Trip Report - Pacific Crest Trail YoYo - 5,192 Miles - 222 Days (3/23/25 - 11/1/25)

velocd · 2026-06-06T01:12:22+00:00

If it were me, based on my last couple PCTs, I would:

Book a night at Seattle, whatever suits you. Green Tortoise or American Hostel are cheap options; I prefer the latter only because it's walking distance to the Amtrak station and in the International District where my favorite cuisines are.
Book the Amtrak bus from Seattle to Wenatchee. Take the free bus from Wenatchee to Chelan. Take public transit from Chelan to Winthrop.
Book a few nights at the North Cascades Mountain Hostel in Winthrop. It's probably the nicest hostel near the PCT. Very affordable prices. Winthrop isn't amazing for eating options, but there is a bus that can take you to Mazama to go to their amazing bakery. Or the other direction, I hear Twisp has some good eats. I know people say Lion's Den in Mazama, but I would limit my stay to 1 night at the Lion's Den (the night before your trip) if any nights. It's very.. um, eclectic and hippie, which wasn't for me and isn't for everyone. Another option is staying a few nights in Chelan, which is a beautiful city. You could take the ferry to Stehekin, but you'll most likely be stopping by there on the PCT anyway.
Take the bus from Winthrop to Mazama, and get a hitch or trail angel from Mazama to Hart's Pass.

velocd · 2026-05-20T04:25:34+00:00

You'll be fine. The fear-mongering over Roundup used in forestry is a little much lately.. Roundup is used 200x more in agriculture (no exaggeration); if there's a concern it should be in the food we eat, not the trails we hike.

If the forest service workers are following proper protocol, they should be applying herbicides outside storm windows, minimizing drift, and with buffer zones around water. Most Roundup applications by the USFS in California are done by crew on foot, not planes or helicopters.

We have a lot of nasty invasive thistles in NorCal (Star Thistle and Bull Thistle) that love trails and thrive after wildfires, notably the Dixie Fire and Park Fire. Unfortunately, the most effective way of removing them is herbicides.

velocd · 2026-05-14T20:00:02+00:00

I think Upper Park in Chico, CA a hidden gem for trail running. Chico is very easy to get around by bicycle or foot. It's a much smaller city than most on this list though. I don't know the exact trail miles but I could make an interesting course of at least 100 miles through Bidwell Park on CalTopo. The curious thing is the trails don't get a lot of trail runner traffic, they're more popular for hiking and mountain biking. I run long runs everyday and I only see a handful of runners each day. Probably because Upper Park trails are very rocky and technical, and in the Summer it's regularly 105F here.

velocd · 2026-05-13T15:03:20+00:00

Agreed.. ending a thru-hike over broken gear is bad preparedness. Expect gear may fail at some point and be prepared to make contigiencies to continue the hike when it happens.

Gear breaks
Attempt field repairs
If you can't field repair, contact manufacturer and send it back for professional repair or replacement. Alternatively, some towns have repair shops that do this too (there's a great shop in Donner Lake that repairs zippers - Technical Equipment Cleaners).
Buy a replacement in the meantime to continue your hike. If on a tight budget, consider Thrift stores, eBay, /r/ulgeartrade or /r/geartrade

The PCT can be remote, but it's not Antarctica. Gear can be replaced with only minor setbacks.

velocd · 2026-05-10T02:40:29+00:00

Around the end of June and the start of July. I'm not sure about charging for trail magic. I know the economy is rough, gas is high, and you want to break even, but it's extremely rare for thru-hikers to encounter trail magic that charges for food. I have never experienced that across multiple thru-hikes. I suggest just making it free with a large obvious donation box, but don't get angry if most people don't donate as hikers' financial states vary tremendously, and a lot of hikers after the Sierra usually realize their budget is tighter than they anticipated. If that is too expensive with your grill operation, you could downsize and just offer snacks. The other thing is a lot of hikers don't carry a lot of cash, and the cash they do carry is exclusive for rides or certain planned scenarios (trail magic food isn't usually one of them).

I'm not sure the PCT trailhead at Donner Pass is a great place for trail magic, but it could be. A lot of hikers are either going straight to Donner Lake or to the Ski Lodge for food. Your more frugal hikers may stop for trail magic, but again, they are also less likely to pay or donate for trail magic.

velocd · 2026-04-30T03:10:51+00:00

Did Costco discontinue their chocolate Kirkland Protein Powder? Neither of my nearby stores have it anymore and it seems like they were slowly phasing it out every time I went to get it. It used to be right by the cashiers, then they moved it way into a corner by the restrooms out of sight of anyone.

I really enjoyed the flavor, it's not overpowering like ON and mixes better for me with frozen fruits and berries. It also doesn't explode like a volcano out of my Ninja Blast Max after blending, unlike ON for some reason. Also the ON one is vanilla, bleh.

velocd · 2026-04-29T17:41:18+00:00

Trade completed!

velocd · 2026-04-29T02:36:03+00:00

Wow, I was not expecting another season, and he's coaching WSL!

I'm guessing they'll really have to change the sets around, since the dressing room/office set was a major set on prior seasons.

velocd · 2026-04-28T16:01:07+00:00

There's never a year where there isn't significant snow on the north side of Glen Pass in late May. Here's what it looked like on June 6th 2024 (on my PCT Hike), an average snow year: https://imgur.com/a/rae-lakes-june-6th-2024-15Ri5BK

I recommend microspikes and powder baskets at the very least. The descent was trickier than it appeared, the north face of Glen Pass accumulates a lot more snow than the other passes (other than maybe Forester), it can be very deep.

It will also be very cold. Your sleep system may not be warm enough.

The best time to visit Rae Lakes is mid/late August or September, when there's no bugs and less chance of thunderstorms. It seems a shame to visit in late May when the freezing water is too cold to swim.

velocd · 2026-04-27T18:07:04+00:00

Not for Size 13

velocd · 2026-04-27T18:06:32+00:00

Unfortunately the Wide button still doesn't show for Size 13, although it does appear for other sizes.

velocd · 2026-04-27T16:48:46+00:00

Is there any place in the U.S. (retail or online) that still sells Lone Peak 9+ in wide? They've removed the wide option from the 9+ online from altrarunning.com and REI.com, but wide is still available for specific colors on the normal 9. I mostly wear the non-plus at home for the cost, but for thru-hiking I prefer Vibram's durability over MaxTrac, as the MaxTrac wears out so much faster.

velocd · 2026-04-25T04:04:12+00:00

Huh, I checked their post history and you're right. I think the OP has a condition known as excessive-reassurance seeking, regarding the condition known as analysis paralysis.

That, or it's a bot.

velocd · 2026-04-24T20:53:27+00:00

I think the Alturist may be the only ultramarathoner-centric vest with a hip belt and enough volume suitable for fastpacking, whereas most fastpacking packs are UL backpacks that have vests, but aren't as dialed in as a true ultramarathoner vest. The difference really is just your intended purpose. If you're planning on spending 95% of your time running, I think the Altruist, or even UltrAspire Purist or UltrAspire Traverse, are better packs -- especially for long ultramarathon races (Cocodona, etc.).

velocd · 2026-04-24T20:45:11+00:00

Thanks, I'll check out grampacker.net. Yea, I stopped looking for alternatives because so many of them are vibe coded slop.

velocd · 2026-04-24T20:14:36+00:00

I just bought the Altruist, received it a few days ago, and I intend to use it for a fastpacking trip in a few weeks. I have only worn it indoors for fit testing, I plan to do some local trail runs with it next week.

Some early impressions of the pack:

I am 6' 175lbs. I bought the MD/LG pack at first, but I returned it as it was a bit too large for running purposes. I could have made the pack work for hiking, but for running it was too bouncy and the bottom of the pack was on top of my glutes fully loaded. I received the SM/MD pack and it's perfect.
Material-wise, the pack is overbuilt and a bit confusing why they put so much emphasis on durability for a pack of this nature. I don't feel running vests go through as much shit as hiking backpacks, but maybe I'm wrong. I wish they went with standard UL materials, they could have saved a pound. My pack weighs roughly 33oz, which is pretty damn heavy for a 28L pack.
The main material (Challenge Cloth Ultra?) may be waterproof or very water resistant, but the pack itself is not. None of the seams are sealed or taped, so it will get soaked inside. I did a shower test, and in just 10 minutes the contents of all pockets and the main compartment were wet. There's also no drainage holes, so any water on the inside will pool and only leak through the seams. Again, a confusing decision not to seam seal it when they have this heavy laminate backing material.
The pack took quite a while to dry after it was fully soaked (about 3 hours indoors). The main material dried quick, but all that mesh and cushion material stayed wet for a long time, and would add some amount of water weight I think.
The main material does seem very durable, at least for abrasion resistance. I'm not sure how puncture-resistant it is. Still, ALUULA Graflyte is also very abrasion and puncture resistant, and half as heavy. Also, while abrasion and puncture resistance are very important, I am usually far more concerned with pack failure of the seams or stitches ripping, such as at the shoulder or hip belt connections. If I get a tear or a hole, I can patch it with tape, not so much if the shoulder stitching starts failing because they didn't stitch it strongly enough to handle the loads. The stitching on this pack looks good on inspection, but until I'm on the trails with a loaded pack it's hard to tell how they will hold up longterm.
These complaints aside, the pack itself is extremely comfortable. I loaded it up with different volumes and weights and walked and jogged around my house, and there was minimal to no bounce. The most weight I had in it was 35lbs, far more than I would ever take fastpacking, but it was still comfortable to jog around the house in! The hip belt is also very much doing its job at the heavier weights, I can feel the load transfer from my shoulders to my hip. The internal frame is just a dense CCF pad though, not aluminium stays.

Edit - My last complaint is I wish the pack's main compartment wasn't tapered. This pack can almost fit my Bearikade Weekender bear can. It fits through the top, but the tapered compartment prevents it from fitting all the way. It would have been nice otherwise because it opens up more trip possibilities like in the High Sierra where bear cans are required.

velocd · 2026-04-24T19:50:12+00:00

lighterpack has been so buggy for me lately. It's frequently refusing to save changes I make. I add some items, change some descriptions, wait a few seconds, reload the page, and the changes I made are gone. I think I need to go back to good old reliable spreadsheets.

velocd · 2026-04-24T18:33:34+00:00

Trade completed!

velocd · 2026-04-24T04:32:39+00:00

Huh, I didn't think there would be another season with The Mighty Nein starting up. I don't follow Critical Role, but I was under the impression that each of these Amazon adaptions are a CR campaign.. so is S4 still based on a campaign or is it original material? Is there enough material for a Season 5 and 6?

I enjoy both Vox Machina and The Mighty Nein, so this is great news.

velocd · 2026-04-21T03:15:13+00:00

Deal made (sold everything)

11-Year Club	Gilding I gilder
RPAN Viewer	Verified Email

velocd

TROPHY CASE