Barker Pass to Sierra City

We did meet up with the rest of TEC! Snaps was at the trailhead with her cousin, we hiked a couple miles in and ran into Hex and Jecks, then a few more miles in and ran into Pounce, Lil' One, Lobby and her mom! We camped with them that night at a creek-- did 11 miles today.

Woke up after everyone and left before every--- love that we keep doing that. We're hiking a lot faster than before, which is so very exciting for us. We hiked to I-40 (about 17.5 miles) and met up with Sinbad and waited for the rest of TEC. They decided to go into Truckee for foods and we decided to keep going. We're starting to freak out because of how far behind we are in schedule-- we need to do 25 miles every day without zeros from here on out to get to Canada by October 1. We are thinking of possibly flip-flopping to the border and hiking south. We hiked a couple miles in and camped.

Woke up around 7:30am and hiked to I-80's rest stop and refueled. The trail has been so well graded, which helps with the mileage. We hiked 20 miles to a campsite on a ridge and saw a fire in the distance. It was still lightening there and kind of freaked us out. We went to sleep, sure that it was a good distance away but woke up smelling smoke! Dangit got up and looked around but couldn't see the fire anymore and then it started to ran. Thank goodness. 

Fire! Maybe five miles away...

We got up early and started our hike towards Sierra City. Our plan is to get there for dinner-- which means we didn't take tons of breaks. Our legs are pretty tired perhaps from the long days, lack of sleep and pushing it to get to food quicker. We still have probably 3 days of food left in our packs! Ahh! Never again. We made it to Sierra City, got a chocolate milkshake and a Gut-Buster--- YUMMM!! We met a sweet couple on the porch of the country store who invited us to their home for showers. Thanks Dave, Denise and Julianna! Once we were clean, they let us to their washer and dryer and invited us to dinner. Just when it couldn't get any better… they invited us to sleep there…. on a BED! Yess! What a wonderful treat… and they cooked us breakfast in the morning-- pancakes!

Our lovely room at the Keyes!

We'll be heading out today either for the trail… or towards a bigger city to get to Washington. We've decided to flip and go southbound- it should give us an extra week or two for flexibility. 

Echo Lake to Barker Pass

Betty dropped us off at Echo Lake and persuaded us to take the boat to the other side of the lake and meet up with the PCT there. What a wonderful treat! We met up with Pigpen and Blox a couple miles in and continued hiking to Aloha Lake where we camped for the night. The stars were amazing! We made dinner with Pigpen and Blox while laughing at the mice who continued to come closer and closer to our things.

We hiked past many lakes hoping to be able to jump in and cool off but it was too windy for that. Our packs were very heavy! Probably too much food. We were going to hike between 15-17 miles but because we couldn't find water… we hiked 19 miles and camped at Richardson Lake where we saw tons of crawdads in the lake! Ferd and Pigpen caught a couple but it wasn't until after we ate dinner so we didn't cook them up.

We woke up at 5:50am the next morning, packed up and hiked out to the Barker Pass Trailhead where Dangit's oldest brother, Michael, and youngest brother, William, drove 9 hours from Utah to meet up with us for a day! We went to Lake Tahoe where we stuck our feet in, then drove through Truckee, then to Reno (because it was cheaper to stay there). We jumped in the pool at La Quinta, took showers, then went to Panda Express for dinner and a movie-- Dawn of the Planet of the Apes! Awesome movie!

The next day we went back to the trail after getting pizza with the brothers. We tried convincing them to hike a few miles with us but Michael needed to head back to Utah to make it to work the next day. We had left a note for TEC the day before hoping we'd see them.

More about town! New shoes, clothes, and lots of food!

Some of our stuff is falling apart. Dangit's shoes are dangit in tatters. For the last two weeks her right shoe has been held together with a combination of duct tape and safety pins. Similarly, my socks have survived the last three weeks by covering holes in the toes and heels with duct tape. Although it is a bit annoying to hike in damaged goods, I feel like we have started to morph from our soft city selves into certified "hiker trash". Nothing is better than destroying shoes by walking them to their deaths!  Thus, we are heading into civilization to replace our worn items.

No hitching this time! Our friend Kevin's mom Betty picked us up near Echo Lake and drove us down to her lovely home in the woods in Camino, CA. She was nice enough to buy all of the things we we craving on the the trail. By the way, "hiker hunger" (an insatiable lust for food) has finally struck. In fact, our new favorite game on the trail is to ask our friends what food they would most like to eat, but can't. It's sort of a sick masochistic game, but it makes town stops that much sweeter. Anyway, on Tuesday night we ate fresh salad! corn on the cob!! and grilled steaks!!! Oh, we may have also eaten a dozen or more of those amazing little balls of melty chocolate goodness (Lindt Lindor truffles). We also had a incredibly restful night in real bed. Honestly, when I woke up I felt like we were on our honeymoon. It was that luxurious!

The next day we ate more food then drove around town (thanks for the car rental Kevin!). We went into Placerville to cut Dangit's hair which is apparently too poofy and perhaps becoming slightly mullet-like in the the back. We ate at a lovely little cafe called Two Cooks on Main or something. I can't remember the name exactly, but the sandwiches we scarfed were divine! After that we went to a running store and REI to look for new shoes (Altras specifically. FAIL...). We also went to two different thrift stores to find short silky running shorts and a thin fleece for me, and some new windpants and a tank top for in town for Dangit. I have decided to bounce my down jacket (too warm) and my convertible pants (too warm!). After much digging in the racks we emerged victorious! Our tab: shorts, 50 cents; fleece, $4; windpants, $4; tank top, $2! Not sure why anyone would shop for camping clothes at a real store. Perhaps, they have more self respect or dignity I suppose. Our maybe they don't want to hike in clothing inspired by the movie Flashdance. Not us!

We we able buy far too much food for our next resupply our favorite store, Winco. We are particularly excited about some gumbo mix we found which we will cook with fresh peppers, onion, minute rice, and some smoked andouille sausage our first night out of town! After the stores we came back to the Barnes' and dined on another craving, potstickers! We also had more salad, salmon, and some yummy wine!

Today we ate bacon, eggs, and potatoes. I also borrowed Betty's sewing maching to patch some holes in things (Dangit's butt tore a huge hole in my windpants) and to remove the zippers and hem Dangit's new thrift store windpants.

Betty will drop us off at Echo Lake a small "blue blaze" (hiker term for skipping official trail miles by taking short cuts, cars, etc"). We will also blue blaze via boat across Echo Lake since Betty says it is much more beautiful to see the lake from the boat than from the trail.

We will be sad to leave the comforts (and food!) in town but are excited to be back in the woods which is feeling more and more like our home.

Invisible (a trail poem by Ferd)

Invisible

I think I am invisible.
At least I am today.
For when I wave and smile, people look the other way.
Maybe they can't see through the dirty clothes I wear,
Or perhaps they are disgusted by my unruly facial hair.
If they did not see me, maybe they smelled me from afar,
Is that why they roll up all the windows in their car?
Can't they see I'm just a person, a person just like you?
So why is it when they drive by they treat me like the flu?
It seems like it's been hours... WAIT! was that brake light for me?
I guess I'm not invisible because I'm back home on the PCT.

Sonora Pass to Echo Lake

Ferd's shin has been bothering him so we did a shorter day-- about 11 miles. It's crazy how that's a short day for us now. We met a gentlemen named SloMo who is hiking solo. Storms looked like they wanted to pour on us but the clouds never made it over the mountains. We saw Shiny and HD and then made camp. We set up camp and then saw the girls! Caught up with them and then made a fire and ate some yummy pasta sides.

Dangit made it her goal to keep Ferd talking while hiking so he wouldn't think about his shins and it worked! we talked about childhood memories and favorite characteristics of loved ones. Next thing we knew, we had hiked 10 miles without a break. Woohoo! We moved out of the way for some faster hikers and realized they were our friends we met in Pullman-- Mike and Erin (Chappy and 2-Step). We camped with them near a lake and set up our tarps for the night. We now know our tarp's weakness-- wind. We need to make some adjustments because the wind separates our two tarps.

Washington represent! Chappy and 2-Step with The Children

Lots of rain and thunder.

It rained quite a bit today. We had to hunker under a tree while we ate and then decided to keep hiking so that we would stay warm. While hiking we heard some hollering and realized Chappy and 2-Step were under a cave waiting out the storm. We hung out with them for about an hour and hiked another 7 miles when the rain stopped. We camped with Shiny, HD, Was, Gourmet, Lady Mac, Thumbs Up and SloMo (who was already in his tent sleeping).

We left before everyone else. Dangit gets super proud and happy because we can leave camp in 15 minutes. :) We hiked over treeline pretty fast because we didn't want to get rained on and ended up running into the girls and Grad! We hung out on top for a bit and then hiked down lower and ate some lunch... then continued on to Carson Pass where the ranger station volunteers were giving out fresh fruit and sodas! Best. Trail Magic. Ever! We stayed a couple hours and then hiked another 2.5 miles on then set up camp. When we started to get dinner ready to cook, Dangit realized that she had left our pot at the trailhead. NOOOOO! She ran back, grabbed the pot and then ran back to camp before dark. When she got back, Ferd was soaking his shin and while walking around him, she slipped and fell into the creek. haha. We ate and got to bed. Not a very restful night.

We woke up at 5am and headed on to Echo Lake parking lot to be picked up by our friend Betty! Thanks Betty and Barb for the yummy foods and for picking us up! We went back to Betty and Randy's house, did laundry, took showers (Dangit finally shaved her legs and armpits) and ate some yummy steaks.

The next day was a very much needed zero. Betty and Randy let us use one of their cars (actually it's Kevin's-- thanks Kevin). We ran a bunch of errands-- got new shoes for Dangit, went grocery shopping, ate some yummy Chik-Fil-A and shopped at some thrift stores.

Now we are finishing some tasks, trying to figure out if Dangit's older and youngest brother came meet up with us in a couple days (hopefully!), packing up and getting ready to head back to Echo Lake!

Red's Meadow to Sonora Pass

(PICTURES TO COME LATER)
We finally made it out of the Mammoth Condo Vortex, took the free shuttle from "The Village" in Mammoth Lakes to the resort area and decided to go ahead and pay for the $7 shuttle to Red's Meadow. We chose to skip a couple miles of the PCT and take an alternate route so we could see Devil's Postpile. We enjoyed an Epic IPA from Mammoth Brewing at the trailhead and then headed to Devil's PP which is a pretty neat national landmark. We took several pictures then continued hiking to meet up with the PCT. We saw Minaret Falls, which is pretty, but nothing compared to the things we have seen in the back country! On our walk to the PCT trail, we looked up and saw a mother deer with her little fawn! It was the cutest site ever. Dangit has never seen such a small deer (with spots!). We hike about 7 miles and then ran into Lighthouse and Native who (like the rest of Team Eye Candy) decided to get dropped off at the first stop on the bus which skips about 7 miles of the PCT. We continued hiking a couple other miles and decided to camp.

The next morning we ran into the rest of Team Eye Candy-- yay for reunions! We hiked past Thousand Islands Lake, which is beautiful! We actually saw a picture in a calendar of what that area looks like with snow and it's amazingly different than what we saw-- no snow at all! You could go swimming easily. Someone told us that they heard of some campers who had a bear go through their things near the lake while they were out playing around. Luckily, we haven't had any experiences like that--- no bear sightings yet. We hiked over Donahue Pass and met TEC (Team Eye Candy) on top and hung out while they enjoyed some beers they brought with them. We ended up hiking about 16.5 miles that day and slept in a cuddle puddle with TEC. :)

Tuolumne Meadows was our next stop where we resupplied from the General Store. We planned on leaving that evening but decided to stay because Sindad (Sinbad's dad) offered some beers to the group. Things got a little crazy and we ended up camping across the street from the General Store with Lil' One and Hex. We got up at 6am the next morning to pack things up before the world woke up-- our camping spot was not a designated area. We ate some breakfast and headed out by 11am. There are lots of rangers in the area and they are constantly asking about bear canisters. We swam in a river and ate some lunch then met up with TEC at what Dangit calls "River Island"-- a little peninsula in the middle of McCabe Creek.

The next two days had a lot of climbing as well as a storm. Our first real storm on the trail! Thunder and everything! We were able to try out our ponchos, which work great. We camped the first night in a wet forested area with TEC that reminded us of somewhere in Jurassic Park. The next day was our 2-year anniversary! We did some more climbing, waited out a storm and then camped near a lake (Dangit calls Pink Lake because of the reflection from the sunset) with LOTS of mosquitoes. Oh how Dangit hates the mosquitoes! It was our first time setting up and using the tarps-- which also worked well. Lil' One slept with us under the tarps.

Lil' One got up in the morning with us and we started our walk towards Sonora Pass where we would hitch to Bridgeport for our resupply. The 3 of us swam at a lake and met a couple girls who were sitting on the side painting. We hike 19 miles and camped with Shiny, Half-Double and Cache Money.

We hiked 11 miles the next day to Sonora Pass. While on top of the ridge, we took lots of pictures and videos and found geodes! Then... we heard thunder in the distance. We hiked a little faster. Then... some sprinkling rain... then... hail.. RUN! We were being pelted with hail and rain. We had so much fun running away from the storm. We made it to Sonora Pass and got a hitch to Bridgeport. On the way we saw some amazing lightning strikes and a fire off the side of the highway (which was put out later-- don't worry everyone). We resupplied, ate some food at Sportsmen Pub and Grill, sent our bear canisters home along with my puffy and got some milkshakes. While trying to hitch, we looked across the road and watched as a van of Asians pulled over and started taking pictures of us. haha. No luck at hitching (but met a guy who said he would pick us up in the morning). A couple locals told us to camp at the park if we didn't get a hitch and that's what we did. While we were setting up camp, Lil' One got comfy in her sleeping bag. All of the sudden we heard a click and then CHH CHH CHH.. the sprinklers came on! We rushed to grab our things getting soaked in the meantime. We quickly decided a hotel room would be far more comfortable.

We thought that we might have missed the guy who offered us a ride, but just as we were losing hope... he pulled over. Yes!! He dropped us off at the Sonora Junction (too bad we thought he was going the whole way) and he and Lil' One continued on their way towards Carson Pass-- she decided to wait out the storms and head to South Lake Tahoe. Several people passed us including one guy in a small truck. About five minutes later, we saw that same guy turn around. He gave us some drinks and apologized that he didn't have room to give us a ride. What an awesome guy! A couple cars later, a native american guy named Monty stopped and told us to hurry in his car. He dropped us off at the trailhead and we headed on our way.

Kearsarge Pass to Red's Meadow

Our ride with Rock Ocean

After spending a number of days hanging out at the very fun and comfy hostel in Bishop we headed back to the trail. Trail Angel Rock Ocean gave us a ride to Independence in his van/bus and then we found a pretty easy hitch to the Onion Valley trailhead with a family that was camping for the weekend. We made the climb back up to Kearsarge with 7 days of food (uggg!) and did a few miles past the pass to camp with Simba and Sinbad.

Near Kearsarge Pass looking down at Bullfrog Lakes

Pika! Eeeep!

Eating some snacks on Glen Pass

The next day we climbed over Glen Pass and into the Rae Lakes valley. The lakes are picturesque as we have come to expect from the Sierras. Dangit and I decided to spend so time diving off the cliffs and laying in the sun next to the lake. Turns out that Dangit and I met exactly 4 years ago on the Colorado Trail. The rest of the day we spent walking down the valley. On the way down to Wood Creek we passed through a beautiful aspen grove filled with wild flowers. Although I love the rocky passes it was really nice to walk through trees and flowers. It reminds me so much of hiking in Colorado. We ate a quick dinner near the crossing of Wood Creek. After dinner we continued acrossed the super cool suspension bridge and hike about a 1.7 miles up towards Pinchot Pass before camping.

The beautiful Rae Lakes

Tiger Lily

Sketchy but awesome suspension bridge. Watch for broken planks!

In the morning we made the climb up Pinchot Pass where we found Pigpen and Skylegs who were playing hackysack (it seems they have an endless supply of energy. They're hiking partner Blocks apparently was not feeling well and wanted to keep hiking ahead. That night Dangit and I camped about 3 miles below Mather Pass near a nice stream just above timberline. We soaked our tired legs in the suprisingly warm water and cooked some homemade pesto pasta (yum!). After dinner Sinbad and Simba pulled into camp and camped with us.

Sky Pilots on Pinchot Pass

On Pinchot

Campsite below Mather Pass

Flowers on descent from Mather Pass

The climb up Mather Pass was pretty easy and soon we were heading down into the Palisade Lakes. At one of the lakes we decided to stop for lunch and I tried out my makeshift fishing set up that I picked up in Bishop. Basically, I have about 8 ft of 10lb test line and 5 ft of 5X tippet rubber banded to the end on my trekking pole. Although I couldn't cast more than about 8ft into the lake two small trout were stupid enough to eat my fly. Sometime during lunch the rest of Team Eye Candy, a large group of people we have been hiking with showed up at the lake! We spend a more time swimming in the fridid water and eating lunch and laughing in the sun. After lunch, we made the very step descent down the "Golden Staircase". My left heel really started to hurt with all the steps. The last few miles were pretty painful and I was feeling pretty depressed. But no matter, the trail provides! Dangit and I found a nice campsite next to Palisade Creek where we were able to catch about 15 fish in the creek! Dangit caught her first fish ever too! We cleaned a few of the larger fish and cooked them in some tinfoil with pesto seasoning and some of the wild onions that grow along most of the creeks in the sierra. It was delicious. We stayed up a bit longer than usual hanging out around the fire. It was one of the best nights of the trail so far. It's funny how your mood can shift so quickly on the trail.

Fishing in Palisade Lake

Team Eye Candy!

Stalking really stupid fish

The next day my heel wasn't hurting anymore! We made good time in the morning since the trail was very flat. We met Don (aka O.B.) who was struggling with altitude sickness and with hiking in general. He had a monstrous pack made by Avalung which is designed for a surviving avalanches. I mistaked his pad for his tent too which was strapped just on the side of his machette! We told him to hike out to Bishop, and hangout at the hostel for a few days to rest, have some fun, and drop some unneeded weight from his pack. I felt really good climbing Muir Pass and I am remembering how much I love climbing and hiking in general. Half way to the pass we there was an amazing lake-- Dangit noticed some fishes swimming but quickly realized they were TADPOLES!! We went down to investigate... tons and tons of tadpoles with no legs, with legs and full on frogs! So cool! At the top of Muir Pass there is a really cool stone hut built in 1930 by the Sierra Club. We hung out in the hut for about 30 minutes before starting down towards Evolution Lakes as the sun was setting. The mountains were highlighted red with the last glimpse of sun. We pulled into camp at Evolution lake just after dark. Turnes out we did 17 miles today! It was a great day, probably the best so far!

Muir Hut on Muir Pass

Evolution Lakes at sunset

The next day we took pretty easy. I was a little sore from the long day the day before. We ended up doing about 13 miles and took and early day next to Piute Creek. Since we had some time to kill before dark we were able to soak our legs in the stream and rinse out some of our clothes. For as much dirt seems to come out of our clothes they never seem to look any cleaner despite repeated washings. Another thing we found out was that Muir Trail Ranch apparently has tons of food that John Muir Trail hikers donate (dump) into the hiker boxes and that we might be able to resupply instead of hiking way off trail to the money trap known as VVR. Hopefully our gamble with pay off.

First thing in the morning we made the 1 mile hike off trail to Muir Trail Ranch. Jackpot!!! We found tons of candy bars, energy bars, and delicious dehydrated meals. It was actually easier and less stressful to resupply from the hiker boxes than from a grocery store. We will be on the look out for more free food ditched by JMT hikers in the future. The rest of the day we took pretty easy and camped at Sally Keys lakes. When we arrived at the lakes there were hundreds of fish jumping out of the water! We got out the fishing setup and caught a few fish before dark. We tried frying them in our pot with olive oil which worked ok although it would be easier with a bigger pot. Although we didn't see fireworks today, it was a great 4th of July!

"Shopping" from the hiker boxes at Muir Trail Ranch

Dangit cleaning her first fish

Troll?

The next day we happened to meet up with our friends from Team Eye Candy who were just leaving VVR! We camped as a big group (12-15 people) near Mono Creek. I caught a few fish in a small creek which we cooked on sharp sticks in a campfire. It was fun to camp with everyone again.

Fish sticks!

Eye Candy cowboy cuddle camping

We have noticed that the mosquitoes have been getting progressively worse as we move north. Not sure if this is because there is more water up here or if the weather is getting warmer as the summer progresses. Anyway, we had our worst encounter with the bloodsuckers at our campsite above Purple Lake. Generally, Dangit and I try not to camp in low lying areas near water. It tends to be colder there and there is more condensation. However, our attempt to camp warm was a bit too successful. We couldn't even sleep in our bag, but had the bivy closed tight to keep the mosquitoes out which hounded us all night since it was so warm (cold nights drive the mosquitoes away).

Virginia Lake

Burned area near Red's Meadow

The next day we woke with a bit more excitement than usual since we were only 14 miles from Red's Meadow and the shuttle to Mammoth Lakes! The walk to Red's Meadow went quickly as it was a very gradual down. It was an interesting day because it was raining for the first time in our almost 1 month on the trail! It was actually really nice to have cloud cover and some refreshing precipitation. Just before the bottom there is a really cool burn area filled with gooseberry and current bushes. We hung out at Red's Meadow for an hour or two. Dangit raided the hiker box and found a bunch more food so we wont have to buy tons of food in town. It will be sad to leave the Sierra, not only because it is beautiful, but also because we won't be able to leach of JMT hiker leftovers which have saved us hundreds of dollars. We managed to get into Mammoth Lakes were Team Eye Candy had rented a condo near "The Village" for $200 a night. It turned out to be about $17 per person per night since there are about 15 of us staying there. What a great find! We have free laundry, showers, wifi, cable, kitchen, big screen TV, hot tub, etc, etc. Plus, there is a free shuttle that goes most places in town. Super fun to be with everyone and much better/cheaper than the hostel in town. Must make mental note to look for similar deals in future towns.

We took a much needed zero today in Mammoth. Dangit's shoe has blown out on one side but we couldn't find any of the ones she wants (Altras with their wide toeboxes). No matter I was able to pick up a few more flys for fishing and we grab some lunch at a small cafe. Shopping was pretty painless as we had all of our dinners and some snacks from the hiker box in Red's Meadow. We picked up some pasta, marinara, garlic bread, italian sausage, bell peppers, and onion to group cook back at the condo. One back at the condo we had a family dinner and hung out the rest of the night listening to music and dancing. I fell asleep on the couch early, but I heard the hot tub was nice.

Today Dangit and I will head out to Red's Meadow. Some of the girls from Team Eye Candy will stay another night in the vortex and head out in the morning. There is a $7 dollar shuttle that goes to Red's Meadow, but we may try to hitch with tourists heading out to campsites for the evening to save some money.