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PCT Day 86  July 25, 2021  Mile: 874.5 to 878.7 (+5 miles of side trail, 4 miles road walking) Start: Mono Hot Springs campground Finish: Tentsites next to the bridge crossing over Mono Creek After a restless night of living in the warzone with the black bears, we woke up kind of late, sleeping in […]

PCT Day 84 July 23, 2021  Mile: 843.3 to 863.7  Start: Evolution Creek cliffside campsite Finish: Lakeside camp snuggled in the woods next to Sallie Keyes Lake Shannon and I took our time this morning waking up, enjoying the nice cool and shaded sanctuary that the tall mountains around Evolution Lake provided. We had a

PCT Day 83  July 22, 2021  Mile: 820.4 to 843.3 (22.9 miles) Start: Palisades Lake Island campsite Finish: Evolution Lake cliffside tentsite The sunrise this morning was absolutely gorgeous, tinting the clouds shades of pale orange, soft peaches and glowing golds over the mountain peaks. I was up early to start hiking but Shannon was

PCT day 74 to 80 July 13 to July 19, 2021  Mile: 788.5 to 788.5 (+6 miles down Kearsarge Pass Trail) Start: Tiny towns of Independence & Bishop, California Finish: Unnamed alpine lake near Bullfrog Lake at Kearsarge Pass Trail Shannon and I left the very friendly town of Independence, CA that was so small

PCT Day 73 July 12, 2021 Mile: 774.7 to 788.5 (plus 7.5 mile side trail from town) (21.3 miles) Start: Tyndall Creek tent site hiding from the thunderstorm  Finish: The Courthouse Motel in Independence, California via Kearsarge Pass Trail Today was a town day!!! That meant we were very motivated for once to wake up

PCT Day 72 July 11 2021  Mile: 766.3 to 774.7 (plus 1.1 mile of Mount Whitney trail) (9.5 miles) Start: Crabtree Meadows  End: early camping in thunderstorms and hail at Tyndall Creek tentsite Shannon and I slept in, chilling and enjoying the soft chirps and whistles of the birds flitting in the forest, the soft

PCT Day 71  July 10, 2021  Mile: 766.3 (15 mile round trip to the summit of Mount Whitney and 4000 feet elevation gain) Start: Crabtree Meadows to Mount Whitney summit and back Finish: Crabtree Meadows I was super nervous this morning when we woke up and immediately suggested to Shannon that we sleep in to

PCT Day 70  July 9, 2021  Mile: 750.8 to 766.3 (plus 1.1 mile up the Mount Whitney trail)  Start: Chicken Spring Lake  Finish: Crabtree Meadows on the Mount Whitney approach trail We slept on the beach of Chicken Spring Lake until about 7:30am, enjoying the cool mountain air, listening to the sound of the waves

PCT Day 63 to 69 July 2 to July 8, 2021 Mile: 744.5 to 750.8  Start: hotel in the desert town of Lone Pine, California Finish: beachside camping at Chicken Spring Lake One of the first things we did when we got off the mountains at a cool 80 degrees at 10,000 feet elevation and

PCT Day 62  July 1, 2021  Mile: 730.8 to 744.5 (plus 2 miles via Mulkey Pass Trail) (15.7 miles) Start: Death Canyon Creek campsite Finish: Portal Motel in Lone Pine, CA via the Mulkey Pass Trail We woke up in the dappled shade, the cool air and soft breezes making it super difficult to get

PCT Day 61  June 30, 2021 Mile: 706.9 to 730.8 (23.9 miles) Start: South Fork Kern River campsite snuggled in some rocks and pines Finish: Death Canyon campsite (aka Death by Mosquitoes Campsite) Early this morning, 4 very noisy section hikers (aka people who hike part of the Pacific Crest Trail) decided for us that

PCT Day 60  June 29, 2021  Mile: 702.6 to 706.9 (4.3 miles) Start: Grumpy Bear’s Retreat in Kennedy Meadows  Finish: South Fork Kern River Bridge After a long night of listening to some large creature snuffling near our tent in the dark and trying to paw its way into a large plastic barrel nearby, we

PCT Day 59  June 28 2021  Mile: 693.6 to 702.6  Start: The Scorpion King campsite aka Manter Creek tent site Finish: Kennedy Meadows South, Grumpy Bear’s Retreat After last night’s ordeal with the scorpion invasion (aka real life Whack-a-Mole but with pissed off scorpions instead of robotic plastic rodents) and all of the drama that

PCT Day 54 to 57  June 23 to 26, 2021  Mile: 651.5 to 668.7  Start: The town of Kernville via Walker Pass Finish: Spanish Needle Creek  Shannon and I both needed a mental break from the desert and so we relaxed in the tiny riverside town of Kernville for a few days where the temperatures

PCT Day 53  June 22 2021 Mile: 630.9 to 652.2  Start: Bird Springs Pass  Finish: Kernville Rivernook Campground via hitchhiking from Walker Pass  I woke up at 5am with one mission today: get the f*ck out of the desert. Shannon stayed in the tent to sleep a bit longer but I knew personally that I

PCT Day 52  June 21 2021  Mile: 608.7 to 630.9  Start: Landers Meadow campground  Finish: Bird Springs Pass in the whipping wind Shannon and I slept in under the tall whispering pines in the shaded Landers Meadow campground, the cool air lulling us back to sleep for once instead of the normally hot morning sun