Twig Adventures

Category: Pacific Coast Bigfoot Crest Rim Trail

PCBCRT Day 64: Half Day

Pacific Coast Bigfoot Crest Rim Trail, Tahoe Rim Trail

Monday, Sep 11th, 2023, 0640-1120Round Lake to HWY 5013.5 miles, Gain 1950′, Loss 2810′, elevation 7520′ Plans to meet up with my Hayduke buddy Sky finally came together. Originally they were going to meet me in Tahoe City to hike the whole TRT. But they got caught in the mud at Burning Man, then had a lot to clean up afterwards. I heard from them this morning that they were driving all the way from Oakland and would be arriving in the afternoon. This worked out perfectly because it was about 15 miles to Echo lake from where I was, but I couldn’t go further than that, given the restrictions with the Desolation wilderness. The TRT\PCT segment that goes through[…]

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PCBCRT Day 63: Around Freel

Pacific Coast Bigfoot Crest Rim Trail, Tahoe Rim Trail

Sunday, Sep 10th, 2023, 0645-1920Edgewood Creek to Round Lake29 miles, Gain 5400′, Loss 4500′, elevation 8090′ I was a good night next to the boulders. I woke with a migraine that was hard to shake, though. A steady uphill with a heavy pack wasn’t the best combo, but I got by. The trail wound through ski areas and along the backside of the rim, with views down into the valley where Carson City sits. The forest continued to be rather dry, reminding me of New Mexico. I was pretty mesmerized looking at more of the Nevada mountain ranges in the distance. They called to me. This was my last day hiking the trail in Nevada, but I hoped there would[…]

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PCBCRT Day 62: South Lake Tahoe in and out

Pacific Coast Bigfoot Crest Rim Trail, Tahoe Rim Trail

Saturday, Sep 9th, 2023, 0650-1830Spooner Lake\Hwy 50 to Edgewood Creek16 miles, Gain 2240′, Loss 2510′, elevation 7190′ This was half a town day, so not much detail to record. The trail climbed from the hwy steadily to arrive at another sagebrush capped hill top. It was a good warm up for the morning…not that I was very cold. It was remarkably warmer than the previous morning. I caught up to Natty on the descent from the hill and we talked while we hiked. When I told him my name, a bell rang and he remembered meeting me at Lake Morena, a day before I finished the PCT in 2018. I remembered meeting 2 hikers at the restaurant there, but not[…]

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PCBCRT Day 61: Crushing on Crushed Granite

Pacific Coast Bigfoot Crest Rim Trail, Tahoe Rim Trail

Friday, Sep 8th, 2023, 0700-2030Galena Falls to south of Spooner Lake\Hwy 5031 miles, Gain 3580′, Loss 5190′, elevation 7450′ I woke feeling very satisfied from my accomplishment the night before. I allowed a later start, as it was very cold and I’d had a long day previously. The sun rose, radiating light and heat into the valley. A grouse cackled nearby, not knowing I was laying in my tent so close to her morning pecking grounds. I rejoined the TRT from the side trail and moseyed down to the highway and vehicle campground. I used the toilet and filled my water bottles. I was hoping someone might be making a sharable breakfast but had no luck. I’m not sure that[…]

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PCBCRT Day 60: Mount Rose

Pacific Coast Bigfoot Crest Rim Trail, Tahoe Rim Trail

Thursday, Sep 7th, 2023, 0640-2030Watson Lake to Galena Falls, +side trip to Mt Rose.30 miles, Gain 6600′, Loss 5320′, elevation 9050′ It was a slow build up to a big finale kind of day. The morning was pretty easy but nothing exciting. I passed through an active logging area and saw a chainsaw sitting on the side of the trail, unattended. I could have practiced my sawyer skills. I caught up to Silver Bullet mid morning and we stopped to chat. I would have liked to hike with her but she was taking it slower, getting back into the swing of things. I planned my food carry based on my higher mile days, so our schedules didn’t really align. Still,[…]

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PCBCRT Day 59: The Second (Official) Start of the TRT

Pacific Coast Bigfoot Crest Rim Trail, Tahoe Rim Trail

Wednesday, Sep 6th, 2023, 1230-1800Tahoe City to Watson Lake14.5 miles, Gain 2830′, Loss 1310′, elevation 7770′ I milked every hour and then some out of the hotel room, not checking out until noon. They were nice to give me an extra hour plus let me store a bag of some extra stuff there for when I returned. I highly recommend the Americas Best Value Inn if staying around Tahoe City. It was the most inexpensive hotel in the greater area, including Truckee, and had everything I could want. The hot tub really sold it. I made another trip to Safeway for breakfast\lunch and more resupply items. It was hard to break away from town but finally I shouldered my heavy[…]

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PCBCRT Day 58: Tahoe City

Pacific Coast Bigfoot Crest Rim Trail, Tahoe Rim Trail

Tuesday, Sep 5th, 2023, 0700-1850The Oven to Tahoe City5 miles, Gain 4200′, Loss 5510′, elevation 6200′ My tent was pretty drenched with condensation in the morning, even though I pitched far away from the creek and under some pine trees. There was a lot of moisture still in the ground and air after the storm. I realized that I dropped my sun hat a few miles back when I got to camp, so I went on a mission to retrieve it in the morning. Well, first, I checked out an old brick oven in a field, thought to have been built by Basque sheep herders. Rumor is that a thru-hiker once packed out a frozen pizza to cook in the[…]

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PCBCRT Day 57: Starting the TRT

Pacific Coast Bigfoot Crest Rim Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, Tahoe Rim Trail

Monday, Sep 4th, 2023, 0700-1850Benson Hut to the Oven, TRT25.5 miles, Gain 4200′, Loss 5510′, elevation 6900′ It was surprisingly quiet in the hut all night, plus toasty and cozy with the fire going for awhile. I could hear the wind outside and it just made me feel so lucky to be shielded from it. I woke early with everyone else but worked on my phone until they were all packed. It was still cloudy at dawn but the sun was just burning through the clouds as I left. The trail climbed higher, which was nice for a warm up. I passed a tent site with 4 tents squeezed in…the site I was originally aiming for the night before. All[…]

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PCBCRT Day 56: Hut to Ski Lodge to Hut

Pacific Coast Bigfoot Crest Rim Trail, Pacific Crest Trail

Sunday, Sep 3rd, 2023, 0630-1850Peter Grubb Hut to Benson Hut13 miles, Gain 2310′, Loss 1880′, elevation 8240′ It’s incredible that last Wednesday’s forecast called for a 50% chance of rain only on Friday. When I checked the forecast again on Friday in Sierra City, it then said 3 straight days of rain. Well, at least they got that part right. It rained again most of the night, but not as strong as the night before. Still, it was so wonderful to have a roof over my head. As I learned in New Zealand and on the Appalachian Trail, it’s a lot easier to walk all day in the rain when you can count on drying out in a shelter or[…]

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PCBCRT Day 55: The Delicate Dance Between Wet and Dry

Pacific Coast Bigfoot Crest Rim Trail, Pacific Crest Trail

Saturday, Sep 2nd, 2023, 0740-17308 miles past Sierra City to Peter Grubb Hut26 miles, Gain 5030′, Loss 3650′, elevation 7810′ Wetness management is a hard skill to figure out and even harder to get right in all circumstances. There are many factors that play into it. Thinking back on my experiences with multiple days of rain on the AT, in New Zealand, and the Colorado Trail, it can feel like a losing battle to keep stuff dry. You fight the good fight but after a long enough timeline, everything becomes either damp or completely saturated. We were optimistic that it wouldn’t rain overnight, given the clearing skies the day before. Inevitably, the rain began around midnight, first as light, but[…]

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