Day 54:

Date: May 25, 2015

Progress: 26.1 miles - tentsite at mile 216.8 to tentsite by road at mile 242.9

Today I walked all day, then set up my tent, then ate some buttery homestyle flavor instant mashed potatoes with crushed Kettle chips mixed in. 

The spring that was supposed to be near this campsite is dry, so I'm going to bed thirsty tonight.

Update: I found a different spring that had water! In 30 minutes when my bleach has taken its effect I shall be thirsty no more. 

That "on top of the world feeling"

Day 53:

Date: May 24, 2015

Progress: 19.3 miles - Sierra City (mi 1197.5) to tentsite (mi 1216.8)

Today we woke up to clear skies for the first time in a while. We had a big 3000 foot climb out of Sierra City and the Highway 49 crossing, but after that the trail was graded fairly well. 

At mile 1214 I hit my 800 PCT mile mark. 

I saw a bunch of day hikers near some trailheads that must have been out for Memorial Day weekend. They were a very different breed than thru hikers, with their small packs and clean clothes. 

One family had dog who was sniffing my hand, and I said, "I smell pretty bad, don't I?"

The mother of the family overheard what I'd said to her dog, and tried to make me feel better. "We all smell pretty bad, though, don't we?"

I had to be honest. "No," I replied, "I can smell your shampoo." I hope she wasn't too creeped out. 

The height at which the lichen on the trees begin is the average snowpack for a winter. 

Day 52:

Date: May 23, 2015

Progress: 11.9 miles - campground at mile 1185.6 to Sierra City at mile 1197.5

Today we woke up to more rain. My stuff stayed dry except for a little condensation on the footbox of my sleeping bag. I'm definitely pleased with the way my tent performed (thanks Joe from ZPacks!) and would recommend it. Even with a rushed and imperfect set up job I stayed dry inside. We agreed to get to Sierra City, CA and maybe stay the night there to try to dry out our gear a little. 

Backtrack and I hiked together, and moved pretty fast, covering the 11.9 to Highway 49 without stopping. We hitched into Sierra City and got what was described by our trail notes as being one of the best burgers of the trail at the Country Store. It was one pound, called the "gutbuster," and I got it with lettuce, tomato, grilled onions, pickles, ketchup, mayo, mustard, horseradish, avocado, bacon, and swiss cheese. It is pictured below. 

Sierra City is a really small old mining town, where everyone seems to know each other. We decided to spend the night in Sierra City and most likely hike out tomorrow, but there is a bunch of rain forecasted, so we may zero tomorrow to avoid a night of wet camping. 

Day 51:

Date: May 22, 2015

Progress: 22.8 miles - Peter Grubb Hut at mile 1162.8 to campground at mile 1185.6

Today I slept in until 8:15, probably recovering from not getting a lot of sleep on Wednesday night. I started hiking at 9:00. 

Only 2.5 miles into the hike, I hit huge patches of snow that made the trail impossible to follow. In addition, traversing the snow was quite difficult, and I found myself slipping and postholing quite a lot. We were going to try to get to a campsite 26.4 miles away from the hut, and I'd left a lot later than Czech Mix, Chewie, and Backtrack, so I was beginning to worry about making it there before it got dark. The snow was making me cover ground much slower than normally. 

I ended up catching up to Backtrack, and we hiked together for most of the day. We reached a road crossing where Backtrack found a note from Chewie letting us know that he and Czech Mix were at a campground down the road. 

It had been raining all day, and when we made it to Czech Mix and Chewie's tents, it was raining quite hard. I went into the campground bathroom and pulled my tent out of my backpack, ran out to set it up, then ran back into the bathroom. Backtrack and I cooked our dinner in the bathroom and did a little drying off. There we were, two shirtless hikers, relishing in the shelter of a public campground bathroom and the warmth of couscous and mashed potatoes. The PCT makes me feel homeless more than I would have expected. 

Now I've relocated to my tent and it is absolutely pouring out. I will pray that when I wake the skies will have cleared. 

There's Backtrack^