More Spectacular Sierras along the PCT--July 30 to August 10, 2008

Thousand Island Lake

Section H. Vermillion Valley Resort to Tuolumne Meadows—July 30—August 3, 2008

I was hoping that this 2008 season of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) would result in the completion of this trail that goes from the Mexico border to the Canada border, some 2,660 miles.  

On July 29th I took the AMTRAK train from Seattle at 10 pm and arrived at the Fresno AMTRAK Depot at about 9 am on July 30th.  From there I walked a bit north to an on-ramp to Highway 168 to hitchhike about 95 miles to the Vermillion Valley Resort (VVR) to resume my PCT journey north.  

This year was marked by about 12 hitchhikes to and from hiker towns along my PCT route. I will describe who some of these people were who stopped for a grubby and smelly hiker.

I had my sign out with “PCT” on it and I only waited about 1/2 hour before I got my first hitch of the year and he took me to the end of the freeway, about 15 miles.  My driver was a Native American, Vietnam Vet who was a forensic social worker who worked with criminal justice cases to come up with alternatives to incarceration.

The cars were moving fast along where I got off so I found a good hitchhiking spot that would give the drivers room to safely pull off Highway 168.  Within 10 minutes with my PCT sign, I got a ride from a woman who was a house cleaner for some of the vacation homes at Shaver Lake.  It was a 36-mile ride there. She told me her son was in Afghanistan working as a helicopter mechanic.  I told her that would give him some good civilian job opportunities once out of the Army.

I thought about having lunch at Shaver Lake, but I decided to continue on and quickly got a hitch from a man who was heading up to Mono Springs to pick up his son who had finished hiking the John Muir Trail from Yosemite to Mt. Whitney.  This got me another 39 miles.  

After 22 miles we came to Huntington Lake, another vacation retreat, the road became a one-lane, bumpy road that was full of potholes.  He let me off at the junction of Mono Springs and Lake Thomas A. Edison, the site of the Vermillion Valley Road some 6 miles from my destination. 

There were no cars coming either way so I started walking along the dirt road with huge potholes until I heard a car approaching.  They were some fishermen in a pickup, and they let me ride in the pickup bed for a bumpy five-mile ride to the boat launch ramp at the lake.

When I checked in for the night at the VVR, I asked them if Vince Nguyen, the Chief Edison Dam Engineer, was there—he had given me a ride to the Fresno Airport last year.  They said he was gone for the next 3 days, back to his Los Angeles home.

I enjoyed the steak, potatoes, corn on the cob, and salad, but this time I didn’t have seconds since I hadn’t yet developed the long-distance hikers' hunger.

On July 31st, with a full belly from a huge breakfast of eggs, bacon, potatoes, coffee, and grapefruit juice I headed out with a full pack.  I would be hiking at a higher elevation where the trail was more open as I crossed large slabs of granite and forded several creeks.

We crossed over 3 passes with Silver Pass, the highest pass at 10,917 ft. during the day.  After passing Goodale Pass, I came to Squaw Lake rimmed by the granite peaks of Mount Izack Walton. 

I ended the day at Tully Hole campsite after passing Fish Creek.  It was a 10-hour day covering 13 miles with ascents of 3,487 ft and descents of 2,543 ft. 

On August 1st, it was another day of walking over big slabs of granite and passing by a number of waterfalls and lakes, including Rainbow Falls shown below. I passed by the Reds Meadow and Mammoth Lakes trails since I had plenty of supplies.  

I arrived at the Devil’s Postpiles just about dark and set up a stealth camp there since I did not want to spend the night in the crowded campground ahead.  I hiked 18 miles in 13 hours with ascents of 3,310 ft and descents of 4,931 ft.

On August 2nd, I awoke under the Devil's Postpile basalt columns and quickly packed up my gear, and headed north on the joint PCT/John Muir Trail where it would shortly split for a while.   

After passing Shadow Lake the PCT began heading back up to the granite slopes to Donahue Pass at an elevation of 11,068 ft.  On the way, I passed some cascades and came up to Thousand Island Lake, one of the most beautiful settings in the high Sierras.

The sun was setting as I made my way over Donahue Pass to my camp at Lyell Fork some 1,300 ft below and overlooking Tuolumne Meadows below. I hiked 25 miles in 14 hours with ascents of 5,358 ft and descents of 2,982 ft.

On August 3rd, I began the last descent to the Lyell Canyon and then to the Tuolumne Meadows along with the rejoining of the John Muir Trail.  While hiking along the Meadows, I had a coyote follow me for about an hour just about 100 yards behind me.  When I stopped, he stopped. He must have decided that I was not a good food source and left me near Rafferty Creek.  I continued along this beautiful flat meadow broken up by slabs of granite and the Lyell River with many creeks feeding into this river. 

In the distance, I had a good view of the Vogelsang Peak which I had climbed while living in San Franciso many years ago.  Water and granite slabs accented this portion of the PCT along the Tuolumne Valley.  

Many John Muir Trail hikers passed me heading to Mt. Whitney and they were notable with their new outfits and large packs.  They also smelled good like fresh laundry—something not present in thru-hikers or section hikers like me.

When I got to Highway 120 near Tioga Pass, I stopped for a big lunch at the nearby store before pressing on.  

Section I. Tuolumne Meadows to Sonora Pass—August 3—6, 2008

The PCT follows down the Tuolumne River where other cascading creeks meet.  Then the PCT passes the spectacular Tuolumne River Falls.  I ended the day at the McCabe Lake Trail junction.  I hiked 24 miles in 15 hours with ascents of 1,939 ft and descents of 3,740 ft.

On August 4th, I continued along this dramatic Cold Canyon with a lunch stop at Smedberg Lake and then on to Kerrick Canyon where I spent the night near the Kerrick Creek ford hoping the water would be lower with less snowmelt early mornings.

Again, the peaks surrounding were awesome.  I hiked 25 miles in 17 hours with ascents of 5,607 ft and descents of 6,194 ft.

On August 5th, I began my hike through the granite-scoured walls of Stubblefield Canyon.  After that, I came to the wooded area near Tilden Lake where I saw this pair of deer.  In the afternoon, I passed two popular camping lakes, Dorothy and Harriet.  

It was a day of big climbs and descents with lots of the PCT above the timberline.  I hiked 23 miles in 16 hours with ascents of 7,966 ft and descents of 7,848 ft.

On August 6th, I left the granite mountains of the Sierras for the volcanic ranges that dominate the PCT until reaching Castle Crags about 500 miles to the north.  This would be a day of hiking along with the volcanic ranges with views of the distant Sierras and a few lakes below the trail.

In this volcanic area, there are very few lakes since the ground is so porous, but I enjoyed the few along the trail like Leavitt and Latopie Lakes.  It was quite a desolate passage with very little vegetation as I crossed several mountain crests above 10,000 ft. 

Latopie Lake was just below Leavitt Peak.

I then crossed a crest between a notch in the volcanic rocks on my way down to Sonora Pass.  It was a hike of 15 miles in 7 hours with ascents of 4,318 ft and descents of 6,512 ft.

It took me two hitches to get me down to Bridgeport.  The first took me just 10 minutes before I got a ride from a Dad and daughter who were trailering a Mustang to Reno.  The Dad thought I was a homeless guy.  If he thought that, I wondered why he picked me up with his daughter in the car.  I told him about the PCT and the hikers that hitched into trail towns for resupply, motel stay, and lots of eating.  

We passed by the Marine Mountain Warfare Training Center near the junction of Highway 108 and 395 where they headed north on 395 to Reno and I got another hitch.  While waiting it was interesting to watch the Marines get suited up for their upcoming war games in this area.  I quickly got my second hitch with a Dad with a big family, who was camping nearby and was making a run into Bridgeport for ice. 

It was about 32 miles to Bridgeport where I did my laundry, resupplied, ate a lot and, slept in a comfortable hotel bed for the night.

Section J. Sonora Pass to Echo Summit (Hwy 50)—August 7—10, 2008

On August 7th, I got a hitch from an Eco-scientist from UC Santa Barbara who was studying stream sediment effects on animal life.  He was heading north to Reno so he dropped me off at Highway 108 at the Marine Center.  

My next hitch was with a hippie couple in a Hyundai and they indicated that when they hike with their four daughters, they use burros to carry supplies and sometimes the girls when they got tired of hiking. 

I resumed hiking the PCT along the Carson River and crossed over the Boulder Peak saddle and reached the Paradise Valley after leaving the last of the 10,000 ft elevation level of the PCT trail.  I hiked 17 miles in 9 hours with ascents of 3,609 ft and descents of 3,960 ft.

On August 8th,  I passed the Wolf Creek area and heading up and down several river valleys until I came to Ebbets Pass and Highway 4.  I decided to hitch to the trail town of Markleeville some 18 miles from the pass.

 I hiked 14 miles in 7 hours with ascents of 2,575 ft and descents of 3,255 ft.

My hitch to Markleeville was from a couple who had moved to Hawaii with just $10,000 and no job back in the 1950s after they went bankrupt.  They were well off now and were visiting some of the places in California they enjoyed before going to Hawaii.

I enjoyed staying overnight in these trail towns for the hot showers, comfy beds, resupply, and lots of food.

On August 9th, after a big breakfast, I got a hitch from a truck driver who played his religious music loud.  He had worked in Alaska and had driven the ALCAN highway five times.  I shared with him my adventures driving the ALCAN back in 1971 with my folks, my brother, Steve, and wife, Tani, pulling a travel trailer.

Since I got off to a late start, I only hiked about 6 miles to Tamarack Lake but there were several unusual peaks—some pointed and some square.

I only hiked 6 miles in 3 hours with ascents of 3,205 ft and descents of 3,960 ft.

On August 10th, with the Nipple Peak as a landmark, I headed north with the plan to bail out at Highway 50 to spend the night and resupply in S. Lake Tahoe where I thought about all of the big buffets there in the Casinos.  

The next landmark I headed to was the Elephant Back that loomed above Lake Tahoe.  The PCT then joined up with the Tahoe Rim Trail (TRT) that circumnavigates Lake Tahoe.  This portion of the PCT that is joined with the TRT is the only portion that allows mountain bike riders. 

I got my first glimpse of Lake Tahoe before arriving at Echo Summit and Highway 50.

I then came to the crossing of busy Highway 50 where I was going to hitchhike.  I had hiked 25 miles in 12 hours with ascents of 4,245 ft and descents of 5,226 ft. 

The cars were zooming by so fast, that no one was stopping and after trying for an hour, I began to think about finding a nearby stealth camping spot when an SUV pulled over.  They were some rock climbers. Gantt, Ron, and Digger returning home. Instead of driving me down to S. Lake Tahoe and a hotel, the driver, Gantt, invited me to stay the night at his home.

What a treat.  I met his wife, Jamie, when I got to their home.  They served up a spaghetti dinner and cold beer for me and the other rock climbers.  Afterward, I showered, laundered my clothes, and slept in a comfortable bed after hearing some of their mountain climbing adventures and they heard about my PCT adventure.  All of them were ski instructors in the winter and some were construction workers other times.  

I really enjoy hiking, but I much prefer staying in trail towns over camping.  The next blog entry will continue my PCT hike to Dunsmuir where I will take AMTRAK to Eugene to finish up the last section of the PCT from McKenzie Pass to the Bridge of the Gods at the Columbia River.

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