The name Butt means something in these parts. There's Butt mountain, Butt overlook, Butt lake, and all the little Butt trails. My poor head is filled with puns...I'll just put this region behind us. <ouch> There are lots of burned areas where the fires were recent; within 5 years. When you walk for 4-5 hours … Continue reading Of hot springs and volcanos

Thursday, Jun 23------- The travel from Belden Town up the long canyon was the most interesting and difficult that any of us could remember.  The difficulty was not just the elevation change from 2,000ft to 7,000ft, it was also the poor trail maintence. Downed trees and large bushes overgrowing the trail. We even had to … Continue reading Travel to Old Station

We made the ridge. 5,000ft game. Ouch.  Above is Mt Lassen on the right and Mt Shasta on the left. A long way off... On our way to Old Station in 6 days. 

We made it to Belden, a tiny resort with a hotel/restaurant/bar/store.  We were ready. It had been a 17 mile day with a huge 4,500ft downhill at the end and our legs were suffering. Still no cell service for ATT!  😞  Thank goodness they have wifi so I can do the blog. It's just irritating.  … Continue reading Belden 

360 = Three guys over 60.  My group is now Turtle, the Professor and myself, Half-Fast.  Wednesday, Jun 15 ------- We had camped next to the trail head on Hwy-49, so got an early start on the long climb northward. In seven miles we would climb from 4,500ft to 7,400ft.  It was made worse with … Continue reading The 360’s are back!

Sunday, Jun 12 We wanted a short mileage day...we got it. The original plan was to take it easy the first week back on trail, to get our "Trail Legs" back. And had there been no snow it would have been a good plan.  The south sides of the mountains are blissfully free of snow … Continue reading Tired of snow already…

Yesterday was tough. We started at 1:15 at Donner Pass to clear sky's and no snow. We left 7,200ft and spend most of the day near or over 8,000ft.  Lots of snow and tough to keep on the trail. We stopped at a little valley at 7pm having hiked 7.5 miles. 

Turtle and I are here!  The roadside stop on I-80 has a short trail that meets the PCT. From here it's 3.5 days to Sierra City and we will meet up with the Professor who will join us for 4-5 weeks. 

I have plans for 2016: Finish the PCT and travel some more in the Pacific Northwest. In the meantime, I've settled in the town of Jamestown for the winter.  It's beautiful up here in the Sierras, and I love strolling down the Railroad tracks near my RV Park.  So much so, it's hard to break … Continue reading 2016 – Projects and fun