Which Way Is North?

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 h...

PCT Mile 1,124.8, Barker Pass Trailhead, to PCT Mile 1,137.9 Day Total: 13.1 miles We slept in late and enjoyed a big breakfast David made before packing up all the food we bought. We loaded up our clean clothes and our new water filters. Stephen brought along the extra cans of Coca Cola he had bought to leave at the PCT as a little trail magic. David dropped us off at the Barker Pass Trailhead and Stephen quickly found some PCT hikers with whom to share the Coca Cola – our friends Moe and Toe! We hadn't seen them since sharing an AirBnB in Mammoth Lakes. It was nice to see familiar faces and catch up with them. We hiked up to a ridge and into Granite Chief Wilderness and had tremendous views of Lake Tahoe all afternoon. The lake so blue! We walked through wildflowers and in and out of the trees all afternoon, enjoying an afternoon snack up high on the ridge in the boundaries of Alpine Meadows ski area. It's bizarre to see a ski resort without snow. It almost feels ...

Zero Day in Reno David, friend of the blog, drove us to Truckee, Calif., this morning, where we ate a huge breakfast at the Squeeze In diner and then waited around for the post office to open so we could pick up packages. Truckee is a cool town with a wide main street that makes it feel like the wild west. There are a lot of cool little stores and some very, very nice homes. David said a lot of rich people from the Bay Area have second homes there for Lake Tahoe getaways in the winter and the summer. After that, David brought us back to his house where we did laundry and took much-needed showers. It was really nice to be in a home. In the afternoon we went to REI where Stephen and I each bought a new water filter. Our pump stopped working two days ago and we had used the backup tablets I had to purify water. This was frustrating because the pump was already our backup to the gravity filter that we had started with. Calling all engineers: Please create a water filter that...

PCT Mile 1098.7, Aloha Lake to PCT Mile 1124.8, Barker Pass Trailhead  Day Total: 26.2 miles We got moving early this morning because we had many miles to go to meet up with Stephen's friend David, who lives nearby in Reno, Nev., on the far side of Lake Tahoe. The lake looked beautiful and still as we started walking but we lost the trail in the snow within 10 minutes and had to navigate several more tricky sections. We hiked for two hours before stopping for breakfast. After breakfast we climbed the last mile up to Dick's Pass , which is the last time we as northbounders will hike over 9,000 feet. It's all downhill from here! Just kidding. There were a lot of hikers on the trail, including the most NOBOs (northbounders) we've seen in more than a week. We met several PCT hikers we hadn't met before, including a section hiker who goes by Snap. Snap is a photographer and is sponsored by a number of backpacking companies. He asked if he could take photo...

PCT Mile 1090.3 South Lake Tahoe to PCT Mile 1098.7, Aloha Lake Day Total: 8.4 miles We ate a humungous breakfast at IHOP, as we try to consume the most possible calories in towns so we don't have to carry them. We grocery shopped at Safeway, where we bought just a couple days worth of food to get us to Barker Pass where we'll meet up with Stephen's friend. We bumped into Flanders in the grocery store and found out he ran into a ranger on his last day hiking through Yosemite and got a $200 ticket for not having a bear canister. Despite the traffic, we had to wait a long time to get a ride back to the trail. We were confused when a woman in a car marked as an Uber pulled up and asked us where we were headed. We hadn't requested an Uber but she said to hop in anyway and took us all the way back up US 50 to the trail. It was very generous of her – somebody who drives for money – to drive us for free. She said she sees young people hitching all the time in town and ...

PCT Mile 1066.8 to PCT Mile 1090.3 South Lake Tahoe Day Total: 23.5 Miles We got up and hiked for an hour before breakfast, which has become our routine. We stopped on a high rocky ridge with views of gorgeous lakes below. We were just about done with breakfast when two older men heading the other way walked up to us. They said they go backpacking every year and every year forget how to pack their bags, bringing too much food. We said, "Oh really?" The one guy proceeded to give us three Mountain House freeze dried dinners and snacks along with some dried vegetables. It was funny, because of course we wanted his fancy freeze-dried lasagna, but what were we supposed to say when he handed us dried cabbage? We just said thanks and dropped the cabbage with green beans in the hiker box we found later that day. The trail took us through the Molukumne Wilderness , beautiful country with plentiful water and only a little bit of snow. We started seeing lots of day hikers th...