Month: August 2016

Cross into Lassen NP. Pass by boiling springs lake.camp at Warner valley campground.

Hike until we are just south of Lassen NP. Pass the halfway marker! Saw a black bear and cub as they were running from us.

Long climb out of Belden. Surprisingly warm even at 6 am. Heavy packs, dense brush, poison oak, and a rocky trail made it more difficult. On the plus side there was lots of water so no need to carry more than a liter. Mosquitoes were partying that night.

Road walk up to Buck’s summit to get back on the trail. Long day of 25 miles takes us way down to Belden town. It is not a town, it is a store and hotel that host music festivals. It was expensive, only took cash, and was filled with drunk and high people. The rattlesnakes and oppressive heat probably didn’t help me like it either.

Climb out of the river valley early when it is coolish. Walk to Buck Lake town and take a shower and wash clothes since we were gross due to the excessive heat and poison oak. A nice relaxing afternoon with fish tacos and pacifico.

Drop wayyyy down to the middle fork of the feather river. Very very hot. Not much water until the bottom. Lots of poison oak below 4500 ft. Swarms of mosquitoes where we camped. Not gonna say this was a super fun day. Pictures make it look a lot better though.

Camp near Beartrap creek. Pretend to be a mule.

Leave Sierra city with heavy packs and climb into the Sierra Buttes. A rattlesnake reminded that we are generally at lower elevation now, but he was polite and rattled and retreated quickly. Cross 1200 miles.

Battery was low on the phone so no pictures this day. Walked to Wild Plum (fee) campground near Sierra city where we picked up our resupply. On this last 5 day section we managed to average a little over 20 miles a day.

Someone decided to camp in our spot despite our presence because we weren’t using most of it and there were no other spots left. At least they coughed up some cash in the morning when I asked.

Ridge walk most of the day with only one or two last looks at lake Tahoe. Cross under interstate 80 at Donner pass. Pass a Sierra club hut and camp on a unremarkable spot.

Enter granite chief and go by some ski resorts. Camp a little under Tinker knob. Kept company by the hoards of mosquitoes.

Over Dick’s pass and cross Barker pass and get a nice view of Tahoe with a slight breeze to keep the mosquitoes at bay.

Start at Echo lake with lots of wind. Head past Lake Aloha and camp next to Susie lake. Pass 1100 miles.

Lake Tahoe is big. We packed our resupplys for the next 600 miles.

To route 50 and into South Tahoe for 2 nights.

One day from South Tahoe. Past Showers Lake. Slept o. A nice granite chunk.

Getting close to Tahoe now.

More flowers. A nice spot on the top of a saddle with calm winds.

North from Sonora pass. Lots of pretty flowers.

Poor choice of campsite meant a very cool morning… 23F. An awesome ridgewalk to Sonora pass where we resupplied at Kennedy Meadows North. Crazy how fast the landscape changed.