10 Jun Day 46 – Middle Fork Feather River

At mile 1249.8. Hiked 25.3 miles today.

I am finally seeing other people. Yesterday I saw Golden who moved on ahead of me. Today I saw a number of thru-hikers who flipped the Sierras. I’ve also been seeing a few section hikers. Nearly all have been SOBO. 

There were 2 types of hikers I have been seeing today. There are the smart hikers who avoided an early hike through the Sierras and there are the intense hikers that plunged into the Sierras, early  but left the Sierras early for one reason or another. Some got fed up with walking through snow. Others got caught in a snowstorm and had to hunker down causing them to be short of food. The intense hikers are also the kind of hikers that will do 30 mile days.

Tonight I am sharing a campsite on the Middle Fork Feather river with 2 of the ‘intense’ hikers named Sherlock and Watson. They were in camp before me despite having hiked 31 miles. Sherlock and Watson were among the 20 or so that got caught in a snowstorm while attempting to cross Forester Pass (elevation 13,000 ft plus). They ended up turning around and backtracking 30 miles due to lack of food. The storm dumped 12 inches delaying their progress.

Watson told me that hikers in the Sierras are now postholing through slush. He said that after the storm some hikers that made it through Forester Pass were sinking waist deep in snow.

Here is the bridge over Middle Fork Feather river. I camped next  to the river where mosquitoes were abundant, but’s my 34% Deet kept them away from me while Sherlock and Watson cowered in tents beneath mosquitoes netting. Ha ha.

Here is the Middle Fork of the Feather River. It was a long descent to the river.

Here are some photos of the scenery along the hike.

Here is one of many flowering dogwood trees I saw while descending in the MF Feather River gorge. Everything began to look more like Georgia in this area.