Which Way Is North?

PCT Mile 1,275.2 to PCT Mile 1,298.0 Day Total: 22.8 miles It was about nine miles of downhill into the Feather River canyon to get to the "town" of Belden and I didn't know what to expect. Belden isn't really a town but more of a resort. We heard that some weekends they have music festivals and it gets crowded. This was one of those weekends. The trail to Belden was really steep. My knees were on fire by the time we got to the bottom of the canyon. We walked out of the woods and started seeing hundreds of large camping tents, cars, and people. Our friend Toe called it a shantytown. People were wearing all sorts of bizarre clothing. Everyone was very friendly. We found out this was the Funk Festival and there were several stages. We were there too early to hear music, but there were lots of PCT hikers who stuck around for a day or more to partake. The organizers were super hiker friendly but the best part for us was there was lots of food. We ate ...

PCT Mile 1,257.4 to PCT Mile 1,275.2 Day Total: 17.8 miles We had just 3.6 miles, mostly downhill, to Big Creek Road this morning. From there we waited more than half an hour for a hitch into Bucks Lake , a resort community just off the trail. There are something like 10 year-round residents of Bucks Creek. There were not many cars, which was very discouraging while waiting for a hitch but we eventually made it into town and enjoyed a big breakfast at the Bucks Resort. The waitress said she loves when hikers come through and was excited to bring us the trail register to sign. We walked from there to the little general store where we bought three days of food to get us to Chester. People there were very friendly too. After shopping we walked out to the road intersection to try for a ride the 2.5 miles back to the trail. Several cars passed with no luck. Eventually a woman who was walking started talking to us and offered to drive us. We walked with her back to her house wher...

PCT Mile 1,229.5 to PCT Mile 1,257.4 Day Total: 27.9 Miles The trail today was different than anything we had hiked before. We crossed more roads, mostly dirt but a few paved, than we saw people. We got to a road this morning and walked along it to a creek that flowed under the road. We filtered water and then ate breakfast as we watched several large logging trucks go by. This isn't the kind of protected wilderness we had gotten used to. The trail here goes through multiple-use forest. In the afternoon we hiked way down to the Middle Fork of the Feather River . The river was raging, but there was an eddy that made for a great little swimming spot. We took a refreshing dip and filled our water before starting a massive 3,000 foot climb out of the canyon. It was one of the biggest climbs we've had yet on the trail. We listened to some podcasts and marched up the green tunnel of switchbacks that continued for some nine miles up out of the Feather River canyon. Eventu...

PCT Mile 1,203.4 to PCT Mile 1,229.5 Day Total: 26.1 Miles We woke to a beautiful sunrise from high on the Sierra buttes. The trail had some waterless sections, so we had to calculate how much water to carry for the first time in a long time. Today was hot. The trail was dry and dusty. Still, somehow, there were a couple very small patches of snow. We walked through delightful shady forested sections, and some hot, exposed rocky sections. We could look back and see the jagged Sierra buttes almost all day. There were some beautiful and interesting wildflowers. Apparently the flowers are blooming much later than normal because of the high snow levels. We camped with some section hikers we had seen going the other direction two nights ago. There was another section hiker there, too, who had just started a week ago. He had blisters and rubs from his shoes and his pack, just like we did when we started. Hearing him talk about his pains made me realize how far we've come in...

PCT Mile 1185.6 to PCT Mile 1203.4 Day Total: 17.8 Miles We saw a rattlesnake today on the first hiking day in a month that we didn't walk on any snow. And it was hot with few streams. Things are changing. We're in Northern California now. We hiked 10 fast, downhill miles this morning to U.S. 49, where we hitched the mile and a half into Sierra City to pick up a package. A huge thanks to our friends for their thoughtful and funny care package! We noticed you used a box that was labeled for Squirrel Poop. You guys rock. We ate lunch at the Red Moose Cafe , where we were waited on by a young guy who said his family has been in Sierra City since the gold rush era in the 1850s. We each ate a pint of Ben and Jerry's in the shade behind the Sierra City Country Store where hikers gather. The church in town had public showers, so we took advantage of those as well. We met several hikers we hadn't met before in town, including a crew that seemed to just be sk...