Day 74 – 83 | Mile 1093.4 – 1204.5 | South Tahoe Dream

Day 74 – 77 | Zeroes | South Lake Tahoe

Adele and I had been apart for 76 days since I left Toronto to fly to San Diego. We were over the moon excited to see each other. Adele was flying into San Francisco and renting a car to drive to South Lake Tahoe where we’d spend the next four days seeing the sights, eating delicious food, and catching up.

Our first day together, we drove around Lake Tahoe stopping at various points for short walks, ice cream, snacks, and swims. We had a perfect blue sky day. Adele booked a 9-hole round of golf at the Tahoe City golf course which was a blast. She had been working on her game and was showing off her new skills. I was quite rusty but loved being on the course. We obviously had a cart because there was no way I was doing some extracurricular walking! The time off trail was starting to catch up to me, and my body was realizing how tired it was…my legs were noodles.

After golfing, we continued our road trip around Lake Tahoe. Some sections of roads around the lake have very steep drops on either side and I very much enjoyed watching Adele talk herself through driving along some of the cliffs and around the hairpin turns. We capped the day of with tasty dinner in South Lake.

Our next day was spent touring around South Lake on e-scooters and doing my resupply. We hit up a couple of cafes, ate dumplings, and spent time on the beach. We saw Lando in town and he let us know that he’d be heading back to Toronto for a few weeks to spend time with his partner. He’d meet up with us later on down the trail.

It’s difficult to put into words how grateful I am to have such a supportive partner by my side. From the moment I told Adele I was considering doing the PCT she was encouraging. There were challenging moments talking about what being away for five months actually looked like or meant for us but in the end, besides being physically separated, we knew our relationship would only be stronger on the other side. I can’t thank her enough over the amount of effort she made to come visit, keeping me in the loop about what’s happening at home with family and friends, and always trying to stay positive and strong when we talked. Every part of this experience just reinforced what true character and resolution she has.

Day 78 | Mile 1093.4 – 1108.7 | NorCal Awaits

July 21 and the visit was coming to an end. Riley, Adele, and I all went out for breakfast before Adele brought us back to trail. It was hard to say goodbye knowing that it would be another 2+ months before I’d be back home. It was also hard to start walking again. Four full days off fooled the body into trying to recover without having nearly enough time to do so. It also reminded me how nice the access to amenities and comfort was… How much I was missing home.

This first day back on trail was an absolute slog for us. It was hot and sunny, our legs were tired, and our minds lacked motivation. We were heading into the Desolation Wilderness which, despite its beauty, was aptly named. It was mostly a bare, shadeless landscape. We stopped for a while at the first water source and seriously considered turning around to go back to town. Our spirits were low and the environment was harsh. Northern California (NorCal) is notorious for being burnt, hot, and dry. We were hoping things would change and trying to keep an open mind to what lay ahead.

We eventually passed by a couple of stunning lakes and nice views at the top of the day’s climb. We passed 9 000 ft. for the final time on the trail here and began our descent to camp. Just before the summit, we caught up to Flying Fish who we hadn’t seen in some time. On our way down, we stumbled upon a cluster of hikers set up near a lake off trail while searching the area for flat sites. Coincidentally, we found 10 Speed, the Australians (Mike & Bec), and Pipes (a new hiker) posted up for the night. It was a funny reunion, all of us thought the others were much further along on trail but we all ended taking multiple days off in South Lake.

Day 79 | Mile 1108.7 – 1128.2

This was another tough day for the two of us, mentally and physically. Motivation was low, legs were extremely tired, and my knees felt like they were going to disintegrate. Ri & I took many breaks which really slowed our pace but we just didn’t have the pep to do long pushes. My spirits were lifted after a nice lunch break with the crew from the previous night. We all coincidentally stopped at the same lake just off trail. Before we arrived, the Aussies saw a bear swimming in the lake and we were hoping it would come back. We all jumped in and man, was that ever invigorating. I felt new. We all ate lunch together in the shade looking out at the lake. I made myself my usual wrap but just before I was about to eat, I shifted my weight on the log and my wrap went tumbling off… Toppings face down in the dirt. Food being a scarce commodity, I wiped the sand and dirt off to salvage what I could.

That night, we ended up camping with 10 Speed and had an incredible view of Lake Tahoe from up on a ridge.

Day 80 | Mile 1128.2 – 1147.7

Two days out of Tahoe and we’re still looking at it in the distance and is it ever pretty. The trail meanders along a high ridge in the Granite Chief Wilderness with a clear view of Lake Tahoe to the East for much of the morning. It also brings you through two ski resorts where you walk along the top of the ski hill, seeing the chairlifts, avalanche danger signs, and rocky outcrops that normally lie hidden underneath the snow. It was a neat perspective.

We kept running into Flying Fish throughout the day. He didn’t remember the first couple of encounters but eventually I jogged his memory from the summit of Mt. Whitney where he and I took a photo together. He exclaimed “Michael-san, Riley-san! Good memory! Computer!”. I was feeling pretty good about that.

We were feeling new-found motivation with the prospect of a meal and cold drink at the Donner Ski Ranch the next day. Our day finished with a long climb up the oddly named Tinker Knob which rewarded us with a great campsite accompanied by spectacular views.

At this campsite we met Baby Cow. Super nice guy who got his trail name from showing off his calves when meeting new people, in disbelief at their growth. Great name.

Day 81 | Mile 1147.7 – 1168.0 | Donner Ski Ranch

We left ourselves an easy 6 mile downhill hike into Donner Ski Ranch in the morning. Woke up fairly early to be there for breakfast. On our way in, we met an oncoming group of day hikers who gave us a bag of grapes. Fresh fruit is delicious, my goodness.

At Donner Ski Ranch, we ordered large classic breakfasts and debated over getting our free 40 oz. beer. Donner Ski Ranch has a tradition for hikers where you show your PCT long distance permit, and they give you a free 40 oz. beer. The beer is 8% and hits the hiker metabolism hard and fast. Ri & I witnessed Flying Fish fully consume his and it was quite the spectacle to behold at 10:30am. Ri & I decided to split one beer and even then, we couldn’t finish it.

We stayed at Donner for a few hours and had a difficult time building up the desire to start hiking again… We may have stayed for lunch as well. After Donner, the trail brought us underneath the I-80, up to Castle Peak, and past the Peter Grubb Hut.

We saw a tree gripping a boulder.

We ended up camping near a mosquito-rich creek and I ate whatever that is below.

Day 82 | Mile 1168.0 – 1193.8

We wanted to do a big mile day to get us close to Sierra City to resupply. We hiked nearly 26 miles and had a great day. Our spirits felt like they were turning around the past two days. During the PCT hiking season, NorCal is known for wildfires. We had heard rumblings at Donner Ski Ranch of the Mill Fire just North of us and East of trail but it wasn’t currently impacting the trail. Besides the haze in Kings Canyon at the start of the Sierras, this was the first active fire plume we saw.

We came across a lone hiker with the trail name Giggles and started walking together and chatting. As we were coming up to a water source for lunch, Giggles was leading the pack and startled a bear cub that was hanging out on the path. We were all on high alert, expecting to see mama bear nearby. We never did and had our first lunch with our new friend.

We ended up hiking the rest of the day with Giggles. Mid-afternoon we were fortunate enough to come across an epic dose of trail magic! One of trail angels had hiked the PCT in 2016 and noted everything he enjoyed about trail magic or wished that trail magic had. He brought all of this to his trail magic. The couple were fully kitted out with beer, wine, cocktails, soda, juice, iced coffee, snacks, homemade baked goods, Ziplocs, batteries, TP, first aid… You name it, they had it. We spent about an hour at the trail magic chatting and meeting the other hikers that were showing up. Three guys in their late 60’s arrived and they were hilarious. They had hiked the Appalachian Trail together in 2018 and were now finishing off the PCT miles they missed in 2023. Great time.

Giggles, Ri, and I all packed out beers for the remaining miles of the day.

We ended our day around 8:30pm at Wild Plum campground just a couple of miles from Sierra City. We were feeling great from the trail magic, meeting new people, and the pretty section of trail. We found a vacant site in the campground to set up for the night. One of our site neighbours came by to warn us about the active bears in the campground. The bears had been harassing campers, destroying the dumpsters, and smashing bear boxes. They neighbours left and returned about 20 minutes later to give us bear spray for the night… Our feel-good high was gone haha. Needless to say, sleep that night was less than ideal. The bears were very active going to town on the bear boxes and dumpsters. Quite the raucous and mess in the morning.

Day 83 | Mile 1193.8 – 1204.5 | Sierra City

We woke up in Wild Plum to an air raid siren echoing through the valley. We later learned that the siren was calling fire fighters to respond to a nearby fire. A startling way to wake up after listening to bears wreak havoc all night. Walking into Sierra City felt a little like stepping back into an old Western town.

We immediately went for breakfast before heading to the store to resupply. Outside the diner was a hiker box decorated with stickers from all over, it was fun to look at and see all the locations.

I did not send myself a resupply box to Sierra City so I had to rely on the local general store. There were only a handful of times that I felt taken advantage of as a hiker on the PCT and this may be the top spot. Prices weren’t listed for any items and were rang up at the till off the cuff… My grocery bill was around $100 USD for three days of food. And we’re talking ramen and dry goods. I was floored but c’est la vie.

The main hiker hangout in Sierra City is the public washroom which is very glamorous. There is a free cold shower, free charging, and free WiFi! Naturally, hikers are drawn to it. We stayed at the washroom for a few hours making calls, resting in the shade, and packing up our resupply. Most of the chatter was about wildfires, trail closures, and skipping sections of trail. The fire situation was changing rapidly and Ri & I were not mentally prepared to already be encountering wildfire roadblocks in NorCal. We expected them further up trail in NorCal but it had only been a few days. The vibe around the washroom was a bit chaotic listening to 10 other hikers checking fire maps and closure updates and vocalizing their ever-changing plans.

We consulted with Giggles and decided the three of us would continue on trail to Beldon and reassess the fires once we got there. With Giggles leaving town with us, we had a “ride bride” to get us an easy hitch out of town and back to trail. The “ride bride” theory certainly holds up and we found ourselves with a hitch within 5 minutes!

The trail out of Sierra City was an immediate 4 000 ft. climb. Honestly, we crushed it. There was one spot where the trail was washed out around a small and very stiff bush. You had to step across the wash out while simultaneously around the bush on the down-slope side to get to the other side. I went first and my sleeve got caught on the branch. Riley tried freeing me from the bush but was pushing and poking me with his pole while I’m balancing trying not to fall down the 3 500 ft. slope… I ended up ripping my arm free and tearing my sun hoody but at least I didn’t tumble back down into Sierra City!

We camped just beyond the top of the climb with three new hikers: One Time, Squirrel, and Gabagool. They were a very funny group. We caught a nice sunset and watched the Mill Fire plume – still blowing away from us (phew).