The Sierra

PCT Trail Days was a great opportunity to catch up with other hikers, some I haven’t seen in hundreds of miles. On the first night, I caught up with people I’d met on day 1 and hiked with until San Jacinto; Tiger, Villem, and Linda. We all shared stories from the trail and reflected on Read more

I’d known for a while now that getting to PCT Trail Days would be challenging. Despite the difficulty, I couldn’t miss this event. It’s a three day camping festival in Cascade Locks, right on the border between Oregon and Washington. The event is a chance to catch up with other PCT hikers from all over Read more

We made the trip from Little Yosemite Valley, up to Half Dome today. The climb up started mellow, but once we started on Sub Dome just before Half Dome, it became very steep. The final stretch on the Half Dome cables was incredibly steep and I was trying hard to keep my grip on the Read more

We had the day in Yosemite Valley today and got the chance to explore a bit. There are a few cafes and restaurants in the valley, as well as an art gallery and museum. From a couple of points, we could see the cliffs above the valley, but the real attraction was trying to get Read more

I hiked down the Tuolomne River in Lyell Canyon today, a distance of 9.1 miles, 14.6 km. The trail was so flat and smooth that it only took 3.5 hours to get to Tuolomne Meadows. Once there I met Holiday and Hummingbird for lunch, then myself and Holiday took a surprise bus ride into Yosemite Read more

We crossed over Donohue Pass today and entered Yosemite National Park. We found ourselves in an impromptu Pilates and yoga class this morning, not something I had on my PCT bingo card. We were at camp until about 11:30 am, so just climbed over the pass and down to the other side to make camp Read more

We continued with more cross country route finding today, leaving the JMT and travelling around the south and west sides of Garnet Lake. We crossed a pass between Garnet and Thousand Island Lakes then walked past Thousand Island Lake along the southwestern shore. We rejoined the PCT at mile 925. To finish off, we stuck Read more

We had a pretty epic day today, started by heading up Minaret Creek, then scrambled up to Cecile Lake. A very steep descent to Iceberg Lake took us to the trail down to Ediza Lake. We followed Shadow Creek trail until it intersected with the JMT, then followed that north to camp on the pass Read more

I started a big off-trail side quest today. The route suggested by Robin after our game yesterday runs for 23 miles from Red’s Meadow to rejoin the PCT after Thousand Island Lake. I don’t really know today’s mileage, but it’s most likely around 8-10 miles since we left Red’s Meadow at noon. Three other hikers Read more

It’s always bittersweet leaving this hostel, which has become so much like home by now. I still had most of the morning available to hang out before the bus, and I made the most of the time I had with the others. Eventually, the time came for us to leave and I headed out with Read more