Buckwheat's PCT Photos: Northern California

Donner Summit to Mt. Lassen

This section swiftly leaves the High Sierra behind and leads you into an area of lower, thickly forested mountains. Most thru-hikers come through here in the peak of summer and experience heat and mosquitos. The latter get a lot worse in southern Oregon... You'll also need to watch out for poison oak below 4500'. Resupply is as easy as it gets on the PCT, with plenty of small towns just a short hitch or walk down the road. Do not miss Drakesbad!!! (hint: it's on the trail, but you're supposed to call first to tell them when your stomach will be arriving).

Perhaps a final look at alpine mountains for a while.

Water is not as abundant as in the High Sierra, but more than 8 or 10 miles rarely passes between decent sources.

Climbing up to the exposed slopes of the Sierra Buttes out of Sierra City.

Looking southward at the north side of the Buttes.

Moss growth on fir trunks indicates average winter snow depth.

Relatively gentle, formerly glaciated peaks.

For a while the PCT strays from the main ridge and crosses a number of deep valleys.

Poison oak leaves vary widely in shape and color, becoming redder and redder towards the end of the summer.

It's a different world down here at 2000-3000'. Kind of nice for a change.

Leafy deciduous undergrowth.

"Roadkill Cafe" sign at Belden. In PCT literature Belden has a bad name, but the main building is being rebuilt and things seem to have changed for the better.

An old fence and meadow. It's easy to rack up the miles through here.

Looking off to the northeast over fir forests. We don't see clouds often up here in the summer.

First clear view of Mt. Lassen. Tomorrow I shall stand on the summit (a short side trip).

Signs of volcanic activity appear shortly after crossing into Mt. Lassen National Monument.

Approaching Mt. Lassen, which rises to over 10,000'.

Our detour takes us through "Bumpass Hell," an area with intense geothermal activity.

It's pretty unreal up here. If you get off the boardwalk, you could end up having to get a limb or two amputated, like Mr. Bumpass.

Joel on the top of Mt. Lassen pointing toward Mt. Shasta looming to the north.

Looking down the precipitous north face of Lassen. Surprisingly (considering the very high snowfall and high altitude), Lassen has no glaciers.

Mt. Lassen to Mt. Shasta

This section includes both very moist parts and surprisingly dry parts, notably the Hat Creek Rim, which typically has a well-stocked water cache in the middle of an otherwise 35-mile waterless stretch. This is the last semi-arid scenery you'll see on the PCT. Views are dominated by Lassen and Shasta, both doable side trips (the latter requiring ice axe, helmet, and crampons, which can be rented in Mt. Shasta city). The heat can be intense at lower altitudes in the mid summer, so you may want to rise early.

To the northeast of Lassen the landscape quickly becomes noticeably drier. Pines dominate.

Chilling out (literally) in a lava tube next to the trail.

Looking out across the hot and dry Hat Creek Valley towards Mt. Shasta.

Hat Creek Rim water cache. We were very fortunate this day and had temperatures in the high 70s and low 80s.

Crossing a field studded with igneous rocks. The last time we saw Digger Pines was in the Tehachapi a month and a half before.

Burney Falls. We're back in the forest again.

The PCT passes through some very lush forests. Looking up through maples at the tall crowns of fir trees.

Mt. Shasta (14,100') is almost continually in view.

I'm gonna climb that hill two days from now! A strenuous side trip, but good mountaineering experience for the uninitiated.

The thick forests around Shasta are highly favored for logging.

Clear-cuts dot the landscape.

"Shasta base camp" — the hut at Horse Camp. You'll need to hitch a ride to the mountain out of Mt. Shasta City.

Climbing a mountain like this requires getting up extremely early (midnight if you're starting from Horse Camp). Here the mountain casts a long shadow on the land.

View of Shastina cone from near the summit. Mt. Shasta is blanketed in glaciers, including the largest in the state of California.

Mt. Shasta to Oregon border

From Mt. Shasta northward the PCT passes through a number of small but connected ranges, including the memorable Marble Mountains with their karst formations, caves, and wildflowers. This section is a transition zone between the Sierras and the Cascades. For a while you actually walk in a westerly and even southwesterly direction as you follow the main watershed. Water is rarely an issue and towns for resupply are fairly abundant, but it can get quite hot.

Water-loving plants at the side of a creek at low elevation.

Carnivorous pitcher plants can be seen on just a brief stretch of the PCT.

Mt. Shasta never seems to go away.

Mountain view.

Sadly, the PCT comes tantalizingly close to this marvelous alpine range (which even has a small glacier!) but finally swerves north.

View of the intermontane valley to the east.

Passing through a field of ferns in the evening.

My brief interview with the Etna Internet TV station in full thru-hiker garb.

When your pictures can't do the flowers justice, sometimes the best you can do is take a picture of someone else taking a picture of the flowers.

A markedly glacial lake. As you move north along the PCT, you'll notice snowbanks at ever lower altitudes even though it's getting later and later in the summer.

Cropduster peeks into yet another cave in the Marble Mountains — a spelunker's paradise.

Does it get any better than this? I even took a swim in the lake. Eventually this shallow pond will fill in and dry up unless another ice age sends glaciers coursing down the mountain to re-excavate the depression.

In the lowlands by Seiad Valley. The blackberries should be ripe by now — don't miss 'em!

The long haul out of oppressively hot Seiad Valley.

The Oregon border. It's typical to spend twice as long hiking through California as through Oregon and Washington combined.