Friday June 13, 21.3mi/34.3km

Birch Creek (860.1/6760ft) to Toquima Ridge (881.4/6850ft) (NV)

I slept great in my new tent and even though it was a little damp in the valley, The fabric didn’t stretch and sag. This sil-poly material seems so much better. It was a nice morning of downhill hiking.

I descended through Birch Creek Canyon. I loved seeing the cliffs and rock faces.

After a couple miles, the canyon wall started to disappear and I was entering the main valley, which apparently is called Big Smoky Valley.

That’s the same name of the valley where I was almost a week ago so that’s a little confusing. A little while later I left the National Forest.

Looking back on the Toiyabe Mountains that I spent last week traversing.

The rest of the morning I spent crossing the valley, initially following a fence line.

And then just following a perfectly straight, ancient road for a couple hours.

I started seeing some hoof marks on the ground, and I saw burros in the distance.

I arrived at Spencer Hot Springs a little after noon, so I thought it was a perfect time to have lunch. Another large group had just arrived on their ATVs, and though their dogs had initially tried to scare me off, they were very friendly people. An ice cold Coors light never tasted so good.

We talked for a while, they are camped in the same valley I was in a few days ago, seems like they’re having a great weekend. I passed around my little map of the Hot Springs Trail to explain what I was doing, some people seemed shocked and/or impressed that I would walk that far. Fun times!

Soon they were headed out to their next stop, I said goodbyes and then went to check out the hot spring.

The water seems nice and hot, probably 115°F. It was kinda a hot day and there was no shade, so I didn’t feel like getting all the way in, I just put my legs in. I was there for probably an hour relaxing and eating my lunch and listening to an audiobook. Eventually I packed up and on my way out noticed there were other constructed pools, so I checked out one of the other ones too.

This one was much cooler, maybe only 90°F. It was also surrounded by burros, who seemed both shy and very curious at the same time.

From there I had a pretty chill afternoon of following an ancient dirt road, and then some surprisingly easy XC hiking up and over the Toquima mountains.

Pretty quickly, I was on top of the ridge.

I followed that for a little while through some nice pinion pine forest, and then started to descend the other side.

It was fun to descend while walking in a wash, feels like forever since I’ve hiked in a wash. I’m not sure why this trail doesn’t use them more often. There are two other mountain ranges I will be crossing over briefly during this section. I’m hiking East during this section, which means I’m going against the grain of the mountains. I found a nice little camp spot under some pinyon pines, and of course in a wash. It seems nobody ever comes up here since there are no roads or trails, so it should be a quiet night.

Thursday June 12, 10.1mi/16.3km

Austin (859.0/6555ft) to Birch Creek (860.1/6760ft) (NV) + 9.0mi Austin spur

Not a whole lot of interesting things happened today, I finished my usual cleaning chores and then left the hotel at 11am, heading to the little veterans park to sit on a shaded bench while updating my journal. Having finished that I walked a block and returned to the International Cafe, today just ordering french fries. I met a fascinating older couple from Colorado who were wrapping up a huge loop roadtrip to the Olympic peninsula in Washington. After my meal I walked up to the library, and on the way I noticed this old bar. I’m not sure if they ever understood the coincidence of naming their bar Golden Club, while advertising Coors.

The town library had recently moved into an old renovated general store. It was a really neat building.

The inside was small but very nice, and they even had one of those cool rolling ladders to get to the books on the top shelves.

After updating my maps and doing a few other computer chores, I ended up chatting with the librarian about my hiking route. I also learned about Mormon crickets and their part in the history of Mormons and Salt Lake city. The Hot Springs Trail is a lonely trail, and I miss having conversations with other people, especially intelligent conversations with interesting people like her. But alas, it was 4pm and time to leave, so I hiked out and reversed my route from yesterday.

Back up the hill, and then right back down to Birch Creek again.

After 3 hours, I was back on the official Hot Springs Trail, and decided to hike a little further and cover some new terrain. After a mile I found a cozy little spot next to the creek, and set up camp in my new tent.

Wednesday June 11, 7.6mi/12.2km

N Fork Birch Creek (859.0/7300ft) to Austin (859.0/6555ft) (NV) +7.6mi Austin spur

Usually on town days, I’m up earlier and excited to get to a restaurant and eat my face off. But the tiny Town of Austin doesn’t have anything open before 11am, so I lazily left my campsite just before 8am. I had another hour of gradual uphill hiking and then 4 miles of downhill into the town.

After I got over the highest point I could see down into the little town. The view reminded me strongly of descending into some of the little towns on the HRP/Pyrenees hike.

I got into town a little after 10am, and since no food establishments were open, I went to the post office and took care of that task.

I picked up my box of food, and my new tent (my old one finally died after 6,000 miles). As I walked through the town, I noticed most of the storefronts were closed. This little cafe still had their temporary closure sign from Covid-19.

And this convenience store appeared long out of business.

It was a cute little Main Street though, with the classic Western storefronts and the feel of an old mining town.

And they heavily advertised Highway 50, “the loneliest Road in America”.

Finally, it was 11am, and I walked into the International Cafe, which seemed to be neither of those words. They didn’t serve any International food or traditional cafe/breakfast food, only burgers and chicken wings.

The food was actually pretty decent and the server was friendly, and I especially appreciated the cheap cold drinks!

I spent an hour there eating and relaxing and then headed over to the hotel to try to check in early. It worked!

The room was a strange configuration with a secondary little bedroom off the main room. But it was very modern and seemed to be recently renovated. Lots of USB plugs, a waterfall shower, and a heat pump. I exploded the contents of my backpack all over the room and washed some clothes in the sink, and then unpacked my boxes from the post office. Delicious homemade peanut butter cookies in the food box!

I spent a couple hours planning the next parts of this trail, eating some snacks I got from the convenience store nearby, and watching old 2000s movies. High School Musical was on two different channels, fascinating. By 5pm I was pretty hungry so I went over to the other restaurant in town, Grandma’s.

I have been craving a salad all week so that was the first thing I ordered.

They had a pretty limited menu, and on some advice from the two hikers ahead of me (Eric and Krista) I ordered a pizza and it was legit really good.

It was called the ridiculous pizza and it had basically every topping on it. Except pineapple, because I’m not a heathen. As I was leaving dinner I ran into two other outdoorsy looking guys, so I chatted with them and learned that they are biking across the US on Highway 50. Pablo is from Madrid, and Gary is from DC, and they just met each other yesterday after a month on their journey.

It was really cool to meet other adventurers, we swapped a few stories and then went down the street to the convenience store where we each got some snacks or drinks. And of course I got ice cream! They finish about a week, at the Golden Gate bridge. Pretty cool! I went back to my motel room and started packing up stuff for tomorrow, while watching some more old movies.

Tuesday June 10, 19.7mi/31.7km

Kingston Canyon Trailhead (840.7/7440ft) to N Fork Birch Creek (859.0/7300ft) (NV) +1.4mi Austin spur

I didn’t get to sleep until almost 10pm so I slept in and had a late start out of camp. It was chilly in the shade but the day was warming up rapidly.

In less than a mile I passed by this old guard station, which looked like a relic of the 1930s CCC era.

It was a quiet morning of hiking up dirt roads that nobody seems to drive, the only noise was from this very vocal bird.

I had a very gradual uphill hike to a low pass, with heaps of scenery to distract me.

I arrived to a junction point where the guidebook has an option to take an 8 Mile XC route across the top of a ridgeline, but it meant an extra 3,000 ft of climbing and I didn’t want to be stuck up there in the afternoon thunderstorms. So instead I just had a nice relaxing break by the little creek at the junction.

Eventually I left from my little spot and continued up on the rough dirt road, and I only saw one car the whole day. I didn’t hear them coming since they have a modern (electric) car, and they stopped to chat and offered me a cold drink!

Stephen & Zoe were driving back home to Silver City, New Mexico from a “quick trip” they had made up to Fairbanks. Shortly after we parted ways neared the top of the pass and started seeing dozens of these massive insects.

They seem to be some sort of nuisance cricket, they don’t seem to fly or bite. They can only hop. But there were hundreds of them, all scattering out of my path as I walked down the road.

But it was a very scenic descent into the next little valley for Big Creek.

Then I climbed up over another pass and down into the Birch Creek valley. At the top of the pass, I took a break and a large group of a dozen ATV riders came through. They were pretty spread out and each one stopped right next to where I was sitting, while running their loud and smelly exhaust, which was a pretty dick move. The last two riders were better and just continued past, but they also had quiet electric ATVs so they’re probably just more considerate people. I didn’t see anybody else the rest of the day and the descent into the valley was in a cool little Aspen forest.

Since I got lower in elevation, the trees disappeared as usual.

Lots of nice green scenery, and the thunderclouds didn’t seem to be as aggressive today.

I had to get creative to keep my feet dry while getting across the little creek, it was the only tricky crossing all day.

A bunch of tributary streams converged into one main stem, Birch Creek. It started to feel canyon-esque with all of the rocks nearby, I really liked this area.

This spot marked the end of this section in the guidebook, from here I will hike a 9-mile spur route out to the town of Austin to resupply. I ended up hiking over a mile up the spur route before I found a suitable camping spot, so it will be a pretty short day tomorrow morning.

Monday June 9, 27.7mi/44.6km

Marysville Canyon Trail Jct (813.0/8890ft) to Kingston Canyon Trailhead (840.7/7440ft) (NV)

Another beautiful day on the Toiyabe Crest Trail! I left camp at 6:30 and had a few miles through steeply rolling hills on old 4wd roads.

It’s funny that this old road would be steeper than a trail, usually roads switchback up hillsides too. Not this one… Straight up. Paula Abdul style.

I was at a slightly lower elevation now just below 9,000 ft, and I started seeing all these huge leafy plants. I know they will eventually sprout yellow flowers, but none of these had them.

The Toiyabe Crest Trail is generally a well-maintained and well signed trail, for pretty much all 50 miles of its length. In this case it was oversigned, as there was no creek here, and the San Juan basin is one ridgeline over!

A beautiful morning of hiking.

I hiked by a bunch of these signs yesterday but they were all faded, so I was finally able to get a nice photo of a nice new sign for this National Recreation Trail.

The trail would weave around the mountainsides and occasionally dip into small gullies, some of which had creeks and therefore lots of lush vegetation. I loved hiking through the little Aspen forests.

One of the little creeks was still covered in a lingering snowfield, which was easy to walk across, but it meant I had wet feet now.

My final task of the day was to climb up this valley, to the 10,000 ft pass in the distance.

More aspen forests! Actually it’s more like an Aspen grove.

Kingston canyon is the northern end of the Toiyabe Crest Trail.

I stopped by the creek to refill my water, have a snack and wait out the remaining thunder. After a mile of easy switchbacked hiking I was at the top of the pass, the view looking back down what I had just climbed:

The trail stayed up high on a ridgeline and wrapped around a small summit. I should have expected the Eastern sides to still have cornices.

No way I was going to try to traverse on that snow, and it was easy to go up and then around.

I was hiking in the sunshine, but the storms in the distance provided a very interesting lighting contrast.

I love a good ridgeline walk, it was just so good. If yesterday was my favorite day, today was my second favorite. These two rock pillars seemed like sentinels guarding the final part of the trail! Like the ones from the movie, Neverending Story.

Epic views.

Way up here at 10,500 ft, I saw a lonely little flower clinging to life next to a rock.

It was nearing the end of the day, so I was happy to be approaching my planned camping spot at a lower saddle at 9100 ft. Again though, even though there had been trees and bushes all day, there weren’t any here in the saddle. And it was quite windy, making it a pretty unusable camp spot. So I continued three more miles, all the way down to the valley, at Kingston canyon Trailhead.

I did get a special treat watching the full moon rise over Groves Lake.

A few minutes later I was at the trailhead, and camped literally directly at the trailhead, since I promised my feet I would go no further (picture taken the next morning).

There was a nice picnic table here, so I enjoyed dinner sitting at a table and it felt so luxurious.

By now it was 9pm and getting quite cold in this deep damp valley, so I quickly setup my tent and crawled into my sleeping bag with a bunch of warm clothes.

Sunday June 8, 27.4mi/44.1kmSaddle near Pete’s Cabin (785.6/8590ft) to Marysville Canyon Trail Jct (813.0/8890ft) (NV)It was surprisingly chilly overnight, and I started hiking in my fleece and warm hat.In a couple minutes I was at the pass, where there was a great view of Arc Dome, where I would be later today.The trail is also noticeably better on the other side of the pass. Still brushy, but very easy to follow.I just sent it a couple miles down to the Reese River, where the trail got a little confusing amongst all the vegetation and felled trees.Once I found the correct spot to cross, it was easy, and I noticed that beavers had been very busy in this area, hence all the fallen trees.The trail remained along the river for a little while and was pretty green and lush.Pretty soon I turned off the Reese River Trail and started climbing along the Big Sawmill Creek Trail.The first few minutes of the trail were flooded by Beaver activity, but after that the trail generally stayed high and dry away from the tangle of vegetation near the creek. I noticed these neat alpine flowers as I started to climb higher.Unfortunately I also noticed this little guy trying to hitch a ride on my sock.He died a quick and hopefully painful death between two sharp rocks. All that lush vegetation from earlier must be where I picked up that tick. I continued to climb up the Sawmill Creek drainage, where more wildflowers appeared.It was like nature’s own bouquet! And then some corn lilies appeared, which I hadn’t seen yet on this trail.Near the top of the climb, the stream dwindled to a tiny creek, the lush vegetation disappeared, and some small snowbanks remained from the winter.Looking back down on what I had just hiked up:Near the top of the climb, I joined the official Toiyabe Crest Trail, TCT.I continued another 10 minutes to the top of the climb, where there was a junction to the Arc Dome Summit trail.That pointy peak in the distance is actually 3 miles away, so I chose not to do the 6 mile roundtrip side-quest. But I had a nice break at the trail junction, it was even kinda warm, despite the fact that I was at 11,000 ft elevation.I had a nice long lunch and thoroughly checked myself for ticks, and cleaned out my socks and shoes from all the river crossings. After lunch it was a blissful afternoon of walking along high plateaus and ridgelines.Early on, I came to a snow cornice, which was pretty small and easy to hike through.I was actually carrying microspikes, but they would have been useless here as the snow was so soft and slushy there’s nothing to grip on. Looking back to the little snow cornice I had come down:Some clouds moved in and it became a little windy as I traversed the plateau.On the north- and east-facing slopes, there was a surprising amount of snow remaining.It was extremely enjoyable hiking on a nice trail with amazing views all afternoon.Once I dropped off the initial plateau, I was following ridgelines, usually around an elevation of 10,500ft.My Luna bar was absolutely correct today.There are barely any trees up here at this elevation and the ones that exist seem to be very stunted and gnarled.Some thunder-y looking clouds moved in, and I was glad I was hiking around the peaks and not over them.Just weaving my way through more little peaks.It kind of felt like being back on the PCT in Northern California again, or the Richmond range in New Zealand. Lots of nice trail with never-ending views!When I got to my planned camping spot, I was surprised to see there weren’t any trees, despite it being at a lower elevation of 9,500 ft. It was also insanely windy at Mohawk Canyon saddle, so there was no way I could camp there and so I had to continue hiking. 5 miles later I found myself at a saddle near Marysville Creek Canyon, which was at a slightly lower elevation and had trees. Glorious trees! My late 7:30 arrival at camp meant that after I did all my evening chores, the sun had already set, leaving just this deep red sky remaining.This was by far my favorite day of the entire Hot Springs Trail so far! There’s another 30 miles or so on the Toiyabe Crest, so I look forward to what tomorrow will bring.

Saturday June 7, 24.2mi/39.0km

Big Smoky Valley (761.4/5490ft) to Saddle near Pete’s Cabin (785.6/8590ft) (NV)

I left camp at 6:30 and was excited that I only had 6 more miles until water!

There hasn’t been any water since I left Tonopah, so I’ve been rationing my water for the 44 mile waterless stretch. I actually came across some water a mile earlier than expected, so that was a nice surprise.

I walked by some ranches which had a few friendly horses, who were not at all shy about wanting their faces itched.

When I got to the designated spot to get water, the green gate was padlocked shut with a few no trespassing signs. But there was a nearby old stone hut, and I could get to the creek from behind that building.

I was no longer in the big valley, and was now heading up a narrowing canyon.

It was exciting to enter a national forest again, usually that means more trails and less roadwalking.

I passed by some old buildings, most of which were abandoned but one of them was inhabited and the guy came down and asked what I was hiking. He was really curious for details and invited me up for cold lemonade and fruit.

After a quick visit, I continued a couple of miles on a hot dirt road.

Fortunately that only lasted 2 miles and then I was in the Peavine campground, which was nice and shady and peaceful with the flowing creek.

It was also home to plenty of wildlife!

I decided to stop and have an early lunch, it was such a nice spot.

I was there for over an hour and then I noticed that usual afternoon clouds had arrived, so I decided it was a good time to continue heading up the road.

The road crisscrossed Peavine Creek a dozen times, and many of those crossings I walked right through it and got wet feet. As I slowly ascended, I noticed the junipers and pinion pines had returned.

And then the dirt road ended and I was entering the Arc Dome wilderness, on an actual hiking trail!

The guidebook describes this as a nice trail, which is pure fiction. It was easy enough to follow but was a little brushy.

When the trail ventured near the creek or crossed it, the fast-growing willows really crowded the trail and made it hard to see. At one point I stumbled upon an entire cow skeleton, which was shocking.

And a minute later I came across its hide as well. Kinda creepy.

As I continued to ascend eventually the little creek dried up, and the trail was now passing through sagebrush. It was easier to follow the trail but very scratchy.

I had planned to camp at the site of Pete’s cabin, but when I got there it was overgrown and not really suitable for camping. So I continued a few more minutes towards the pass, which I was sure would have a flat spot for my tent. Fortunately, I found a little spot amongst these short little trees just before the pass, even better!

Hopefully it doesn’t get too cold tonight, I’m camped up at 8,600 ft elevation.

Friday June 6, 25.6mi/41.2km

Lime Wash (735.8/6300ft) to Big Smoky Valley (761.4/5490ft) (NV)

It’s daylight so early now, so I was awake at 5:30 and hiking by 6:00. I had a few minutes of hiking up a steep old 4×4 track which got me warmed up pretty quickly.

The rest of the morning was all XC hiking going up and over the San Antonio mountains. It was never steep but it was almost always rocky. Some of the ridgelines even had neat little rock fins.

I could tell this area was recently volcanic due to the rock type, and I had to constantly step over and around them.

The scenery was beautiful though! I just couldn’t look at it while hiking or else I would trip on a rock.

In the distance I could see a Solar Concentrating plant, I had seen one of these before near Vegas and they are a pretty neat idea for generating power.

They’re surrounded by thousands of mirrors which focus the sunlight on a single point in the center. Neat! Since I was up at 8,000 ft I had views in every direction.

Instead of following the guidebook mapped line, I decided to follow my own line for the descent off the ridgeline. It would result in more of a direct descent and less side-hilling across a slope. Ironically when I got to my exit point off the ridgeline, I came across this cool looking rock.

It matches the photo in the guidebook which calls it “Spur Rock”, and says it’s the start of the descent off the ridge. I’m glad my independently created route agreed with the guidebook text, even though the guidebook’s maps don’t match at all. For almost a mile, I descended down a series of steep gullies.

And arrived at the old San Antonio mining area.

There were half a dozen old buildings scattered about, and I didn’t dare walk inside any of them. The floors all looked like they would collapse under my weight.

The rest of the afternoon I hiked on old dirt roads slowly descending down to Big Smoky Valley.

It was of course very easy hiking, and I got to watch the cloud formations grow and shift overhead as they always do in the afternoon.

Looking north, I could see the Toiyabe mountains, where I would be for the next few days.

Also in that photo is a really faint old 2-track road, or “wagon road” as the guidebook calls it. Initially it was difficult to see and follow, but I got the hang of identifying traces of it and connecting to them. After a few more hours of hiking, flat roads like that, sometimes sandy, I arrived at a spot where I could set up my tent. The last few miles of the day were near a ranch, so I couldn’t camp there. And then for a few miles the ground was extremely sandy, which would be impossible to stake in a tent. But I finally found a nice cozy wash to camp in.

I accidentally hiked a bigger day than I intended, especially given that it took me all morning to hike the 10 miles of XC. But the afternoon miles were easy and flew by.

Thursday June 5, 12.9mi/20.8km

Tonopah (722.9/5990ft) to Lime Wash (735.8/6300ft) (NV)

Sleeping indoors is always a little strange during a hike, I’m used to the mentality ” the sky’s awake so I’m awake”. But the motel room stays dark so I slept in until 7:30, grabbed a second shower, and some free tea and muffins from the motel lobby. This next section is 145 miles long, so I bought 7 days worth of food.

I packed everything up, and it’s quite heavy. This section also starts with a 45 mile water carry, so I’m bringing 7 liters. The guidebook has a source after 7 miles, but it’s a well and I don’t trust man-made water sources as much. Plus the last few hikers have had trouble finding it, and I’m sure I will too. I swung by the Tonopah brewery to rehydrate.

I had planned on stopping by the pizza place for a slice and a soda, but once I was there I noticed they had a buffet so I had to partake.

After many slices, breadsticks, and root beers, I slowly made my way out of town.

It was mostly hiking on dirt roads today through sagebrush, not the most interesting thing but it certainly is relaxing. I spotted these two radar antennas on a nearby hillside, kind of a strange place for them. I wonder what they’re used for?

As the afternoon went on, the clouds started to build up.

After 7 miles I came to the spot where Frazier’s Well was supposed to be. I found an old mine shaft.

And some old rusted metal troughs.

I poked around the area pretty thoroughly, and didn’t come up with anything that looked wet or that had water. I looked closer at my maps and noticed another drainage just 100 m away, so I explored that and found what I believe was supposed to be the well.

It was a dry metal trough with a black plastic tub that had grass growing in it. But definitely no water. Not even any damp soil. Darn.

I’m glad I carried all my water from the town! Continuing on, the sky seemed to get even cloudier in every direction except for the area I was hiking in. Weird.

After about 13 miles, the easy road walking was coming to an end, and there was a long XC climbing section coming up. So I decided to camp a little early, before I got into the XC section.

Of course, I’m camped in another wash. Better than being camped up high and exposed to wind and thunderstorms!

Wednesday June 4, 5.2mi/8.4km

Paymaster Canyon Rd (717.7/5520ft) to Tonopah (722.9/5990ft) (NV)

I’m usually excited to get up early on a town day, but I stayed up an hour later than usual last night watching some Netflix, so I didn’t leave camp until 6:30am. It was an easy and gradual uphill roadwalk to Tonopah.

Walking uphill to town is quite unusual, and I can’t think of another example trail town where this happens. I was in town at 8:30, but nothing was really open yet so I killed some time being a tourist and taking photos.

It’s a cool old Main Street and a historic mining town.

Some fancy artwork.

I stopped into a hardware store to ask about buying a fuel canister, they didn’t have it but suggested this place down the street.

A-bar-L Western store carried a little bit of everything, it basically looked like a general store but modernized and had Wi-Fi. The owner Paul was super nice, and even though the store didn’t sell fuel canisters, he called his wife at home to bring me one of his personal ones which I bought off of him. Amazing. He also gave me an extra cardboard box, which I needed to ship my ice ax and micro spikes back since I don’t need them anymore. I went to the post office next door and shipped those items away, and having done all my chores in this section of town, I walked to the southern end where my motel and the restaurants are. I was pretty sure the hotel wouldn’t let me check in to my room at 10 am, so I went directly to the Tonopah Station Casino, which had a cafe.

The decor was very old-timey, and it’s Nevada so of course you had to walk through the slot machine room to get to the restaurant.

I ordered a nice big breakfast, it was a small little diner type place with one waitress.

I was still hungry so I ordered more food.
This is what happens when you order a sundae at breakfast and the diner waitress only works the breakfast shift, and has no idea how many scoops to use.

It was a ridiculous amount of ice cream and I felt like that was my big win for the day! Strangely, the only laundromat in town is also in the casino, and the machines are ridiculously cheap only $2. So I hung out for an hour there doing my laundry, and then walked next door to the Raley’s supermarket to resupply. The cashier put my groceries in these old-timey flimsy plastic bags which I haven’t seen in a few years now, so I had to take a photo for novelty purposes.

I finally left that shopping center after noon, and they had a cool map by the front door.

Tonopah is located at my finger, and I’m eventually hiking up to the green section in the upper right corner of Nevada. I walked 5 minutes down the street to the Dream Inn motel, which was the cheapest in town and also quite modern. I had been too warm for most of the past week, so it felt good to just turn the AC on full power and see how cold I could get the room. After a shower I went back out and got another meal, and then spent the rest of the day relaxing watching shows and doing some trail planning.