Veri's PCT Hike

Day 16 - Miller Lake

BIGGEST / HARDEST day so far. The ascent in the morning was 3 miles long and took 2.5 hours. It was so rocky, I decided to rename PCT to PRT (Pacific Rock Trail). When I got to the top, surprise Surprise Surprise! It was SNOWING! Suddenly it got super windy and the temperature dropped 20-30° F. I was still in a t-shirt and skirt! Well that changed quickly. First it snowed a little, then harder, then it hailed for a long time. Once I crested at >10,000ft and started descending, the snow got more gentle and everything got quiet. I saw 7 deer (one tiny fawn) and 2 partridges or grouse, not sure what that wild chicken was. I was even passed by a SOBO called “Spaceman”. Here I thought I was the one closing the southbound trail. I was thinking that almost at Miller Lake, my destination, but OH NO! First a 2 mile rock climbing expedition! It was already 5:30pm and at 50, I was still scaling stupid rocks. At least I found a good campsite hidden from the wind. But at >9,600 ft it is hailing and snowing up here. Hope to stay warm tonight!

Kevin's note: Sunday the 18th. After a cold/windy night and the apparent pervasive remnants of a horse stampede, Veronika is prepping for her last big climb before a reprieve in Yosemite. 12.4 miles and a MONSTER 4,600 feet in ascent! Tonight will also be the coldest yet and sleeping at 9,500 feet won't help. Following day will also be long, but trending flatter. Finally Veronika will exit on Tuesday in Tuolumne Meadows for 2 days to rest up before the final section to Mammoth. If you write in the comments section, I'll forward your message!

[ satellite texts below ]

• Is horse poop superior in quality? Humans must bury theirs 8 inches deep while horses 💩 is displayed every 8 feet. At the very least, shove that shit aside!

• I don't have anything to "stuff" my backpack with. I am literally wearing EVERYTHING I have.

• I use warm tea bags to warm and wash my hands.

Day 14 - Wilma Lake

Today’s 10 miles was a pleasant surprise after yesterday’s awful stair climbing. I spend the whole day on a beautiful trail crossing meadows, green forests, and was doing many creeks and rivers. All of this to myself! I have not seen a human since the morning at Walker River when a couple of fishermen invited me to dinner at 10am :-) They had a base camp 15 minutes away, but I had 15 miles to go! :-) Anyway, it’s been almost 48 hours without seeing anyone. About 2 months ago that very idea would have scared me, but I am getting used to being alone. I sleep well at night. I no longer listen to music to keep me company,just enjoy the silence and the views. I keep hoping to see a bear or at least a mule deer, but they are probably already having a midmorning nap by the time I get going. Today went super well until about mile 8 when I seemed to have twisted my ankle. It hurts like crazy when I try to walk on it. It was a very hard last 2 miles to Lake Wilma. As expected, I am alone here except a bunch of squirrels who keep throwing the pine cones down on me

[ satellite texts below ]

• Nearly 48 hrs of not seeing another human. Wow! The thought of being in the wild on my own for that long would have freaked me out before

• Now on day 2 of not even listening to music to keep me company. I enjoy listening to the wind, the birds, the river, the fluttering of the butterflies and chirping of crickets

• Hike from Lake Veri to Lake Wilma was one of the prettiest I have ever seen. Hikers NOBO kept telling me it just gets prettier but it's not possible to imagine prettier until prettier it becomes

• I haven't said a word in 48 hrs. That's one for the record book...and I have 4 more days to go! (I may have said "where the f is that trail?" yesterday 😉)

• After 7:30 p.m it gets VERY quiet. The squirrels stop bickering and chucking pinecones, the birds stop singing, and only the fish are jumping in the lake, hoping to catch a spider or fly.

• It's very interesting to be so alone but not scared. I guess that's the "be prepared" part of scouting. Having everything you need to survive.

Day 12 - Walker River

The breakfast (cowboy) was so delicious! Eggs, pancakes, bacon! Just what I needed. Then Khris, Kevin, and I got a ride with Gary back to the trail. That’s pretty much where they left me. They were 3x faster than I was. Luckily that day I met many day hikers and a father / son duo who gave me their water. It was awesome because there was none for 11 miles and I only had 1.5 litres. The day was truly spectacular, as I was finally doing the “cresting” past of PCT. Scrambled for the first time to 10,800 feet! Then up and down and up and down different saddles until I finally descended to various forests and meadows where I hoped to see a bear. Alas, no shiny wet nose, pointy ears, and googly eyes for me. My end point was Walker River, a sight to behold since I was out of water! I had walked over 15 miles and didn’t reach my campsite until 6pm! I was alone, of course, but not lonely. Unfortunately the satellite phone does not get signal at night so I couldn’t play power with Kevin and the kids.

[ satellite texts below ]

• Finally I was walking the PCT. It took a lot of effort to climb back up to 10800

• Met a whole bunch of day and 3-day hikers going north. The two brothers I met yesterday left me in the dust in the first 20 meters

• There was no water for 10 miles, but luckily a father/son duo gave me a whole bottle! That got me through the last 3 miles

• I hiked 14+ miles today, finishing at Walker river

• I don't even know the names of all the mountains/passes I criss crossed at 10800. It got very windy at that altitude and all signs of wildlife disappeared... even crickets

• The shuttle from Kennedy Meadows didn't leave until 10am so I wasn't able to start hiking until 10:30. I finally finished around 6pm. Such a long day!

Day 10 - Carson River

First completely solo hike of my trip. First a couple of hikers completely freaked me out this morning as I was packing up. I just wasn’t expecting anyone, so I jumped! After that, it was solo the whole way, safe for three houses quickly passing by. The hike was 13 miles long and went up to 9350 once again. I kept hovering around 8888 for a while which made me happy. The forests were endless, scattered with a few beautiful meadows but the BIG vistas of cliffs high above ground didn’t come until the very end of the day. I am at a beautiful campsite near Carson River. After scrambling up Boulder Peak and Disaster Peak, I ate two portions of lasagna with meat sauce. Carb loading for tomorrow’s 3,000 foot climb to Sonora Pass.

[ satellite texts below ]

• First solo hike of PCT trip.

• Listened to music all day long, dancing to good tunes like nobody's watching (no one was) :-)

• Ascended Disaster and Boulder Peaks, which were a bit challenging.

• Only met a couple of hikers while I was packing up, which completely freaked me out. I wasn't expecting anyone, so Sasquatch was the only thing that I though of instead of humans.

• I saw another huge stag checking me out. He was as curious as I was.

• Big day.... 13 miles total, but just a prep hike for tomorrow's 3,000 foot ascent to Sonora pass.

• Today felt easy, and when I arrived at 4:30pm, I felt like I could go for another two hours.

• The evenings are super long when you finish early. Here is what I do:

  1. Set up my tent

  2. Go filter water

  3. Make tomato soup

  4. Make freeze dried dinner

  5. Make tea

  6. Filter more water for breakfast

  7. Charge my phone, my watch, my headphones, and my satellite phone

  8. Write in my journal

  9. Write tidbits o my day or my blog

  10. Play solitaire dice poker; pretend that Kevin, Zuza, and Surbhi are playing with me. I play all four hands to see who will win

  11. Go to bed at 8:30 or 9

Day 8 - Kinney Lake

HUGE DAY… 14 miles on Epix watch, through actually only 12+ according to the mile makers. The vistas were amazing, so expensive, & the forests full of birds and chipmunks. We left at 7:11 AM and didn’t arrive to Upper Kinney Lake until 5: 30 PM. What a day! By far the most amazing surprise was Kevin bringing Surbhi to this hike to meet us! I couldn’t believe it! The BEST! We hiked together the best 2 miles together, then set up camp, ate dinner together, drank wine, and played dice poker & liar's dice while sipping SLIVOVICA. What a great night!

Day 6 - Lost Lake (Forestdale Creek)

WOW - What a day today was!!! The day started at Showers Lake and slowly descended 5 miles to an amazing meadow called Meiss meadow. After that it was up and down over Carson Pass (super long but beautiful) until we reached Hwy 88. Disgusting toilets! The visitor center was lovely though and we stayed over an hour talking to the lady running it as well as “Denver” who I have met before in Desolation Wilderness. He hikes 35-40 miles a day, so there is no way to run into him again. “Eyeroll” was probably here last night. After we set out from teh Hwy 88, there was a lot of smoke from a wildfire near Carson. It freaked me out because it was already hard to breathe and we didn’t know whether the fire would come barreling towards us. It was unnerving at best! We walked fast up and down canyons and over hills. Our goal was 11 miles at a greek buthere was only one camp spot and it wasn’t great. When we found out “Lost Lakes” was “only” another two miles out, we undid the tent we already put up and set out yet again. It was 3.5 miles but who's counting! We are the ONLY ones here. It’s funny how before we were worried if we would be all alone and scared to be along and now we’re worried we’re not going to be alone or worse someone at our tent side! We got here late, past 7pm. We had enough daylight to put up our tents and I washed in the rising moon. So fun! Dinner was all in the dark tonight. Zuza is beat beyond beat. She didn’t even want to eat or take her shoes off! More wine for me today:-)

[ satellite texts below ]

• Biggest day so far! > 14 miles!

• Showers Lakes to Lost Lakes. We don't feel lost.

• Meiss Meadow is incredibly beautiful, but no bears we spotted

• Carson pass was a breeze compared to Huckleberry Mountain the day before

• Finally some chat time at the visitor center on Hwy 99. I bought 3 T-shirts and a stuffed hummingbird... my new talisman

• Finally at Lost Lakes, last drops of wine... Zuza fast asleep.

Day 4 - Echo Lake

The hike from Aloha Lake started at 10:11 am. That's the best we can do. The hike itself was uneventful and even disappointing because there were no accessible lates to swim in . Echo Lake itself was a total downer. 3 miles long, up and down, with no water access until the bitter end. Too many private properties so it wasn't "wild". The disappointment soon turned into joy as we completed Stage 1 and got to Echo Lake Chalet where we downed Gatorades. The Hotel Azure had laundry and our resupply box. We ran around in our towels up and down the hall getting stuff washed and dried. We finished the evening drinking wine, gig gin mules, eating tune tartare, from an amazing fish boat restaurant on a pier over looking the thunderstorms over South Lake Tahoe. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.

Day 2 - Gilmore Lake

Wonderful last morning with Chris, Jerry, Guanjing, and their kids by Wilma Lake! Then off to marker 1111 to the start of my PCT trail. What a sendoff! Starting at my favorite number is amazing! 12 people now down to 5: Tomas, Lukas, Zuza, Kevin, and I. We had to hike 7 miles to Lake Gilmore (Happy Gilmore according to Mr. T) which included the ascent through Dick's Pass at > 9300 ft. We earned ourselves a little wifi :-). At the top we met a guy called "Flamingo" (this trail name), who is on the board of ALDA (Long Distance Association) of thru hikers. They award the Triple Crown to those who complete the PCT, Appalachian, and Continental Divide trails. Flamingo has hiked 1000s of miles! He thinks that someone will eventually give me a trail name; I guess you have to earn it! Lake Gilmore really is a happy place. Got a beautiful camp spot right by a beach and even had the last of the wine. We will sleep well tonight!