Today I had some of the best luck on trail and with getting on trail. I did not set an alarm today but I still woke to an alarm as I had forgotten to cancel my usual alarm. I stayed in my bed for a while browsing the internet. After a while I got up and had a shower and packed most of my things. For breakfast I went to Cravings where I had a piece of pastry, two belgian waffles and a chocolate milk....
Today was a short day as I was heading to Chester. On the way from my camp to the highway leading to Chester I passed the midpoint of the PCT. I had 16 miles to hike to reach the highway to Chester. I started a bit earlier than usual at 0530 as I really wanted to get to town before lunch. Almost as soon as I started hiking I started the only climb of the day which was an elevation gain of about 1600 ft so nothing too bad....
Today my plan was to get breakfast at Belden and then push as close as possible to Chester. Optimally I want to arrive in Chester around or before lunch. Beautiful sunrise from my camp I awoke in my camp to a very nice sunrise and packed up. I started hiking around 0605 so I was a little slower than usual. I had some nice views before starting the descent to Belden Almost all the way to Belden was downhill so it was quite easy getting there and I arrived just after 8 which is when they open....
Today I had decided to detour to Bucks Lake for some food and snacks. I had camped close enough to Bucks Lake that my normal starting time should get me there before lunch. So I started hiking around 0600. During the climb the forest periodically opened up and presented good views The day started with a massive climb of about 3000 ft and at the top I was rewarded with some impressive views....
My plan for today was based on my newly hatched overall plan until Chester which is that I wanut to pass Belden early on the 11th and push a good number of miles past it. This should allow me to arrive in Chester early afternoon on the 12th, I plan to stay the night in Chester and this should allow me to do laundry and get doune value out of my accommodation....
Today I would be resupplying in Sierra City, because of my low food consumption on the last stretch, this resupply was not really necessary. But since I had already sent my food there I figured I would just carry it and eventually consume it. It does annoy me that I so grossly miscalculated. I had already decided I would stay in town a while and get breakfast and lunch. Generally from now on I going to try and take town meals in to account in my resupply....
Today my goal was to push close enough to get to Sierra City early tomorrow and have breakfast and lunch there before moving on. Getting up early does have its rewards Again today there was a lot of climbing to be done. But none of the climbs seemed to go very high so I did not expect any extended snow travel. Donner Pass in the early morning light Before the climbing began I had to cross the I-80....
When I left South Lake Tahoe I did not know about Donner Ski Ranch located near Donner Pass. However last night as I looked ahead I noticed it located 30 miles ahead and they serve food. So there was my goal for the day. The trouble was that there was a lot of climbing and an unknown amount of snow in the way. Even with my ambitious goal I decided to set my alarm for 0530 as that should allow me to start at 0600 which is exactly when I got started....
Today I was keen to get back to the trail after 3 nights in South Lake Tahoe. At the same time I was a bit anxious about the conditions ahead as I did expect at least some snow. As I am now hiking alone I do not exactly have a plan for each day but will rather just see how the day goes. I wanted to get back to the PCT as early as possible but obviously wanted to take advantage of the hotel’s breakfast one last time....
Today was mostly a day for relaxation. The only job I really had to do was to go to the post office and mail Sierra stuff home and resupply to Sierra City. I got up rather late which was around 0600 after which I spent some time on my phone doing blog posts. I went to the hotel’s breakfast sometime after 7 and once again really enjoyed it. After breakfast I relaxed some more in my room while watching a movie....