This post originally appeared on The Trek, which you can read here.

If you want to see more from my 2025 PCT thru hike, make sure to check out my Instagram (@annamckinney22) and TikTok (@magicinthemountains) for daily vlogs!

*these posts are coming straight from trail, I apologize in advance for typos!*

Day 84: June 30, 2025

Location: High Sierra
Start: US Highway 50 – 1091.9
End: US Highway 50 – 1091.9
Miles: 0.0
Sleep: Tent

Today was probably one of my favorite zeros on trail because it felt so stress free and easy! Unfortunately sometimes a zero can be bogged down by town chores and the need to cram a bunch of things into a single day (on top of resting). Maybe today was made easier by the fact that it was just Truffles and I calling the shots rather than trying to coordinate with a large number of people. Whatever it is, we managed to do all our chores AND lolligag around town without feeling like we missed out on doing something we wanted to do.

We were able to sleep in until around 7am and took our time getting up. Even more people had set up their tents last night, so the PCT area was crammed full. Around 8am we headed out of the campground in search of breakfast. We settled on Bert’s Diner which was conveniently right down the street.

Bert’s Diner was easily one of my favorite breakfasts on trail! It was just diner food, but it was high quality and absolutely delicious! The waitresses were also fantastic and were constantly refilling my coffee which meant the world to me. I had a Mexican omelet with home fries and truffles had an egg and sausage plate. We split the most delectable pecan waffle and each drank at least 5 cups of coffee. This ended up being our most expensive meal in town, but it was so good that it was worth the higher price tag.

After breakfast we waddled back to the campground to count our food and see what we needed for resupply. Thanks to trail angel Charlie, we didn’t need to purchase much from the store to get us to Truckee. We chatted briefly with Mountain Goat and some other people around the campsite before setting out on the town.

South Lake Tahoe has a free bus that runs around town. This is perfect for hikers and was our primary mode of transportation. We rode the bus all the way across town to Sports LTD where Truffles could get some new shoes. Unfortunately they were out of the Olympus, but the shoe saleswoman said the shipment was supposed to arrive in the afternoon and got our number to call us when they arrived.

Our next stop was next door at Target where we got random odds and ends things like Vaseline, super glue, and I got some cheap Bluetooth headphones to finally ditch my annoying wired pair.

We left the shopping center and walked through Heavenly Ski resort in search for ice cream. Truffles found Cold Stone Creamery (because he knows it’s my favorite) and together we spit an extra large waffle cone. The ice cream ended up being our lunch because it was so filling! We remarked that Heavenly felt like it belonged in Pigeon Forge rather than a swanky mountain town in California, but SLT is really just a huge tourist trap.

When we were in SLT a few weeks ago with family, we had passed by a cool coffee shop/cocktails bar that doubled as a speak easy. We decided we wanted to check it out and made our way past the Casinos to Noble’s Taproom. When we arrived they were just opening for the day and we were the only costumers there for a long time. I got a prickly pear margarita and Truffles got a coffee. They and WiFi and ample charging outlets and we ended up staying there for nearly 3 hours! The bartender was super chill and said we could stay as long as we wanted. We both got a bunch of random stuff done on our phones and were so thankful for the good WiFi.

Once we finally got our fill of screen time, we started marking our way back across town. It was nearly 3:30pm and we still needed to resupply and do laundry. We caught the bus and got off at the grocery outlet where we thankfully only had to get some snacks to get us to Truckee.

Next door to the grocery outlet was a Chinese restaurant called Jade Garden and we decided to check it out just because of its proximity. This hands down ended up being one of our favorite meals on trail! It reminded me of Panda Express but everything was homemade and delicious. The portion sizes were HUGE and it was super affordable! I got chow mein, orange chicken, and broccoli beer. Truffles got chow mein, mushroom chicken, teriyaki chicken, and coconut shrimp. Our whole meal was less than $40 and was fantastic! I can’t recommend Jade Garden enough.

With bellies full we waddled back to the campground to start laundry. How convenient that there is laundry on site! We threw a load of clothes in and ended up playing a round of corn hole with Delicate Flower and his hiking partner. After we moved our clothes over to the dryer we sought out outlets to charge our electrics and passed the time by watching teenage boys play pickup basketball.

Our laundry finished spend 9pm and we headed back to the campsite. Having the entire day to finish our chores was an unexpected treat that I think made the day feel less stressful. Normally doing laundry that late would be inconvenient, but it all worked out fine. I feel rested and like our zero was very productive. I’m so thankful we were in SLT a few weeks ago with family and got to do all the tourist stuff then, because that meant I didn’t feel the need to do that kind of stuff today. The day would have been very different if we’d done all our chores on top of tourist stuff. It was a great day and I’m excited to get back on trail tomorrow. Onwards to July 4th in Truckee!!

Day 85: July 1, 2025

Location: NorCal
Start: Echo Lake Chalet – 1093.4
End: Tentsite – 1104.5
Miles: 11.1
Ascent: 2074 | Descent: 1165
Sleep: Tent

Back on trail! We packed up the tent and puddled around the campground for a bit talking to friends. We saw Night Bird, Shaman, Ghost, and Silver Linings. We talked to them for while and had to reorganize our beer cans before getting in the road. We left spring 8am and walked over to Ernie’s Cafe.

Supposedly there is a rivalry between Bert and Ernie’s cafes, so we wanted to go to both in order to see which one we thought was the best. I thought Bert’s was amazing so the bar was super high. The atmosphere at Ernie’s was definitely more modern but they were pretty much the same in terms of diner fare. I so appreciated the bottomless coffee (even if it was $5) and drank to my heart’s content.

I got the breakfast special with eggs, sausage, and pancakes. Truffles for the mountain breakfast with eggs, sausage, home fries, and biscuits and gravy. Neither of us could finish our plates and we were satisfied. Overall I think I liked Bert’s better because my Mexican omelet was to die for, but both places were very similar. One perk to Ernie’s was the fact that we left our packs outside by an outlet and were able to charge our electronics while we ate!

Unfortunately I plugged my battery bank in wrong so it hadn’t charged at all while we were inside. We spent about an extra 30 minutes sitting outside so that my battery could charge a little more. On the bright side, Ernie’s also had WiFi so we were able to download stuff and play on our phones while we waited.

We finally started trying to hitch around 9:45am. We only had to wait about 10 minutes to get picked up. An older fella in a pickup said we could hop in the truck bed and he’d drive us up to Echo Summit. It was cool and peaceful in the truck bed and we got some beautiful views of Lake Tahoe as we drove up the mountain. The driver pulled over at one point and said he could take us all the way to Echo Chalet, so he saved us a couple of miles with his kindness. He dropped us off at the Chalet and wished us well.

We popped in the Chalet to see what all they had to offer. It was just a little store and we got a soda and enquired about the ferry across Echo Lake. At $22 a person it would out of our price range, so we just drank our soda, used the pit toilet, and started hiking around 11am.

The trail went around Lower and Upper Echo Lakes. Apparently Echo Summit and Chalet are big trailheads, so we saw a lot of day hikers out and about as we made our way down the trail. There were also several lakefront homes that we got to hike past, I enjoyed looking at those and imagining what it would be like to vacation there.

There wasn’t much elevation gain around the lakes so it felt like easy hiking even with fully loaded packs. Shortly after the trail wound away from Upper Echo Lake, we began going uphill and eventually crossed into the Desolation Wilderness. With a name like that I wasn’t sure what to expect, but so far it’s been beautiful!

The trail leveled out and it was smooth sailing to Lake Aloha. What a stunning and magnificent place! We had passed a family early who asked if we were camping at Lake Aloha. One of the young daughters was so excited to tell us about the lake and how “it literally looks just like Hawaii” because of all the rock islands. Hawaii wasn’t where my mind went, but the rock islands were a stand out feature, especially with the snow covered grainy peaks in the distance.

Truffles and I found a trail leading down to the water and discovered a perfect swimming hole! There was a tall rock ledge to jump off of and a deep hole without any nearby rocks. We stripped down to our underware and filled our toes in to see how cold the water was. Thankfully it wasn’t too chilly, so we took turns jumping in. We saw away and laid on the sun warmed rocks to dry off before eating a snack and slowly preparing to hike again.

As we were putting our clothes back on, we heard thunder rumbling in the distance. We looked behind us and saw a wall of black clouds approaching. We knew that meant we’d likely get wet in the afternoon, so we made sure our packs were water tight and went on our way.

Our goal was to get over Dick’s Pass in the afternoon, but with the incoming weather we weren’t sure if that would be possible. The trail followed the shoreline of Lake Aloha and we knew we wanted to get away from the lake and down in elevation before the storm broke. We hiked hard and passed lots of other folks setting up their tents to seek shelter from the storm. We saw lots of people out for over night trips and even some TRT hikers, but we didn’t see any other thru hikers today.

As we made our way towards Heather Lake the dropped in elevation. The storm clouds blew right over us without dropping a single rain drop. We continued on around Susie Lake and were once again basking in the sun. We felt confident we could get over the pass as we began the climb.

The first leg of the climb took us past Gilmore Lake. We hiked past the junction and were only 2 miles form the pass when it began to grow dark and we heard thunder. We had a little signal and were able to check the radar and saw the storm coming right towards us. We debated whether or not we would get over the pass in time, but ultimately decided to play it safe and turn around. We didn’t want to be stuck on the exposed ridge or trying to traverse through the snow during lightning.

We backtracks 0.3 to Gilmore Lake and poked around for a campsite. There were probably 10 tents scattered around the lake. As we were setting up the tent it kept getting darker and the thunder grew louder. We got the tent up and were piling inside just as it started to rain. I was so thankful to be dry and safe inside the tent! We made dinner in the tent as it stormed outside. After an hour or so the storm died down as quickly as it blew in. The thunder stopped and the rain slowly lessened until eventually the sun came out and blue skies returned.

I’m disappointed we didn’t hike further today, but I think we made the right call to turn around. I wouldn’t have wanted to be exposed during the storm, and stopping at the lake was an unexpected delight. We’re planning to wake up early tomorrow to try and cover more miles to still get into Truckee on the 3rd.

Day 86: July 2, 2025

Location: NorCal
Start: Tentsite – 1104.5
End: Five Lakes Creek and Tentsite – 1137.0
Miles: 32.5
Ascent: 4696 | Descent: 5610
Sleep: Tent

Our biggest day on trail yet! Truffles did the 4 state challenge on the AT and hiked nearly 50 miles that day, but I’d never done a 30 before. We wanted to make up for lost milage the day before thanks to the storm, and it looked like we could either go 25 miles or 32 miles on the map. Since we knew we wanted to go the further distance, we woke up at 4am in the dark and were on trail by 5:30am.

We had a big climb up to Dicks Pass right out of the gate. The view hiking away from the lakes was stunning, and there was still a decent amount of snow was we hiked higher and higher. I had to stop for a cat hole so Truffles got ahead of me. I crested the ridge and could see Dicks Lake far below and the mountains of NorCal off in the distance. I passed a signed that said the elevation was 9400’ which made it one of the tallest passes around, but is still now when compared to the Sierra.

The snow on the backside of the pass slowed me down and it took a while to catch up to Truffles. He stooped to wait for me at a trail junction and together we hiked around Fontanillis Lake. The terrain had us going up and down all day and crossing multiple small creeks. We hiked through many wooded sections that had tons of blow downs, all from dead rotten trees but still snoozing to have to crawl around. The highlight of the day were all the meadows with blooming flowers.

At one point we stopped to filter water and were instantly attacked by mosquitoes. We upgraded our Pecaedin to Deet in South Lake Tahoe and it’s amazing what just a little bit of Deet will do! We’re probably cutting years off our life by using Deet, but it’s the only way we can get relief from the bugs.

We had a long gradual descent down to where we stopped for lunch before the big climb of the day. We stopped by a creek and were joined by a TRT section hiker named Joe. He asked us about our hike and told us about his week long adventure on the TRT. Truffles and I had done 19 miles by 12:45pm and took nearly an hour and a half lunch break complete with coffee to get us through the second half of the day.

We had another big climb after lunch, but it was gradual and went by quickly. We finally split off from the TRT, so we won’t be seeing any of those bikers anymore. I know there are a bunch of other PCT hikers, but we see so few on trail that it kind of feels like we’re the only ones out here. At least on this stretch we saw a bunch of TRT people and had some company.

We had a steep descent down to the last water source before a dry ridge line. Unfortunately we walked right past the water and ended up having to backtrack about half a mile to get water. This was the place where we had to decided if we’d call it a day or push the extra miles to the next water source. It was around 4:30pm and we felt like we could still do the 7 miles to get us to the campsite. We filled up on water and then began yet another climb.

This hill took us up to a ridge that had amazing views! We were right on top of the ridge rather than being off on a slope and were surrounded by snowy peaks and wildflowers. The trail took us across the ridge towards the Alpine Meadows ski area. We continued along the ridge the eventually came out just below some of the chairlifts. The ridge line was awesome but very long, windy, and exposed so we were eager to get off it. We were also getting tired at this point so it made the long descent feel even longer thanks to all the switchbacks.

Finally around 7:30pm we rolled into camp. We were shocked that we were the only ones there! Truffles started cooking while I set up the tent. We ate quickly and hurried into the tent for some well deserved sleep. I’m so proud of myself for putting in the miles and conquering a 30+ miles day! Do I think I could do it again tomorrow? Maybe if I absolutely had to, otherwise I think I’ll stick to our 20-25 mile days.