We got an early 6:02 am start to beat the heat on the fully exposed walk to the Cindercone tested out my new big Agnes 4’ inch inflatable mattress pad. It was GREAT and really helped my sleep. Only 27 breathes to inflate and it folds up easy. I will miss the flexibility of my Expo pad, but the extra comfort is way to nice to ignore
Easy flat or slightly downhill walk to the cone.
Rainbow lake just 1/2 mile into the walk.
Early break. Making good time
Cindercone off in the distance.
At the top of Cindercone. Needed a break as the climb was really hard and steep with really loose rock. Every step forward would also have a 12 inch slide back. Using my poles and other peoples step footprints finally got me to the top.
Lassen peak in the background. Really nice view, but the 300 plus vertical climb up the Cindercone was tough.
Love this pic (obviously since it’s a good one, I did not take it. Kim T gets credit.
Made it to JJ’s for burgers and a cold beer. Hottest day of the year for the PCT hikers passing thru, so I used a little trail magic and bought the fellas a cold one. Also met famous trail angel “Legend” who will and did chat your ears off. He is a for profit trail angel who provides much needed services. One time he drove a rich PCT’ers luxury RV and shadowed then on the PCT hike letting them carry almost nothing and allowing them to sleep in beds most nights. Cost was 25k. Lol.
Double Z, Alex, H and Legend on the far left. Tarzan joined us later but missed the free beer.
It was a great pretty easy trip with only about 21 miles covered. The heat provided the only issues, and we mostly avoided that by starting early
Next adventure is a training hike for 3 days on the Tahoe Rim trail in 8 days. Should be nice. I have always heard great things about the TRT and can’t wait to see for myself. No PCT miles on that one as we will be on the east side of the lake.
Tom hikes the PCT 