Category: Uncategorized

an underdog story

an exercise in dreaming big

the dangers of napping

working subtitle

I woke up bright and early to hit the long climb out of Sierra City. The day before i got a burrito called the ‘really big breedo’ from the general store that must’ve weighed about 2.5 pounds. I managed about half for breakfast. On the way out i stopped at the coffee shop where i already was a regular after my day in town and said goodbye to the barista and the baker. Unfortunately the coffee shop was a cousin of starbucks and not of european style so the latte i got was foamy and boiling. The coffee was good though.

Part way up the climb out of town i hit the 1200 mile mark. Three other hikers were there already and posed a riddle to me.

Ketchup said he saw this dog the night before come by his tent, and here he was not enjoying the rocky trail and hot sun. He had a collar with whales on it but no tags. His hair was pressed down and kind of balding under the collar, he had worn it for a while. My maternal instincts from my doggie daycare jobs kicked in and i decided to sobo back to town and see if i could find his owner.

Part way down the climb i passed by a girl who had a car and was going to return to town, so i did a hand off and hopefully she either found his owner or a shelter at least. Unfortunately the sun climbed ever higher and the climb that i wanted to do in the cool early morning became treacherous and sweaty.

I rounded out that day with 15 miles of progress but 22 of hiking. The next day i woke up late but did another 22 that i spent most of listening to Hello from the Magic Tavern which is still very legit. Which brings us to my big day yesterday.

I was still 35 miles from Quincy, my next resupply. Eager to get there and not spend 60 cents for a package of ramen i woke up at 445, drank some caffeine, and set out before the sun. I hiked with Penguin for a while which was nice, i don’t usually hike with people because of my wildly unstable hiking pace. Less than five hours later i pulled my first 10 by 10.

I really slowed down after that, coasting down into a valley with a river. Took me a nice river bath and washed my socks. After that was a long climb up and out of the valley, about seven miles and 4000 feet. My snack supply was running low so i made a hearty bag of ramen i pulled from the hiker box. Sitting in the shade next to the river on a warm summer afternoon ended up disastrous as the loving embrace of a nap fell over me. I awoke at about 4 and hustled to the base of the climb.

I threw on some music and kept a solid 3 mph pace while i raced the fading sunlight. There was still a good hour until sunset when i took a seat by a campfire on top of the ridge and made the mistake of checking my map. 2.2 miles away from a 30 mile day. My feet were burning but i couldn’t stop when i was that close to greatness, even if it meant night hiking.

Right around the next corner i came upon a clever trap to prevent me from hiking: a box full of books. I walked away about 10 minutes shorter of sunlight and now carrying 3 books. With the fuel of the 00s Rock Anthems playlist on spotify i continued until just after dusk and collapsed in the first open space i could find.

This morning i felt great which was a nice surprise. My hitch down to Quincy was a local who was listening to The Adventure Zone which was delightful. We talked about those beautiful boys and D&D 5e and the other hiker with me was so confused.

Now i’m at a pizza buffet, i’ve had about 2 pies and i’m watching the semifinal England/Croatia World Cup game with some very rowdy Brits.

i enjoy some footy and all but like we have the technology to stop clocks and start them again why is stoppage time a thing

ah jeez now there’s overtime come on lads i wanted to do at least 15 miles today

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that dog walk from sierra city lol. the next few days all the hikers were singing praisies, ‘did bonus sobo miles just for a dog.’ the dog did make it back home, but i bet i mention that in the next post.

yep, digital screenshots of a smartphone, that proves it. that 30 day was very rough, the chill day i had at quincy following was a boon.

stoppage time is silly i still feel that way

-the gottadomiles-

I showed up at Donner Pass hungry enough to eat a person, allegedly. Unfortunately it was on the 4th and the ski lodge wasn’t open for breakfast. So i watched Poohbear and Mitch do a meme race in Mario 3 which was fantastic. I stayed very hungry though and demolished a large pizza after they opened.

It weighed me down hard and i sat around for a couple hours digesting. When i finally got the motivation to hike i got stopped by some trail magic and ate a giant hot dog for America. The idea of hiking up to Castle Peak for the fireworks was planted in my head and i started to make motions to watch them up there.

About halfway up the very steep climb i ran across a guy and his son who had the same idea but were blown off the summit and settled on watching from a little saddle. I sat with them for two hours as the son practiced his slingshot aim and admired the hazy sunset.

When 930 rolled along i was very cold in the sunless wind. The fireworks tried their best but they couldn’t crest the ridge and i climbed back down for some disappointed night hiking. Near the bottom i could see some of fireworks, just in time for the finale.

Night hiking was slow because of my abusive backpack, same went for the next day on trail. I was passed by a lot of people i know though so that was nice seeing them all again. Norcal kept proving to me that it’s way cooler than the rest of the trail though and I was way cool with that. After a very long climb down a valley i ended up in Sierra City.

Its a very small gold rush town with a pricey general store. I’m stuck here until 1030 so i spent a while exploring. The history here is interesting, i read an investigative article about how some of the buildings in town weren’t built when the history books claim they were. A coffee shop is in an old building with that good old room smell.

also now it’s almost 1030 it’s time to start making moves. this poor wifi is getting abused, looks like i won’t be putting this on the internet for a bit womp womp

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-hungry enough to eat a person, allegedly-

i like how this one ends with my morning in sierra city. i will end up taking a zero day there and exploring and learning and being blind to the advances by a pretty girl oof. sierra city was so rad tho, look at it in the last post

okay so my guide app is split into five sections: desert, sierra, norcal, oregon, and washington. the sierra section ends at echo lake. now that i’m 60 miles past there, i can’t easily look back at the bit from bridgeport to tahoe so it’s all fuzzy but here we go.

I rolled out of Bridgeport late and caught the sunset up on the ridge. The miles the next two days were very small, i think i got around 12. It was pretty and all but i was dragging.

Thankfully i hit some trail magic, Grasshopper was cooking eggs and beans. He also had coffee and chocolate milk, which i used to fuel a juicy 24. Also i got to see Howzer and Madam Cheesesteak so win win.

Trail magic ran plentiful the next day. I chatted with an older couple who was climbing up to a saddle where they got cell service to hang out and maybe do some office work. They gave me some fancy cliff bars and info about Mount Shasta. A few miles later there was a visitor’s center for whatever pass i just did and they gave me a coke and a good plate of food. Some former thru hikers drove by and told me about the trail magic they did across the street. They offered me cookies and gave me the treasure map to their stashed beer.

The last bit of trail between there and Tahoe was beautiful.

Tahoe has the Lime bike and scooter rental app. It was delightful seeing all the thru hikers with their backpacks on cruising around the city on these scooters. It was liberating. That night i split a room at a hotel so i could watch SGDQ. Puncay and Cheese raced Mario 64 70 star, followed by TAS block, then Pokemon 2 games 1 controller but Shenanigans wasn’t on mic for it so it was a bit disappointing.

also i got this new pack but it’s whack and hurts my body. that’s been consuming my mind for the past 60 miles and will continue to do so until i hit Sierra City in 40 more miles.

Which is a shame because the trail is pretty nice here. Wildflowers are all about and the climbs are pretty gravy. Also cell service is more common, i got to watch two new episodes of Steven Universe in my tent last night. Also i downloaded Acid Rap this morning and that album is fantastic.

i liked the climb up to there

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maan, that ding dang granite gear pack. what a spirit breaker. just look at how light on words this one is. i sure am glad it was pretty because it kept me aloft at least a little.

nice nerd break in the middle there. shen with the insane pokemon knowledge, i enjoy passionate nerds.

it sucks having to pull everything out to get to the treasures that lie at the bottom of this pack. on my osprey i just had to unzip the bottom and boom there’s my quilt and sleeping pad.

it was an interesting choice for granite gear to use sandpaper on the lower back area. not great for very bony pelvises. it doesn’t help that i done got so much food in this pack. i have two bags of chips on the outside, also a bag of bagels and a bag of strawberries that don’t fit in my food bag.

i have lost my knife somewhere so i used my nail clippers to cut a segment off of my z-lite to use for padding on my poor skin and protruding bones.

i really hope this helps because these miles were miserable. i spent the whole time thinking about my poor osprey sitting in a big box at the post office. i don’t want to have wasted the money on getting this new pack, that would really stink.

what’s it like having something other than bones and skin and gorgeous calves in your body

update: i did arts and crafts to make extra padding for my poor hips and it’s still not great. only about 60 more miles until i’m reunited with my good old red menace

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yeh i can still be there with you too, past gadget. sorry we jumped into that bag but the red menace also was bad for you. sorry about that whole bones and skin thing too, it’ll keep being a hurdle to deal with.

bottom zipper packs are clutch. my pack style ain’t fit for these lithe kits.

morale was bottoming out here 100% just go to another story that isn’t as hopeless please

if you’ve ever spoken these words to yourself hey you just might have what it takes to be a thru hiker.

I shipped out from VVR around midday, after writing my last post. I had a couple clif bars, a couple ramen, and a full package of double stuff oreos to make it the ~30 miles to Mammoth Lakes. VVR isn’t on the proper PCT, and i set out on the trail to the Trail after also getting a choco taco.

the rocks were watching their friend rock put on a one rock show

First i got stopped by Two Cup. I hadn’t even made it onto the trail to the Trail before he called out to me from his friend’s campsite. They offered me bloody beers, bloody marys but with beer instead, so that was exciting to both learn of their existence and also drink one that close together. We hung out and drank beers with their old sassy dog for a few hours, then another of Two Cups friends showed up with his dog. That one was a little tremble dog but he was still cute. I managed to pull myself away at around 5 i think.

I made it almost fully back to the Trail when i got stopped again, that time by the sounds of a bunch of people and the sight of a large bonfire. I set off to make some friends when I came across a large water crossing blocking my path to them. There i met Nightcrawler who had the same thought process as me and ended up hammocking there. He’s a cool dude with a big personality and a youtube channel, we talked about future tech and glow in the dark paint and moths. As sunset approached i set off again, vying to at least make it back to Trail before it got too dark. didn’t make it tho

The next morning i made a big 25 day to get as close to Mammoth Lakes as possible, it was during that long push that i spoke the title to myself, since i had to ration out my oreos by calories needed, not by how much of a glutton i am.

My time in Mammoth was spent hurriedly running errands. I tried to find new headphones, did laundry, got a new book, got new boots, got a resupply of just bread and cheese and meat (and jam) in honor of John Muir, and i still had time to watch Incredibles 2. I made it in and out of town the same day, and spent that night around a campfire with hikers i thought were way ahead of me.

I took a leisurely two days to cruise into Tuolumne Meadows while listening to Giantbomb’s E3 coverage. The last bit of trail as i approached Yosemite proper was pretty rad.

At Tuolumne Meadows i got a Game Boy Color and Pokémon Gold in the mail thanks Sarah. The adventures of BUTTLUL, the best pokemon trainer of jhoto, have been fun ways to end the days out here. Shoutout to Fence Post, the toughest Furret of the lands.

Also in Tuolumne Meadows i got recruited to go on a field trip with Patient Zero down to the valley floor. After a series of 4 hitches we made it down and back to the trail at around 11 pm.

Our night hike started off nice, the trail went through a little day hike section with all kinds of learning scrawled on plaques. We saw two sets of eyes gleaming back at us from the darkness that gave us a spook but none of the eyes we saw that day or night were aggressive.

As midnight hit it was my birthday but also hike naked day so we did that. We struggled to find this campground and ended up cowboying mere yards away from a log we had to cross to get there.

The next two days were all smiles and not miles. I think i did double digits each day at least? During the day i was the only hiker i saw hiking naked which was disappointing because i had a bottle full of whiskey that i was to offer to anyone rad enough but it was not so. I took an early stop at Benson Lake and did some good reading on that second day.

this is a good stopping point because there’s about to be a tonal shift. next time on man i dunno: gadget goes to war

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-please stop eating oreos-

sad i didn’t spend any time in mammoth really. the next few days i heard about the neat places people stayed.

wow incredibles 2 just came and went huh. what a clumsy sequel. at least a lot of the action was fun. shame only the first one had good action and also a good plot.

during the e3 coverage i heard an interview with phil spencer, one of the chief cheeses of xbox. he had positive gamer energy in a way i wouldn’t expect a ceo to have and it enedeared him to me.

entry into yosemite. a store sick with tourists with the congealment of hikers orbiting. mail room full to the brim with care packages.

-field trip down to the valley- what a powerful yada, yada, yada. one of the hitches was in a convertible. another was with a woman who was having uncertainties about her journey, we did our best to ease her.

i had interest in a half dome climb with my hiker legs but i was stonewalled by the potential of bureaucracy and opted against it. another coulda woulda shoulda, eh?