Total Miles: 205

My phone got wet and is fried! Crazy snow.  It was sketchy and tough-going. Obviously no pictures, sorry.

I’m taking a rest day and getting all this figured out.

Yesterday was really bad out there. Once my phone died, I was in some trouble. No blazes, and the trail was completely covered in snow. Also, it was windy, raining, in the low 40’s, and I broke my trekking pole.

I kept having to pull my phone out to navigate where I was going. But it was raining and snowing so hard that it eventually just got too wet. All I could do was walk with the inReach GPS using the compass to go north.

I basically blazed my own trail for 18 miles through the woods, covered in snow and soaking wet, until I made it to highway 62 by 7pm. From there I walked a mile to Crater lake. Frozen and soaked, I dropped $230 on the only hotel room they had left.

It’s snowing at Crater lake right now. June 13th! The trail is covered with over 4 feet of snow.

Basically Oregon is all snow pack and Washington will be the same. My pace is slowed, but today during my hitch into town, (Chiloquin, OR) I saw another hiker on the side of the road. It was “Sloppy Joe”! He got his ass kicked in the storm yesterday as well, and is also taking a zero. We’re teaming up for the rest of the PCT, it makes sense at this point to do so.

Once I get my new phone, I wont have anything saved from my old phone. So any texts I get from anyone, I wont know the number. Instagram, Far Out, TrackMe, Gaia, audiobooks and Spotify will all have to be re-downloaded. I’ll do them when I can, but Far Out and Gaia will be first, as well as TrackMe.

The marker dots on the map will be missing for a week or so, but I survived another crazy week out here and within the next couple days, in the snowpack and weather, we have Mount Thielson to do (9,100 ft.)

I found snowshoes. lol

Total Miles: 252.9

After pulling the 50.5, I was tired but managed to make it to Old Station and get my resupply box. I then hiked two miles and took a nap. I camped 30 miles in for the day.

The next day, I made it to Burney Falls. I got ice cream and a microwave chicken sandwich. My next resupply was Ammirati’s Market in Castella. I would cross highway 5 leading to Mt. Shasta and take a side trail to get there.

Before I arrived, I had enough service to check the weather and it showed rain coming in. I didn’t have a rain coat after leaving mine in the Mammoth hotel and getting drenched and freezing a week before, so I decided to take a nero and go to the outfitter in Mt. Shasta.

I bought solid rain gear, stayed the night, and was back on the trail the next morning. It rained all day. Cold, wet, and windy. I was happy about my nero decision.

The next day I pulled a 47.5 to make up for lost mileage. I was hoping for a big day following that to put me close enough to Saied Valley to make it Tuesday before the store closed. 14 miles before Etna, the snow pack started up again with blowdowns and burnt sections.

It was slow going, and after getting lost at 10:30 at night, I found myself on the side of this steep mountain straddling a tree. I had to climb down in the dark through snow and loose rock. It was some of the most dangerous stuff I’ve encountered so far and finding out I just became an uncle I decided to stop pushing so hard that night.

I camped 38.6 miles in for the day, short if my goal, but not injured or dead.✌🥾🥾

Total Miles: 250.1

 
Starting off the week I had only 4 hours of sleep and needed to pull a 40 mile day through 90 percent snow pack up and over Squaw Valley and Donner ski areas. I did this to meet my cousin at Donner Pass and stay at his place for the night. Showered up and resupplied, I was back on the trail the next morning.

The snow continued. I’m at the front of the PCT hikers now so making my own path through the snow trying to stay close to the trail has been hard. The snow finally ended and the trail continued into what little forest was left over from the Dixie fire from last year. Downed trees, everything burnt and covered with soot. It looked like the apocalypse.

I knew this section of trail was fairly flat and the scene was so depressing I decided at 1 pm to pull a 50 mile day and get as close to Old Station and my next resupply. It was a long day, 5:45am-12:35am. 50.5 mile day. My longest so far.

Also, a bird purposely flew into my head. ✌🥾🥾