Rose was kind enough to help shuttle my car to Belden Town and after a late lunch in Quincy hit the trail at around 5:30 pm. The plan was to get a good chunk of the 3500 elevation gain done that day. Rose provided some trail angel transport to and from Sierra City and off I went!.
When I first started this adventure 2 years ago, our 1st hike was Donner summit to Sierra City. My sons Tommy and John, and nephew Jack, all joined me for that 38 miles. It’s interesting how much has changed since then.
I immediately misread a sign and took off on a steep incorrect trail, but for back on track quickly. The climb was constant uphill, but nicely graded and pretty easy to walk.
1st water spot. Not much there
Made it the 3.3 miles without any issues. Lovely ridge top camp spot with some built up rock wind breaks. Great views and quite nice, but no water.
My spot. Nice rock wall someone kindly built
Ugly skies that early evening and pretty windy. Fortunately it cleared up quickly and it was a pleasant night. Slept well and got to start hiking the next day around 6:00 am
Plan is to see how many miles I can comfortably do each day, and see how badly that beats me up. Total miles this trip is 70 to 86, depending on if I decide to stop at Bucks Summit and skip the start of the bad burn area.
Tom hikes the PCT 