[pct-l] Report - Truckee to Burney

[Ken Sarzynski]

This is my first time posting, so hopefully i do it right. :)

I am currently in Burney, CA, having started in Truckee on June 21. I  
am 34 years old, in good shape, this is not my first long trail, and  
I'm used to New England winters. My trail name is Kenneth and here are  
my observations of Truckee (I-80) to Old Station (end of snow for a  
bit).

1. Basically, going in to town or a highway crossing you will see the  
trail.

2. Between towns/highways i had lots of snow. Above 6300 i rarely saw  
the trail, above 5800 i would easily lose it with the patchy snow,  
below 5800 would be small patches or pure, dry land.

3. Conditions may vary depending on location and sun exposure. Streams  
for me were mostly snow bridges, but by now there might be some exposed.

4. GPS a must. Even following fire roads was difficult with drifts of  
up to 6' obscuring the topography.

5. Crampons/traction? Not sure if they're required. I wore crampons  
for the first 30 miles from Truckee because temps were still cold, but  
beyond that i rarely ever NEEDED them. The surface snow was loose  
enough most of the time so that a good kick-step was sufficient. I  
never wished i had an ice axe. The day after Lassen got that rain, i  
almost needed traction since the snow packed up hard.

6. I'm able to do 22-28 miles on snow, which is down from my usual  
32-36 on dry land. Definitely eating/drinking twice my normal diet.

7. Truckee to Belden i saw NO other people on the trail (except one  
trail crew near Sierra City) when i ran into Gourmet + Obsidian who  
were turning back. I rarely ever saw tracks, but i did often see  
vehicle tracks. Oh, and somehow the bear/deer still know where the PCT  
is under all that snow.

8. The only difficult stream crossing was Kings Creek 2.5 miles north  
of Drakesbad. The bridge is washed out (happens every year) but there  
is a very slick tree across the creek. In the morning there was 8" of  
clearance under the tree when i shimmied across, but at least 4 sobo  
hikers have been swept away here, all having crossed in the evening.  
It can be 4-5' deep, so plan ahead.

9. The creek crossings north of Belden Town, at the top of the long  
canyon, were fine. One had a nice long, shallow crossing (knee to  
thigh deep depending on time of day), the second crossing has a big  
fallen tree.

10. More details, and eventually photos will be available at my blog - http://www.PardonMyPublishing.com/nobomeca/