July 22

7/22

26 miles (1246 to 1272)

Happy birthday dad! Waking up was easy this morning, we only had 5 miles to the middle fork of the feather river. We heard it was great swimming and we could not wait to get "clean".  It did not disappoint, the river was beautiful and the water was warm. It was perfect. I only wish we had more time to spend there. The rest of the day was up up up. We climbed over 6000 feet but the trail wasn't super steep so it wasn't terrible. We just plugged away. Tomorrow we go into Belden for our next resupply and food!

July 21

7/21

25 miles (1221 to 1246)

We have left the familiar forests with grand views of lakes and granite peaks and entered the forests of seemingly endless trees, dirt roads, and logging. So this is what Northern California is about. Clay and I generally wait until afternoon to plug into our idevices and listen to podcasts, music, and books but today we couldn't wait. The morning was long, we started before 7 and had 14 miles done before lunch. I don't want to say the forest was  boring, but it was providing little distraction from hot steep climbs. 

We saw more logging trucks than people today, we are moving into a different type of area, one that I have not spent time in. I wonder how long it will be before we enter a clear cut. 

July 20

7/20

26 miles (1198 to 1221, plus bonus hiking up to the Sierra buttes fire tower)

We hiked over 25 miles today and I still had the time and energy to cut my fingernails tonight, successful day!  Also in case you we're wondering, we both brushed our teeth despite our rule that if we hike over 25 miles, we don't have to. 

We spent the night last night in the Sierra city church lawn with about 15 other hikers. We woke up early this morning and was informed by the neighbor that he had coffee for us! Not only did he have coffee but an array of bagels, jams, and fruit. Amazing! We ate, stopped at the public bathroom and started walking the 1.5 miles down the road to the trailhead. About half a minute later and truck pulled up to see if we wanted a ride, it was a good morning. 

We had a big climb up from town to the buttes, about 3000 feet all at once. When we reached the saddle at the top, we decided to take a detour and go to the Sierra buttes fire lookout, a very cool old building on an unlikely perch of a very tall and pointy mountain top. That added about 1000 feet to our morning and took a little time but it was beautiful and very worthwhile.

The rest of the day was pretty chill, we saw few other hikers, had some ups and downs but nothing major. Storms built throughout the afternoon but surprisingly we stayed dry and only had one terrifyingly close lightening strike. 

July 19

7/19

5 miles (1093 to 1098, Sierra city) 

We slept in knowing that we only had a 5 mile walk into town. We ate a big breakfast and hung out in town out in front of the happening general store.  We decided to have my friends Mary and Ryan watch D. We love that little nugget but it's too hard to have her here. She needs time to get her hiker legs and paws and we don't have time to give her. I was heartbroken to hand her off again but I know it was the right thing to do. Claire came up to meet us bringing us delicious goodies including watermelon which we devoured immediately, sun tea, and a quinoa salad we are packing out with us for lunch tomorrow. She is also taking dahlia back to truckee where Mary will pick her up tomorrow. We miss her already. 

So I cried a far amount today, bummed about saying goodbye to the creature but there was a lot to be happy about. As we were sitting outside the breakfast joint, I saw Amy fish drive by.  I jumped out into the street and about an hour later she drove by again and saw me. It was such a great surprise. We have run into several people we know so far, we aren't far from Tahoe, but we aren't that close, over 2 hours. 

We also got to visit with Claire again which was amazing and as we were in town lots of hikers rolled in that we know but thought were far ahead of us. 

July 18

7/18

16 miles (1177 to 1193, Milton creek)

I'm stressed and I felt stressed all day. We are not hiking enough miles to finish. Dahlia may become capable to hike the miles we need to hike but she isn't right now. We don't want to push her too far but every day we do under 21 miles is a day we will have to make up for later. We decided that we will give her a short day tomorrow and a rest day after that. After that we will she how she is doing and decided if we will continue hiking with her or not. Right now it seems that either we will have a chance to finish or we can hike with D but not both. I had my concerns from the start but we love having her with us and it would be hard to give her away, again. 

Other than that, the day was good. Most of my thoughts were consumed by what we are going to do. Also, last night after we ate up camp, I walked to the highest peak around to message Claire that we weren't going to make it to Sierra city today. I don't know for sure if she got it and I didn't have any service all day. I would feel terrible I she was walking around trying to find us and confused about what to do when we didn't show. 

July 17

7/17

17 miles (1160 to 1170)

We got up early and hiked two miles to the peter grubb hut, another backcountry ski hut, to make breakfast. Terrain wasn't super challenging and we were feeling good, ready to start putting in big miles. However, we picked dahlia up in south lake and she is not ready to do the big miles. We hiked 14 miles by lunch, clay and I felt good and were ready to do another 12 this afternoon to have an easy walk into Sierra city to meet Claire tomorrow. As we left lunch it became clear that dahlia was not feeling so energetic. We think her pads on her paws are sore, we wanted to ease her into the hike but haven't been. So we put up our tent at 4 to make sure we don't push d too far. We aren't sure what our next steps will be.  I think we will hike two short days tomorrow and Sunday and see how she is doing after that. 

Trail magic!

July 16

7/16

5 miles (1155 to 1160, campsite on castle peak road)

We spent last night in truckee at tom and Claires house. We stayed up late talking, showered, and climbed into a wonderfully comfy bed. This morning we crunched the numbers and realized we are definitely in danger of not being able to finish. We have to average 21 to 25 miles everyday! I really hope we make it. We did productive town things this morning: laundry, back flush water filters, wash hat, other boring activities. We went out to full belly deli for lunch and now have a new favorite place to eat on truckee. "Best hot pastrami sandwich I ever had" clay declares. We procrastinated and slowly got our things packed to head back out to the trail. I stole the batteries out of the remote control for my headlamp and we were on our way, it was 5:30. We wanted to take a full day off in truckee but realized that would put us at the Sierra city post office Saturday evening and we would have to wait more than a full day to get our resupply packages. We decided to get a small head start tonight. We also left our IDs with Claire, she wanted to meet us down the trail and this way she can meet us Saturday and have our boxes waiting. It takes a lot of stress off trying to get to town in time. 

I want to thank everyone that has taken time to come see us and help us out over the last week. It's really been amazing, I can't wait to see everyone again.

July 15

7.15
17 miles, 1138 to 1155 hwy 40 Donner Pass Road
We got a fairly late start this morning, all tired and sore from yesterdays long day.  We hiked about 200 yards down the trail and I saw a sign made out of rocks in the trail reading "look, beth v.".  My mind raced trying to find an explanation of why my name was written in the trail and i looked up to hear "surprise!".  Our friends Mary and Ryan, in cahoots with Emmett and Magui, hiked in to surprise us and spend the day hiking together.  None of us realized how closely we were camped to each other.  They fed us homemade banana bread and trail cooked breakfast sausage and we all headed out to complete the 17 miles to Truckee together.  It was not an easy day, but they all did great, and Clay and I were so happy to have their company.
We hiked up out of the creek valley where we camped passing meadows of sunburnt mules ear and ending up nearly at the top of Squaw Valley ski resort.  We passed under chairlifts winding down and around to gain another ridge for a long walk with beautiful views.  We stopped at another backcountry ski hut, the Benson hut, for a long snack break.  Almost all of the climbing for the day was done, but there were still 6 miles to go and blisters were growing and energy dissipating.  We dropped down the ridge, walked up to the backside of another ski resort, Sugar Bowl and ended the day with a rocky downhill, not the easiest way to finish a long day. We all made it and our friend Claire who lives in Truckee met us at the trailhead with beers!  Magui joined us as we chowed down well deserved burgers.  It was the best 3 days I've had on the trail yet, I had so been looking forward to seeing everybody and it was even better than Id expected.  I don't want to leave but we have a mission to complete, but i have very much looking forward to returning at the end.

July 14

7.14
26 miles, 1112 to 1138 five lakes creek in Granite Chief Wilderness
Since we only have 3 days to make it to Truckee and we didn't go super far yesterday and we don't want a really long last day, today turned into a bruiser.  We walked all day at a fairly good pace taking short snack breaks and stopping to check out one of the sierra club backcountry ski huts on the West shore of Lake Tahoe.  We walked through low forests with soft dirt paths, then just as the evening began, we ascended a sharp ridge running along the backside of Alpine Meadows ski resort with incredible views.  With no flat tent sites available we hiked almost until dark to reach the end of the ridge and drop down into a valley.  We were all sore and ready for a meal and a good nights sleep. We didn't intend on forcing Emmett to walk one of our largest days yet on the trail with us but if anyone is capable of going out and hiking close to 30 miles, its this guy.  We were happy to have him with us.

Clays Birthday

7.13
18 miles, 1094 echo lakes to 1112 middle velma lake
We just had two amazing days in tahoe. We stayed with our good friends Emmett and Magui and they showed us a great time.  We played some disc golf, had some good beach time and ended up having a  bbq for clays birthday.  It was so great to see everybody and spend some time at home.  We didn't exactly want to leave today but it was made easier by having lots of good company on our hike out.  Emmett is joining us for the next three days as we hike to Truckee 63 miles away, and for the day today Magui and Dmitri are hiking 12 miles with us up through Desolation Wilderness.
It being Clays 29th birthday, we were hiking with slightly heavier packs than usual as we each toted a few beers.  It slowed us down for sure, but we took a few lovely breaks along some of the beautiful lakes we passed and celebrated our time together.  It was so much fun!

Thanks for the photos Magui!

July 10

7/10

16 miles (1077 to 1093, hwy 50- south Lake Tahoe!)

Getting up this morning was hard, it's so cold and wet. We hiked the one mile to carson pass to make breakfast and coffee at a picnic table outside the forest service information and permit office. When we got there we were greeted with fruit, brownies, twinkies, coffee, an an invitation to site inside by the fire. It was so amazing! The volunteer staff was so amazingly kind and sweet, it was such a nice break from the cold weather and a great start to the day. 

We powered through the miles today eager to get home, see friends, and get dahlia. My friend Mary picked us up from the trailhead at 3:30. We visited, got my trusty old car, and started eating at all the places we've been dreaming about for months. We are so happy to be here!

July 9

7/9

25 miles (1052 to 1077, frog lake)

I'm not sure what trench foot is, but if it's raw, hot, red sore swollen feet, then I probably have it. 

It was cold last night. Everything is damp and there hasn't been any sunshine to dry it out. The fire helped but we didn't dare put our sleeping near it. We hiked for about 30 minutes this morning before it started raining. Rain quickly turned into a fierce thunder and lightening storm. I have never been so close to lightening bolts before, and would prefer to never again. The storm was on top of us, lightening striking several times within a few hundred feet. We were scared but with no where to go the only thing to do was to keep waking. The storm moved away but the rain and hail stayed. We walked in and out of weather all day, never finding sunshine or dryness. Our feet were soaked all day, by the end of 25 miles they were wrinkly and extremely tender. They felt destroyed. 

We climbed up and over peaks which normally offer beautiful views. The temperature never broke 50 degrees, I can't wait to be warm and dry in Tahoe!

July 8

7/8

22 miles (1030 to 1052, Kinney lakes)

We are in familiar territory tonight. We are close to home, hiking on part of the pct that we have been on before. Clay knew of some camp sites on a lake slightly off the trail. We got to camp around 6:30 and clay made a fire, the first that we have had on our own. We sat holding up socks and shoe foot beds to try to dry out after soaking rains today. 

We woke up last night to a tree falling, it was loud and scary and we realized this morning, only about 100 feet away. When we got up this morning the sun was out, but we were soggy. Everything was damp. We hiked with the intention of laying everything out, mostly the tent and sleeping bag, while we ate lunch or second breakfast but the sun didn't stay out for long. Thunderstorms rolled in and it was hailing and raining by 11. It didn't let up till 3. We are starting to become annoying with getting stormed on. 

At first we tried to find a dry spot in some trees to wait for it to move on, but it became apparent that the storm wasn't going anywhere. So we headed out into the rain and lightening. It was wet and cold. When it cleared up around 3, it was beautiful. The sun never did come back out and sprinkles forced us away from the fire and into our damp house.