At mile 1369.7. Hiked 19.4 miles today.  Here is King Creek crossing. Impossible to cross here with dry feet unless you remove your shoes. Here is where I crossed King creek using a log by walking upstream. Next I came to this boardwalk crossing a beautiful green wetland. I came to Twin Lake where I took a break and swam. The deer didn’t seem to mind. I walked along Twin Lake for a while. I walked through miles of burned forest that allowed many views of Mount Lassen. Mount Lassen is over 10,000 feet. Here...

At mile 1350.3. Hiked 22.8 miles today. My original plan was to hike to boundary spring and camp outside Lassen National Park. This was to make it easy to hike through Lassen without camping which would have required carrying a bear canister. I then realized that I could camp in the Lassen National Park campground and use the campground’s bear lockers. A bonus was that I could have dinner at nearby Drakesbad ranch.  At Drakesbad, not only did I have dinner, but I had a hot shower, clothes washing in...

At mile 1327.5. Hiked 16.6 miles today.  Got a very late start around 10:30 am because I was uploading and editing blog entries that were backlogged for   days. I keep up with the blog each day by writing on notepad and selecting. editing and compressing photos and placing photos in an album labeled for its day. When I have connectivity to the internet. I upload the photos, copy and paste the text into a new blog post, and place photos in appropriate position within the text. I also...

At mile 1310.9. Hiked 24.1 miles today. The day went well because breakfast was heavy. I microwaved Santa Fe Rice Beans and Steak from resupply for breakfast. I also cooked pancakes with grape syrup. I had half a pot of coffee. Next thing  I know, Brenda, owner of Hiker Haven is bringing me cantaloupe, strawberries, and muffins. For once I wasn’t hungry a couple of hours after hitting the trail. I started out at 6:15 am because Brenda runs the shuttle at 6 am.  A good part of the day...

At mile 1286.8. Hiked 16.5 miles today. I ran up on a grouse with it’s brood of baby chicks. The mother hen ran around in loops on the trail in front of me all the while fluttering loudly and angrily. The hen performed its job of distraction because at first I didn’t notice the chicks. The wayward chicks that had not already disappeared in the undergrowth competed with me for  mother hen’s attention. One second the hen was charging toward me, the next it was running angrily toward her...

At mile 1270.3. Hiked 20.5 PCT miles today. Hiked alternate route adding another mile or two. My campsite with human company, again. Good! Usually my only camping companions are bear and deer.  Today I hiked the Bucks Lake  alternate route so I could visit Haskins store. But first, I need to tell you about what I figured out. I’ve been meeting thru-hikers of the “intense” variety who are doing 30 plus mile days and who entered the Sierras in May (early) only to be caught in a blizzard and have to...