Day 75 – Monday, Aug. 7

PCT Mile 1,137.9 to PCT Mile 1,160.8 Peter Grubb Hut
Day Total: 22.9 miles

We hiked under the chairlifts at Squaw Valley ski area this morning. Cool to think about the Olympics being here in the 60s!

There was a little snow left on some of the steepest, shadiest runs, but not much. It was hard to imagine what it's like in the middle of the winter.

We hiked mostly along high ridges with big mountain views all morning. The scenery is changing, from the snowy peaks farther south to darker, rounder volcanic mountains.

We saw a handful of dayhikers today, which always tells me two things: civilization and roads aren't far, and that the trail is scenic and enjoyable enough that it's worth hiking. We didn't see dayhikers in the Sierras because of criterion number one. And we hardly saw any dayhikers in the desert because of criterion number two.

We took advantage of being close to civilization today by enjoying a restaurant lunch at the Donner Ski Ranch lodge. I had a burger and Stephen had a chicken sandwich. We chatted with fellow hikers Moe, Toe, and Panda in the restaurant.

Leaving the Donner Ski Ranch after lunch was hard. We were uncomfortably full and knew the trail had a good-size climb up from Donner Pass and Interstate 80.

We saw a hiker named Danger who we had met in Cabazon around mile 200, way back when. He had started at mile 702, hiked the desert section southbound to the Mexican border, then flipped north to Ashland, Ore., and was hiking southbound back to mile 702. He told us he's planning to flip north again to the Canadian border and then hike south back to Ashland. It's certainly a very interesting way to thru-hike!

We slept in the Peter Grubb Hut, a cool backcountry cabin that's maintained by the Sierra Club for hikers and skiers to use.

Moe, Toe, and Panda joined us there for the night.

Stephen is going to write about shelters like this as one of the many big differences between the PCT and Appalachian Trail. It'll be on the blog someday soon.