Mile 1093 - 1251 New Groove

 

A Walk through Desolation 

Taking a slow day from the hotel. I trim my face, my nails, try to lean into self care, this may be the last bed I sleep in for a long time. The shower is big, so I sit in the hot water for quite some time, letting everything melt. I am tired and calm. I decide to Uber to the trailhead at Echo Lake. I would have had to take the bus to the highway then try hitching, too much time already has passed today, it’s a cheap ride anyway. About a mile in, I find a random geocache. A pill bottle full of plastic jewels. I was a little disappointed. The lakes are abundant and the smell is rich with plant life, I am in the Desolation Wilderness. 

Lake Aloha

Looks like he’s going to ask me to go stay the night with his friend 

The mosquitoes are quick to find me. They don’t hurt like the Sierra ones. I pass Lake Aloha, which is spectacular but I’m not tempted to swim, I’ve had a shower just this morning, so I feel no need for a rinse. I push up through the pass quickly as I begin to get hailed on. There are dark weather systems all around the mountains. I’m fine with the hail and push on, as long as it doesn’t turn to rain. 

Huh, not a great selection of choices

Dicks Lake

The strange calmness mixed with restlessness still exists in me, it’s a feeling I struggle to explain, but it’s not cumbersome. I set up after 20 miles, which feels good for starting after 11am. While getting water I scoop up a large invertebrate, definitely would clog my filter, so I flush it back into the still water. It begins to rain a little bit while I set my tent up. The sky is golden. One mosquito makes it into my tent, which I find impressive since I was so quick to get in, so I let her live.

Trail to Truckee

The blowdowns are beginning. Blowdowns are just what they sound like, trees that have blown down over the trail. It’s especially prevalent in areas that have had fires come through in the past, so NorCal is notorious for them. I see trail workers cutting through a large log in the middle of the trail. I stand silently a ways back, I don’t want them to stop the progress they are making on this one large log. One catches sight of me and hollers at me to come on through. I yell back, “I can wait, I want pass through once this lovely cut once you’re done!”. They can tell I appreciate what they’re doing and I tell them so. The miles are beginning to come easier, a bit of a difference than the Sierras. Hiking over 20 miles is no problem. I didn’t care for the trail in the Desolation Wilderness, a lot of it was made of loose stone, which makes for potential twisted ankles. This trail is literally packed forest hummus, the highway of trails. My plan for the next few days is to end up in Truckee in a few days and meet Joe there. It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other and it gives me a good goal to work towards. I keep going into most streams I find, the cold water seems to reset me every time. I’m hiking along ridges today which gives me great views of the area, it also affords me better cell service, which I’m still deciding is a good or bad thing. That was part of the romanticism of staying so deep in the wilderness of the Sierras so long, no contact to the outer world. 24 miles come to me with no issue. 

New shoes, new me, same gas. As I get into camp there are a few other folks. We introduce each other and I get going on a fire, a habit that I would actually care to keep, it rounds out the day quite nicely. They ask if they can join my fire, as if I made it for my own private viewing. We talk and we’re all confused. We swear we all know each other, but none of us can remember. After about 10 minutes it hits us that we all stayed at Cookies’ cabin just not too long ago. We all laugh our trail brains. A few deer look on at us for a while.

I feel the miles from the previous day. My body is a little tired, but in mostly feel it in my head. I could go for a nap later. I know this already upon waking.  The NorCal mosquitos finally pick up. They’re not as painful as the Sierras mosquitoes, but still just as plentiful. The climb is a long one, and my goal today is to get to Truckee, so I have a bit of a schedule. I hike up Tinker Knob, which for some reason while hiking I gave it a million different other names. Probably in revolt against the fact I had to climb this steep ascent and I didn’t want to. But coming around the knob, I see a great expanse and I see far to all directions. I admit to myself the climb was worth it. 

Tinker Knob from the northern ridge

This leads to a few hours of ridge walking, which is always a mix of going back and forth over the crest, sometimes completely exposed, sometimes going through what we trees managed to stay on top of the ridge. Today the wind doesn’t want to knock me off the ridge, it just flows by, gently caressing my sun-kissed face. A pine cone rolls down the hill, perhaps dropped by a chipmunk, or the tree itself. I’m seeing small events again, I was conditioned by the grandeur of the daily Sierra to expect big things every day. I begin to think about myself in the past and present. I think I’m becoming less complicated. There is, from this whole process, and even before the trail, a simplification happening. Which is a relief to me, being complicated is exhausting for everyone. 

As I begin to head down toward Truckee off the ridge crest, I find myself getting angry at the trail, more loose rocks. I’m never worried when I twist my ankle, I just get mad. Like I’m frustrated that the trail would trick me like that. I know it isn’t just me, as when I’m about 2 miles from the highway, I see a large group not moving down along the trail. Someone is definitely hurt. I’m on a schedule today so I’m a bit apprehensive to see what I may be getting myself into. Luckily, as I approach, I already see some emergency service personnel there. It looks like a lady maybe broke her ankle. As I go further down, I see more personnel go up, two with a stretcher that has a large 3 foot off-road tire on the bottom so it can easily get the rocky path. I’m amazed. As I get to the highway there is a large parking lot, this is a well traveled trail. I change clothes quickly, a habit I’ve taken to for hitching, in the hopes I don’t provide too much of an of olfactory experience for the driver. I don’t even get my thumb up before someone asks if I want to hop in their car. It’s two ladies and two unsure dogs and they’re headed to Truckee. I couldn’t have gotten luckier. Joe is supposed to be coming through with his girlfriend in about two hours, enough time for me to resupply. I chat with the driver for quite a while, I didn’t realize the drive into Truckee was so far. We talk about the Donner party (as I got off at Donner Pass), and the snow level the year they got stuck. In 2023 there was record snow, for however long they’ve kept records,  in some places near town around 73 feet, the Donner Party face 40 feet of snow. This doesn’t really make sense in my mind and I do my best to imagine. She drops me off at Grocery Outlet, and this time, I’ve had a meal recently, so I don’t panic buy. In fact, I do quite well, and go across the street to Safeway to round off my resupply. Panda Express is near so I tell Joe that I’ll meet him there, as I’m almost at our meeting time. My feet do hurt. I’ve switched the type of shoes, and one thing is they have a ton of space on the sides and in the toe box. This is usually what I’m used to, but my shoes that I’ve been wearing for the past 1000 miles squished everything back together. So now my foot and toes are being separated apart again,  which is incredibly painful in a few toes.

As I’m eating my sugar meat and rice, Joe does the same thing I did to him at VVR, and gives me a shock from behind. I knew he’d be there, but I thought I had a bit more time, so I was completely absorbed in my Panda Express meal. I meet his girlfriend, Brittany, who came to visit from Cincinnati. We finish up our sugar meat and rice to head back out to trail. Brittany drives us out as she’s headed back to the airport later that night. Joe and I begin again and rock a few more miles until we hit the Peter Grubb Hut, a small cabin that hikers can spend the night in. By the time we get there, already 8 hikers are inside, and it smells like it. We decide to camp outside.

Sierra and Out

The hiking days are longer and I feel t. The day before I had to take a 20 minute nap on trail. Joe and I intend to do less miles than some of those folks we met at the hut. Some folks were looking to do at least 30 miles a day. I think I’d barely have time to look around at that pace. I stand at the edge of my campsite, asking myself, “do I stay here, until the end of time, or continue to follow the song of the trail?” She whispers, “Not yet, come to me”, like a siren to the sailor, I am pulled back to the trail, as every day before. We descend into oaky territory which lifts my spirits. Joe doesn’t need to go to Sierra City, but I use the opportunity to top off my food supply, so we part ways at the bridge across Haycress Creek. The town is small and quaint. I get a burger, a charge, an ice cream sandwich, some snacks. The public bathroom has a shower and I take every opportunity to get clean. It’s past 5pm as I head out of town. I don’t even try to hitchhike, but a few, kind old ladies stop by and take me up to the trail head. I am fueled by some of the most American style food, and I climb 3200 feet over 8 miles in just over 3 hours.

Looking up at the Sierra Buttes

I chase the setting sun over each ridge I come upon, but I still set up camp in the dark. I’m thankful for it, the heat remained even a little while after the sun went down. I see Joe’s tent and set up nearby. About 20 minutes after setting up, I hear a bear lumbering about, so I shone my light, and it quickly scampers off. 

Sunrise while making my way to the fire tower 

Shadow of the mountain 

Brekkie

I set my alarm for 4:30am in an attempt to finish my ascent to the Sierra Buttes fire watch tower. I unconsciously turn it off, but thankfully I hear Yukon, Hot2Go, and Reroll, a few hikers I’ve been around, clambering around as they also intend to get there early. It’s another 1000 feet or so up to the tower. It’s a beautiful view, with Lassen Peak showing itself to the north. We guess when we’ll arrive, none of us know really. 

My legs aren’t tired today, but something I don’t have too often, legitimate soreness. My legs got worked, and it feels good. I take my time getting down and call my parents with the good service at the top of the butte, which means I don’t leave camp until 9:30am, pretty late start to trail. The hike is easy but I’m feeling the early wake up. I take a dip in Deer Lake, the air is getting hotter day by day, so I convince myself the cool water will help me hike faster. I end up hitting a wall a few hours later anyway, and have to take a trail nap near Little Jamison Creek. I felt I was the walking dead as I approached the creek, seeing how long I could walk with my eyes closed. The water sources are getting more sparse, I was spoiled in the Sierras, which had more water than the eye could fathom. So I find an awkward spring, try to clean my body and clothes quickly, as it is also an oasis for mosquitoes and they have found me. I’m late into camp once again, and alone. That’s okay with me. I do hear strange things in the night, but I also have to recognize that nature also likes to get rowdy at night, so I heed it little mind and drift off.

Sierras Buttes from the north

The trail is beginning to feel like the desert again. It’s reminding me of the San Gabriel range. The air is hot, the trail dry, and I’m running into rattlesnakes again. My eye catches a big Northern Pacific Rattlesnake. I wasn’t expecting or keeping an eye out for them, but this one took up the middle of the trail. I try to nudge it off trail with my poles, but it’s a bit resistant. I lift it up a bit and get it off trail as there was a hiker a bit behind me. It rattles lazily at me and slowly slithers off. I camp at the North Fork Feather River. I see Joe there, as well as a few other hikers. It’s late once again, it’s becoming a trend.