Twig Adventures

Tag: California

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′ It 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 and of Carson City. 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 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 too 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.[…]

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PCBCRT Day 59: The 2nd 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 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 pack[…]

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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 was 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. I was the last one to leave. 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[…]

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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 was 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. This was the same crazy system that soaked all the people at Burning Man, stranding them for days in the desert. It also caused major flooding in other parts of California. 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[…]

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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. At first it was[…]

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PCBCRT Day 54: September Storms

Pacific Coast Bigfoot Crest Rim Trail, Pacific Crest Trail

Friday, Sep 1st, 2023, 0600-1940Ridge NE of Spencer Lakes to 8 miles past Sierra City 28 miles, Gain 4100′, Loss 5000′, elevation 6440′ I woke just as rain started to splatter my tent. It remained light until I was able to pack, thank goodness. I hated packing a wet tent. The wind howled all night but the trees ran perfect interference. A few whiffs reached me but nothing major. It’s such a wonderful feeling to be protected in this way, but every gust still worried me. I ended up putting my earplugs in…if I couldn’t hear the gusts coming, they couldn’t bother me. Most would be hesitant to leave their tents in such gusty and wet conditions, but we were[…]

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PCBCRT Day 53: Always a Hard Day

Pacific Coast Bigfoot Crest Rim Trail, Pacific Crest Trail

Thursday, Aug 31st, 2023, 0630-1940Middle Fork Feather River to ridge NE of Spencer Lakes32.4 miles, Gain 8110′, Loss 3760′, elevation 7340′ I remembered almost nothing about the trail from this day, 5 years ago, except that it was pretty hard. The figure of 8,000 feet came to me, as I recalled this as my biggest day of elevation gain to this point. I pretty much repeated the day this time around, with the same starting point and a similar distance hiked. I usually had very good recall of my campsites, but had no inkling of where I ended up that day. I must have been struggling a lot not to remember. There was a big climb out of the Middle[…]

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PCBCRT Day 52: Super Blue Moon

Pacific Coast Bigfoot Crest Rim Trail, Pacific Crest Trail

Wednesday, Aug 30th, 2023, 0600-20156 miles past Belden to Middle Fork Feather River27 miles, Gain 3230′, Loss 6110′, elevation 2980′ I was so relieved to pack my stuff and escape the wind in the morning. The site was scenic but the exposure sucked. This was why I almost always preferred to camp low in the trees. Out Here camped next to me and was ready to go promptly at dawn, as well. I don’t usually find other hikers that are as motivated to get such an early start. He was trying to push big miles to make it to Truckee in time to meet up with a friend. His schedule pretty much aligned with mine, so we ended up hiking[…]

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