PCT: CA Section L - Highway 80 to Highway 49
Day 93 - 8/7/25 - Ridge Line Burpees (up and down)
Distance: 21 miles
Mile Start / End: 1161, 1181
Weather: Sunny, breezy
End Location: Mules Ear Creek
Lessons Learned:
Woke up around 7 a.m.
Breaky in bed, and coffee with collagen, hell yeah!
Today marks 3 months on the trail.
Left at 8:40 a.m.
The mice nibbled my sun hoodie a bit…
The mice will fuck your wife if you leave her out to dry.
Feeling the best I have in days.
I hope the mice catch a little mouse cough and feel as annoyed as I am 😂
New rule: don’t leave ANYTHING out to dry overnight, the rodents are clearly smarter than me.
Down
Cabin
Up
Down
Up
Top of hill at 11:49 a.m., view of Basin Peak
“I Know You, Ryder” made me think of Zach and Cody.
Trail intersection at 12:15 p.m.
Decided I would hike the 0.5-mile trail to White Rock Lake and cut over to join the trail again after lunch and swim.
Made it to the lake around 12:30 p.m.
Washed off clothes and went swimming, one of the best lakes yet, like a mini Tahoe.
Turquoise water with shallow white granite rocks decorating the scenery.
I set up on the manmade dam.
There were two paddle boards with no owner in sight… hmmm.
Tuna burrito with chips, matcha green tea with protein powder, and Sour Patch Kids.
I feel so much better, back to 100%.
Watched the ducks wash off and shake their tail feathers.
We’re not so different 😅
Did some yoga on a flat spot overlooking the lake and listened to music.
“Under Fire” by Marlon Fun Aki.
What an excellent detour, sometimes you have to make your own trail magic 😌
Left around 2 p.m.
12 more miles to camp possibly.
Took dirt road that intersects the trail.
Resumed trail at 2:30 p.m.
Tip of hill 3 , 2:50 p.m.
Stopped at Snowbank Spring around 3:15 p.m. to fill up water, going to carry enough to make it to camp 10 miles away.
Lovely spring in meadow, hung bag on bucket and ate some snacks.
Whisky clouds from the west gave everything a sort of yellow glow.
Left at 3:30 p.m.
Top of hill 4, 3:41 p.m. , amazing views off the cliff.
Ridgeline for a bit.
Down.
Up.
Down.
Up.
So much balsam but already flowered.
Reminds me of Dog Mountain.
A bird flew like a kite, perfectly balancing its wings against the wind to remain weightless and in place.
Appreciate the gifts you have.
Top of last hill at 6:45 p.m.
A hawk appeared doing the same thing as the last bird.
Apparently it’s a nice day for flying.
Ridgeline.
It’s gonna be a nice sunset.
Made it to the spring around 8 p.m.
Found a good cowboy spot, bit of tree coverage by which I could get the general sense of the sunset.
Pretty tired of dry camping too so it was nice to have the spring.
Made dinner, tried my first ramen bomb (ramen + instant mashed potatoes), honestly delicious.
Ate a chicken burrito while I waited for it to cool off.
Ate ramen bomb, felt genuinely full, a nice change - gotta do this more often.
Watched the sunset through the trees, thick strips of color, orange, ink, purple, blue.
Wish I had a better spot to see the fireworks but I was tired.
Put EVERYTHING away in my bag, was so done with the mice nibbling on my stuff.
Watched some TV and went to bed around 10 p.m.
Honestly a pretty good day, happy 3 months 😌
Day 94 - 8/8/25 - to Sierra City
Distance: 17 miles
Mile Start / End: 1181
Weather: Sunny, Hot
End Location: Sierra City
Lessons Learned:
Woke up at 8:30 a.m.
Sun was beaming, so I got out of my sleeping bag immediately.
Breakfast: Moon Pie wrapped in a tortilla (it was all crushed up, so it would’ve been hard to eat😂), actually delicious.
Dirty Chai coffee with collagen.
Coughing up terrible looking shit, hopefully this is the end of this god forsaken illness.
Left around 10:15 a.m.
17 miles to Sierra City, so I might be able to make it for dinner.
Met PCT hiker Addy and Alex when leaving.
Ridgeline, then a nice descent.
Made it to Pass Creek and Reservoir around noon.
Feeling so out of it today, just want to get to Sierra City 🙃
And it’s so hot in the lower elevation, so hopefully I sweat out the rest of this illness.
Stopped for a quick lunch and water at Bear Valley Spring around 12:30 p.m.
Tuna tortilla with chips and a chicken packet.
Left at 1:30 p.m.
10 more miles.
Tons of overgrowth on the descent.
A branch caught my shoelace and tripped me.
Fucking hell.
The descent got better and shadier.
Reached the bottom and crossed the bridge at 3:30 p.m.
4.5 more miles.
A nice swimming hole tempted me to swim.
No, only 2 more miles.
Another river.
No, I will save aquatic adventures for the shower😂
Made it to the highway around 5:30 p.m.
Stuck my thumb out for the 2-mile hitch to Sierra City, got picked up by the first car that came, a guy named Gym in a van.
He’s racing tomorrow in the Downieville Classic Bike Race tomorrow, wished him luck as he dropped me off in front of the Sierra Country Store where my packages were sent to
Popped in the store, got my packages and ordered a milkshake and hot pastrami sandwich
Avocado was there as well, good to see her
Opened the packages: new shirt (jolly gear) headphones, gaiters, and some electrolytes
With the bike race tomorrow morning, I wanted to get a room before everything sold out
I walked over to the Sierra City Hotel and stood there for 15 mins but no one’s came around
Went back over with Avocado
One of the best sandwiches I’ve had in a while
After I finished my meal, went back over to the hotel, just wanted to shower
The guy who runs the hotel, Nate, was running around while on the phone and didn’t see to care that there were a line of people waiting to get a room
I tried pleading “I just want to know if you still have any rooms available”
He held up his finger, telling me to wait one minute
My patience was wearing thin and that pissed me off
Finally, he got off the phone and walked me up to rooms he had available
$60 rooms but both shared
I was still a little sick so didn’t want to risk giving anyone this god awful illness
I told him I’d think about it and looked for different accommodations
The Buttes Resort website said they had one cabin available for $150, little pricey but I just wanted to chill and have my own space
Got the cabin, showered then met Avocado for a drink back at Sierra City Hotel
It was hot in there, no AC
Drank a beer with her and chatted, she scheduled a trail angel ride and was planning on skipping up to Seiad Valley so this would be the last time I’d see her
Nate made with a special vegetarian dinner
Maybe he wasn’t so bad after all
Got tired so went back to my cabin
Tried to watch “Fight Club” but the DVD wasn’t compatible with the DVD player so just went to bed
Day 95 - 8/9/25 - Bike Race and River Jump (Zero Day 1)
Distance: 0
Mile Start / End:
Weather: Sunny, heat wave H: 97°
End Location: Sierra City Hotel
Lessons Learned: If you’re given an edible, ask how strong it is before you eat it.
Woke up around 7 a.m.
The Bike Race started at 8 a.m.
Made coffee and then went over to the Red Moose Diner.
Ordered the French Toast and then walked down the street to watch the start of the race.
There’s a certain energy on the morning of a race.
Just hope and a general buzz about it.
But the start of the race was anticlimactic.
The racers started in Sierra City and went straight uphill for 3000ft climb to the Sierra Buttes and then straight downhill to Downieville, spanning 26.5 miles.
Went back to the diner after the start and ate my French Toast, delicious.
Reminded me of my grandpa; he made the best French Toast.
After breakfast, I went back to the cabin and packed up.
Then left and went to the Sierra City Hotel to see if they had any rooms.
Nate, the manager, actually was super nice. I apologized if I came off rude last night and booked a private room for $60.
Then went over to the Country Store and got another hot pastrami and beer and resupplied for 3 days to make it to Belden where I had a resupplied box waiting for me at Caribou Crossing.
Ate my lunch and asked Nate if he could procure me a ride down to Downieville later for the River Jump (after the race, the bikers have the option to sign up to speed down a hill and off a ramp and fly into the river).
Nate thought this sounded like a fun idea and said he would go with me.
He also told his friends, and they said they would go as well.
Another hiker, “KJ” short for Kill Joy, bald with a white beard, also decided to join.
We left around 2pm and the River Jump started around 4 p.m.
I drove with Nate’s friend, Leroy, and his girlfriend, while KJ and Nate drove together separately.
We parked near the river and walked into town.
Downieville is a quaint, small town where everyone knows everyone, except for this weekend, where it turns into a festival of mountain bikers.
We walked across the bridge and went to the 1st bar in town, The St. Charles, where Nate’s friend used to work.
He knew the bartender, and we got some drinks.
Then I left to go explore and check out the bike race vendor tents.
Got a few stickers and checked out the Downieville Museum.
It started as a huge gold rush mining town, and the museum displayed a stack of gold nuggets worth $3.2 million in modern money that was found by the founder of the Caterpillar Company.
The town, unfortunately, was not as fortunate and was wiped out twice, once by the river flooding and once by a fire.
Then I went to the store for some beer and to an ice cream shop and got a good spot for the river jump.
I crossed the river and set up shop by a tent that started grilling up hot dogs.
Chatted with them, and just before the jump started, they started slinging hot dogs at people across the river that asked for a hot dog.
Wrapped in tinfoil, a few of the hot dogs fell into the river as the inaccurate tosses were poorly caught.
But the people still ate them😂
It was extremely hot out, so I dunked my new shirt into the river and cooled off.
The hot dog guys handed me 2 hot dogs, and I was happy I had chosen to sit so close to them.
After a while, I decided to try and find Nate and Leroy.
I didn’t find Leroy, but I did see Nate and KJ under the pavilion at the top of the hill and went up there.
We watched the bikers flip, spin, and fly through the air and into the river, then went to the bridge to watch the finals.
After the winner was declared, Nate took us to the courthouse where there was still a standing gallows, which was pretty crazy to see.
We walked over to the bar and bumped into Leroy and his girlfriend who were heading out. Perfect timing.
I rode back with them and they dropped me off at the hotel.
Nate checked in some customers who were waiting there for him while he was at the river jump😂
Then we played pool and drank some beers.
Met some new PCT hikers, Creature, and saw Ingle and his girlfriend, who I had met previously in Yosemite.
Ate a leftover hot dog for dinner.
I couldn’t get into my room due to idiocy and told Nate I just wanted to grab an edible.
He said I could have one of his and I ate half.
“Wait, how many milligrams is this?” I asked him, thinking it was 10mg max.
He told me it was medicinal and was 100mg… thank god I only ate half but knew I would be floored😅
If you’re given an edible, ask how strong it is before you eat it… lesson learned.
KJ said he would join me in this journey and ate the other half.
We went to the roof porch and watched the sunset on the Buttes.
We talked about the layout of the town and came to the conclusion that the hotel certainly used to be a brothel.
The church was positioned perfectly so that the sinners would feel bad about their sinning and come to Jesus🤣
I felt the edible coming on strong, retreated to my room and prepared to be destroyed😅
I ate a bunch of snacks (honeybuns and candy) and watched Geordie Shore.
I stumbled downstairs to grab another beer and stubbed my toe badly on the fireplace.
It was a terrible mishap, my toe started gushing blood and I ran back up stairs to address the wound.
Around midnight, Nate checked in on me and I had a drink with him and his buddy that had come by.
We joked and laughed and I went to bed around 1am or 2am.
Unfortunately, there was no AC in the hotel and it was hard to sleep with the heat wave.
Day 96 - 8/10/25 - Stuck in Sierra City (Zero Day 2)
Distance: 0
Mile Start / End:
Weather: Sunny
End Location: Sierra City Hotel
Lessons Learned:
Woke up earlier than I wanted due to heat and sweating.
Wanted to go to Red Moose Cafe again, but it was closed.
So went to Country Store and got their breakfast sandwich, pretty good but didn’t hold a light to the Hot Pastrami.
Some of my friends up ahead told me there was a music festival on the trail in Belden (about 70 miles ahead), so I scheduled a ride to Quincy for 3 p.m. and planned on hitching the rest of the way to make it there for the last day of the festival.
So just had to kill time and wait for the ride.
Played a few games of pool with KJ.
Around lunch, went back to the store and got some beers to pass the time.
Got another hot pastrami and a milkshake.
Hung out with KJ and Nate and drank the beers in the den.
Other hikers filtered in and out.
Packed up and got bag ready.
3 p.m. came and I went outside to see if the driver had arrived, but nothing, no text either.
Around 3:30pm I texted the guy I scheduled the ride with and he said the driver was busy due to the Bike Race.
He said he would be able to pick me up around 5 p.m. or 11 a.m. tomorrow.
I was already pretty buzzed and Nate said he would comp my room if I stayed another night and hung out with them (I think he felt bad about the edible and me stubbing my toe).
He also said he was grilling up steaks later.
I would miss the festival, but that didn’t sound too bad.
I took Nate up on his offer and just scheduled the ride for tomorrow.
When that was established, Nate took KJ, Creature, and I down to the river to swim and show us his gold panning spot.
It was also getting pretty hot in there, so that was our way of beating the heat.
The spot was at a bend in the river and was already in the shade, but it was still hot out, so we went swimming anyways.
I tried to be careful with my toe, it looked pretty gnarly, but figured if I put Neosporin on it later, it would be okay.
Creature’s luxury item was swimming goggles, which looked ridiculous on him but did the trick.
He let me use them, and I swam around looking for gold flecks in the river.
I grabbed at a few pieces that turned out to just be shiny rocks, no gold unfortunately.
Nate took KJ and Creature to his secret spot while I was putting on my shoes.
They went out of earshot, and I decided the tranquility of the river was treasure enough.
I reflected on the past few days… my head felt scrambled and frantic.
I had been drinking and gettin high and just generally not taking care of my body.
I also still had a lingering cough from being sick, and now my toe was fucked as well… in short, I was a mess.
I wanted to be better but felt unsure of where to start.
Nate and the gang came back, and we went back to the hotel for steak dinner.
I dressed my wound and went down to hang.
I offered to help, but Nate had it covered.
We told him we would do dishes.
The food was great, rice with pineapple, steaks cooked perfectly, and pumpkin purée for panache.
We all scarfed down our food while we sweated from the lack of AC.
After dinner, Creature and I did the dishes.
Then hung out for a bit and drank some more beers.
I can’t remember when I went to bed, but it was late, and I still wasn’t taking care of myself.
The heat again, among other things, made it hard to sleep, and I slept poorly.
