I first hiked the Pacific Crest Trail over the course of 1994 and 1996, then I hiked the whole thing in one go in 2013. During the latter hike I kept this website updated as I progressed up the trail. I still have about 45 hours of video to edit, but in the meantime there is a lot for you to look at here. Over the course of the 168 days I wrote 138,734 words and put 13,644 photos on this website.
Lightning Rod left a little bit before me this morning while I ate my breakfast. I was on the trail around 7:20am and caught up with him a bit later. The trail started to drop a fair bit and the landscape changed. Oak trees and such showing up again.
Got to Highway 49 around noon. It would have been sooner but I missed the PCT and ended up on some mining side trail for about 10 minutes until I gave up on it. Couldn't get a ride to town so I ended up walking the 1.5 miles to town.
There is a place in town called the Red Moose Inn where the hikers stay at. I showed up and the owner jokingly said, "ugh, just got rid of one and another shows up!" as he handed me a glass of water. Texas Poo and Puma were there, along with Stilts and Muppet.
I went to take a shower and the girl working there (actually a PCT hiker taking a break due to injury) asked me if I wanted a "shower beer". I thought of the Red Fang video and said "sure, why not?". Got cleaned up and did a tiny bit of laundry.
Went to the Sierra City store and got a 1lb hamburger. It took a while for it to arrive so I talked to other hikers. Met a guy I hadn't met before who was from Australia.
It didn't look like there were any 4th of July things going on in Sierra City which I was a little disappointed by.
Spent a good chunk of the afternoon getting the blog updated and then had a rib dinner at the Red Moose. Walked to the store and got an It's It ice cream cookie sandwich...I didn't know they made those until today. Walked down the street to another bar and got a beer. Outside I talked to a couple locals who were telling me about the buildings in the area that date back to 1849. The best part was all the crazy ghost stories they had about the places. Apparently one joint used to be a brothel and a jail..at the same time.
Walked past a house on the way back and talked to a couple more locals who had all kinds of questions about hiking. They too also told me the ins and outs of living in the area.
Ok, journal caught up, going back to upload everything and call it a night. Gonna head out after breakfast if all goes according to plan.