Wednesday September 2, 18.8mi/30.3km

Spruce Lake Lean-to #1 (52.0/2390ft) to Cedar River Lean-to (70.8/2120ft) (NY)

It had rained hard most of the night,and I was glad to have stayed in the Lean-to. I started off the morning with dry skies and wet trails.

There was a random benchmark in the middle of the trail.

As I passed by a small unnamed pond, it began to rain again.

The rain fell for the rest of the morning, making everything look so green.

There were dozens of ponds, lakes and streams today. The bridge over West Canada creek was on of the larger structures.

I passed by South Lake, and the beach looked so nice. I wished it was a sunny day.

The bridge over South Lake’s outlet was even bigger.

I stopped for lunch at Cedar River lean-to #3, which was totally not worth it. I wanted a dry place to stop and eat, but it was almost a half mile off the trail.

There were some funny old beer cans inside, including Genesee and Utica Club.

I ate lunch in the Lean-to while enjoying the sounds of the loons on the lake.

I walked by dozens of these very bright purple flowers today, not sure what they are.

I crossed the Cedar River on a long wooden bridge. The river is dammed up, so there is a lake on either side.

I’m not sure what this underground room was, the door opened right onto the trail.

The old cedar River dam, now mostly disassembled.

Only 4.7 more miles to go to a dry Lean-to!

This section of trail was especially verdant with all the ferns.

I came to this junction and turned off to my Lean-to for the night, Cedar River.

There were already two guys camped in it, but they were very friendly and moved to one side. We made dinner and watched another raincloud move in, drenching the fields around us. I fell asleep to the sound of steady rain on the roof of the lean-to.

Tuesday September 1, 18.5mi/29.8km

West Branch Sacandaga River (33.5/1290ft) to Spruce Lake Lean-to #1 (52.0/2390ft) (NY)

I heard Mark and Jim starting to pack up, but I also heard the sound of light rain beginning to fall. Ugh. I stayed in my tent until 6:30am, then packed up. We hit the trail at 8am, and it had stopped raining but everything was wet. Including slippery bridges!

We hiked in the soggy forest all morning, stopping only once for a break at Hamilton Lake Lean-to. Of course Hamilton songs ensued!

The trail passed by Priest’s Vly, a kind of pond/meadow feature.

We arrived at the Highway 8 trailhead just before 11am. The next 3 miles were a roadwalk, so I kept going while Mark& Jim drove to town to buy me some snacks. Awesome friends! I headed toward Piseco, a tiny hamlet with a Post Office and not much else.

Halfway thru the roadwalk, I passed a nice little picnic table spot just for hikers! I kept going, it was raining.

The post office was tiny.

After an hour of roadwalking, my friends picked me up and we went to lunch at a diner in the nearby town of Speculator.

We all ordered the same thing, buffalo chicken sandwich, fries, and beer. The blueberry pie for dessert was pretty spectacular. They dropped me off back at the same spot, we said our goodbyes, and I hiked on into the rain.

The trailhead register.

The trail was an old road, so it was flat and wide for a couple of miles.

Apparently this section is also a Nordic ski trail. Coincidentally, we had discussed coming back and thru hiking this in winter.

After an hour, the trail started to climb and get rougher.

The rain had slowed to a mist, but the trees were all dripping, and I had plenty of signs of a wet forest. A massive fungi:

And a red eft:

A few miles before camp, I saw this creature, and it ran up a tree. I have no idea what it was.

The damp forest continued, with ferns everywhere and the occasional stream ford.

I arrived at my intended Lean-to at 6pm, and I was the only one there.

I dropped my pack inside, and walked down to the nearby lake. Spruce Lake looks huge.

It even had a canoe! And this one looked much more seaworthy than the previous canoes.

I don’t usually camp inside Lean-tos, but it was raining and I had it to myself. I made dinner, had a delicious IPA, and read my book. By 9pm I was falling asleep as the light rain continued falling.

Monday August 31, 18.2mi/29.3km

Rock Lake (21.7/1920ft) to West Branch Sacandaga River (33.5/1290ft) (NY)

The morning came quickly, and I shuffled down to the lake to get water. Nice view!

Jim and Mark looking for wildlife across the lake. No moose or loons were found.

We hit the trail at 8am and had a nice morning on a smooth trail.

A mile in, we passed Meco Lake, a small marshy body of water.

After another mile, we passed another lake. Silver Lake looked much larger and nicer.

We took a break at Silver Lake Lean-to and I ate way too many goldfish. We also recorded some short instructional videos for the Adirondack Winter Mountaineering School. I packed up all my gear and we got moving again.

There was a long marshy area with some nice elevated puncheon boardwalk.

A few miles later, we stopped for an early lunch break at Canary Pond.

It was a great little spot, and all three of us went for a swim in the deep, clear lake.

Jim pointing to a turtle in the water.

I finished drying off, and we had a nice stroll down overgrown trail. Eventually the forest opened up, and we crossed a large meadow. There were many old signs of beaver activity.

This tree was huge, and we stopped for a few minutes trying to figure out what species it was.

The trail improved, and we even saw a trail maintainer working on installing more markers.

At the end of the day, we arrived to an area called “white house”, where a swingbridge crosses the Sacandaga River.

The West Branch Sacandaga River was still flowing after a dry summer.

We stopped to look for good fishing spots.

After searching for a campsite on the far side of the bridge, we crossed back to the south side and setup camp. What a great spot!

We went for another swim, this time the water was colder so it was a quick swim. After dinner, we had a nice mini campfire and a tasty distilled beverage. A great day!

Sunday August 30, 18.2mi/29.3km

Gifford Valley Rd Trailhead (3.5/880ft) to Rock Lake (21.7/1920ft) (NY)

I was awake at 7:30am, and took my time getting ready. I was planning to meet a couple of friends at the next trailhead at 11am, which was only 6.8mi away. I got moving down the trail, which was quite nice and newly constructed.

The switchbacks were funny, since they signed every single one with big arrows.

I hiked along Mud Lake for a mile, which was much more beautiful than its name suggests.

I could tell this was a very damp area, since there were fungi growing on everything.

And there were many tiny creek crossings, which was nice as I only carried a half liter of water.

About mid morning, I came to West Stony Creek, a wide shallow river.

My feet got wet as I forded the slow moving stream.

I climbed the hill up the other side, and saw more signs of a wet environment. More fungi…

…and toads!

I arrived to Benson Road trailhead at 11am, and met up with my friends Jim and Mark, who are joining for a couple of days.

We will hike the next 28 miles together, up to Piseco. The afternoon flew by, talking about every topic imaginable, even pumpkin spice spam. Eww. And of course mushrooms.

There were several bridged stream crossings, and my feet stayed dry.

The trail was enjoyable, the company amicable, and the weather sunny. We arrived to camp just before 5pm.

Rock Lake was a beautiful little piece of water, and we ate dinner by the shore.

Mark purifies his water with a Steripen, a UV light tool. It looks so cool in the darkness.

We even had a campfire! I almost never do a fire, because they are a lot of work. And illegal/dangerous most places in the dry west. It was difficult to get it started, but soon roared to life.

I was in bed around 9:30pm, and read my book before I easily fell asleep.

Saturday August 29, 3.5mi/5.6km

Northville Archway (0.0/800ft) to Gifford Valley Road Trailhead (3.5/880ft) (NY)

After a couple of days of driving east, I was ready to stretch my legs. I only had a few hours on the highway from Rhode Island to the Adirondacks.

The rainy sky even began to clear.

Except, more storms were on the way. I even heard a tornado warning on the radio.

I did my resupply at a Market32, which is just a fancy Price Chopper.

I drove to Northville, the southern terminus of the NPT. Actually, the trailhead on Gifford Valley Road, which is a 3.5mi roadwalk out of town. I parked and walked the 3.5mi to the starting archway.

The trail register is in Riverside Park, which was a nice quiet oasis in a busy town.

I found the trail register, and signed in as a NOBO hiker.

I hiked maybe 100m, and passed by a Stewart’s shop. I love this trail already, it has ice cream along the route!

After eating a pint of “Crumbs along the Mohawk”, I continued on. I arrived back at my car an hour later, and listened to the radio.

The tornado warnings had finally ended, so at 8pm I hiked into the woods. I signed into another trail register, and put on my headlamp.

I got one last photo before it got dark, of a trail marker.

I hiked a couple miles up a hill to Mud Lake, and setup my tent. It was so windy! It will be an interesting night for sure…

Monday August 3, 22.2mi/35.7km

Cahoon Gap (9.8/8645ft) to Copper Creek Trailhead (32.0/5035ft) (CA)

Today’s objective was to hike back to my car at Cedar Grove, where I had left it over 3 weeks ago. I started off in cool temperatures and made it to JO Pass an hour later. The passes are much lower and vegetated here.

I left Sequoia National Park, and entered the Sequoia National Forest.

I cruised for a couple hours on nice trails thru open forests.

The hike thru Rowell Meadow was above surprise, and there weren’t even any mosquitos!

I hiked over Marvin Pass, exiting the Wilderness and joining a dirt road at the Marvin Trailhead. I didn’t see any cars, and walked for a mile on the nice road. I decided to leave the FS roads and cut across the hillside, to save myself a few miles on serpentine roads. It was an old abandoned logging road, and was a little overgrown.

But at least it was marked with flagging tape! I had a nice view down to Lookout Mountain.

I lost the road at the end, and bushwhacked the last mile to the Don Cecil Trailhead. The Manzanita and scrub oak bushes were a little aggressive with the skin exfoliation.

Back in King’s Canyon National Park, the Don Cecil trail was quite nice.

I don’t know what conifer this is, bit the cones are huuuuge.

After 2000ft of downhill hiking, I crossed the bridge over Sheep Creek.

And the Sheep Creek Cascade.

I finally arrived at the road after 3000ft of descent into King’s Canyon.

I still had 4 miles on roads to get to my car. I crossed the South Fork King’s River on the paved road, then walked the 4 miles on a dirt road.

I arrived back at my car at 4:30pm, and surprisingly the food I had stored in the bear box a month ago was still there!

I did some stretching, eating, and then drove an hour out of the National Park, to find some free camping in the nearby National Forest.

What a trip! I had successfully combined the SHR and the HST to make a loop, and get back to my car.

Tomorrow I’ll make the 4 hour drive up to Lake Tahoe, spending time with friends for a week enjoying the outdoors up there.

Sunday August 2, 27.7mi/44.6km

Lower Precipice Lake (57.7/9880ft) to Crescent Meadow (75.6/6710ft) (CA) +9.8mi to Cahoon Gap (9.8/8645ft)

My last day on the HST went by quickly. I started by hiking downhill 1700ft to Hamilton Lake, passing thru many alpine meadows.

Hamilton Lake far below.

Sometimes the terrain was very steep, and it was impressive what trail builders did to make it passable. Like a tunnel!

Hamilton Lake getting closer.

Finally I got to the lake I had been watching for over an hour. There were many people camped nearby, I’m glad I didn’t come down here to camp last night.

Then the trail followed Hamilton Creek downstream for a short while, it was entertaining to see all the waterfalls.

And this is where the trail crossed the stream, which disappeared over a cliff.

The trail stayed high on the hillside as the stream plunged into the valley below, it was impressive trail construction.

I was quite surprised when I came to a bridge over a side creek.

Looking down from the bridge, there was an insanely deep chasm.

With the remains of the old bridge, as a sort of reminder to keep moving, ha!

The trail continued its impressive journey on the hillside all the way to Bearpaw meadows.

At Bearpaw meadows, there were a strange number of abandoned buildings.

The sign says I only have 11.3 miles to go, excellent! And Mt Whitney is 60 miles away, crazy.

Thankfully, the trail stayed in a deeply shaded forest for a few hours, as it was getting hot out.

Still traversing the hillside, I occasionally had views below, like to Little Blue Dome.

Towards the end of the day, the trail returned to its exposed traverse, now high above the Middle Fork Kaweah River.

I could see all the way down the valley to the towns near the park boundary.

Just about a half mile before the end, I finally saw some signage for the High Sierra Trail. It’s not just a line on a map!

The final bit was thru a cool dark forest full of ferns.

And then around the corner, was Crescent Meadow. I was done!

There was an interpretive sign at the trailhead.

And a fun distance sign, for the hikers starting from this end.

Now I was finished with the HST, and I was back on the west side of the Sierras, but not quite at my car, which is parked in King’s Canyon. So, north I went, thru the Giant Sequoia Groves! This tree was called the black arch.

I passed by an old cattle rancher’s cabin, all the cattle were finally removed in 1917 when the land was purchased and added to the park.

The Founders Group of trees.

The Room tree. It was surprisingly large inside.

This tree outlived its namesake by a few centuries.

I hiked on another hour to Lodgepole village, a Campground in the park. I grabbed some dinner from the little store.

In order to camp legally, I had to leave the developed area. So, I continued northward, taking the Twin Lakes trail to JO pass.

Four miles later, and it was 7pm, I stopped for the night at Cahoon Gap.

Tomorrow I’ll have a morning of hiking then I’ll be back at my car!

Saturday August 1, 21.4mi/34.4km

Kern River Canyon (36.3/7360ft) to Lower Precipice Lake (57.7/9880ft) (CA)

The early morning trail was a little chilly, as it followed the Kern River downstream.

Even a couple hours later, the sun still had not reached the canyon bottom.

I came to the Kern hot springs, and I was surprised to see it was quite developed.

There was even a little concrete bathtub to soak in, and a fence around it.

The source was a steaming little flow between some rocks. The dried minerals in the rocks were everywhere.

I soaked my legs, and when I got cold I started hiking again. The trail crossed the Kern River on a huge bridge, almost big enough to drive over.

Chagoopa falls came crashing down into the canyon from 1500ft above.

And then, the climb started. Up to Kaweah Gap, 3900ft uphill.

After about 1000ft of climbing up switchbacks, I turned around to see a neat perspective down the Kern River Canyon.

As soon as I climbed high enough to leave the shade of the canyon, I saw these little lizards everywhere in the sunshine.

As I climbed higher, the alpine meadows returned.

I stopped for a swim at Moraine Lake, which was quite pleasant, and even had a sandy bottom.

I hiked on uphill another 1000ft and had lunch, at a precipice overlooking the Big Arroyo Creek Valley.

The trail continued to follow along the edge for a few miles, and the views were wonderful distractions from the heat.

Since I was following the Big Arroyo Creek upstream, eventually the valley bottom came up to meet the trail. I hiked in the valley along the creek for a couple of gradual uphill miles.

Finally at almost 5pm, Kaweah Gap was in view.

I reached to the top of the 10,700ft Kaweah Gap at 5pm, and it was super windy. I read the commemorative plaque of the park’s founder, and moved on.

And I had an all-new view down into the next valley!

The little alpine bog was cool looking.

I turned a corner and… Precipice Lake! It looked so deep and cold.

There weren’t any good camping spots, so I moved on to Lower Precipice Lake. I ended up camping on the ridge at the far end of the lake in the photo.

I had a nice view overlooking the valley thousands of feet below.

The sunset was pretty spectacular, with the peaks turning orange and red.

It should be a good night’s sleep after 5400ft of elevation gain today!

Friday July 31, 22.8mi/36.7km

Ridge above Rock Creek (13.5/11,005ft) to Kern River Canyon (36.3/7360ft) (CA)

It was a cool morning at 11,000 feet, even with the sun coming over the mountains.

By the time I dropped down to Rock Creek at 8:30, it was warm in the green valley.

I climbed back up out of the valley, and the forest returned to its usual sparse trees.

As I descended to Whitney Creek valley, I could look up past Crabtree Meadows to the backside (west side) of Mt Whitney. Cool!

Just before Crabtree Meadows, I went by a huge group of 11 hikers. They appeared to be guided, I didn’t think that size was even allowed.

Crabtree Meadows looked the same as ever. I was here a few times in 2015, briefly on my way to Mt Whitney.

Whitney Creek still had a ton of water, it was a challenge to keep dry feet, even using the crossing stones.

Side trip to Mt Whitney? Nah, I’ll keep going to Wallace Creek.

Looking west, across Kern Canyon. I will be way down in the canyon soon.

Looking north, I think one of those passes is Forester Pass, the highest point on the PCT.

Down to Junction Meadows, and (tomorrow) Kern Hot Springs!

I followed the Wallace Creek trail, it stayed near the water for most of the descent.

It kept going down, down, down. 2200 feet down to the bottom of Kern Canyon.

I had descended low enough that the vegetation had changed, and the views were much more open.

Junction Meadow was a nice surprise, since it was more of a mature conifer forest. Very nice and shaded, it was so hot today.

Whitney Creek, which I had crossed this morning (and 2500ft upstream) on stones, I now had to cross on a suspiciously thin log.

I followed the Kern River downstream for over an hour, and it was neat looking up at the canyon walls.

I ended up hiking 1.5 miles more than I planned, since there wasn’t a good place to camp until then. It was easy hiking on a good trail, and I was still in camp before 6pm. It’s warm down here in Kern Canyon at 7400 feet, tomorrow I hike out of the canyon and back up to alpine!

Thursday July 30, 13.5mi/21.7km

Cottonwood Pass TH (0.0/9950ft) to Ridge above Rock Creek (13.5/11,005ft) (CA)

I had a nice relaxing morning and slept in, then picked up a package from the PO, and called and arranged a ride from a local Lone Pine resident, Chuck. I grabbed a calorie dense lunch from the Carl’s Jr, and Chuck dropped me at the Cottonwood Pass trailhead at 1pm.

And a few minutes later, I was in the Wilderness!

Both options lead up to the PCT, I chose Trail Pass.

In 2015, I had accidentally missed the short 5-mile section between the two passes, and I wanted to complete that gap.

I headed for the ridge in the distance.

After 45 minutes, I was on the PCT.

I hiked thru classic Southern High Sierra terrain for most of the day, gnarled conifers and granite rocky soil.

Occasionally there was an alpine meadow, but not as frequently as the SHR. Things seem much drier here.

At the second meadow, I realized I was looking down at the headwaters of the South Fork Kern River. Neat.

I took a break at Cottonwood Pass, and I saw a couple of hikers, the first people I saw on trail today.

I continued on, and took another short break near Chicken Spring Lake. The trail doesn’t really go near the lake, so I didn’t swim in this one.

The next few miles of trail were really slow. There was almost no elevation gain, but the trail itself was super soft sand. Ugh.

I remember hiking this part Southbound in October 2015, trying to outrun a snowstorm, and it really slowed us down then too.
The boundary to enter Sequoia National Park was a nice landmark for a snack break. I think the sign is wrong, it should say PCT North.

And now I was in a new river drainage, the main Kern River.

The trails are really well marked in this section. Sequoia National Park is the southernmost NP on the PCT, they set the bar high for the rest of the parks.

Huge PCT marker.

I hiked until 6:30pm, looking for water. I didn’t find any and set up camp anyway, I’ll just have to wait until I get to Rock Creek tomorrow morning.