Ian – Page 2 – Mexico to Canada 2023 (and beyond)

PCT Section K Southbound – Day 3 – Five Lakes to Desolation Wilderness bush camp 7/17/24

July 26, 2024Ian

Wednesday, July 17, 2024

21 miles – PCT mile 1137-1116

This was the longest distance I have ever hiked in a single day. 21 miles.

I woke up early, checked that my water was full, and headed straight up hill. It’s always best to get big climbs out of the way early, I’ve found.

Once I got to the top of the ridge, it was a lovely day and I just enjoyed the breeze and easy trail.

After a while I did have to sit down and do some foot care, as the outside of my left heel, which is always the first place to blister no matter what it seems, started to blister. This and the outside of my right heel were the only two blisters I would incur on this trip, so I think the new toe-sock liner combo I tried worked out pretty well.

Top to bottom: toe-sock liner, regular sock, leukotape, ibuprofin, blister bandages, sit pad

A little while later, I came to the junction of the PCT and the TRT (Tahoe Rim Trail). From here, the TRT joins the PCT until just south of Echo Lake, where I would end my section hike, so I would be on both trails for the remainder of this trip.

I would also reach the other end of the Granite Chief Wilderness.

Then it was lunch time and I found a wonderful little creek to lounge by.

After lunch, I passed several hikers who had good news for me: trail magic just down the hill! I honestly didn’t even think I would run into any trail magic on this trip, so it was a wonderful surprise. First, I walked through an idyllic field of Wooly Mule’s Ears again.

As I descended down to a trail head parking lot, I saw some Nobo hikers surrounding a couple of coolers of soda. Trail magic! Thank you trail angels!

I knew I had another climb to get to my goal, 5 miles ahead and 3 miles past Richardson Lake in the Desolation Wilderness. With about 3 hours left of daylight, I put on some climbing music (metal) and put my head down to power through.

Those last 2 miles were ROUGH. They were flat, but mentally challenging, knowing this was my longest day ever and that I was almost at the end of it. I collapsed at camp and it was all I could do to set up my tent and force down a protein bar for dinner. I didn’t even brush my teeth this night. Just lay flat on my back and fell asleep quickly. There was no breeze and all was silent.

PCT Section K Southbound – Day 2 – Trail Camp to Five Lakes Basin 7/16/24

July 26, 2024Ian

Tuesday, July 16, 2024

8 miles – PCT mile 1145-1137

I didn’t go nearly as far as I should have on this day, but sometimes water sources and terrain dictate the day, rather than a mileage goal. It was totally worth hanging out at Five Lakes for a couple of hours to swim.

I woke up and was packed and on trail just after 7am as the sun was starting to peek over the peaks.

I would find my bug net later, don’t worry

silent and beautiful

I would soon reach the boundary of the Granite Chief Wilderness, one of two wilderness areas I would hike through on this trip. Wilderness areas were first designated by the 1964 Wilderness Act (click this link for more info).

An excerpt from that act: “A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.”

No motorized equipment of any kind (chainsaws, ATVs, etc) are allowed in wilderness areas, meaning any trail maintenance has to be done purely by hand.

Granite Chief Wilderness

one of my favorite pics of the whole hike

I ran into a Nobo hiker named Hummingbird! I had to pose with my trail doppelganger

the trail in this section has endless fields of Wooly Mule’s Ears plants

I hiked on and got to the 5 Lakes Basin early in the afternoon, where I decided it was time to swim. I couldn’t camp right by the lake, but it was worth the .2 mile detour.

arriving at 5 Lakes Basin

Swim!

Ducks!

Once I was done with my swim I headed back to camp and realized I had only gone 8 miles today, instead of my intended 12-15, which threw me into a momentary panic about mileage. I was faced with a 1000 foot climb out of camp and no water for several miles if I were to continue today. After a campsite mate talked me down from the ledge, I realized I would just have to push mileage a bit more than I wanted the next couple of days to get back on track. I settled in for the evening and prepared for a long day tomorrow.

PCT Section K Southbound – Day 1 – Donner SNO Park to Camp 7/15/24

July 26, 2024July 26, 2024Ian

Monday, July 15, 2024

13 miles – PCT mile 1157-1145 (plus one mile from SNO Park to PCT junction)

For reference, here is the map of my track over the whole hike, which took four and a half days. For some reason it didn’t start tracking until a little ways in, but I actually started at the red arrow (I-80).

First day on trail! My pack was HEAVY with a full bear canister and 2.5 liters of water. No stove though!

My trail angel from the PCTA Trail Skills College, Abel, drove me to breakfast and then the trail head. He’s from Tehachapi, CA, another trail town down in southern California and trail angels hikers all the time. Hundreds a year, he says. He has also biked across the US and climbs and hikes all the time too. He’s a great guy and I have his contact info for when I do his section of the PCT one day!

I had a mile to hike from the trail head to meet up with the PCT. Within 5 minutes I saw my first wildlife. Marmot!

I took a lot of videos on this hike to try and illustrate the trail experience a bit better.

The trail started to wind up the mountain towards Donner Ski Ranch.

I put on my sun gloves like a good husband of a dermatologist would and hiked on to the Ski Ranch.

Then I came to a very nice section of trail.

As I strolled into Donner Ski Ranch with the other hikers who were there at 9:30am, the bartender insisted on me getting the 40 oz malt liquor and I figured it was hiker tradition, so what the hell. I tried to trade it for a beer, but she said “nope, it’s the 40 at Highway 40” and that’s what I had to get. I only had the one cup and wasted the rest, but oh well.

I charged up my phone a bit and continued on trail, up a 1000 foot climb to the ridge overlooking Donner Lake that I would be on for the rest of the afternoon.

First big climb

Hey, still some snow! But not really wanting to risk the traverse.

That’s better.

I continued on the exposed ridge as clouds started to form overhead. I knew I had quite a long exposed section, so when it started to thunder, I made the call to get down off trail into some trees a couple of hundred yards below.

The rain intensified and soon became a not very fun experience. It lasted almost an hour and I had to take lightning precautions, which involved spreading out my pack and my poles away from me (metal) and also standing on my sit pad as an insulator, while at the same time keeping my body moving to avoid hypothermia as the temperature dropped probably 30 degrees and I was getting wet.

I continued on the trail being chased by more rain clouds the rest of the day, but thankfully nothing more materialized. I also got my first view of Lake Tahoe.

The hike then took me over some scree fields around Anderson Peak and Tinker Knob around 9000 feet before descending down into a valley where I would make camp.

PCTA Trail Skills College

July 25, 2024Ian

Saturday-Sunday, July 13-14, 2024

To start off my section hike, I participated in a two day trail maintenance course put on by the Pacific Crest Trail Association (PCTA). This was a great way to get into the hiking world again, acclimate a bit to the higher elevation I would be hiking at on this trip, and make some new friends who are just as into the trail as I am.

We camped for three nights at Hobart Work Center (a forest service campground) just a few minutes north of Truckee.

The way I got to this location was a bit serendipitous, as I met my trail angel Rayna outside of Wrigley Field back when I went to Chicago for my birthday in June. She was visiting a friend in Chicago and we randomly shared a table with her at the bar outside center field. When she discovered I would be hiking the PCT in July near her home, she offered to pick me up at the Reno airport and drive me out to the campground.

I got my tent set up and hung out with the other volunteers and PCTA crew for the evening. We then woke up, ate breakfast, made lunch for later, and headed to the trail.

We hit the trail with loppers and other tools to start clearing some brush that was encroaching on the trail near Donner Pass Ski Ranch. Incidentally, this is where my hike would take me on the first day.

The views were beautiful and the people were great to work with. The first day was mostly manual labor, but I think they do that on purpose to break people in. Trail maintenance isn’t easy, but it’s very rewarding and all of us hikers appreciate the volunteers that do it. Interestingly, I would say the majority of the volunteers don’t ever really use the trail. They aren’t hikers. They just like to give back.

The second day we learned a bit more about trail construction techniques and water drainages. We hiked north on the PCT, past I-80 (my official starting point for my section hike), and cleared out some of the drainages along the way.

Matt (PCTA) explaining drainage techniques

After we got back to camp, I got a ride with my new buddies (Abel and Kevin) into Truckee for dinner and a quick soak of the feet in the local reservoir. I was very happy I attended this course, as it got me in a great headspace, even if I did end up getting sick from it (more on that later). I got some good sleep and was ready to hit the trail to start my section hike the next morning.

Packing Up For Tahoe

July 12, 2024Ian

July 11, 2024

I spent today packing up my gear and laying out my food for the next week that I will be spending in the Lake Tahoe area. My plan is to take two days on Friday and Saturday participating in a Trail Maintenance course near Truckee, put on by the Pacific Crest Trail Association (PCTA), and then hike Section K of the PCT starting on Monday morning.

For those who don’t know, the PCT is divided into sections in each state. A, B, C, etc, going from south to north. I am going southbound (Sobo) this time, but I incidentally picked a start and end point that are exactly the boundaries of Section K in California. For me, that means Donner Peak (Interstate 80) near Truckee down to Echo Summit (near South Lake Tahoe). Total mileage is right at about 65 miles.

There is a fire about 12 miles to the west of the beginning of my trail right now (Royal Fire), but the US Forest Service and firefighters have done a phenomenal job so far of keeping it contained to only a couple of hundred acres. Hoping that the wind and weather cooperate over the weekend and the PCT stays unaffected. Worst case scenario, I could probably pivot and hike part of the Tahoe Rim Trail going east, but we’ll get to that if need be.

As I said, I went over inventory and laid out my food plans today. This section of the trail requires a bear canister, by law. Basically, it’s a big plastic can filled with your food that you place a couple hundred yards from your tent when you sleep at night, instead of keeping it all in your tent like in non-bear country (debateable).

I’m guessing it’s actually a bit too much food, but we shall see. Very excited about those Walking Tamales. It’s a different thing having to fit everything into a bear canister at night and you also have to put in any toiletries, sunblock, lip balm, etc. Anything that has a scent.

So here’s my bear canister, minus a couple of items I will buy in Truckee that will make up most of my dinners (tortillas, salami, and cheese). 8.13 pounds, so far. I’m going stove-less this hike and am very excited to not have to worry about the excruciating minutiae of dealing with cooking at the end of a long day. I will eat my bars and tortillas and trail mix and be very happy.

I am typing this as I wait for my final load of laundry to be done (I won’t have a shower for 7 days after tomorrow morning) and then it’s into the mountains! It will be interesting going solo, knowing it’s only going to be for 5 days this time. I am looking forward to seeing how I react mentally. I’m going to try and only average 10-13 miles a day, so I should be able to take my time.

I will do my best to blog from the trail, but if nothing else, I will get everything up when I get back next weekend. I’m also going to try and video a lot.

Hike on!

2024 Section Hike Finalized

June 14, 2024Ian

6/13/24

Well, I’m going solo for this leg. Stix had to bail out on our initial plans for me to meet up with him in the Sierra this summer to hike the PCT from Lake Tahoe southbound to Mammoth Lakes, due to personal issues. I will miss my friend and had been contemplating multiple alternate hikes over the past several weeks. I thought about doing a section of the AT in northern Georgia, but the weather in July is not hospitable. Then I looked into doing part of the Colorado Trail from Breckenridge to Denver, but the altitude would have been way too much for a short hike. 12,000 feet on day 2 seems unwise.

Then I saw an opportunity from the PCTA (Pacific Crest Trail Association) for a 2 day trail maintenance course in Truckee starting July 13th. This was a week before my initially planned start date and something I have always wanted to learn more about. I want to give back to the trail as it has given to me.

As of this writing, I am waitlisted for that course, but have been told that there is a good chance I will get in. If not, oh well, I’ll just start on the PCT a day or two earlier than I anticipated. I changed my permit start location and date to the I-80 PCT trail head, where I was in November of last year, but got waylaid by snow.

My official start date is now July 14th and I plan to to 65 miles on the PCT southbound, ending at Echo Lake, near South Lake Tahoe. This will only take 4-5 days, but I figure it’s a good solo trip. If I go faster than I anticipate, I can always tack on a few more miles on the Tahoe Rim Trail at the end.

I bought a bear can with my REI credit card rewards and it should arrive tomorrow. I’ll be using a bear can the entire trip, as it is required in the Desolation Wilderness for the second half of the hike and I might as well just use it the whole time. It’s safer for me and the bears.

The logistics, my favorite part of backpacking, are not that complicated this time, with no resupply points to worry about, but still fun to plan. I bought an airplane travel “case” from ZPacks for my backpack and gear so I can check it all and hopefully have it come out safe on the baggage carousel. It is made out of dyneema, which is an ultra-lightweight material popular in the backpacking community and also used for competitive sailboat racing, at least that is what I last heard. This will then serve as my pack liner while I’m hiking, so the whole system is self-contained.

I went to Chicago for my birthday a couple of weeks ago (42 wow) and caught a Cubs game. Outside the stadium, during the pre-game festivities, we met a woman named Rayna who was from Truckee. I managed to “yogi” a ride (thru hiker term) from her from Reno to Truckee for my hike! I’m telling y’all, the trail provides. There is something cosmic about it.

Anyway, I’m getting back into my endurance training for these next few weeks and am extraordinarily excited to get back on trail! I’ll blog it and can’t wait to get away from the nonsense world we live in that seems to be getting more insane by the day.

“Go to the mountaintop and there you will see God, as God truly is in the world” – excerpt from Ken Burns’ National Parks

Lost PCT Videos

May 1, 2024May 1, 2024Ian

May 1, 2024

I wanted to post a few (ok more than a few) videos that I’m coming across as my google photos remind me of where I was a year ago. I don’t know why these didn’t make it to the original blog posts when I was on trail, but it’s really fun to look back and relive it.

I’ll try and do better with videos on upcoming PCT hikes.

April 27 – Hiking out of Mt Laguna (day 4)

April 27

Hiking out of Mt Laguna – Foster Point

April 29

Hiking to Scissors Crossing (mile 77) to get a hitch into Julian (day 6)

April 30

Connecting our steps – coming out of Julian with the Rocket Surgeons (day 7)

April 30

Hiking up into the hills from Scissors Crossing

May 1

3rd Gate water cache – mile 93 (day 8)

May 1

100 mile video part 1

May 1

100 mile video part 2 (Rocket Surgeons had seen another 100 mile marker a few yards back)

May 2

Eagle Rock

May 2

Hiking out of Warner Springs (mile 110)

May 2

Grass waving in the wind outside Warner Springs

May 2

Me being a dummy at a creek crossing

May 7

Video from Stix where you actually can see me hiking

I think that’s it. If I find more, I’ll post em.

One year ago today

April 24, 2024April 25, 2024Ian

I started the PCT at Campo, California one year ago today.

I almost don’t remember it. It is weird, but helpful to look back on it right now. The years of planning, literally YEARS, had all culminated in this moment. The bundle of nerves that I had contorted myself into at that point was almost overwhelming. I found that out 8 miles in.

I have hiked 8 miles hundreds of times in my life. The weather was lovely. Temperature was in the 70s. It should have been fine. But yet I found myself huddled under my umbrella after lunch, wondering if I was going to have to hit the SOS button on my inreach. Was I going to be that person? Was I going to maybe be that person that you read about that gets airlifted out on the first day of the trail?

As if I hadn’t trained and worked for this for YEARS and prepared myself to avoid this very situation? The thought was terrifying. The thought.

That was my experience in the first four hours of the PCT.

What I found out, as everyone does, is that the trail provides.

As I sat under my umbrella, dousing myself with water to keep cool, a fellow PCT hiker finally appeared. Until that point, I hadn’t seen anyone all day.

“Hey man, can I hike with you a bit? I’m not doing great and I just want to be with someone.”

“Of course!”, came his reply.

His name was John and I never saw him again after we parted ways a couple of miles later.

I started feeling better and then met a Danish brother and sister that I made the hike down into Hauser Canyon with to end the day. We got to the bottom and there were already a few other groups set up to camp for the night at the bottom of this canyon with a nice creek that normally wouldn’t be flowing at this time of year.

This was 15 miles in. I was terrified. Once I got my tent set up, I cooked dinner. I ate almost nothing. I felt sick as a dog. I felt like an alien in my skin (credit to Nikki for that description). I had never felt so vulnerable.

Now I am sitting in Austin reflecting on this day and writing about it.

My month on this trail changed me in ways that I wanted to be changed. I have so many miles to go, but I am forever grateful for this experience and I am going to follow my soul to try and add more miles in the coming years.

I plan to hike SoBo (southbound) on the trail at the end of July from South Lake Tahoe to Mammoth Lakes, 189 miles. My buddy Stix, who has been hiking the Arizona Trail this spring (#walk_in_memory_and_peace on instagram) is going to hike sobo from Chester, CA to Kennedy Meadows and finish the Sierra he skipped last year due to snow, so I’m going to join him for two weeks.

The trail is epic. The experience is completely unique. I will continue to hike it and eventually will finish, though the miles aren’t the point. The journey along the way is the point. As in life.

Oh hello

February 3, 2024February 3, 2024Ian

Feb 3, 2024

Shall we go again?

Nah, not the full trail…BUT

I am going to meet up with my buddy Stix in July at South Lake Tahoe and hike down to Mammoth Lakes for a PCT section hike of 189 miles.

There are no permit quotas for going southbound on the PCT if you start north of Sonora Pass (and south of Washington), so I don’t feel bad bending the rules a tad on not going more than 500 miles.

Let’s keep that between us though.

Planned start date right now is July 20th, give or take a day, depending on when Stix gets there. He is starting further north at Chester where he flipped up to last year when he skipped the Sierra due to insane snowmelt. He will then continue on all the way to Kennedy Meadows to complete his full PCT hike!

I’m pumped to get to hike with a partner this time. This trip should be right around 2 weeks in length. Hoping for beautiful weather and not too many bugs!

Also going to test out some new gear as I train this spring, so I’ll probably blog that here too.

Excited to knock out some more PCT miles!

When it all started

July 27, 2023July 27, 2023Ian

Thursday, July 27, 2023

I dreamed about the trail last night. I don’t think that will ever stop.

Seven years ago today I first set foot on the Appalachian Trail. I had no idea what that day would set off for me: a lifelong love of long trails.

I had been hiking regularly for 3 years at that point, but something about seeing that white blaze in Massachusetts sparked a feeling in my soul.

A lot of people don’t seem to understand this dream, and that’s ok, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop trying. I love being out in nature and it is good for my soul.

I hope everyone can find something in life that stirs them the way long trails stir me.