Hiking the PCT in Consecutive Pieces With Two Daughters

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briham89

Big Wall climber

santa cruz, ca

Aug 6, 2014 - 10:57pm PT

Awesome as always Brad. The pictures and description of being on "the crest" are incredible. What a location.

Madeleine will be missed, again sorry for your lose. She lived a grand life with you guys; the best one a dog could ask for.

See you soon.

P.S. that puppy photo of Charlotte is obscenely cute

mtnyoung

Trad climber

Twain Harte, California

Topic Author's Reply - Aug 13, 2014 - 01:28pm PT

Here's the first of what will end up being several days of trip reports (we're out for a whole week). I posted this on Mudn'Crud until the title:

The PCT Volumne 23: The More the Merrier

DAY ONE:

This trip isn't quite done yet (we're hoping to start another three day segment in the Desolation Wilderness tomorrow), but I've got computer access on this, our rest day. So I thought I'd start a new trip report.

As we'd hoped might happen, we had excellent company for the first part of this week on the PCT. All three Dawsons joined us for a three day, mixed backpacking/dayhiking, 28.4 mile "highway to highway" leg from Ebbetts Pass to Carson Pass. J.C. and K.C. joined us for this leg too, although they weren't prepared to backpack, so they day-hiked and spent their non-hiking time hanging out with our shuttle driver "par excellence," Vicki.

We met early at Ebbetts and got set up to hike:

Vicki joined us for an easy first mile around Ebbett's Peak. The Cooks stayed with us for the first 3.5 miles before turning around to rejoin Vicki and then help with a three-car shuttle:

Naturally, John played geologist among all the northern Sierra volcanic formations:

Here's where the Cooks turned around:

This section of hiking is some of the easiest I've ever experienced in the Sierra. We went 10 miles exactly this first day and gained a cumulative total of maybe 400 feet in the first 8.5 miles. And the views on this part of the hike were excellent to the north, east and south:

As we took in the views, we broke into smiles when we came to "Son of Hummingbird Spire." This spire on the east side of Reynolds Peak looked exactly like the Pinnacles National Park formation Hummingbird Spire. I just had to take photos. Here's one of them:

(For some reason seeing this formation made me think immediately of Rob. Maybe because I think he'll ask me how far into the Wilderness it is?)

Steve saw the resemblance too:

We enjoyed lunch on Pennsylvania Creek:

We then came to a shoulder/summit on the Sierra Crest where the views were so fine we just had to stop:

Although the skies weren't very clear, we got our first views from here of the Highway 395/Garnerville/Minden area:

Here's a shot I liked. It's of me with my friend/climbing partner/fellow guidebook author of 20 years now:

We arrived at the Raymond Lake Trail junction, a location that was just stunningly beautiful:

And then, as planned, we diverted three quarters of a mile to Raymond Lake; this is a small lake nested in an obvious cirque. It looked like it would be a beautiful location to spend the night:

And it was. We arrived early enough to set up camp, to walk around the lake, to play "fetch" with the dogs in the water, to eat dinner and then to sit through a nice (nice when you're prepared for it) 15 minute rain shower:

We had wonderful evening light among the lasting clouds. This was a fitting end to a really nice day in the wilderness, one spent this time with good friends who'd come out specially to join us on our beloved PCT adventure:

Next up, we spend a viewful morning backpacking just far enough to meet Vicki and the Cooks (and to switch to very light day packs) on Blue Lakes Road.

mtnyoung

Trad climber

Twain Harte, California

Topic Author's Reply - Aug 17, 2014 - 11:12am PT

Well Tricia, Katie and I just finished three wonderful days on the trail and we're home again (yep, I was wrong, Katie came up and joined us for three days, and oh, what a great time!):

So to get caught up, here are days two and three (still with our friends the Dawsons and the Cooks):

DAY TWO:

Raymond Lake gets early morning sun. We took advantage of it:

Then an easy hike led back to the PCT. And from there we switchbacked down and then moved across to a prominent trail saddle that we'd been looking at yesterday:

Notice in that last photo that nine year old Alex is in the lead? Although we didn't really intend or plan on it, Alex led our hike for most of this day. And I'm not talking about all of us taking baby steps either; he stepped it up and hauled buns. Not bad (for a boy that is :)

On her behalf, Tricia is getting to be pretty damn good at navigating, reading a map, and finding her way in the out of doors. Here we are in a map study:

After five and a half pleasant miles we reached Sunset Lakes Road where Vicki and the Cooks were waiting. We stopped for snacks and water and to drop our big packs. The Cooks were now going to join us for the rest of the day:

Like her sister, Tricia seems to burn through lots of calories (it doesn't help that she's growing like a damn weed). And like her sister she tends to grab calories from weird places (like here, eating uncooked ramen noodles):

The next three miles were about as easy as hiking gets. We planned to meet Vicki for lunch at the next road crossing, so we carried nothing:

Our after-lunch hike started in forest. Pretty enough, but not very viewful. That then changed as we approached The Nipple. This formation is above tree line:

And the views were 360 degrees - we could see for miles and miles:

We walked along the entire length of The Nipple's east side. The view down to Upper Blue Lake was nearly vertical:

The traverse around the Nipple led to Lost Lakes. Although there is bandit camping at these lakes, the area is used heavily by RVs and the like. It was a little dusty and rocky for our taste. But when I suggested moving a mile away to Upper Blue Lakes Campground, Vicki thought maybe not. Apparently the 8/10 of a mile she'd just driven from that campground to meet us at Lost Lakes was "about the worst she'd ever driven." Naturally, I've been on some of the roads she's driven, and so her comment carried great weight with me (as in "holy shit! - that bad?").

But she had to drive back that way at some point. So we decided to go down the 8/10 mile now, stay at the public campground, but then walk back to the PCT in the morning instead of having Vicki shuttle us all back up to the trail.

The campground was very nice (mid-week). We had a pretty good sized group though and so we also had some chaos:

And remember Tricia's appetite? She eats a lot because she burns a lot of energy on these trips. The amount of energy she burns also means that she occasionally takes naps; wherever and whenever she happens to fall asleep:

DAY THREE

Our third day was casual and fun; an easy hike in pretty terrain with good friends. We started from the campground up the road back to the trail. We immediately got sprinkles:

To this day Tricia carries on a tradition Katie started at the beginning of our hikes: calling out and trying to touch every PCT sign. But I outdid her on the first one this day:

Although the skies were dark, the views were excellent for the whole hike. Looking back at The Nipple:

Looking west to Summit City Canyon:

And east, down toward Hope Valley and the Highway89/Highway 88 junction:

We took shelter during a ten minute downpour (did breaking down and getting out our rain shells really make it stop?):

Laura used the rain to catch up to us:

After it cleared we moved around the east side of Elephant's Back. Here we got our first views of Highway 88 (it's a highway, and we're hiking, an activity designed to get away from roads, but we're also kinda trying to finish a long, long distance and passing known, identifiable geography is in that sense gratifying):

Here's a photo that I love. It shows two friends of mine, and it also includes a 12 year old daughter whose pose - just the pose - seems to tell me that she's having fun in the outdoors, that she's confident there and that the time and effort we've put in together on the PCT has been worth it and will be worth it to her 30 years from now:

It seemed too soon, but we arrived at Carson Pass before noon. It was time to split up and go our separate ways. But not before twenty extra feet of trail and a group photo:

And that was it for day number three. That afternoon we had three hours of pounding rain and hail (more than enough to make us glad we'd done a short hike and that we were off the trail).

Coming up: our fourth day, just the "T Girl" and I flying the trail from Carson Pass to Echo Summit and having a ball.

mtnyoung

Trad climber

Twain Harte, California

Topic Author's Reply - Aug 17, 2014 - 05:14pm PT

DAY FOUR

We woke up Tuesday to partially cloudy skies but a great weather prediction. We decided to go for it, just Tricia and I now, hoping and expecting that it wouldn't pound rain and hail like it had the afternoon before. After a nice breakfast, our very own "trail angel" dropped us off at Carson Pass:

This Carson Pass to Echo Summit part of the trail is about as easy as hiking can get for the first 10.5 out of 13.4 miles (after 10.5 it drops 1,500 feet of elevation, which is a little more difficult type of hiking). It also involves lots of very open terrain with great views:

We got our first PCT view of Lake Tahoe from about 15 miles away:

Our next view of the lake was even better:

One of the many volcanic formations we saw made me think of Clink (who did the FA of a Pinnacles National Park formation that looks just like it). I doubt he'll ask me how far into the wilderness this is ;D

Tricia and I really flew this section of trail. We did 13.4 miles in five hours flat. That's not so surprising for a 53 year old, but my little 12 year old left me feeling pretty impressed on this hike. Just at 10.5 miles, right where the PCT loses 1,500 feet, we got a fantastic view of Lake Tahoe (right along Lake Tahoe Airport):

Before we knew it we were at the parking area for Echo Summit. Our shuttle driver (who happens to be the love of my life) met us there with lunch and a faithful dog (who'd been riding in the car today with sore paws):

A quick and easy hike leads from Echo Summit to Echo Lakes. Charlotte joined us for this one (on soft forest tread). Along the way we saw this gigantic (huge) fungus:

Highway 50 is pretty busy:

We reached Echo Lakes, the end of this day's segment (but started across the dam so as to insure overlap with the coming hike):

After this fourth day we had to take a rest day (a "zero day" in the language of PCT through hikers). We weren't necessarily tired. And the weather looked good for hiking the next day. We could have kept on. But we needed and really, really wanted to wait a day for a certain tough and gorgeous 18 year old who couldn't make it up to join us until Thursday, two days hence...

RP3

Big Wall climber

Twain Harte

Aug 17, 2014 - 08:34pm PT

Keep it comin!

Jan

Mountain climber

Colorado, Nepal & Okinawa

Aug 17, 2014 - 09:41pm PT

I just read the whole thread from the beginning. What an inspiration at so many levels. I too can't wait for the next installment.

mtnyoung

Trad climber

Twain Harte, California

Topic Author's Reply - Aug 18, 2014 - 08:39am PT

Thanks for the encouragement. We live in a fine and wonderful place here (Twain Harte). But our internet connection isn't the fastest, and it's been taking hours for a day's worth of photos to load to Flickr.

So the additions to the report come slowly.

I got day five done though.

DAY FIVE:

The last leg of this trip was a three day, 32.3 mile backpack through the Desolation Wilderness. And the treat on this trip was Katie; it was to be three of us for this trip yet again. And oh what a blast we had.

We packed and got ready at Echo Lakes:

We had some confusion over which way we should go ;)

And then we got going up an easy if extremely crowded trail (I'd heard the Desolation Wilderness is crowded, but holy wow! Tricia counted 188 other hikers in 15.2 miles on our first day):

Very soon we were above the Echo Lakes, closing in on Aloha Lake:

Fuel (in the form of food) is critical to keeping these two going, so we take frequent short breaks to stuff it down:

We approached Susie Lake and decided to have lunch there at 9.3 miles from our start:

At lunch we talked about where to go for the day. The two choices were Gilmore or Dicks Lake. These were about 4 1/2 miles apart and they are separated by Dicks Pass. While this pass wouldn't be a big one in the southern Sierra, here it was big enough and late enough in the day that it would take some real grunting to get over it. But if we didn't do it today, we'd have to do it tomorrow. Big first day or big second day?

The decision actually turned out to be easy: Katie thought we should make it the 15.2 miles to Dicks Lake and then have two more-cruiser days afterward. Tricia immediately agreed.

While at lunch we also found out that Katie was getting blisters. In fact, she was also very tired and took a 15 minute nap. As both issues came to light I started to realize some of the incredible amount of good Katie has realized from just her first year at college. She had brand new shoes and hadn't done any training hikes with them before this trip, and so her feet were suffering. But she didn't complain, she just kept on walking. She'd gotten only a few hours of sleep before we started (she was traveling up here) and yet she hiked onward (and suggested the longest possible distance for the day).

Katie has become pretty heavily involved with U.C.S.B.'s "Excursion Club." Actually she's been more than heavily involved: as a freshman they made her a club leader. She's been leading hiking, sea kayaking, stand up paddle-board and backpacking trips for other, less experienced kids. And man has it toughened her up (mind you, she was fairly tough to start with). Nothing seemed to faze her, no complaints.

We started up Dicks Pass:

This geographic feature actually includes a "false" pass and the real pass. The false pass has the views, so we stopped there for trail milkshakes:

The views from here really were phenomenal. We could see our lunch spot at Susie Lake below (and Aloha Lake to the right of that):

We could see our day's destination, Dicks Lake:

And Tricia and I were thrilled to see Elephant's Back and Round Top from here. These feature (which she clearly recognized and described to me) are south of Carson Pass - we had hiked past them two full hiking days ago! They must have been at least 25 miles from us, and yet we could see them clearly. This telephoto shot shows Elephant's Back (which the PCT traverses) right in the middle. It's left side is steep and shaded, the right side is lower angle and curved (the larger Round Top is to its right):

The "real" Dicks Pass was pretty if a little plain (but it also provided great views):

Our last two miles down to the lake were one of the best parts of this wonderful day. Tricia blazed ahead on the trail (talk about a tough and together kid!), while Katie and I went a little more slowly. As we hiked she talked and I mostly listened. And as I listened, I realized even more how good for her this first year of college has been.

When we arrived at the last trail junction before Dicks Lake we got our first view of Lake Tahoe from the Desolation Wilderness:

And then we got to camp (Dicks Lake was crowded with campers - but a group of Tahoe Rim Trail hikers kindly showed us a flat and pleasant place to set up for the night). I went for water while Katie and Tricia started setting up camp. This is a normal routine - and for their part they usually start with the tent. But when I came back from the lake the tent wasn't set up. Instead the girls were "stretching" using the new acro-yoga methods that Katie has gotten into down at U.C.S.B.:

I may have strained some face muscles myself on this one. Not so much from the exercises themselves, but from coming back to camp to hear my two girls laughing and giggling together once again. I had a pretty damn big series of smiles.

The night was already late, so we ate quickly and then got ready for bed. But just before bed we had one more treat for the evening. Although we often have freeze dried ice cream for dessert, Vicki had found freeze dried ice cream sandwiches for us to try this time. Our take away? We gotta get more of these things! They are quite the treat when the overall food picture isn't up to high epicurean standards!:

mtnyoung

Trad climber

Twain Harte, California

Topic Author's Reply - Aug 21, 2014 - 07:49am PT

I finished the trip report on Mudn'Crud:

DAY SIX

I let the girls sleep as long as they wanted on Friday morning (Katie hadn't gotten much sleep the two previous nights). But then we got going on the day:

We started our hike passing between granite outcrops and various lakes. This was pretty country:

As with some of our other recent hikes, the walking today seemed unusually level (at least by Sierra Nevada standards). So we made very good time:

After just a few miles the trail entered forested areas. Areas like this are pretty, and while we enjoyed ourselves, this part of our journey didn't offer panoramas particularly, and it didn't offer much variety. The hike wasn't very long either - we'd decided to hike just under 11 miles to Richardson Lake, a location which would put us in perfect position to meet Vicki tomorrow. We did reach the nondescript, northern edge of the Desolation Wilderness:

We got a glimpse or two of Lake Tahoe through the trees:

And then, quickly, we reached Richardson Lake:

Like Dicks Lake the night before, this one was crowded with campers. But as with the night before at Dicks, everyone was friendly here too. We had time to set up camp, explore the lake shore, and to play and relax:

And note the iPhone in Katie's hand two photos above? I've trained the girls that "electronics" (like music and telephones) aren't part of the wilderness experience. Katie told me - before she put it in her pack - that she was bringing it because it is her camera. Apparently she also makes notes on it to herself. In the particular photo above, that's what she's doing - she is making a note about backpacking gear of her own that she'd been discussing with me and which she needs/wants to get.

Dinner and the usual evening chores then ended a relatively non-eventful day, another we had been lucky enough to spend in peace, health and nature's beauty.

DAY SEVEN

Our last day came too soon. The usual start:

And then we were off on a quick six mile hike to meet Vicki at Barker Pass (on Forest Road 3, halfway up the height of Lake Tahoe). Most of this six miles was, like some of yesterday's hike, in deeper forest. I wonder if the PCT sections north of here will be more like this, or if we'll have open areas with views like we had in much of the southern Sierra:

We did catch occasional pretty views to the west however, over the Rockbound Lake area:

But our focus on this hike wasn't pretty views, nice forest or fast hiking. The focus was a little bit on seeing mommy, a little bit on getting fresh food for lunch, and a lot bit on our first meeting with an expected new family member.

Meanwhile the trail started to emerge from the forest as we got close to Barker Pass:

We got our first view of Forest Road 3:

And then we saw where our trail reached the road. Tricia was almost there when Vicki walked over the road berm:

Vicki seemed to be carrying a bundle in her arms. Tricia reached Vicki and met our new little bundle, Halifax ("Hallie"). Katie was right behind:

Although a week ago we hadn't intended on getting a new dog any time soon, Vicki had learned of a dog show in Reno to be held while we were on the trail. She'd decided to go to it while she was waiting for us, maybe to meet some breeders from whom we might someday get a dog. Email meetings led to more communications than we expected and before Vicki knew it, a buyer had dropped out and she was asked if she wanted a new little girl.

She did. So I did too. We found out the night before we left. The girls were very excited.

And so our little addition came to Barker Pass to pick us up with Vicki.

We did our normal after-hike things:

But the main focus at the end of this trip was on our new little lady, Halifax Young. We have no doubt that by next summer she'll be doing PCT trips with us:

klk

Trad climber

cali

Aug 21, 2014 - 07:57am PT

nice. & congrats on the full family outing lncluding the new puppy.

yeah, desolation & crowds: 108 spoils ya.

Gary

Social climber

Desolation Basin, Calif.

Aug 21, 2014 - 08:00am PT

TFPU!

r2d2

Trad climber

East Bay

Aug 21, 2014 - 11:41am PT

The girls must got those long legs from Vicki.

When can I go climb in your backyard again?

Seamstress

Trad climber

Yacolt, WA

Aug 21, 2014 - 12:53pm PT

Even though I don't have time, I always make time to read this thread when it comes up. TFPU.

mtnyoung

Trad climber

Twain Harte, California

Topic Author's Reply - Sep 5, 2014 - 01:08pm PT

We're just about packed and ready. As soon as Tricia gets home from school we're leaving for Truckee to meet Brian, Whitney and Sharon. They're going to join us on the Forest Road 3 to Interstate 80, 32.3 miles section. We'll sleep tonight at the trailhead.

This may be the last of the PCT for this season. Certainly it's the last one we'd planned on (we'll see though how the autumn plays out...). It's going to be fun.

And, I've got print-outs of two photos that were taken in July, 2007. We were up climbing at Donner then with friends, and seven year old Tricia and I went for a hike on the PCT one day. Although we'd hiked only 32 miles of the trail by then (one trip, 32 miles from the Mexican border), we posed for photos at a trail junction on this July hike, wondering if we'd ever actually get to that point on the trail. Well it looks like we might just make it (and we'll pose for "seven years later" photos if/when we do):

mtnyoung

Trad climber

Twain Harte, California

Topic Author's Reply - Sep 9, 2014 - 08:33pm PT

Our two day trip to I-80 was a great success. I started a trip report on Mudn'Crud under the title "Guest Stars and the Season Finale."

DAY ONE:

We couldn't have hoped for better conditions on this, our last trip of 2014.

We drove up to the Donner area after school on Friday, meeting our friends Brian, Whitney and Sharon at the I-80 PCT trailhead. Then we were off to spend a night at Barker Pass, 7 1/2 miles up and west of Lake Tahoe.

We woke up to blue skies, perfect temperatures, breakfast and wrestling dogs:

For a few years now we've used super light gaiters while we hike. These keep little rocks and most dust out of one's shoes. Ours come with screaming bright colors and a clever name ("Dirty Girl Gaiters"). Vicki and Tricia thought that our guests for this trip should have their very own Dirty Girls:

After our new clothes "fitting," we were off on our next two days, 32.5 miles to Interstate 80 and the end of the season:

Vicki and Hallie joined us - for Halifax, these were her first steps on a trail on which she'll likely end up doing hundreds of miles:

We rounded Barker Peak and immediately started getting great views (which often included Lake Tahoe):

After about four miles of hiking we reached the border of the Granite Chief Wilderness. From that point we hiked for about six miles right on the Pacific Crest itself. These are such excellent vistas here that, view for view, this section of trail might almost compare to the ten miles of trail south of Sonora Pass:

Although much of this section of the trail is in the Wilderness, it's pretty much on the edge of it. To the east, coming right up to the Pacific Crest itself are a series of (well known) ski resorts. So we had a mix of great views, nice wilderness, and... buildings:

But, overall this part of the hike really was fantastic. Eventually we dropped off the crest to reach Five Lakes Creek, a nice lunch stop:

The last part of the day involved a big hump up to a trail saddle between Squaw Peak (of Squaw Valley ski resort) and Granite Chief (a local high point). We were tired by this point, almost 16 miles into the day:

We did finally reach the high point (more great views all over the Tahoe area):

Another half a mile of steep (knee-insulting) switchbacks then led down to Squaw Creek, water, and a pretty place to camp (even the ski lift cables we passed under 200 yards from camp were easy to forget in the overall beauty of the place):

The sun was down by the time we arrived, but we had some light left, enough to do our camp chores. And I think every one of us was thrilled by a nice campsite, a just-finished, hard, but viewful 16.1 mile day of hiking, and by the prospect of another, similar day tomorrow.

zBrown

Ice climber

Brujò de la Playa

Sep 9, 2014 - 08:40pm PT

Great show - bravo Twain Heart!! I like youse guys.

He never printed another paragraph while he lived, and he never again signed Mark Twain to anything. At the time that the telegraph brought the news of his death, I was on the Pacific coast. I was a fresh new journalist, and needed a nom de guerre; so I confiscated the ancient mariner’s discarded one, and have done my best to make it remain what it was in his hands—a sign and symbol and warrant that whatever is found in its company may be gambled on as being the petrified truth; how I have succeeded, it would not be modest in me to say.

-S. Clemens