Pacific Crest Trail - Day 112 - Plumas National Forest

Start: Mile 1203.5 - Sierra Buttes Fire Lookout
End: Mile 1225.7 - Backcountry Campsite

I traded my sleeping bag in for a lighter weight quilt back at Sonora Pass. Between worrying my pad was going to pop on the grate and trying to keep my quilt from blowing up in the wind coming up through the grate like Marilyn Monroe with her dress in the Seven Year Itch, it was a long night camping on the Fire Lookout.

A smoky haze blew in from a fire near the California / Oregon border.

Wildfire is probably the biggest threat to our hike at this point.

We opted to take a ridge trail instead of the actual PCT for a few miles - which turned out to be the uppermost route of the Downieville Downhill on a trail sponsored by Shimano.

In other words, we were on our toes all morning listening for mountain bikes about to mow us down from behind.

Also, mountain bikes are much closer to dirt bikes than bicycles at this point. Pro riders have been cheating with electric motors tucked inside their frames for at least a decade - now weekend warriors can too!

We ambled by a group of campers who threw a rager in the deep forest with a view the night before. Very rogue Burning Man vibes. I should have asked for their phone numbers. We need more pop-up anarchic parties… and maybe earplugs for the wildlife.

The Sierra Buttes are beautiful from every angle.

Gold Lake

Trail textures

How lucky are twelve leafed clovers?!

“Have you ever tried Neopolitan Ice Cream?”