Day 89-90. I woke up around 7 and walked the 1 mile back to the trail around 9. I planned to just take my time then read until I get to where it is I think I would run into Halle. It started with a huge uphill filled with switchbacks. It’s not a hill you want to do mid-day as it is extremely exposed. You just keep climbing and climbing for miles upon miles, for over 3,000 feet. Finally I reached the top. Then I began the downhill. Passing the popular Sierra Buttes summit, and down into the parking lot. Passing lots of people and kids who were amazed I had walked from Mexico. When I got to the parking lot all of the sudden a girl popped her head out of a white bus and asked if I wanted some fresh baked cookies. I went right over! Her and her boyfriend live out of the van and there’s a group of hikers in there already. They had been hiking Nobo until the Sierras and skipped up to Oregon and now are heading back down. Their names were Pacer, Dos Tacos, Drum Solo, and Rosie. The hosts offered me a beer and I had a couple sips, then they started passing a joint around. After 2 hits and a small amount of time I was really fucking high. Like I felt sick for a second and had to immediately get off that bus and to fresh air. So I went out to the parking lot and laid down on my pack. Idk how much time went by, but I had to really focus to not get sick. I could hear everyone chatting, and soon Rosie was outside too. Also not doing too good. I think lack of food and dehydration made this stuff way stronger. After what felt like hours, Drum Solo brought me out a cookie. I was very grateful because I cannot even stand up right now. I kept wondering how I was going to be able to walk the next half mile to meet Halle. I don’t think I can. But there’s no rush so I laid there even longer. I’m totally embarrassed. Like what a first impression……ugh. At some point I slowly took off. That last half mile felt like 10. And I wasn’t too sure where I’d meet Halle. So I walked forward a bit and hung out. Then walked back to a junction. After over an hour she was there!!! She brought her Vw van which we’ll be sleeping in. That night a great group of guys came and hung out with us. Halle brought some sausage, pasta salad, cookies, snacks, beer, etc and we all just sat by the fire. The guys were hilarious. I forgot some of their names, Daddy Longlegs, and well I can’t remember them at the moment. But they had apparently emailed Cheryl Strayed. Everyone compares us to her on the trail. They said everything they did something hard or shitty they would yell “fuck you cheryl” it was so funny. And it was not in a mean way at all. They emailed her telling her all that. It was so good. I should try and email them to get a pic of it. That night around 11pm I left the van to go pee. While doing that I see 2 eyes glowing and staring at me, followed by a stealthy walk……it was a mountain lion. I kept telling myself to pee faster, I finally finished and headed back to the van a bit nervous. Being in the dark, low to the ground is not ideal when facing a mountain lion. Next day I decided to stay and hang with Halle and take an on trail 0. She made pancakes for us then the guys left. We barely saw anyone all day. An older man walked by in the morning. Later I saw Sante, Javalou, and Hawkeye. So stoked to see them. But determined to do miles, they ate then left. Soon our friend came back, the man from earlier, Old Rick. He has decided to quit. He was doing a section but realized he is not where he needs to be. In the multiple hours since we’ve seen him, and played about 50 games of dominoes, he had only made it a couple of miles. So now, he will get a ride from Halle tomorrow back into town. Where then he will go home. I’m so sad. I want to tell him he can do it and to keep going, but I mostly just want to support him. Then the Canadian Doctors joined us, also wish I would have remembered their names. The dude was legit one of the funnies people I’ve ever met. As we were all chilling and talking then a group of rad girls came. Tetris, Hitch, Monarch, and….shit I suck at names right now. But a really funny bunch. Yet we were all in bed my 9, aka hiker midnight.

Day 88- Well being that I didn’t sleep at all early early AM I decided to head out. I’m in a weird position. I think some of my group who I got ahead of, due to them heading into Yosemite, are just maybe a day or so behind, and Freckles, Tim and Scotty are a day ahead. So should I slow down? Or speed up? Well, beings my name is Express, I obviously chose the latter. I planned to just hit huge miles. Because why not? I have nothing else to do but walk. And today is my freaking 3 month anniversary!!! I can’t believe it. And today I ended at mile 1195. Almost 2000 miles down…..Time is flying by so quickly. Today I get to hit Sierra City. I only have one reason to go there…..milkshakes. It was 20 miles away and I arrived there at 1:30. Crossed a couple of creeks and the Yuba river on nice bridges that were there for us. A sure luxury after all the Sierra crossing. In town the general store Unfortunately, only their pineapple flavor was working. So I had a strange chocolate pineapple shake. But it was refreshing. I didn’t eat one but they’re known for their 1lb burger that tons of hikers get. It takes for ever to cook. I can’t believe people eat that whole thing. While there I saw multiple other hikers, Em and Lou, I met Haywire. He is trying to hike the entire trail in 100 days. Fucking unreal. He is trying to get me to hike more miles, but tomorrow my friend Halle is meeting me just 10 miles up so I’m staying here for the night. And then out of freakin nowhere I see Niko and Young Bacon! Omg so amazing. I haven’t seen them since Big Bear. They had taken some time off and skipped the Sierras. It was a fun night. All of us hiker trash camped in the lawn behind the church, which was open to us, drank, smoked, and bull shitted. Oh and Young Bacon is apparently legit at freestyle rapping!! I also met a hiker who randomly showed me a picture of himself hiking naked on summer solstice. I wasn’t prepared for that, he was a character. But so kind. But that is a thing, on summer solstice you’re supposed to hike naked. Luckily, I was in town that day! I’m so excited to see Halle tomorrow, and happy tonight I don’t have to worry about bears. (Pics of Peter grub hut-m1160)

Day 87- left Tahoe mid morning after dealing with some madness at the post office. I sent myself ahead a ton of bars because I have far too many. I was eager yet a little nervous to get back out. Tom and Freckles had headed out yesterday and Scotty also is on a different schedule so for the first time since the desert. I will be hiking alone. The first part of the hike I absolutely loved. Lots of rocks and forestry vibes and also a lot of cool people out dayhiking. But that only lasted a few miles. Hiking flew by today, I blasted through 22 miles and even navigated myself Good through snow! It wasn’t a lot, but some was through trees and got confusing. And I basically just trusted my instincts and they were right. And looked at my topo map once to see where I could cut trail due to snow and I successfully did that. I was proud of myself. I never thought I could do it, but in the Sierras I didn’t have to. Other people who were really good at navigating did it. But now that I’m alone, I know I can actually do it. I met Silverfox today, he mentioned he was impressed by my hiking speed as I blazed down the trail. Benefits of the Sierras I guess. I sat and ate a quick lunch where he then passed me but I didn’t stay long. For one I don’t like long breaks and 2 the mosquitoes wouldn’t quit buzzing around me. So I hiked with Silverfox. He left the trail for a short bit and just came back. To find camp I couldn’t really settle anywhere. I saw a couple ok spots but wasn’t ready to stop hiking. Then I’d be surrounded by hills so those were no good. Finally I found a small open meadow. It had water nearby and i felt a little safer in the open. I’m super nervous for bears here. I know Tahoe has a ton of them and they’re not shy. I ate my dinner alone, feeling quite strange that I had nobody to talk to. And then basically I got the worst sleep of my life. Deer were coming around my tent all night. But I didn’t know they were deer. I automatically assume BEAR. I had my headlamp on my head all night ready to turn on and my whistle in my hand. I barely slept 90 minutes all night. This is no fun……I’m freaking myself out big time.

Day 84-86. 15 miles to Donnor Pass!!! I’m so excited. I get to see my friend Chris, who will be picking me up and taking me to stay with her in Tahoe City. The unfortunate part is that we’re all splitting. Tim and Freckles are going to a house whom they got connected to through a friend. But overall I’m just happy to get to go be alone for a couple of days. Today was a little weird. Lots of dry spots, but also some steep and gnarly snow fields. Coming down from Squaw was no easy task. As much as the guys make it seem like it is. I was still happy to have my spikes at this point. The snow was pretty slush so I don’t think they really help much they just give me a bit more confidence. The view from Squaw though was pretty fucking epic. I can see why so many people come here to ski/snowboard. We continued walking trying to maintain a good pace, since we had fairly specific times we had told people to get us. We had one last snow slope crossing. And it was waaaaay up there. We saw some footsteps but I stayed on the rocks to the side as long as I could. Then when we hit the level of the footprints. We saw beer! Dig down into the snow haha! No better way to keep em cold. I decide to wait and drink mine on the other side of the slope. I’m already horrible at walking on this stuff I don’t need to do it with any sort of buzz. So we cross, and we’re all fine! And stop on the other side to drink our beers and eat some snacks. Freckles eating her massive bag of jelly beans. It’s funny I’ve never really been a fan, but these ones tasted pretty good. And you could mix them to make fun things. Like a pineapple one and coconut and bam you have a pina colada in your mouth. Or chocolate and coffee….mocha. So good. It’s obvious now how little it takes to please a hiker. We walk into Donnor and after waiting just a couple of minutes, Tim and Freckles ride shows up in her Jeep to get them. I give them hugs and then Chris pulls up!!!! So exciting!!! Now we all head off onto our destinations. Chris’s Place is so epic! Right on the water, with a deck leading into the lake. It was heaven for these couple of days. I got so spoiled. Super delicious meals, beach time, sunset boat rides, getting to lay and watch movies while eating peanut butter, Oreos, and ice cream. I got to spend time with her and her family and it was great. She is my ultimate PCT trail angel for many reasons. 1) obviously for getting me and letting me stay here, and taking care of me 2) for getting my food for the next resupply 3) for being a HUGE reason I’m even out here in the first place. I know Chris from home in Marin and when I first said I wanted to do the PCT she was so excited and said how she had always wanted to do it. When I thought about maybe delaying another year or 2 I had remembered her saying to me to just go and do it NOW. When I have the time and can do it. Otherwise things keep coming up and before you know it, you never did it. Knowing how much she loves hiking and the trail, I can honestly say that I feel like I am doing this trail for her, as also for myself. It really makes me sit and appreciate this experience. For the moments I’ve been in good and bad. And for those that will come. This is something very few people get to do, and I am one of them. It’s easy to get just caught up in the everyday monotony of hiking and forget about what you’re actually accomplishing. Like I’ve literally almost walked all the way through CA. That’s insane! I’m freaking proud of myself.

Day 83: good day overall!!! I forgot to mention some very important moments from yesterday. 1) we actually got our permits checked by a ranger. And we were excited because we have to carry them and it was the first time it mattered…well except getting free pie in Julian. 2) as we were walking Freckles ran straight into a tree branch that was hanging and fell back into me. I slowly lowered her to the ground not knowing what happened but she ended up being ok. It happens with a cap on though when you’re looking down, you miss things sometimes. But it for real made me nervous. 3) Scotty decided to do some HILARIOUS stunt work while we hummed the mission impossible song. He went jumping and climbing over trees and at one point ran and belly slid on some snow going face first into the ground. We all died laughing. So funny. So today initially the plan was to push to Squaw and camp under the ski lifts where we knew there would be a good view. We did about 20 miles today and ended some what early. We hung out at Barker Pass for a little this morning, eating peanut m&ms and chatting. We did our big climb for the day and it was semi sketchy. Going up on snow and around slippery rocks. But we made it and decided to take lunch at the top. Yesterday I realized I had lost my spoon which is a HUGE BUMMER! Our lunch spot kinda sucked. There wasn’t any water except for some snow melt. Scotty went and dig a bit to get more water but it turned super brown. I am so grateful for my sawyer!!! That water came out crystal clear. But we still couldn’t get a lot of it and we were all super thirsty. When we left 2 other hikers were passing and apparently one had found a spoon on the trail! Not mine but an even better and nicer one that she gave to me!!! Winning!!! Today was a little off in a sense that sometimes, since were in a group always, someone wants some space. And today that was Freckles. She just wanted to have her headphones in and do what she needed to do. And I get it. We all have those moments. We were walking prepping for our large climb to the ski lifts when we passed a really nice flat spot with fresh water. We all decided we had the energy to go up, but there is water here and it just makes it 15 miles tomorrow to get to Donner Pass. So we just camped there. It was a great spot. Lots of greenery and a couple of flowing streams.

Day 82: we didn’t start very early in the morning today. While we were packing up Stats passed us. He thought we would have gotten further last night, but he is taking off. Planning to do consistently 30 miles a day until the end because his flight home is Sept 5 and he starts university shortly after. I am so sad to think this will be the last time I will see him. We have been hiking together since almost the beginning, like within the first week of the hike. Separating now.…it’s just sad. When we take off we find actually guide a few lakes I wasn’t expecting. First was Heather Lake, and then the BEAUTIFUL Susie Lake. It was so clear and you could see a perfect reflection of the trees in the water. Up next was the 1700ft, 3 mile climb to the top of Dicks Pass. On the way up we ran into a group of male hikers from Korea. Why this is a big deal is because in the Sierras we basically just saw our group and a couple of others we knew. Nobody we didn’t know. But now that we’re out of the Sierras we will actually be running into other thru hikers, who most likely skipped or flip flopped to avoid the snow. When we got to the top we decided to do a 10am lunch numero uno. Everyone caught up soon, I can’t remember his trail name but one of the guys name was funny. It was like “this way” I think. Apparently he was really bad with directions. Soon Scotty appeared! He must have crushed it this morning, didn’t think we’d see him too soon. Then we started the snowy steep descent down the pass. I didn’t write it in my journal but I’m sure as per usual I fell on the descent, multiple times. We walked pass a couple more lakes, one of which we stopped to have lunch numero dos. We entered the beautiful Desolation Wilderness yesterday and it is very pleasing to the eye. Beautiful ponds, lakes, and rocks surrounding us. And intermittent snow. We hiked on to mile 1118 to Richardson Lake, making 19 miles. We were looking forward to camping around it, but the trail took awhile it seemed to get us to the campsite. There were multiple other groups around of hikers we had never met. We soon hopped in to the murky water with all of its limbs and grossness on the floor. And a weird substance at the top of the water. But it felt damn good. We made a campfire to help get the massive amount of mosquitoes away from us. Scotty is the funniest about them, he legit gets angry and the mosquitoes for biting him. He hates it. They don’t bug me much, I rarely get more than a couple bites due to my secret vitamin mosquito repellent! It was a good day, and I’m stoked this section is so short. In 2 days we will be at Donner Pass/Truckee!!!

Day 81: Lovely spending the day in Tahoe once Brit came! Words cannot even describe how much I miss her. She was so nice to drive us around to grab supplies and food resupply. We went to Cali Burger for lunch and a beer and got to chat and listen to some high quality live music. Soon the whole gang was there with us. Then we went to Coldstone for some ice cream. While shopping for new shades Freckles and Tim got an offer for a place to stay, and they were nice enough to allow the rest of us to join for the stay as well! Our hosts name was Grace and she was nothing short of amazing. Brit and I got some pizza and boxed wine for dinner, classy I know! Grace cooked up a big meal for some of the others and we all just simply enjoyed our time with each other. The night ended by Brit and I sleeping in her massive 6 person tent and watching Moana on an iPad. Simply perfect! The next day we were heading back out to the trail, Brit left in the morning and I almost cried saying goodbye. she was also kind enough to take home some of my Sierra gear. Like my best canister, whippet, some extra clothes, and lots of bars I had extra of. The plan was for her to send me the bars to Truckee to have for my next resupply. Grace cooked us breakfast and as we ate, Stats left to try and get a hitch into a different town for some gear or packaging thing he had going on. Poor guy stood on the street forever before getting a ride. Scotty had to stay to also to get some stuff done, so me, Freckles, and Tim headed out together. Immediately we hit Elk lake and stopped and got some food from the store. A big watermelon and some beverages. It was so pretty there. We hiked on meeting tons of day hikers who were filled with questions. Which is so nice, but then sometimes you’re barely making any progress because you keep getting stopped. The most interesting thing was one particular woman who was our trail running. We said hi and she chatted a sec then asked where we were headed. And we responded “Canada!” Well she didn’t like that answer and snapped back, “ yea well I’m going to China but not right now” super rudely. We were all shocked and misunderstood what happened. Maybe she thought we were being smart asses? Not sure but it definitely bothered all of us, even though it wasn’t our shit so we didn’t need to be bothered. Then the damn snow started again. We kept walking and before we knew it we were pretty far off trail. We had headed in the wrong direction and now have to sort of back track and climb a bit to get back to where we need to go. This caused us to hike just 9 miles to Lake Aloha. Basically still fully frozen over and surrounded by an abundance of snow. So much for being done with snow after Sonora Pass. It was a beautiful campsite though. And the conversation was just as equal. I’m so blessed to get to have real conversations with people that I actually barely know. Even though I feel like I’ve none them forever. The bond that comes from doing this stuff together without the distractions of social media and technology isn’t really something I’ve ever experienced until now. And I am just grateful.

Day 80: today we make it to South Lake Tahoe, THANK GOD! I need a break so bad. We got up and headed out. Jitterbug is super fast and everyone but me seems to be able to follow her pace. It wasn’t long before I was on my own. I was frustrated, looking back I know I was just scared and tired. But I was upset because I felt like our group has had multiple conversations about staying together and then people just take off. Luckily, it happened when we were close to Carson Pass and the snow was sporadic and minimal. We made our way through the forest. Interacting with some day hikers who always congratulate us and ask us about the hike. Overall it wasn’t busy though. I think people are still pulled away from the trails due to the snow. But some others were out there running. Crazy folks. Carson pass was cool. We got some trail magic. They had made different sandwiches, some of which were actually vegetarian! They had pasta salad, cookies, chocolate milk, soda, water, etc. the people working at the trail were so nice. Some people were hitching from here to S.L. One because he has lost his phone and wallet and needs to go get that sorted. And although we offered to buy him some food, he said he would rather just get there. Which I totally got. In the parking lot Jitterbug talked some couple into letting her stay at their house, but the rest of us were not welcome. When we left we decided to play some games. So we play the Valley of the Green Glass Door, and some games Scotty knew. It was fun, we yelled, we laughed and it helped time go by. After Carson Pass were a lot of day hikers, it much drier on this side. Since it’s the 4th and still early a lot of people found themselves on this beautiful hillside before devouring food and beer at a bbq. We passed them without any effort, they were impressed with our speed due to our packs, but by now we have had over 3 months of hiking under our belts, and just finished the toughest section. So we were in pretty good shape for a dry trailed climb. We crossed over creeks and across Meadows, through trees, until finally we found ourselves at US highway 50 our transport to the town of beautiful Tahoe. It was just me, Scotty, and Stats and pretty quickly we got a hitch from a guy named Jess. And man was he interesting. He was so chatty, kept repeating stories, asked if any of us had a pipe….told us about his girlfriend. Then invited us to stay at his and his brothers place. It’s free and we can shower and do laundry. This is when the night turned into a shit show. We all showered, I put on some way too big overalls and t-shirt Jess gave me. But I kinda liked it! Jess was heavily drinking, smoking pot, and whipped out some shrooms….wtf? This dude goes hard….he was hammered and passed out on his outdoor couch when we woke him to go get some pizza to eat. He joined along and that was its own experience. When we got back we got an Uber to meet his bro and friends at Secret Beach in the lake to watch the fireworks. I was so excited, but I would have much rather just went to sleep then be around all this. Everything is so loud, people are super drunk and acting like idiots. Trying to fight each other to see fire works because the view is limited due to the high water from all the rain. All I kept thinking is take me back to the mountains please!!!! When the fireworks ended it took forever but we finally got a ride home laying in the back of a pick up. That night we slept soundly outside in the backyard….well except for listening to Jess and his brother fight all night.

Day 79: So a couple of nights ago before we got to camp we had to hike a pretty sketchy area. We were walking on snow on a slope that lead right down into some raging water. I remember Freckles and I being pretty sketched out and frustrated with the position we were in. Spikes on definitely helped but it’s still scary. And someone lost a trekking pole or something and Scotty had to go down to retrieve it. But today was another day filled with sketchiness. I had multiple falls today. I twisted my ankle and landed really hard directly onto my right hip. The trail is completely beating me at the moment. And I have again multiple thoughts of quitting. (I haven’t realized until writing these posts how often I thought of leaving the trail) we hiked 22-23 miles today and there was a specific section of trail that went up onto a high ridge, but it looked really sketchy so we thought that going lower along rocks would be a better bet. But it was 100% more dangerous than going to the ridge. The rocks were really unstable and slippery. It was rough because there’s no self arresting on rocks. On snow at least we had the gear for it. There was a part where the snow was over some rocks but there was a space between the rocks and the snow where you could slip under and keep sliding. And I slipped, and my water bottle lost its life. But luckily I didn’t. But when I slipped the water bottle fell out of my bag and slid down the rocks under the snow to never be found again. We probably walked only ..5 miles in an hour. After that sketchiness we had to climb way back up to where the trail actually is. Through rocks and holding onto twigs and small things to pull ourselves up. It was so hard. But fucking finally Scotty yelled trail and it was just ahead. Once we got over the pass and we’re heading down is when I had my next fall. And one where for the moments I was sliding I literally thought my life was over. One the slope walking I was just following steps and didn’t really look down to see what was below but then I slipped. I tried to slam my whippet a couple of times in the snow but kept sliding. And I just kept yelling “fuck, fuck, fuck” I looked up at Scotty as I slid and he could do nothing but watch. I finally was stopped. By some trees. Whew. I should have clearly practiced self arresting much more. Because trying to just slam it into the snow doesn’t work at all. I got lucky. Idk what would have happened if those trees weren’t there. But they were so ill just focus on that for now. 👏🏽. I was so happy for this day to be done. And tomorrow we get to South Lake. We will be there on the 4th and Brit comes the next day!!!! I’m excited, but need to just focus on getting there. My body and mind are done, my fall on my hip has caused a lot of pain even into my jaw. I need a damn break, and for this snow to go away. Forever.

Day 78: Hiked a hard 22 miles today. It was literally all but maybe a mile or 2 uphill. My legs and even arms, from using the trekking poles so much are exhausted. Doing 2 more days of this will be gnarly. Please please just bless us with dry trail soon! I am over this! Shortly before the pass once we had done our last bit of climbing for the day we were at Noble Saddle. A beautiful scenic spot to both sides of the saddle. And we learned there was phone service there. I got to Facetime Brit and although she is having to go through a lot of trouble to come see me in Tahoe she is and OMG I’m so excited! Getting to see her is one of the few things getting me through this current section. I had another emotional day today. Which is probably good because in real life I rarely cry or get emotional. But this is legit the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Not even physically, but mentally. And it’s just because this section is no fun to me. So everyday is like going to your job that you hate. Where time and work just drags on and there’s no passion there. I mean it comes in waves but overall all this snow has made me dislike this trail and this experience. But I know I will never quit, because just thinking about it already brings me feelings of regret. I have to keep going. It will be worth it, I know it will. Tonight we are camping at Hwy 4 at Ebbetts Pass. *i have no idea what day these pics are from so they are not accurate to today’s journal.