Twig Adventures

September 12th, 2018 Five Lakes Creek mm 1136 to Middle Velma Lake mm 1110 Distance: 26 miles 0630-1700 It was much warmer overnight than I anticipated. The wind continued to blow all night but I was snug as a bug. It was still hard to get up and go. For the first time in the hike, I started out wearing my puffy, in addition to my other 3 layers. I quickly got too hot and had to shed it. Then I got up on the ridgeline and was blasted by the chill wind. The trailed followed the ridge for 6 miles. All that time, I was working hard to stay upright and to keep warm. I had to put my[…]

September 11th, 2018 White Rock Creek mm 1167 to Five Lakes Creek mm 1136 Distance: 31 miles 0645-1830 I am really scratching by on this leg. As mentioned before, I have just enough food…or maybe not. I’m also carrying 2 nearly-empty fuel canisters. The one has lasted me since Etna (16 days) and the other News Feed gave me. My last pair of socks are starting to get holes and my shoes are done after more than 800 miles. Then last night, I noted that my headlamp batteries were dying…they made it more than halfway! Then again, I barely used my headlamp for the first month, because of the long days. My quilt is also just barely cutting it. It[…]

September 10th, 2018 HWY 49 mm 1195.5 to White Rock Creek mm 1167 Distance: 28.5 miles plus 1.5 miles walk from town. 0800-1800 I woke up and packed early, as usual. I slept really well, despite all the company and interesting surroundings. I went back down to the picnic table at the store to make coffee and breakfast, plus use the wifi and electricity. It took me awhile to get a blog posted, as I was having technical errors. By then, the coffee shop had opened, and I couldn’t help but indulge in a real coffee. I was very cold from sitting around all morning. There were no cars on the road so I walked the 1.5 miles back to[…]

September 9th, 2018Mm 1216 to HWY 49 mm 1195.5, then hitch to Sierra City.Distance: 20.5 miles0630-1400 As I figured I might, I woke up cold around 1 am. My quilt has vertical baffles, which allows the down to shift to the footbox. I don’t like the design and can’t wait to get my warmer quilt. I put my puffy on and cinched my layers tight. I was able to sleep the rest of the night but it was hard getting on the trail early. I had anticipated an easy 18 miles into Sierra City, this according to my Halfmile app (A great, FREE app). What I didn’t know was that in between my location and town, a reroute had taken[…]

September 8th, 2018 Middle Fork Feather River mm 1250 to mm 1216 Distance: 34 miles 0615-1900 Twist and I got a jump on all the guys by getting started early, as usual. We had to climb a lot today. In fact, I think I set a personal best in total elevation gained in one day: 9500′! That is a massive amount and I still did 34 miles before dark. In the morning, I caught up to 3 more SOBOs: Later Gator, Oh Well, and Bella. We played hopscotch the rest of the day. The trail wound around a lot of peaks and there were many good views. The sky has been so clear, with amazing cirrus cloud displays for days[…]

September 7th, 2018 Buck Lakes Rd mm 1268 to Middle Fork Feather River mm 1250 Distance: 18 miles 1100-1800 I lollygagged around all morning. The hotel had a pretty good continental breakfast. Plus, I was waiting until 10 am for the Sierra City post office to open. I would be getting in on a Sunday and didn’t want to wait around until Monday for a package I had sent there. I called to see if they could forward it ahead to South Lake Tahoe, and it was no problem. Mission accomplished. Flowers had decided to take a zero to rest his hurt foot, so I set out alone to get a ride back to the trail. I only waited about[…]

September 6th, 2018 Belden mm 1286.5 to Buck Lakes Rd mm 1268, then a hitch to Quincy Distance: 18.5 miles 0620-1300 I didn’t have far to go today but it was a huge climb of about 5000′ to kick things off. Even though we all camped separately, Dorothy and Flowers are early risers like me and we all wound up at the trailhead together in the early morning. I took the lead and used it as a motivator to get up the hill the fastest. I have a great music playlist that helps with this. I felt strong and pretty light on my feet, since I was carrying little food. We entered an area above the timber line and I[…]

September 5th, 2018 Butt Mountain mm 1321 to Belden mm 1286.5 Distance: 34.5 miles 0620-1930 Today’s goal was to get to the town of Belden, or at least to within a few miles. I hoped to either resupply there or just get some snacks to carry me through another 20 miles to the road to Quincy. There were some nice views as I traversed ridges. Mt Lassen was the prominent feature but I couldn’t recognize anything else. There were lots of rocks that still looked volcanic. I caught up to Flowers, who had camped just below us. Then at Cold Springs (really original name), I also caught up to Twist. She had skipped ahead at the fire closure. We all[…]

September 4th, 2018 Warner Valley Campground/Drakesbad mm 1350 to Butt Mountain mm 1321 Distance: 29 miles 0630-1830 Today was a pretty relaxed walk and a grand accomplishment. I made it to the halfway point on the PCT! It was again a very chilly morning. I have camped near creeks the past 2 nights and that usually makes for colder conditions. I took a short alternate trail to check out the boiling mud lake. It was interesting, with steam rising and the occasional gurgle from a mud bubble. I didn’t find any interpretive signs explaining the feature, so I didn’t get a full appreciation for it. The rest of the day was just lots of ups and downs, with the occasional[…]

September 3rd, 2018 HWY 44 mm 1377.5 to Warner Valley Campground/Drakesbad mm 1350 Distance: 27.5 miles 0630-1700 It was a hard day, even if the miles weren’t as big. My body was very tired from the previous big days, probably the most tired I’ve felt on trail this entire time. Plus, I was dealing with a painful blister on my left Achilles. I had run out of duct tape so Flowers gave me some gorilla tape, which I put over the blister. Then I put leukotape over that…it is so sticky that it can rip sore skin off, hence the double layering. I also had to sacrifice my sleeping socks to serve as my hiking socks. I will use the[…]