The Pacific Crest Trail

I leave Lions Den at 9. The owner Mary -Lion is giving me a ride up to the Harts pass trail head, she wants to leave at 9 so she can grab a baguette for the ranger.

We grab two baguettes and then get driving, it’s her me and Mark from LA. Marks starting his SOBO journey, I’m finishing my NOBO journey. Wild. He tagged the terminus and came back to Harts pass to take a zero night. His first four days. Mark asks me if he could talk me into yo-yoing and going south with him to get him schooled up and more prepared for what’s ahead. I tell him I’d go south back to Stehekin but doing another 2600 right now just isn’t in my cards. I have other plans. Other hikes to hike.

It’s an hour drive to the trail head through bumpy class 5 roads. We handle the terrain in her Nissan Altima and get to the trailhead at 10:30AM. Definitely a Jeep road.

The ranger says hello and stamps my permit. We talk for a little while and then I get hiking. I almost immediately run into a couple that just came back from the terminus. They say they did it out and back in 4 days and it was beautiful. I’m planning for 3 days 2 nights, but any faster is a bonus.

The trail starts down a beautiful line through forest trees surrounded by gorgeous Mountain View’s. I see a fire tower in the distance. As I continue down into Holman pass I start to see more hikers coming back south. Some thru hikers, some section hikers and some people just out for the day.

We chat for a bit, share stories and talk about where we are camping. Leaving the trail head so late, I plan a short day. I eye a campsite 15 miles in and set up my tent with two ladies from Monroe WA. They’re out for 8 days and think I’m nuts for being out here this long.

As we’re hanging out for dinner another gentleman walks up, he says he saw Geodude 7 miles ahead and asks if I am Mouse. Yessir I tell him. I’m trying to catch Geodude so we can hike out together. It’s his birthday this week and we’re going to party. As the sun sets the bugs come out, I say goodbye and head off to bed while listening to the grouse vibrating in the woods.

I wake early up and pack my stuff up quietly. I brush my teeth and get moving, I pass Geodudes beat up Z Pack tent as he’s sleeping and put distance behind me and my camp site. It’s a bummer he’s sleeping, but I’m not about to wake a man to say hello.

I climb the ridge and enjoy the sunrise, it’s warm, misty and all downhill to Canada. From here at Hopkin lake it’s is like 6-7 miles downhill, I drop my tent, sleeping bag and anything else I don’t need and decide to slack pack the rest of the way to the border. I even tie up my food and only bring snacks. I’ll probably jog the last few miles downhill. My legs after 2600 miles just feel amazing.

As I’m heading down, I see more people heading up. They camped much closer than I did. One said at the junction just before the terminus. Then they decided to tag the terminus really early in the morning and head back out before the sunrise. Honestly, a smart idea. I just got such a late start yesterday. Luckily my legs are in great shape, and ripping out a 30 mile day is just standard at this point. I’ll see them again on the way out, I’ll catch up.

The trail is nice and gradual, mainly groomed with sections of thick overgrowth. At this point in my hike, I put my head down and just power through everything and anything. As I can see Canada getting closer, my emotions start to move from happiness to sadness. Is this really it I say. I can’t believe what I have done and I honestly can’t believe that I’m here alone. All my trail friends are in different places on trail, some have finished already and some have quit entirely. Today it’s just me, just like I started back in March. Solo.

I turn one last corner and I get my first sight of the Canadian border and the PCT Northern terminus monument. Wow. That’s all I could say. Wow. I choked back tears, screamed out happiness and just enjoyed the solitude. I had it all to my self, not a sound, not a single person, no border patrol agents. Just me and the Canadian border.

There’s a log there to set your phone up, a hiker carried that log from Mexico last season like the navy seals do. That guy is nuts. And thanks man because that’s the only way I was getting a picture. 

I take 38 pictures and 3 videos and then took one last look at what I’ve done. What I waited 5 months to see with my own two eyes. I sign the terminus 2025 book and leave a message. “Livin the fuckin dream.” I take a few deep breaths and then leave it behind me. It’s 30 miles uphill back to the highway and it’s almost mid day.

Let’s fuckin go.

A few miles back up the trail I run into more hikers coming down. We chitchat and smile and I truly enjoyed the hike back up. For the first time I don’t have a hiking goal, now it’s just a long walk back to the metaphorical car of life. Headphones in, volume on as high as possible, I charge back uphill 6 miles to the lake and gather my stuff. I stop and chat with an Italian SOBO hiker who tells me it’s harder than he thought. We talk for a few minutes and I reassure him it’s worth it. I tell him no matter what keep going, and then I say goodbye.

With a full heavy bag again, 2 filled water bottles, and 20 miles already done for the day I start eying camp sites. As I climb to windy pass it’s a beautiful spot, eye level looking at a ridge and overlooking a valley. Nice but absolutely windy. I drop down another half mile between the two passes and I set up my tent.

I eat dinner, relax, enjoy 2 movies and embrace my last night on the PCT. After watching sunset I retired to my tent and got a good night sleep.

I wake up at 4:30 and pack up. Under 10 minutes and I’m on the walk, it’s all uphill today to get back to Harts pass and it’s the perfect temperature. As I climb the first ridge it’s covered in clouds, I continue to walk through them and get eye level with them. As they blow around I can feel the moisture being dropped off.

A few more miles pass and I start to see people waking up and getting going. I’m always an early bird and it’s nice to see others up early. As we pass we make small talk, I run into the two ladies from the night before, they only went 10 miles while I doubled it. I’m seeing them again on the way out. Nice. Hope yall ladies had an amazing time!

As I start to see Harts pass in the distance I ramp up my pace. 22 miles in 6.25 hours. I walk into the trailhead, grab a soda out of the hiker box and start working on a hitch back to Mazama. What an amazing end to this trip, I’m still going to spend the next 2 weeks hiking WA. But wow. What an amazing trip.

I sign the logbook and notice I finished right after Punisher. What a beast he is, ripping out the border to border calendar year triple crown. Basically tripling what I am doing. Savage! Keep smashing it punisher! I catch a hitch down to Mazama and head back to Lions Den for the night. We celebrate Geodudes birthday and talk about what our next plans are.

I meet another hiker and we decide to hitch hike to Seattle in the morning. We make signs and stand in the sign of the highway. It took 2.5 hours before we got picked up but we eventually made it to Seattle. One guy gave us a ride to Newhalen and then another guy to Meridian. We then took the train to Seattle, enjoyed the afternoon in Seattle exploring for Seafair fest and then said goodbye to each other.

From here I walked around Seattle for a while, a few police officers asked me why I had a bag etc. After talking with them they said 8PM I should leave the city as it gets “unnecessarily violent.” Okay I tell them.

I walk around for another hour and then jump back on the train to Lynnwood, then I make my way to the 202 bus to Everett where I then connected to the 280 bus towards Smokey point. After about 20 minutes I got off in Lake Stevens about 50 miles away from Seattle and walked 4 blocks to my buddy Dylan’s house. He wasn’t home so I set up an air mattress his wife left out for me in his garage and waited for him to get home. What a travel day.

I leave the Inn at 6:30AM with Early Bird the SOBOer. It’s a mile road walk to the street then 12 miles of street to where the trail head is. We say we’ll grab a hitch together.

A guy pulls over around 6:45AM says he is heading that way anyways. He asks us about what’s going on and where we are from. She was from NC and me from MA, the driver says he was also from MA. He grew up in Salem. Wtf I laugh. He was 37 we probably played each other in sports leagues.

He moved to Seattle a few years ago when he got married and was now road tripping and doing some day hiking. We thanked him for the ride and then jumped out after the 12 miles to the trail head.

We say good bye, swap contact infos and then im moving. Plan is 20 miles even. I walk the first 5 and it’s rather uneventful. Deep thick forest, I laugh to my self that this is definitely big foot country. Another 5 miles go by and I stop for breakfast. As I’m getting back up I meet another NOBO hiking Bear Trap from PA. I hike with him for the next 18 miles.

We walk along beautiful forest, exposed ridge and have beautiful views of Mt Adam’s. As we get close to 30 miles I see a campsite and say hey man I’m pulling up here. He’s shooting for 8 more miles. Savage.

My thought is now I have 39 miles left to town. I can do two 20 mile days from here to Packwood or one 25 and one light day. I plan to find a nice camp site in goat rocks so I’m not sure. But tonight my feet are hurting and the bugs are bad. I pitch my tent, cook my food, go pre dig my AM hole and then retire to my tent. I rewatch the Tetris movie and then head off to bed.

Day 2

I wake up at 5 and my ankle is killing me. What did I possibly do to injure my ankle without knowing it? Maybe I’m just at the point that I have walked too much this year. Luckily for me today is a short day. I am going to meet my buddy Dylan at Whites Pass and we’re going to chill for the day. He’s working this week like most normal people so Friday’s the best day. I think today’s Wednesday.

I leave camp at 5:45AM and get moving quickly, the mosquitos are out with a vengeance and they can’t fly 3MPH allegedly. It’s roughly 4 miles of up to start off and the trail is cruisey. It’s a little steep, definitely not SoCal grade but definitely not NH grade. I pass what FarOut tells me is the last water source for 13 miles. Granted I expect to see snowmelt and some run off but this is reliable water sources.

As I’m filling water I hear voices, a couple was camped 75 feet away and were packing up for the day. They were heading NOBO also but were just out for the week section hiking. We talk about our trips and plans and then say goodbye. I tell them I’ll save them a campsite, honestly though I prob won’t see them again.

I blaze on up the trail and reach the peak of this climb. Wow views of Mt Adam’s and it looks huge from down here. I soak it in for 90 seconds and then continue on for 5 miles of downhill until it turns back to uphill. This is where I make up my time. 3.5 mph on the downhill, what’s the rush? No rush at all just want to be up and over the pass before the mid day sun. I don’t do well in the heat. I sweat, I start to chafe, I then complain and my day go from enjoyment to constant “work of addressing it.”

I get to Ciphus pass and it’s absolutely beautiful. I get some cell service and call my buddy. We coordinate our meeting time and details and then I keep it moving. I come over the top of the pass and see the trail heading down for the next 3 miles. It’s beautiful looking, light grade down, ridge line looking.

I see a spot on FarOut that says it has great views of both Rainier and Adam’s. That’s my jam. It’s 2.5 miles away and I’ll be there in an hour. I fill water at the next stream and see a day hiker complaining about the bugs. I tell him he picked a great campsite though. He said he was thinking about leaving. I actually thought they weren’t bad there. I guess I’m numb to it now.

I pull up to the camp spot after passing a beautiful waterfall just at it hits noon. 17.5 miles done. I stood in that waterfall for a few minutes to soak in the mist. Then it was time to set my tent up in the shade and enjoy the next couple of hours of relaxing. I will say the bugs are bad, it’s mainly flies and bees mixed with some mosquitos.

Day 3

I leave camp again at 5:45AM. I actually had some trouble digging my cat hole, the ground was solid in like 4 different places. But hey, still got it done. I leave camp and start straight up hill. I always set my self up to do climbs in the early AM before the suns beating on you.

I have 4.5ish miles to the top of Goat Rocks and the knifes edge. A big debate on far out is whether or not people should take the PCT route or the alternate up old snowy.

I continue on another 2 1/2 miles and I filter water. This is the last water source for 11 miles today. I grabbed 2 L and start drinking. I know once the sun comes up it will be hot. I continue on up the trail and I finally see my first sites of actual goat rocks.

I continue on halfway up and hit a snow traverse, everybody online said there was no snow. Well apparently they were wrong. The snow is a sheet of ice and I can’t kick in any boot pack. I’m happy I had my sister give me back my micro spikes and I said to myself they’re light enough to carry. I toss on my spikes real quick and cover maybe 1000 feet of traverse.

After the traverse, I see the PCT route, it looks fucking sketchy. I still don’t know how they consider everything on this trail horse grade. I don’t see how a horse would take those switch backs and then over those lava rocks and then down that sketchy ridge that looks to be a foot wide at most.

I take the right up the PCT alternate to old snowy and it’s a vicious climb. As I reach the top I can see forever, what I don’t see is any goats. But beauty as far as the eye can see, I continue on and start down the knife’s edge. Wow. Absolutely awesome to see and experience, especially solo. I’m a little uncomfortable but fully in control if that makes sense.

I scramble down the knife’s edge and continue along a skinny ridge line. I start my second climb and run into a group of camp kids. I’d argue highschool age on a 18 day trip. Today was day 5 they said. I commented it gets easier after day 5. You get your rhythm, find your groove and all that jazz. They take my picture and I head on. Hope that photo ends up famous.

As I continue to the top of my second climb I see some more weekend and section hikers. One couple actually from Somerville MA. I laugh, tell them I’m from Medford and we swap phone numbers. This guy says he’s looking for a fishing partner and someone to hike with back home. He’s originally from Cali, and she was from Texas.

All I can say when I walk away for the next mile is “what a small fucking world.” I’ve been given rides by women from Andover, a guy from Salem, and now these two from Somerville. I could walk to their house for beers in under a half hour and I run into them here of all places.

Anyways, I keep on and say I’m only going to do 5 more miles. Today’s suppose to be a Nero day, my watch says 11AM. I pitch my tent and do lunch and a siesta, I set my timer for an hour and just chill. I listen to the wind blow and the wood peckers hammering away.

I eat up, get up and get moving again, I’m eyeballing a possible campsite from FarOut at mile 2291. I finish up those last few miles of pure uphill to find 4 people’s bags already there. No tents, just bags. Hmm what’s the move here, shock them when they come back and I’m here pitched. Or just continue on? I pitch around the corner on the edge and FaceTime my dad. I have cell service for a moment. Nice. After a half hour my tents covered in bees, time to pack up and split. I can’t stay in this.

I move on, oof, a Nero day turns into an easy 17 miles, I get up and over the pass and get a great view of Shoe Lake. As I hit the top I see a small sliver of ground I can make work overlooking the Lake.

I make my decision, this is home tonight. I position my tent close to the trees knowing the bugs will be worse but the shade will be on me earlier. Pros/cons. I don’t want to sweat all afternoon in the tent. I cook dinner, toss on a 2.5 movies and rest up for the night. Short day tomorrow as it’s only 6 miles of downhill to Whites Pass where I’ll grab some food.

Day 4

I wake up at 5AM naturally and just sit snd enjoy a beautiful sunrise for a half hour. It’s the perfect temperature out, almost no breeze so the mosquitos are out. I pack up camp quickly in my full bug suit and try to forget about them in the moment.

I head off down trail and my task is to complete a 5.6 mile leisure walk into White Pass. I plan to resupply at the Cracker Barrel and get moving again, what a beautiful morning.

I walk down the trail and see some beautiful views, the trail is full of cob webs. I laugh as I see a SOBO day hiker and I tell him “don’t worry but I’ve cleaned em all up for you.” I skip each water source I see as I know I’m getting to town today. A cold Gatorade and Sprite are always purchased in town.

I get to White Pass around 7:30AM, the store opens at 8AM and I grab a breakfast sandwich to start my day actually off. Skittles arnt the best breakfast but they’ve definitely been my favorite this year.

It was a short trip between Cascade Locks and Trout Lake but boy was it fun. Sarcasm. After the bridge of the gods I hung a left and turned onto the PCT.

As soon as I stepped onto trail I see it. Ugh poison oak, and it’s everywhere on trail. Right on the edges too. I start walking through the trail and see blackberry bushes. Wow what a set up, the blackberry bushes are there to lure you through the poison oak. Clever tag team combo they have going on.

I put my head down and put the miles behind me. I took a total of 4 photos and 2 videos in 3 days. This reminded me of NorCal and how badly I wanted it to end. I passed 1 SOBO hiker and that I think is the first SOBO Thru hiker I’ve seen.

I walk into the junction for Trout Lake and see forest road 23. There a gal there waving a hitch and I run over and join her. She was also SOBO and on day 18 of her thru hike. Hell yeah. She did the AT 6 years ago and was now doing the PCT. We get dropped off in town and meet the town folk and angels.

I grab a room at the Inn and burn the night eating a huge pepperoni and pineapple pizza. I NEVER get pineapple on pizza but I remembered Julian and the guy who gave me “the only thing he’d make me” which was pineapple, pepperoni, jalapeños and I remember it being absolutely fire.

Honestly. I didn’t keep up with writing my blog in Oregon. The parts of the PCT I saw were so bad with mosquitos I got into my tent and went to sleep at night. I didn’t want to write.

So when I told my sister we should see the coast I was originally not going to blog about it all. The Oregon PCT was worse to me than NorCal for mosquitos. So exploring Oregon off of the PCT was a trip for me and her to just enjoy. So for this blog I’ll only hit the 4-5 things that stood out to me.

Like most normal people my sister has all of her adult life stuff at home going on and I thought this was a great escape for her to come out spend some time with her brother, do some hiking on the Oregon Coast Trail and ultimately relax from her kids potty training, her job, my parents, her husbands Iron Man training and from what I hear the miserable weather they’ve had all summer in New Hampshire.

She heads out west on a 7 AM flight leaving Logan airport, man it’s always nice flying west. You get there same morning, I pick her up at 10AM and we went to Portland for a day.

Portland…. Like a smaller Boston with more unhoused and very out in the open drug use. I think we saw 4 people smoking crack. I joke they’d get 29 miles done on trail in half the day. We spent the day walking around trying to find places to eat and heading to Powell’s bookstore. My sister is a huge reader, Powells was a treat for her to find a new book.

But other than that we found almost nothing really to do in Portland even restaurants just closed. It seems like the town is completely dead. the businesses were closed up and the police we saw had no idea how to or simply no desire to do any police work.

Done with Portland let’s roll.

We drive just west to Astoria where they filmed the Goonies movie and then south. That’s what everybody has told us so far that it’s famous for that and we both say to be honest with you. I hated the Goonies movie. Not sure why, just not for me. But that’s the start of the OCT, the Oregon Coast Trail. We are heading SOBO along the Oregon Coast following the coast trail and hitting all the best hiking spots and towns along the way. Our first major stop where we’ll spend a night is in Tilamook.

My buddy Dylan in Washington tells me the Tillamook cheese factory there is a must see haha. My sister says the reviews of the town say “it smells like cow shit and there’s nothing to do here.” Haha we both laugh in the car.

We do some hiking in the AM and then head down the coast to Tillamook and check out the cheese factory. It’s actually impressive, I made cheese once at a class with my buddy Marc. Why? I don’t know we use to get stoned and learn new stuff. As an engineer it peaked my interest to see a birds eye view of the process too. Soo many spots for automation and quality control, we see one lady sitting at the magnet station and I say to my sisters we def need her.

After the tour we grab lunch in their cafe and then head back to the ocean to do some more hiking. Tonight we are staying in something “untraditional” my sister says as camping on the beach isn’t really “legally” allowed. I don’t know what it is yet but let’s go!

After a few more miles walked on the beach we head to our accommodations for the night at a campground ran by a lovely older gentleman. He tells us “We pretty much don’t have any rules around here, we’re a pretty laid-back campground. But let me know if you need anything.” Sounds good sir.

I walk into a field eyeing flat spots just out of habit and expecting to pitch my tent and then see 15 covered wagons. My sister says “We’re in #1.”! Oh yeah? I see #1 and scope it out. Wow, what a great idea this guy has here.

I slide open the door lock, look inside and check it out. Two bunks with two beds and a small sitting area. There’s a pit toilet and sinks about 600’ away. What else do you need? I laugh and say this is perfect. Absolutely perfect.

I get top bunk, it’s a gift for me to not have to get up off the ground for a night. Those first few steps in the morning, ooof.

After Tilamook we made our way further down the coast eventually to Pacific City. I think walking through this area was amazing. Cape Kiwanda is known to be the deadliest place in Oregon because of the eroding cliffs, sink holes and unstable ground. We hiked through it and then hit the road walk back to our car without even knowing that.

Next up was Newport, we hiked I think 3 different light houses and then spent the 4th of July in town and it was perfect. I think total we saw 25 people. Back home it would’ve been impossible to get a table anywhere, park anywhere, or do anything. Here we did everything we wanted, we hiked, we beached, we ate Italian food and chilled at a wicked cool bed and breakfast on the beach.

After Newport we strolled down into Winchester Bay and explored the sand dunes, saw all the guys racing buggies quads and bikes and then got to sleep in a cool yurt in a state forest just off the beach. I’ve never been in a yurt before. Let alone slept in one, awesome to add it to the list of the outrageous places I’ve slept this year.

Leaving Newport we cruised into Lakeside off the John Dellenbecker trail. This was also a highlight of the trip. 5 miles of dunes to go from the beach to the parking lot. The dunes looked endless and I often thought about if fog rolled in. You’d be lost as F. What an awesome experience, that’s what I expected the PCT southern desert to be like but it was nothing like that. I somehow spend a ton of time in the snow instead.

Finishing up that section made us realize how hard it is to walk in sand for miles. It was flat but man it was tiring, even with my trail legs. Finally we made our way into California and saw the redwood forests. My second time seeing redwoods but the first was in New Zealand.

I stroll into Cascade Locks around 10AM. My motel says absolutely not, they will not let me check in till 3PM. Ok, let’s burn some time. It’s going to be 90+today. I head over to the local coffee shop and get a breakfast sandwich and a cinnamon roll. I swipe a post card on my way out for 99c. Score

From here I head over to the grocery store. The clerk greets me wearing a bullet proof vest and says I can’t bring my bag inside. Roger that. I do some shopping and then head outside to pack up my 3 days of food.

I walk down to the Locks, the Columbia River is huge. I pick some wild black berries and snack them as I walk and then on the walk back I hit the post office to send my post card. I sign the log book inside and take a photo of the monument in the parking lot.

Pretty cool. I pour out the last bit of my warm water from Oregon for the homies we’ve lost along the way. It’s Washington water from here on out.

I grab a burger and fries from East winds take out shack and walk over to the ratty motel. I wish I got an ice cream, but I tell my self dude you don’t even like ice cream. I’m not wrong.

I’m staying in the bridge of the gods motel. Honestly this place is gross, smells musty but what can you do. I head to bed early and watch Friends as I fall asleep. Nice

The mountainous woman working at KMN yells out “If you’re taking the shuttle bus we’re leaving in 5 minutes!” I signal to Seven the wrap it up hand motion that it’s time to go. I leave Kennedy Meadows North at 8 AM on the shuttle bus. There was 9 of us on the bus and Seven and I were the first on and off the bus. We wanted to get out earlier but that’s the earliest option they had. We’re off the bus, no messing around and we are moving up the hill.

The climb starts at 9,000’ altitude and climbs over 10,200’ for the first pass of the day. A couple of sketchy snow section that we climbed up and around and then slid down the skree field to the trail. Tough on the knees and ankles, definitely going one by one to the trail. You don’t want to kick rocks down hill onto your buddy. Gravity is a bitch remember that.

Next it was some downhill trail to get the knees going for miles 4-6. 6% grade and it’s cruisy. We get to the bottom and take a quick second to eat a snack and sit by a waterfall. I eat a bag of sour patch kids and a honey bun. Who knew honey buns were 600 calories by them selves? Another 15 minutes go by and we start back up hill, today’s 4,700’ of gain and a lot of it is pointless ups and downs. As we climb 650’ more we run into two trail runners coming towards us. I kindve think I know them, then they get closer.

It was Renee and Tim from @thruhikers on instagram. They are absolutely awesome and I’ve been following them for like 4 years! They were out doing a trail run during their “Thru Sit” as Tim called it. I giggled, smiled and said “Tim wth is a thru sit? I’m interested.” They’re doing day trips between driving and sitting before their next actual long hike. That’s a solid way to do it. Especially to recover after their Fkts.

We chat for a bit, talk about each others hikes and snag a photo. Then we let them keep running, Seven and I move on and laugh and talk about how wild it is to see them here and how wild the whole trips been. He says “man this life’s like a movie.” And then, more ups and downs. We hit the last snow sections and then slip on some mud. Wow it’s slippery. We look at the map and say we’ll camp after Wolf Creek. Let’s make dinner and just chill, not bad for a half day.

15 minutes go by and we hit Wolf Creek, fill up our water bladders, filter water and then walk 500’ to grab a tent site. Ten minutes later 2 more hikers show up, then 20 minutes later 3 more, and then 30 minutes later 1 more. Wow there are too many people here. As I retire to my tent I heard people laughing, coughing or rolling around all night. Tomorrow we’ll put some distance on em and camp with much less people again.

Day 2

We get going before the sun, today’s a big day of climbing elevation wise almost 5,000’. As we start to climb up we get a few bars of cell service, bing my cell phone goes off. 198 emails, 175 of them bullshit, surprise. But hey at least Z Packs is going to send me a new backpack. That’s a huge W, my current bag I picked up in Acton mile 400ish and this one’s already falling apart. Like falling apart.

Another mile goes by and we hit some trail magic. A lovely woman Valerie was there giving out snacks and drinks. I enjoyed a bag of Cheetos thanked her for your help and then kept moving. After seeing here it was two more miles and we cross a snow bridge, it gives way under Sevens feet and he falls 2-4 feet to his knees. “You okay!?” I yell. “Yeah, fuck!” He responds. I laugh and start walking around the snow bridge instead. It was longer but worth it. He dusts his shins and self off and we keep it moving. Another few miles and we enter a section that looks like we are in Nevada. Beautiful red rocks mixed with mountains. Absolutely stunning area, probably my favorite section so far. Mammoth to Echo Lake

I start pointing out all the caves up on the rock, “I bet theres a mountain lion living in there.” I say. Seven nods and agrees. Hell I’d live in there, give me a solar panel and star link and you’ll never see me again.

As we finish and get to the top we reach a section of snow that’s on the side of a cliff. Far out warned us about this. Seven climbs up over it and sets the stage for me, I try and slide back down twice. The two pieces of dirt were too spread apart for my short legs. Luckily I slide back onto the dirt, I haven’t started the snow yet but I’m already slipping. My shoes are smoked and I have zero traction under them.

I take one more shot and get on top of it, oof this sucks. Seven points out where to put my feet and we buddy system this snow section. As we get across we look back and holy shit that was nuts. We walk another half mile and then grab a seat on a rock over looking the valley below. We both laugh about almost dying and say we’re no longer tired. The adrenaline wakes you up and you’re like a new person. From there we head down hill to a campsite that is probably the nicest we’ve been at yet.

I set up my camp next to the edge and rocks and see a thunderstorm rolling in. Forecast says some rain but nothing major, we eat dinner quickly and hang out. We share a joint and a bottle of fireball. It’s one of our last nights hiking together. As it gets late, we get into our tents. The storm rolls in and makes for some nice background noise and beautiful skies.

Day 3

We leave camp today late, Seven wanted to get up at 7. I negotiated leaving camp at 6:30AM. We only have 3,500’ of elevation gain today so we don’t need to beat the heat

I get up early and walk around camp, I probably get two miles in before he’s up and ready. I can never sit still, even at camp I’m always exploring or walking around aimlessly. I look at stuff, the trees the rocks the sky. We’re hiking together mainly as it’s one of his last days on trail. Otherwise we usually hike solo and meet up through out the day or for tougher terrain. He’s getting off trail for good after going home for a wedding.

That crazy Canadian communist (jokes people) hit the 2000km mark like a boss, and is choosing to spend some time at home for the summer enjoying the rest of summer. Man it’s been real, just some random kid I met in Mexico has become one of my best friends over the last three months.

Anyways we get going from camp, make it look like we never existed there and see PigPen hiking in front of us, a girl from Minnesota currently living in Maine but out here crushing it. We hike with her for a few miles before she can’t keep up. She’s nursing a broken rib after falling down Mather Pass. I even say to Seven let’s slow it down, we’re only doing 20 miles today and we’ll get to camp too early.

We hit the base of Carson Pass and hear it’s full of snow from a woman coming SOBOA, at this point I’m mentally done with snow. I no longer have my snow gear and these shoots are serious. If you fall you are most likely going to die. On the way to the top we cross a beautiful skree ridge line with views all around. It was a small reward before the snow.

At the first snow crossing I cut under it and the climbed straight up the rocks. I skipped the entire traverse this way but it was hard climbing up. Seven says he feels no issues doing it and crushed the snow.

After another mile we hit the next snowy traverse, even worse than the first one. I again skitch around it, this time up and over it. I climb maybe 100’ above the snow through the skree field and then back down around the snow onto the trail. Seven waits for me and then takes the snow passage. He again crushes it.

From here it’s an easy 3 miles down hill as we hiked into the Carson Pass visitor center. The two women there tell us there is free drinks, WiFi from Starlink and snacks for us PCT thru hikers. Hell yea I crush a Coke. I then sign the trail register and sit down for over an hour and chat, they were absolutely amazing and super friendly.

As we are hanging around there more hikers arrive. Pigpen, Felix from Sweden and two others from Switzerland. We camped with them all the other night where there was too many people. Kellie the information worker tells us they have post cards. I grab a few and write some messages. She says she’ll mail them tomorrow. 99c each with the stamp. Correctly priced in my opinion.

Seven looks at me eyeing his backpack and says “Mouse are you ready to roll?” Yes sir let’s go. We bang out of there thinking another 4 miles and after hiking 1 mile I say “Fuck!” I totally forgot to put my sister address on the post card. Haha I wrote her name but no address. I couldn’t remember the zip code, went to get my cellphone and oooops, dumb me she won’t be getting that one.

2 more miles go by and we filter water in a nice stream, the mosquitos are bad, let’s keep it moving we both say. Another mile goes by and we grab a camp site in an area next to Showers Lake. There is a ton of nice camp sites here and there’s one other guy already set up.

We pitch our tents, set up our sleeping gear and cook up some dinner. Seven has Beef Strogonof for the first time and he said it came out pretty good. We don’t need to get ready for tomorrow really. Tomorrow is an easy day getting to town. Only 8 miles to Echo Lake where we will grab a hitch hike into South Lake Tahoe. I’m going to stay in Lake Tahoe for a few days before I hit the Oregon Coast Trail for 2 weeks with my sister.

Day 4

I wake up to Seven packing up his tent. His tent! How the hell is he up and packed up before me. This is a first in over 1200 miles, I yell out. “Yo Seven over under 12 minutes for me to pack up?” He says “under” 10 minutes later we’re walking.

We have .5 a mile of elevation gain to do and then an easy 7 miles of downhill into Echo Lake trail head. The trail started off from where we camped by crossing over a river and then immediately climbing up a steep rocky grade.

“Horse-grade!“ seven mutters. “No shit” I reply. We continue on. We reach the top and see some more beautiful camp sites. I joke we should set up and take the morning off. Nope we plan to get breakfast in town, then lunch.

As soon as we turn downhill we meet another hiker. He’s doing the same as us, hiking into Echo Lake and then getting a hitch into South Lake Tahoe. He’s going to spend some time with his wife who is coming to visit him. We hike down the last few miles and chit chat till we hit the road, funny he was an engineer as well. We hit the road and like it’s normal at this point, we throw our thumbs out and a lovely couple pulls over to pick us up. This couples going to let Seven and I stay at their house for a few days too. Sweet, Lake Tahoe here we come.

I wake up and it’s day 100 of hiking. Wow, I can’t believe it’s been that long. Over 1,450 miles hiked since March. The PCT, the Grand Canyon, Sequoia, Yosemite, Death Valley, Kern River Valley… It’s been a fucking ride, excuse my language. . . But for now, for today it’s 6.5 miles to get to Tuolumne Meadows Post office and the small general store they have there. I get moving at 6:20AM and notice on the map the trails relatively flat the whole way. Nice!

At mile 2 I run into a father son group who I’ve been leap frogging for a few days. They’re heading in to grab breakfast and find a place to stay for a night in Yosemite valley. We chat for a few minutes, I tell them how awesome it is they’re hiking together. Then I leave them in the dust for miles 3 through 5. Flat ground, light bag and town in the distance I’m like Forest Gump.

The trail is muddy and the mosquitos are bad but still it’s showing views of beautiful meadows and granite cliffs all around. Classic Yosemite, when I finally hit mile 6 I cross the first paved street that the trail touches since Kennedy Meadows South.

A nice paved road too, no potholes. As I cross the road I see Steve who I met earlier this week sitting down eating a pancake at a national park bench. Everyone there looks at me and I get waved over as well.

Legend, his wife and two guys who were just climbing Yosemite are dishing out food for hikers. I first met Legend back at Lake Morena on day two. I then saw him again at Warner Springs a week later, and then in Idylwild and again in Bishop last week. Guy is all over the place.

I grab a piece of sour dough bread from the basket and skip the pancake. I appreciate it, I just don’t really like breakfast while I’m active. It’s now 8:45AM and I tell them I got to go. Thank you again for the hospitality but I want to hit the post office right when it opens.

Steve says the same and him and I walk the last small bit to the post office and store and talk to the guy working there. He was absolutely amazing, he shipped my ice axe and microspikes home and decorates everyone’s packages as they arrive. Steve grabs his resupply box and we look at the cool art work on the box.

After the tiny post office visit I grabbed some snacks and a sandwich from the store. I’m a sucker for skittles out here on trail. $3.25 for a normal size pack. Robbed. Seven arrives a half hour later and does the same thing. We chat with some other hikers Poppa Duck and Cruisy. I actually went over kearsage pass with them last month, wild how our paths cross again and then like that it’s time to say good bye and get walking again.

From here I hiked through Yosemite National Park for another 16 miles of gradual uphill around multiple beautiful waterfalls. I didn’t take many pictures. Last time I was here I saw soo many waterfalls it’s underwhelming now. We run into two lady rangers who were checking permits and bear cans. This is the second time in 2 days I’ve been checked. The girls are lovely and give me some tips for where to camp. They also say to side quest to Benson Lake is a must. I thought one of them was really cute.

After two nice river crossings to cool off I grabbed a flat piece of ground right after Return creek. I pitched my tent, walked back to the river and took a nice dip. The water was perfect for my sore legs, ice cold. After my dip I went back and laid everything out to dry. I smell camp fire, I walk back down to the water and see Steve lighting a fire in the fire ring in the middle. NICE!

I cook Annie’s Mac n cheese for dinner and talk to Seven about our day. He cooks Annie’s white cheddar Mac n cheese and then heads off to bed early to watch some shows. I head into my tent as the mosquitos are vicious and watch an old movie “Blood Diamond.” Leo just crushing it again. I’m going to get an early start tomorrow, it’s going to be a 5,000’ elevation gain day.

Day 2 Yosemite-Day 101

I wake up at 5AM and get a move on, Seven says he’s going to sleep in and will catch up. He’s still sick and slowly getting better. It’s almost all uphill today so I have no doubt he will. I put 2 miles behind me and see a new couple I haven’t met yet.

Snoopy and Juggernaught who are from Germany, I’ve hiked with sooo many awesome people from Germany on this trip. Reaper, Stumbles, Vigand, Fearless, Feather, and now Snoopy and Juggernaut…… Luckily now I’ll definitely have a couch to sleep on when I visit Germany next year.

Snoopy sets the pace, she is getting us up over Benson pass and then down into Benson lake for lunch. Another mile goes by and we see Steve from New York, damn he must’ve got up stupid early. He joins us and we continue on up the pass, 12% grade and rocky trails. Reminds me of home, and I hate it haha. We reach the top of the pass and the views are as always beautiful. We bask in the views of the alpine lakes and really enjoy the moment. The mosquitos are bad so we can’t stop and take lunch here.

From there we decide to head down a few miles to Benson lake and do lunch there and wow I am soo glad I did not skip this side quest. It starts with a 5 way river crossing that’s confusing as hell. Then It’s a half mile off the PCT but I tell the two others “you can convince me to go.” Steve says he’s going too and “it can’t be missed.” Ok I’m convinced.

The four of us arrive at the beach and it’s like an ocean beach but with softer sand. I can’t believe this exists way out here in the middle of nowhere. I kick my shoes and socks off to dry, I then take a quick dip in the lake and then enjoy some lunch. Today meat sticks and cheese wrapped in a tortilla. It’s day 4 and my rule is this needs to be eaten today versus getting food poisoning.

After lunch and relaxing it’s time to leave, I ask Snoopy and Juggernautht how much farther they are hiking. “4-5 miles” they respond. Roger that. We get moving and again it’s 2700’ of uphill from here, we reach the top soaked in sweat but again can’t stop due to the mosquitos.

We start the down hill and run into 3 guys hiking SOBO to Benson lake. They’re going to spend a night or two there. Nice, we tell them how beautiful it is and then say goodbye. As we’re talking to those guys Seven walks up behind us. I say “Damn. Took you 7 hours to catch up.” But he did it.

Seven now leading the pack we finish the last 2 miles and see some tent sites to grab. We say goodbye to our two new friends and that we will see them tomorrow or at Kennedy Meadows North. An hour later Steve arrives at the same campsite.

I pitch my tent and immediately the mosquitos are violent. I put all my stuff inside and say fuck it I’ll do this later. I run to dig tomorrow mornings cat hole on some stupid hard ground and then head to my tent. At 5:35PM it’s time for dinner and then talking to each other from 10 feet away through our tent walls. The bugs are just that fucking bad right now.

Day 3 Yosemite-Day 102

I wake up at 4:45AM and notice Steve’s already gone. Damn he got up early again, it’s not even light out here yet. I pack camp up and get moving. It’s 3.5 miles of luscious forest and a deep river crossing before I start to climb.

The climb starts off gradual and then immediately turns to steep steps. Oh Yosemite you are exactly as I remembered, the trails are well maintained but it’s always tall steps or short steps. It’s tough on the legs and today it’ll be never ending. I pass by 4-5 other hikers still in their tents half way up. Nice spots.

I didn’t want to start the hill yesterday, and today I think that was the right move. I make it up the first climb and it levels off at a small pond. The mosquitoes are firing right now and I can’t even stop. I grab a snack from my bag and keep on walking fast.

It’s another eight miles to Dorothy Lake, I Garmin Steve and ask him if he’s stopping there for lunch and if the bugs are bad? He responds he is actually behind me. He stopped earlier and climbed up a rock to avoid the mosquitos and still said it sucked, I didn’t even see him as I passed him.

I carry on up the trail when I’m a quarter mile away from Dorothy lake I hear someone yell “Hey Mouse!” I look over to my right and it’s Snoopy and Juggernaut. They’re having lunch right next to Dorothy lake and they picked a beautiful spot. I duck through the woods and go chill with them. They’re shocked at how I caught up to them. I believe it, I crushed 19 miles before noon. I walked fast so the mosquitos couldn’t catch me and I never stopped because I couldn’t.

I toss my tyvek down and chill, I eat some snacks and filter water straight from the lake. I don’t have much food left to eat for lunch today. We chat about the day and they say after we split yesterday they ended up going another 6 miles. Today they’re going to hike 10 more miles to be only 10 miles from Kennedy Meadows North for tomorrow morning.

After a while Steve walks by, we yell him over and all chill. The two leave first to get those 10 miles done and Steve and I wait another hour. After a swim, and some more water we both get going.

Another mile goes by and we pass the 1,000 mile marker. Actually we walk by a few of them and then we both say after the next few streams we’re going to grab some ground. I see some nice flat spots and tell Steve I’m setting up. He says him too.

After setting up camp only 15 miles out of Kennedy meadows North, finally charging my devices from my battery banks and eating dinner. I head into my tent to watch a movie and get a nice night sleep. Early start tomorrow as I’m hoping to catch the 10AM shuttle.

Day 4 Yosemite- Day 103

I wake up to my 4AM alarm, I didn’t get a nice night sleep. Surprise surprise, Standard Operating Procedure. I hear Steve ruffling around in his tent. It’s go time, I pack up my stuff, hit my cat hole and tell Steve I am ready to get walking. We start off up the trail in total darkness, today’s the longest day of the year but we don’t need it. I expect to be at the trail head by 10.

We hit the first climb and pass four water sources, I tell Steve at water source 6 I’m filling up two liters for the climb. We kept our feet dry for all of them. We hit the 6th and we both fill up, I expect the uphill to require me to drink water.

We reach the bottom of the valley and see our actual ascent. wtf is that we both say, it looks never ending. As soon as we start the winds picks up. Forecasts today say 60MPH winds. A half a mile goes by and we are tucking into the trees to get a break from the wind.

Steve stops and says “hey look people way up top!” And like that I see 2 figures way ahead of us. Nice at least we now know it’s possible. We keep on and notice two different trails, the actual trail and then a blue blaze that shoots straight up the side. One has snow and one does not, we chose the one with no snow.

It was steeper but that’s fine, we’re hoping to get it done. We stop every few minutes to get out of the wind, it is absolutely whipping today. We finally hit the top and sketch across the snowy traverse. That’s when I look and see we are not done with the up.

We have 5 more miles of ridge line that looks absolutely beautiful. Both Steve and I say forget about a break keep walking. At one point we were almost being blown over, luckily we were being blown into the mountain not off of it.

We hit the final climb and see the descent. Ugh even worse than we expected with snow snow snow. Steve looks at me and says “ Mouse, are you down to skitch down this mountain and skip the snow?” Yes sir I reply. Let’s hit the skree and ski down. We start down and it’s like ice, tiny pebbles on top of granite. I giggle because it reminds me of cartoons with marbles.

We reach some clean trail finally and turn the jets on. We missed the 10AM shuttle by an hour. We reach the trail head and see a couple there taking pictures. We introduce our selves and start chatting. I detect their accent and they detect mine. They’re from New Zealand and they tell me they are in the US road tripping. Their son goes to MIT! I laugh and tell them about how I grew up 5 minutes away from MIT, also studied engineering and that I spent 2024 road tripping New Zealand to move there.

They offer us fruit and a banana but decline to give us a ride to KMN. Totally understandable as they were heading in the opposite direction as us. Before we part ways she asks if I’ll take a bottle of wine? I look at Steve and he looks at me… “sure I say, we’ll definitely end up drinking it tonight.” I toss the bottle of wine in my water holder and we start to try and hitch hike.

10 minutes goes by and I’m at the side of the road hitching, standing there holding out this bottle. A guy stops and says “hey what the fuck are you doing?” I respond “Trying to get to Kennedy Meadows North! I’ll trade you this bottle of red for a ride there sir.” He thinks it over a split second and then says to jump in. Steve and I jump in the car and find out was from Bishop, and was going to Sacramento to visit his parents. He said they’d enjoy the wine.

The guy drops Steve and I off at Kennedy Meadows North after the quick ride and we check in to the mixed dorm. 50$ for housing, laundry and a shower, going to enjoy a zero day tomorrow before the 3 days hike to South Lake Tahoe.

Seven shows up at 5PM saying the same thing I did. That was a much harder day than I could’ve been. The wind was whipping. He’s also taking a zero tomorrow, he’s flying north the same day I am. While at Kennedy Meadow North we run into a few other hikers we’ve seen. Snoopy and Juggernaut, Mark from Israel who we hiked Mather Pass with and we even get to meet some new hikers. It’s always interesting to see all of us doing the exact same thing, just totally different than each other. I just remembered I mailed my self a resupply box here. I wanted to skip the hiker mark up. See Sevens resupply below.

I leave camp at 6AM today, later than usual. It’s a light day I think, 2,700’ of up to get over Donahue Pass. I start off heading up the trail and quickly catch up to Steve from NY. He took a leave of absence from PWC to be here, nice. We hike 3 miles together before my pace is too fast, next I’m solo for miles 4-5. I see a few other hikers I’ve seen before and say hi, I cross a stream and see Craig taking a break.

“What’s up man.”- Craig

“Not much how bout you? You ready for the slog?”- me

We sit and chill for a minute and get ready for the climb. Luckily there is not much snow and we can see the top. Another mile and we’re breathing heavy, 11k feet and we’re moving. 2.3 MPH, we hit the top and decide to take a break. I enjoy some food, a ton of water and have to chase off a Marmot. It try’s to steal my trekking pole! It grabbed the handle and starts running away. I catch up and grab the pole, wtf man cut it out.

After our break we see some JMT hikers and chat with them. They are on day 7 of their 16 day trek, awesome. From here we officially enter Yosemite National Park, my second time being here and I’m still in love.

I tell Craig in 6 miles I’m camping, we are actually not allowed to camp in Yosemite’s Tuolumne Meadows area. Imagine that, we have to rip the 14 miles without camping, and with 20 miles already done, 14 more isn’t happening. He is going in to grab a burger then going to stealth camp somewhere.

On the way down I see a ranger Sean and we chat for a bit, he checks my PCT permit and is just genuinely stoked I’m out here. He says I’m the first person from New England he’s seen in a while, he also says he’s going to camp up and Donahue pass for 3 days to see if anyone needs help.

That’s how a ranger should be. Awesome interaction with him and I hope he has a great hike also. From here I keep it moving and go a few more miles and find a nice spot to set up camp. I send Seven a garmin message and tell him my mile marker. “Got a spot for you too.” I tell him.

An hour later he rolls into camp and we make dinner, chill, he’s battling the sickness I had last week now. After a bit we then head into our tents for the night. I am heading into Tuolumne meadows for the post office in the AM to ship some more weight back home (ice axe, microspikes).

I jump on the trolley and take the ride to horseshoe meadow lake. From there it is a 3.5 mile detour back to the PCT. I run into Snowgoat and Stickers on the way back as they head in to resupply. As I climb through the beautiful lakes of Mammoths back country I run into a few other hikers. One guy Craig, he just retired from the Air Force, he is taking the next few years off to travel. Hell yeah bud.

We hike the next 10 miles together through Reds Meadow resort which was still closed. Beautiful forests, lakes, and of course a bunch of switchbacks. We take lunch in a small shady spot with no view and see Seven walk by us. He clowns us for having no view and keeps walking. He’s talking it slow today with a hip flexor issue. Oof

We cross maybe a dozen rivers and streams and are able to keep our feet dry the entire time. It’s wonderful, after another few miles for a total of 21 I tell Craig I’ll see him later and I pull over to grab a camp spot. I eat a quick snack and wait for Seven to catch up, “yo you wanna grab these next two camp sites?” Seven replies “yes!”

We grab the next spot we see and it’s a beaut. Has some tree coverage to hopefully shield us from the wind and beautiful views behind us. We set up our tents and join one other hiker who’s already there. We eat dinner, relax, I do some yoga with a view and then head back to my tent for the night. Tomorrow’s basically our last pass of the Sierras. Donahue.

Seven and I went our separate ways, a hung a hard right at the junction of the PCT onto Bishop pass trail. Bishop Pass trail leads back into the town of Bishop surprise surprise. After 3 nights of feeling awful, I’m heading into town to see a doctor.

First 1.5 miles up this trail from the PCT are picturest as you climb endless switchbacks, at mile 1.8 there was a couple of great campsites to my left next to some running water. .1 from here was 2-3 ankle deep water crossings, I kept my feet dry for the first the second I got wet and the third was a pretty strong waist deep river crossing.

At the crossing there was a bunch of logs built up but I chose to go straight through, water was fast but the footing underneath was solid. Once past that it was more switch backs up through beautiful Dusey basin with expansive canyon wall views. When I hit 1.9 miles exactly from the PCT junction sign on the right side of the trail deep in the woods there was benches (planks on top of rocks) and four or five tent sitses right next to the water.

It was kind of hard to see, but if you ever hike this trail and want to pull up and sleep and tackle the pass in the AM this is a decent spot to.  I camped here but across the trail I didn’t see these sites until I was just walking around at camp. After waking up I get moving again, I figure I’ll hit the rest of the climb before the suns hot and I definitely want to be over the other side of the pass before the snows soft.

After another few miles I see camp sites at mile 3.2 and 3.9 and from there I am now in the home stretch to the pass. As I’m walking I see another hiker Scout Master doing the same thing I am. “What’s up bud how’s it going?He responds “man what a beautiful fuken section!” I cannot agree more there.

We hike another couple miles and there is snow the last section but it’s nothing sketchy, I lead the way around snow patches and up mountain skree. We get to the top and once you summit and go over the pass the switchbacks down we’re honestly sketchy, the snows melting fast so they should be clear soon but we had snow. Scout Master and I skitched down the rocks and then took one snow pass over, from there it was smooth sailing 4 miles down to the parking lot.

On the way down we ran into another hiker Rollie, we all says man were glad to run into each other. It’s dumb to do dangerous shit solo. We talk with some local day hikers and hang in the parking lot waiting to catch a hitch. A nice woman picks us up and says she hiked the trail with her daughter (Monkey) in 2012. Thank you Momma Bear for the ride into town. All said and done I left camp at 5AM and was hitching in 5 hours after 13 miles. Done and dusted, all with surprise surprise the dreaded Covid.