da Luna. If you’re thinking about thru-hiking, I strongly suggest investing in earplugs. There's nothing enjoyable about listening to thru-hikers rolling around on their noisy sleeping pads, snoring, coughing, and getting up to pee all night. Ear plugs also keep you asleep while the bears begin to surround and slowly consume you. . Day: Agua Dulce to PCT 479.9 Day's distance: 26.86 mi / 43.23 km #AguaDulce #PCT

[halfwayanywhere]

Pacific Crest Trail Day 16: Switchbacking up Baden-Powell I encounter snow for the second time this hike. It's not much, but it is sufficient to give me a peek into some of the fear mongering that plagues places like the Pacific Crest Trail Facebook groups (and some local spots along the trail). . After crossing Baden-Powell and continuing down the trail as it traces and criss-crosses Highway 2, I meet a hiker who bring up the snow we crossed earlier, "Man, what did you think about all that snow? That was pretty dangerous back there, wasn't it?" . Was there some snow? Yes. Would I consider it dangerous? No. Would describing it as "all that snow" accurately convey the quantity of snow on the way up? No. If there's one thing I've learned from my time outdoors, it's to be discerning when listening to information from others. Everyone has different levels of experience, different expectations, different comfort zones, and different levels of what behavior they deem to be too risky. Armchair hikers posting graphs of snow on Facebook pages and telling people to stay out of the mountains are not helpful. . I'm not advocating anyone do anything irresponsible or dangerous, just that you know your sources when it comes to the information you take in and that you know yourself and your own limitations when you venture into the mountains. You can always check things out yourself and turn around if you find yourself in over your head. . Make good decisions, friends. Day: Baden-Powell Parking to PCT 407.8 Day's distance: 28.95 mi / 46.58 km Day's elevation gain: 5,061 ft / 1,543 m #BadenPowell #PCT