The tides of snow have finally turned back here in Nor-Cal (I'm getting hip to the lingo). Just finished two short sections to get me to Truckee where I got in touch with my college friend Katherine who lives in King's Beach on the north shore of Lake Tahoe. I've been here for a couple nights taking care of business for the next few hundred miles and getting good R&R in - live bluegrass show, swimming in the lake, BBQ on the beach, good greasy spoon breakfast... life is good.
Coming back from NYC was harder than I thought. It was a stark difference from being surrounded by people I love and having awesome fun reunion times plus the wedding celebration extravaganza to being dropped in the middle of the mountains at Sonora Pass knowing that the folks I've been traveling with were a week ahead and expecting to be doing a lot of walking on my own. As luck turned out I ran into some friendly familiar faces right at the trail head and did some traveling with Queso, Nacho, Cerveza, and Caveman coming into South Lake Tahoe. The trail has been mellowing out for us. It's still a bit hard to follow in some spots but in general is getting back to a solid path. The tradeoff for less snow has been more bugs - the 'skitters are out! Every challenge has a silver lining I suppose though. With the snow, even though it made everything slower and harder I could never genuinely wish it away because it also made everything so damn beautiful. The bugs have a clever way of staying uncondemned as well - their deal is as long as you are walking, they'll stay off your back (and your face, and hands, and whatever other skin you're showing). But once you stop it's a feeding frenzy. Obvious solution - keeping walking! It's a good thing too that they keep us motivated seeing as how we're 3 months into a 5 month trip and just approaching the halfway point. Time to make miles my friends!
At South Lake Tahoe we got in touch with an AT-super-enthusiast, Superman, who rolls with the Riff Raff crew back east helping out hikers and keeping the good times rolling both on and off the trail. He brought the tradition out west and has been puting up hikers and showing all a good time. A bunch of us stayed in his place - the set and setting for a good time with good people and a gripping 5 dollar poker tourney that Superman came on top of (now I know why he puts up so many hikers!). Most folks decided to stay another night but in the morning I was antsy to get back to the trail after taking a week off. So I said my goodbyes to Team Fiesta and the Car Camp crew and headed back to make some miles.
So I hopped back on and had a blast walking through a beautiful section of trail in the desolation wilderness. Beautiful glacial lakes everywhere! My favorite, hands down, was Aloha lake - a humongous pile of bold blue water spotted with rock islands and surrounded by still-snow-covered peaks. The area was a little more crowded than most of the spots we've been to (and I actually got "carded" by a ranger who checked my permit. First time! It's official, I'm walking the PCT!). But that's how it works in beautiful places. If anyone has the time and is in the area I would definitely recommend checking this spot out.
I've really enjoyed walking and camping by myself this week. It was nice to have some quiet time after the hustle and bustle of my last two weeks. And now the trail is back to mind-wandering walking as opposed to the highly-focussed "where am I?" "don't slip now" "holy crap this river is huge!" stuff we've just been through. I'm headed back out today and am not sure what hikers will be out there but if I'm on my own for a few more days I won't be disappointed.
Cool! So I've been slacking in the whole "here's where I'm going to be if you want to send me stuff" department. Here's a list of the next few places I'm definitely stopping into. I should be in all of them on weekdays so no problems there. Definitely give me a call AND write me an email if you plan on sending anything out and I'll try to stay on top of that stuff. Also, make sure to check out the how-to before dropping something in the mail.
Chester, CA 96020 ETA: 8/7
Burney, CA 96013 ETA: 8/11
Mount Shasta, CA 96067 ETA: 8/16
Awesome! Thanks in advanced for anything that might come my way. Next time I'm in touch I'll be past the halfway marker, whoop whoop! Then it's Oregon on the horizon and the race to Canada is on. Catch you all later!
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