Twig Adventures

PCBCRT Day 46: Burney Falls

Thursday, Aug 24th, 2023, 0620-1945Deadman Creek to Hat Creek32 miles, Gain 2770′, Loss 4820′, elevation 3020′ I had another big day planned. My goal was to make it to Burney Falls for lunch (only 20 miles to go), then another 12 miles to the hatchery at Hat Creek, so I’d be in a good position for a very early crack at the extremely hot, dry and exposed Hat Creek rim section the following day. No time to waste! I employed a similar early morning, dark walking strategy for Hat Creek rim in 2018 and it worked very well. The morning had a few short overgrown spots but suddenly became very well maintained cruisey trail, all downhill. I was chewing up[…]

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PCBCRT Day 45: Grizzly Peak Bagging

Wednesday, Aug 23rd, 2023, 0610-1930Ash Camp & McCloud River to Deadman Creek33 miles, Gain 7400′, Loss 4440′, elevation 5070′ A heavy mist hung in the valley in the morning, but at least my tent was pretty dry. I neglected to note that a huge climb awaited. My muscles were sore as I started up, which got me wondering how long I’d be climbing? 10.5 miles and 4000′ it turns out. Ugh…all morning. On top of that, the trail was bit overgrown and with a fair number of big blowdowns. All the overgrowth was pretty soaked with condensation, too. I never thought I’d be going uphill through a car wash on the PCT…that was more of a PNT thing. Luckily the[…]

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PCBCRT Day 44: Out of the Heat

Tuesday, Aug 22nd, 2023, 0850-1930Soda Creek I-5 to Ash Camp & McCloud River27 miles, Gain 6870′, Loss 6580′, elevation 2390′ It rained all night, making me so happy and feeling lucky to have stayed another day with Karaoke. I even had to get up to grab an extra blanket, it was chilly! I walked with Karaoke to work in the light rain and we took our picture with Smokey the Bear, who was warning of high fire danger. I made sure my umbrella was in the picture too. Even with all the rain, the fire danger was still high and the many fires were still burning. I said goodby but hoped I’d see Karaoke again…I had to come back to[…]

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PCBCRT Halftime Report

Thursday, Aug 17th to Monday, Aug 21, 2023 In past years, I was always pretty motivated to keep moving during my thru-hikes. If I even took a double zero, it was only to let some severe weather pass or recover from an illness (like norovirus on the Grand Enchantment trail). I only took 5 zeros total on the PCT and 4 on the AT. This year was quite the exception. I took a lot of zeros on the Hayduke and even a week off to go back to do some hikes around Escalante. So many down days were somewhat needed, but also kind of messed with the momentum and motivation I felt for the hike. This thru-hike had a similar[…]

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PCBCRT Day 43: When Fires Start to Burn

Wednesday, Aug 16th, 2023, 0610-1200PCT SOBO mm 1133 to Castella18 miles, Gain 900′, Loss 5000′, elevation 2030′ Smoke filled the valley when I woke in the morning, not unlike my visita looking down upon Castle Crags in 2018. How ironic that I was racing to get through or around the first fire closure that year. Paradise was burning, along with numerous other fires throughout California and Oregon, yet somehow, miraculously, this was the only one that affected the trail during that time. I just made it through before the USFS officially closed the area and now it seemed I had just squeezed through again.  I checked the website to see that no fewer than 19 fire incidents in the Klamath[…]

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PCBCRT Day 42: On Cruise Control

Tuesday, Aug 15th, 2023, 0620-1930PCT SOBO mm 1102 to mm 113331.7 miles, Gain 3890′, Loss 3410′, elevation 6500′ I wouldn’t call it rain exactly, but it did spatter off and on all night. I was worried about more thunderstorms. The wind did pick up at times but there was no more lightning, thank goodness. I imagined the rain instantly evaporating as soon as it hit my tent and sure enough, everything was bone dry in the morning. But it was enough to have washed away previous footsteps, so for once the PCT felt…unused. It was exceptional quiet all day. I ran into the first NOBO around 8 am, then 4 more around lunch. There was a trickle of about 5[…]

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PCBCRT Day 38: The Russian Wilderness

Friday, Aug 11th, 2023, 1330-1835Etna Hwy to Bingham Lake13 miles, Gain 2980′, Loss 2100′, elevation 6870′ I could leave first thing in the morning, pretending I didn’t even visit town, just as I had planned. Or, I could do a proper town stop by lingering and eating lots of food. Which do you think I did? For starters, I found an extra shower token, so I woke up to a hot shower. While rummaging through the hiker box, I found a bag of spare earbud gummies, which were the perfect replacement for one I lost. I also found a like-new pair of sun gloves, made from the fancy Outdoor Research glacier material that’s cooling when wet. I couldn’t believe someone[…]

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PCBCRT Day 37: Marble Mountains & Unplanned Town Stop

Thursday, Aug 10th, 2023, 0640-1930Paradise Lake to Etna Hwy, then hitch to Etna29.5 miles, Gain 5660′, Loss 5810′, elevation 6010′ I was surprised the deer didn’t bother me overnight. I made sure to pee really far away from my tent, so that seemed to do the trick. Maybe I was just too tired from the climb the day before to even notice them. I got a pretty late start but still made almost 10 miles by 10 am. The morning was fantastic, with the landscape being so much better than I remembered it. Actually seeing the Marble Mountains was incredible. They were characterized by these white bands of marble, so dramatically different than the surrounding peaks. I couldn’t even see[…]

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PCBCRT Day 36: Running up that Hill

Wednesday, Aug 9th, 2023, 0610-1730Seiad Valley (Brian’s Place) to Paradise Lake, BFT mm 147.525 miles, Gain 6880′, Loss 2170′, elevation 6110′ The best way to break a vortex is to get out early! I was actually hoping for a 5 am dark start but 6 am was good enough. Everyone else was still asleep and the morning perfectly cool…what a change from 100 degrees the day before! With a 6000′ climb over nearly 20 miles, I couldn’t imagine a better tactic than what I employed. I walked the road as fast as I could, eating the 4 miles in 1 hour. I said goodbye to the Klamath river for the second time…I passed it a week ago while hiking the[…]

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Up Next: the Pacific Coast Bigfoot Crest Rim Trail

This is a rough sketch of the Pacific Coast Bigfoot Crest Rim Trail…PCBCRT. I ‘invented’ this roughly 1200 mile route as a conglomeration of 4 distinct long distance trails, stringing together parts or all of the Oregon Coast Trail (OCT), Bigfoot Trail (BFT), Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), and Tahoe Rim Trail (TRT). I made-up the name to include a portion of each trail’s official name, paying homage to a common misconception, emphasized by the “Pacific Coast” part. That’s because about half the public mistakenly calls the Pacific Crest Trail the Pacific Coast Trail…I’ve encountered this error so many times that I don’t even bother to correct people anymore. In reality, the Pacific CREST Trail doesn’t even travel within sight of[…]

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