Belden

8/3-
Day 115 - As usual it has been awhile since I last wrote. I often think about it as I hike but alas there is a lack of motivation. This week I was especially determined to put pen to paper but we upped the mileage (16-20 miles a day) so we could take an extra day at the upcoming hot springs. Hiking that many miles a day is actually no big deal anymore since my pace has naturally picked up and the days are still pretty long. These last 4 days have posed a new difficulty for me- HEAT- and the nonexistence of lakes to refresh the body. There are lakes in this area but the trail routers decided to keep the PCT high on the crest so that we may see but not touch any lakes that we pass. And since we decided to hike big days there is not enough time for side trips that are over 1/2 mile. Today is our 21 mile day into the next town, Belden. Can't wait for restaurant food! -Pickle

8/4-
Day 116 - There is a thru-hiker on the PCT this year who has not been mentioned yet in the laptop. His name is Scott Williamson and he is the antithesis of The Menacing Vegetables. He has a hiking partner, El Nino, but everyone refers to the pair simply as Scott Williamson. Since he is a hiking god, for purposes of this entry I will also refer to him as HE.
Scott began the PCT the day before The Menacing Vegetables. Unlike us, HIS early start was not to allow extra time for sightseeing, side trips, and loafing. Scott is attempting, for the third time, to do something no one has ever done before: Thru-hike the PCT twice in one year. HE is doing what is referred to as a Yo-Yo: hiking from Mexico to Canada then back to Mexico. Pretty silly, huh?
We missed Scott by one day at the border and have been following HIM, albeit with smaller strides, ever since. Every time we hit a town with a register we check to see how HE is doing. Today, August 4th, we got to Sierra City and saw that HE had signed in on June 6th. HE walked 1,200 miles, most of it through a lot of snow, in less than two months. One of our Vegetable goals, of course, was to try to be on the trail longer than Scott this year, not even finishing the whole trail once while HE's done it twice. It may or may not happen. We have been looking forward to meeting Scott on HIS way back south, probably before we even finish California. HE hikes 30+ miles each day so our new goal is to slow HIM down for a day, get him to do a zero mile day with The Vegetables.
Like the Vegetables, Scott has been a topic of conversation among the thru-hikers. Hopefully HE has not been warned of our bad intentions. Maybe we can convince HIM to take a week off and go to Burning Man with us. -Squirrelfight

Day 116 - Such an interesting afternoon. Today, we resupplied at Sierra city, a charming little town that was quite a welcome contrast to the sprawling urban dystopia of South Lake Tahoe or Truckee. After finishing with the PO & other assorted chores (mostly involving food), I hitched a ride out of town with 2 guys in a pickup truck who were then driving to a saddle 10 miles (and 2500 feet!) up the trail. I left my pack in their truck and had the pleasure of hiking 10 miles burden free, and arriving before sunset. I set up camp at the saddle, and they returned from their bike trip in the evening and we hung out for a while. Just after they left, a truck showed up with 4 teenagers, there for a bit of stargazing and loud teenagering. They gave me wheat thins (yum!), and were very amused when I gave my name as Staggerin' Willie ("So your first name is Staggerin' and your last name is Willie?" one of them asked). Then everyone went home to their houses to sleep in beds under roofs, and I stayed up very late reading Born on the 4th of July, and watching the meteor shower. - Staggerin' Willie

The rattlesnakes are back. -Staggerin' Willie

8/5-
Day 117 - Today is Saturday and here around Sierra Buttes there are many Jeep roads and lakes for people to camp at. We saw several mountain bikers, dirt bikes, dune buggies, 4-wheelers and trucks. And a couple hikers.
Staggerin Willie and I stopped at a small lake at one point to get water and soak the feet. A truck pulled up and a couple of guys, Rhino and Mean Gone, got out to try to fish this small "lake." We got to talking and before long we were all relaxing, watching the bobber on their fishing line. They offered us beers which we gladly accepted. One we split, then the other we carried on to camp to surprise The Vegetables at dinner. The real surprise was when Pickle arrived to tell us that Krumholz and Knergneemergh had gone back to town to fix up their feet. So we split the can of beer and potluck three ways. We also decided to increase our mileage for the next four days and get to Belden a day early. Will try to reunite The Vegetables around there somewhere. -Squirrelfight

Day 117 - We started the day today with a spectacular climb of Sierra Buttes, which ends with a 150 ft steel staircase bolted into the craggy summit cliffs. From the lookout tower atop, we could see as far back as the desolation wilderness and to the north stood Mt. Lassen, which we plan to climb in a week. Unfortunately, by the afternoon Rachel's ankle woes, exacerbated by seven miles of uphill switchbacks the previous day, reached an apex. So we thought better of walking on in this section. We'll take a few days of recuperation and reconnect with the Veggies in Belden. - Krumholz

Day 117 - The Sierra Buttes, jagged volcanic pinnacles rising 5000 feet above Sierra City; form the northernmost truly monumental hunk of rock in the Sierra. A switchbacking steep trail climbs to the base of the masiff; from there, a metal staircase bolted to the rock climbs to the pagoda-like lookout tower perched precariously on the very top of the highest crag. It is a spot unlike any other on the PCT. One can walk on a metal railing attached to the tower that juts out over 600 feet of nothingness. Even for hardened mountaineers such as ourselves, it was pretty spooky to look down.
I reunited with the Vegetables on the summit after camping apart. Unfortunately, it was the last time I will see Rachel and Ben for a while. A recurring ankle injury has forced them off the trail and I don't know when or where we will all meet up again. - Staggerin' Willie

8/6-
Day 118 - Now the "fun" begins. -PCT Guidebook

Today we've seen horse packers, dirt bikers, gold miners, trail maintainers. But we ain't seen no hikers. -Ez

8/7-
Day 119 - PCT Guidebook's understatement of the day: "You may encounter ongoing logging or evidence of recent logging, and the associated roads.

Vocab:
Piano means backpack.
"See you in Canada" means see you later.
Sanity Cap - mosquito head net.

Day 119 - Using sugar pine cones, someone wrote "VEG FOREVER" right next to the trail. I swear it wasn't one of us.

Day 119 - I'm reading Cadillac Desert right now, a fascinating history of water rights and dams in the West. In the 60s, when dams were going up left and right in California, the Middle Fork Feather River was declared a "Wild and Scenic" river, which prevented it from being turned into a reservoir. Today, we dropped over 3000 feet into its gorge, and I swam in the river's deep, rock-bound pools. We're camped under a canyon-bottom forest of thick Douglas Fir that, thankfully, hasn't been drowned beneath an artificial lake. - Staggerin' Willie

Day 119 - Rachel and I are now well into our hitchhiking expedition through Plumas County, CA. We spent the previous 24 hours in the metropolis of Quincy (home of the only traffic light in the county) eating, watching the Simpsons, and finding a pair of $4 hiking boots at the thrift store. Tonight we're camping at Woody's Hot Spring, a cement and rock tub along the back of the Feather River with 100% spring water piped in. A lightning show is firing up the sky & we may even feel our first drops of rain in over a month. The sky is beautiful tonight. - Krumholz

8/8-
Day 120 - Bear Creek should be called Lady Bug Creek. Thousands of lady bugs. I don't see any bears. - Squirrelfight

Day 120 - In the last two days, we've hiked from 6700' down to 2900', and back up to 6000'. During that stretch of elevation, we've seen almost as many types of tree as the whole PCT up to this point: Red and White Fir, Sugar Pine, White Pine, Incense Cedar, Jefferey Pine, Ponderosa Pine, Black Oak, Live Oak, Scrub Oak, Poison Oak (not a tree, but we've seen it anyways), Big ol' Douglas Firs, Big-Leaf Maple, Alders, and Dogwoods growing beside the streams, and mountain Mahogany growing on dry hillsides. Some of the trees have been huge - 6 feet or more in diameter. Hiking through these beautiful Northern California forests gives me a sense of well being quite different from the awe inspired by the magnificent (but biologically sterile) rock and ice grandeur of the High Sierra. - Staggerin' Willie

8/9-
Day 121 - Took a few short side trips to summits with lookout towers this week. The first was the highlight, Sierra Buttes (as seen in our photos) lookout tower is perched above a 600 foot drop. I had to rate-find my way to Pilot Peak lookout tower which has seen better days. A lovely view but vandalized tower. Today was Spanish Peak whose lookout tower has long since been dismantled. Willie and I read the hilarious register entries most of which discussed the wonders of god or the wonders of psychedelic drugs.
I have been eating 6+ snacks each day (1500-2000 calories) between breakfast and dinner. My stomach has begun to growl lately telling me this is not enough. - Squirrelfight

Day 121 - A momentous occasion for the Menacing Vegetables. Belden, which we reached this evening after a 20 mile day, is the lowest elevation we have experienced since nasty Gorgonio pass. Belden, another cute little town along the forested banks of the Feather River, is nothing like Gorgonio Pass. It's also the official end of Central California in our guidebooks, and the end of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. The Vegetables (what's left of us) celebrated this tonight with a toast to the Sierra Nevada (with Sierra Nevada Pale Ale of course) as the Belden Saloon - the only saloon right on the trail. It's also the end of our career as thru-hikers - Tomorrow we're hitching up to Mt. Lassen - Skipping trail! Rather than mighty thru-hikers, we'll be nothin' but a bunch of damn yellow-blazers! - Staggerin' Willie

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