Episode 63 - PCT Update #11
Sierra City —> Chester
Two blogs in one day? My goodness, what a treat! Long story short, I’ve been staying up-to-date on writing them ever since Tahoe, but there hasn’t been enough service to upload the photos. So… you’ve stayed blogless.
Until now! The visitor center at Burney Falls State Park has some FAST WiFi, so here we are publishing the entire backlog. Enjoy!
As always, please feel free to mail letters, postcards, mail, or care packages to me on trail! I always get so excited heading to the post office, and the next one will be in Seaid Valley (the last town we’re stopping in CA!). Thank you so much to everyone who’s sent me packages (we love baby food pouches and random Trader Joe’s snacks), post cards, and letters so far. Going to the post office is like Christmas, each and every time :)
Address:
Dennis Gavrilenko (PCT Hiker)
General Delivery, USPS
44717 CA-96
Seiad Valley, CA 96086
Let’s go!
If this is your first episode and you’re thinking “what in the world is happening right now”, start here!
Day 78, 7/27/2025:
A very chill 14 miles today with 3000 feet of climbing.
Last night, I had pretty epic plans with brooke to wake up for a sunrise at the fire lookout atop the Sierra Buttes, but we quickly vetoed that idea before bed that (1) we were kinda lazy, (2) we were very tired, and (3) it wouldn’t be as nice as Mt. Whitney’s sunrise anyway. We ended up sleeping in, and started off the day by enjoying some Philz Coffee with a guy camping in his truck right next to us (so much trail magic out here in NorCal!).
After ascending up to the fire lookout, we ate a delightful oatmeal breakfast with terrific views, chatted with another PCTer Merlin (she’s from Alaska, KNEW WESLEY BEFORE THE TRIP, and was named after the Merlin bird-identifying app), didn’t find the geocache up there, and descended back down to the ridge. 5 geocaches and one blue blaze across the ridge later, we arrived at Deer Lake for lunch, where we ended up taking a two hour break while I read my Princess Diana history book (that I’d bought in Sierra City for $1) and took a nap. My goodness. We had a slow ascent back onto the trail, took a long break atop another ridge, and decided to call it a day after Brooke, who was a mile ahead of me, found a nice early campsite and set up the tent. I wasn’t about to take it down and carry it further up the trail myself, so it looked like we were camping there after only doing 14 miles! I remember that during my backpacking trip with my dad 5 years ago 14 miles seemed like a crazy big day; doing that kind of distance today makes me feel kinda lazy. How the times change.
We finished off the chill day with Hanna the German PCT Hiker reading the Politically Correct version of Red Riding Hood; she couldn’t stop laughing, and it seems this book is turning out to be a huge hit.
Day 79, 7/28:
20 miles today with 3000 feet of climbing.
We had plans to have a nice and early start today, but life seemed to have other ideas: though it didn’t rain last night, everything was soaking wet this morning (tent, rain fly, sleeping pads, quilts), so we abandoned the “let’s leave early” plan and spent an hour drying our things in the morning sun. 🌞
The rest of the day followed the same pattern of hoping for the best, but kinda getting the worst. Brooke and I felt mentally cooked all day, took several naps all day, and finally made it to our lunch spot at the West Fork of Bear Creek around 2 pm after only hiking 11 miles. That lunch “break” turned into a three-hour affair, complete with another nap. Our energy was plummeting quicker than an airplane with both engines hit by bird strike, but we were unexpectedly rescued by the arrival of Sam and Sky! Hallelujah!
I hadn’t seen them since aloha lake, and brooke since Tehachapi. We had the best catch up, complete with a live reading of the Politically Correct Red Riding Hood by Skye and a discussion about bear cans with Sam, after which we all felt much more energized and ready for the next climb. The rest of the late afternoon passed relatively smoothly after that; I called mama and papa atop a ridge, discovered that Perplexity has an APM program that I’m 100% applying for, and had a lovely dinner with sunset views.
Here’s to a better day tomorrow and hopefully, a pizza dinner at Buck’s Lake! 🥂 And of course, Happy 25th Birthday to my wonderful sister Emily!! 🎉🎉🎉
Day 80, 7/29:
26 miles today with 4700 feet of climbing. Oooooh baby, we’re doing this thing.
We had a pretty crazy situation of a deer raiding our campsite all of last night. Each time we’d start falling asleep, we’d hear loud rusting right outside our tent, after which we’d clap loudly and make a bunch of noise, hear the deer bounce away, and then repeat again 5 minutes later. After half an hour of this, we brought our bags inside the tent to avoid deer-carnage and finally fell asleep.
Once the sun rose, the day continued to be eventful: we hiked the morning with Sam and Sky through miles of burnt forest (sad, yet somehow beautiful), before taking a detour down a fire road and into the canyon of the Middle Fork Feather River. There, we took a lunch break, swam in a delightful swimming hole, and took a much-needed nap on the warm rocks.
The afternoon was spent climbing out of the same canyon, but now on the north side. It was 10 miles and 4000 feet of uphill, brutal and steep, with us reaching the summit point of Lookout Rock just as the most beautiful sunset was happening right before our eyes. I saw another deer overlooking the cliff side plateau, which I scared away to set up the tent, cook dinner, and enter dreamland once again.
Day 81, 7/30:
A relaxing 13ish miles today with 2500 feet of climbing. Ben and Hailey have joined us! Amazing!
Brooke and I woke up early today, excited by the prospect of breakfast burritos at Buck’s Lake, and were on trail before 8. We arrived to the road to get to Buck’s Lake by 9:30, and began the 2.5 mile walk to the general store; no luck hitching with the passing lumberjacks (it’s apparently illegal for them to drive us over), but the family right after let us ride to the general store in their pickup truck bed. Hallelujah!
We spent the next two hours relaxing at the general store, eating great food and chatting with Lupin, a friendly SoBo hiker hailing from Anchorage. Ben and Hailey (wonderful friends from Sacramento) arrived at noon, bringing amazing care packages from Mrs. Heidi (Ben’s mom) and Mrs. Julia (my mom) (THANK YOU!!), and then we drove over to trail to begin our lovely hike together!
Ben and Hailey had never backpacked before, but crushed the 8 miles of rolling hills and the 3-mile ascent at the end like seasoned pros. There was even a trail register to sign a few miles in! After setting up camp in a wonderful plateau/meadow area, eating some delicious Mountain House dinner, and throwing rocks at towers built from similar rocks, we played many games of spades with Ben and I as a team against Brooke and Hailey. We unfortunately lost to their collective female might. I wish that I could say that we let them win or that they cheated, but the reality of the situation is that they handed our asses to us fair and square.
I hate losing.
Day 82, 7/31:
18 miles today with 1300 feet of climbing. Even though there was all that climbing, the main thing we did today was walk downhill, and walk downhill for quite a while.
The day started off with a slow morning and a relaxing breakfast with Brooke, Ben, and Hailey. Our friends were heading back to their car and Sacramento civilization, so we were in no hurry to pack up as that just meant that we’d have to say goodbye sooner. We played another round of Spades (Ben and I crushed them today 😈 ), before saying a very sad goodbye and parting ways on trail. What a delight to have them with us!
The rest of the day was focused on arriving in Belden as soon as possible; our resupply package was at the Caribou Crossing RV Park, which happened to close at 5 pm and be 17 miles away. Those 17 miles featured rolling hills across more burnt forests (these wildfires are no joke!), and then a STEEP descent down into the Feather River valley. We stopped at lunch at a spring on this descent (with the trail junction sign making for a comfortable backrest, despite the other PCT hiker we met being extremely rude and pissing us right off), before cruising into town and arriving at the first store of two (ours was the second) at 4:30 pm. The hitchhiking situation didn’t work out, so we walked the extra 2 miles to the our general store and picked up our package at a solid 5:10 pm.
Which meant that the restaurant was already closed, and our hopes of a burger dinner were violently destroyed. Fortunately, a long-time resident of the RV Park, James, made us and a few other hikers tacos for dinner (yay!) and let us use his Starlink WiFi for free; we enjoyed our delicious meal and Internet for the evening, and went to bed with the sounds of the rushing river just feet away.
I must also add that this RV Park has dozens of blackberry bushes just begging to be picked, making for a delightful afternoon snack of juicy fruit. The bush outside the laundry room was home to particularly wonderful specimens!
Day 83, 8/1:
15 miles today with 5400 feet of climbing.
Happy August to those who celebrate! I can’t believe that we started this thing back on May 11th, and here we are 83 days later in the Cascades. Life is crazy like that.
After a nice slow morning at the Caribou RV Campground (that included a DELICIOUS breakfast, I must add), we eventually hiked back to the road and walked on the shoulder 1.5 miles back to the PCT. Unexpectedly, we saw a mama duck and her ducklings whitewater rafting on the Feather River, and an entire GROUP of river otters diving around and playing! Best day ever! Even better, we took a dip ourselves in the river, and it was just delightful.
After that though, the day went completely downhill. Mentally. Unfortunately, after a quick DNF on a well-hidden (or lost) geocache at the base of a huge river canyon, it was 15 miles of 5000 feet straight uphill in the hot, low-elevation (we started at 2000 🦶🦶) burnt forest wasteland, and it was absolutely terrible. By far the worst climb so far on the PCT for me, both physically and mentally, and we barely made it to the top by pitch black. There went our plan for going 25ish miles today, and between our late start and the brutal climb, we barely went any distance at all. My goodness.
One of the FarOut comments mentioned that this climb “was my Vietnam”, and I wholeheartedly echo that sentiment. On the bright side, we crossed the Sierra Divide, and are officially in the Cascades now! We’re in the endgame (mountain range) now, baby.
Day 84, 8/2:
32 miles today with 4000 feet of climbing.
The day started off like normal: brooke and I tried to leave early, and failed miserably. We set the alarm for 5 am, snoozed a million times, and finally left camp just before 8 am. To be fair, the tent was particularly cozy today, and the views from the top of our mountain were beautiful. It was an entire burnt forest stretching all the way to Lassen, which is pretty crazy sight to see.
The goal for today was to reach the highway leading into Chester to meet MY DAD AND BROTHER on trail! Hooray! The only problem was, that road was 31 miles away, and we had left at 8 am. Oh my goodness.
Despite our late start, we still made tremendous progress. We carried on over rolling hills and through more burnt forests, before ascending up Butt Peak (this is a real mountain I swear) in the afternoon and taking a much-needed break. And then, after 84 days of great anticipation, we reached it…
THE HALFWAY MARKER WOW! WE MADE IT!!! It was a beautiful pillar in a small clearing, with the words “PCT Midpoint” carved into it. One side said “Canada 1325 miles”, and the other side, “Mexico, 1325 miles”. We made it! We took tons of pictures and signed the halfway register, before carrying on another 8 miles in high spirits. Papa and Maxim were waiting 2 miles from the finish with pizza and fresh fruit (YAY THANKS!), and we all walked back to the car in the pitch black darkness. Hooray :)
Day 85, 8/3:
No miles today, a full zero in Chester! It was a very relaxing and amazing day today: we started off with a nice brunch at the Cravings restaurant, did our laundry, and spent the day fishing and swimming along Lake Almanor. Maxim, Brooke, and I invented the game of pinecone home run derby, where you get 20 pitches to hit as many pinecones into the lake, with an additional +3 points for hitting in El Quapo, our rubber duckie. Somehow, 2 hours passed by in a flash with the derby, and no luck unfortunately with the fish.
Papa and Maxim then dropped us off at the lovely Best Western (we weren’t planning to zero here, but Papa told us that we 100% looked like we needed the break so we ended up staying), they went home back to Antioch, and Brooke and I went to a sushi restaurant to celebrate being halfway done. We later watched Central Intelligence and headed to an early bed. :)
