Pacific Crest Trail Days 84-85 - Vermillion Valley Resort

Start: Mile 869.4 - Backcountry campsite
End: Mile 875.7 - Vermillion Valley Resort

We’re definitely in peak melt. The trail is a stream.

The hills have eyes.

This incredible tree eats rocks for breakfast.

LOL. Did we stumble upon a backcountry Spartan race? Also, remember StumbleUpon where you got a random awesome piece of internet with each click? What happened?!

If the broken in half US Forest Service signs and empty wilderness trailhead information board aren’t a direct protest, they’re a metaphor for the current state of affairs with the management of our public lands.

Does anyone else remember when the Lake Oroville spillway nearly catastrophically failed and then the “emergency spillway” (a dirt hillside) was deployed for about 5 minutes before they realized it would momentarily fail and flood the entire northern Central Valley in 2017? The California Department of Water Resources response to that crisis may have been the moment I realized we’re inheriting massive poorly maintained infrastructure managed by exemplifications of the Peter Principle.

Water going in: rushing and clear.

Water coming out: slow and algal.

Good thing the freeway ends soon! My feet can’t take much more hiking at 75mph.

100+ miles from our last resupply over Kearsarge Pass. We hustled in to make it in time for cheeseburgers.

Great question, Sol from 🇨🇦!

You’re* but I agree with the sentiment, Kevin!

That’s such a great line. A great perhaps! Perhaps we can redeem this country.

Don’t tell me how to live my life!

World class letty. We had a ping pong tournament and I beat this gentleman in the championship. I generally don’t tell people they’re about to run into a bar game buzz saw.

LOL. The dust is slow too.