PCT Day 18 – Lost and Found

F Pine branch over rocky ridge

Last night as I wrote there was some kind of animal making noise in the bushes nearby. I am so over this kind of crap that I don’t even care anymore. I finished writing, put my earplugs in and went to sleep. It helped that temps dropped to the high 40’s. I snuggled into my quilt with my stocking cap on and sawed some logs of my own.

Nothing touched our bear canisters all night. Bob thinks that bears are so used to being thwarted by canisters that they don’t even mess with them any more.

It’s morning in California

There is no more picturesque trail than the morning trail. It always enlivens my day. It only takes one beautiful moment to get me going.

An hour out of camp we find water along the trail. I fill up and then as Bob does, the sun decides to showcase these flowers. I was lucky enough to capture it.

More mountains please

At the end of the day yesterday we passed between Granite Chief and another mountain. Well that mountain was Squaw Peak. The ski resort on the mountain is Squaw Valley, the resort that hosted skiing events for one of the Olympics! We are going to circle the southern base of Squaw Peak before we head back up onto the ridge.

As the trail goes up I can sense open spaces just beyond the trees. The sunlit ridge top is calling me.

There we go. The trees fall away and the trail takes me to where there will be mountain tops.

At the top I eat a snack. Bob catches up and points out the triple diamond ski runs from up here. I get nervous just looking at them. What people will do!

Behind me are the mountains I crossed yesterday. The one on the right is Squaw Peak. The one next to it is Granite Chief.

Along this ridge are Ward Peak and Twin Peak. Following the ridge the trail goes around the west side of these peaks before dropping over the saddle behind them.

Different strokes

On the way up to the saddle I pass a sign for the Tahoe Rim Trail. The TRT is a loop trail whose western side is the PCT. It is quite popular among the locals. A thru-hike of the 170-mile TRT takes about 10 days for most people I talked to.

Over the saddle we meet a couple coming our way. They are Mother Goose and Slim Jim. Jim had some trouble with his knees at the start of their hike, forcing them off the trail for a while. But they got back on and are heading for Donner Pass.

When Mother Goose hears my trail name, she says she knows the other hiker named Doolittle on the PCT. More accurately, the other hiker is Dr. Doolittle, and she hikes in sandals and was followed once by a murder of crows, walking behind her dutifully on the trail. She is injured and off the trail now, but she will be back. Mother Goose tells me that Dr. Doolittle is hard core. I guess I might be classified as soft core, er, whatever.

And then another disturbing tree.

Lost

Bob and I agree to meet at the North Fork Blackwood Creek. I arrive before he does. There is a couple lying in the shade there. I walk down to the creek to fetch water for Bob and myself. I come back up to the trail and wait for Bob. He was not that far behind me so I am worried when he doesn’t appear. I walk back down the trail to see if he has stopped. I don’t see him anywhere

I ask the couple by the creek if he passed by while I was down getting water. They say they heard and saw no one. I go back down the trail looking for Bob, but he is not there. I ask the couple to let Bob know that I will wait for him at the top of the next climb, and I nervously head up the trail.

I pass a man coming my way and ask if he has seen Bob. He says he has and that he is about 10 minutes ahead of me. Others that pass me confirm this. I am relieved. I seem to becoming attached to Bob. I wonder if this is a good thing.

Eventually I catch up to Bob and follow him for a while. I take this video because I am almost never behind Bob when we hike. Here is what he looks like.

When he finally sees me we sort out what happened. Bob was on autopilot when he cruised by the creek. That couple never saw or heard him, so smooth was his hiking gait. He realized he was ahead of me when he could no longer see my tracks. (Hiking shoe tread varies by manufacturer and model.)

Trail magic!

Trail magic is when non-hikers show up at trail crossings with gifts for hikers. The best gifts are food and cold drinks. Bob has been hiking from Ashland Oregon and has not had one occurrence of trail magic…until now.

At Barker Pass we notice a bunch of people gathered around a picnic table. There is food and drinks and someone is cooking something. Then someone announces, “There is trail magic here for thru-hikers” and we are thrilled. And what trail magic! Fresh watermelon, pineapple, grapes, candy, soft drinks and beer. Someone is making pizza!

The trail angels are Momma Syrup, Rhys and Rob. They have come over from Reno – a long ways away – just to show us some love. We load up on sodas and all manner of carbohydrates.

Moss Man is just completing his thru-hike of the TRT. He is loving all the attention, too. Several more hikers pass through, but Bob and I have more hiking to do.

Next steps

On our way to camp we hammer out a plan for the next few days. There is a lot to do in South Lake Tahoe to prepare for our trip through the Sierras and the John Muir Trail. But Bob has done the JMT six times. He has some definite ideas about the best way to go.

• August 14
• Starting marker: 1137.9
• Ending marker: 1120.4
• Total miles hiked today: 18
• Total PCT miles: 234
• Christmas gift idea: the portable pizza oven!