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 90: July 6, 2025

Location: NorCal
Start: Tentsite – 1173.5
End: Sierra City – 1196.5
Miles: 23.0
Ascent: 2322 | Descent: 5677
Sleep: Cowboy

Town day (kind of)! We woke up around 5am and was on trail by 6:30am. The hiking today was really mellow and we only had a couple of “climbs”, both of which were early and easy. We both had to stop and dog cat holes on the second climb, but we still made good time and were up and over both hills before 8am.

The ridges on both climbs were beautiful bald summits with 360 views and nothing but mules ear flowed to obstruct the view. The descents were also pretty mild and we kept moving as we were excited for the potential of town food.

We strolled to filter water at mules ear creek before continuing on. After the hills in the morning we were mostly going flat or downhill, so it made for easy hiking. We decided to break for lunch early around 11:30am at Bear Valley Spring. We enjoyed a quiet lunch by the water and Truffles even took a nap. We only had 10 miles left in the day and were back on trail around 12:30pm.

We made time to by in the afternoon by playing a game to see who could be the first person to pick up 10 pinecones with their trekking poles. I listened to podcasts and an audiobook and before I knew it we were mostly through with the long descent. As we drew closer to the Yuba River, the trail became more and more green. There were ferns lining the trail and large leafy plants sprouting up out of the water. We walked across multiple bridges spanning the creeks and admired all the flowing water around us.

We hiked to Haypress Creek where we saw a sign pointing to the road saying “shortest way into town”. It wasn’t hard to convince us to get off the PCT and follow the short side trail down to Wild Plum Road. The road walk was gravel but shortly became paved as it neared the National Forest campground. We were able to visit a pit toilet and fill up on water along the way as we passed through the campgrounds. The road eventually came out in a residential area and then we walked along Highway 49 which lead straight into the heart of town.

We arrived around 4:30pm in the small but quant town of Sierra City. It’s Sunday afternoon so not much is open, but thankfully the general store and grill were open! We resupplied for 3.5 days for $75 which felt expensive but what can you do. We split a burrito and pastrami sandwich from the grill and hung out at the patio behind the store. There were lots of other hikers milling about and we got to catch up with Sagey, 007, Delicate Flower, and the 3 Australians we met way back in Tehachapi that all stayed at Joe’s Hiker Hostel.

Everyone is either camping on the patio or staying at the nearby “hotel”. We all hung out on the patio for hours talking and charging our stuff. Truffles and I are cowboy camping in the patio, I’m grateful for a convenient place to sleep and for access to a public bathroom at the visitor center.

Day 91: July 7, 2025

Location: NorCal
Start: Sierra City – 1196.5
End: A Tree Spring – 1221.4
Miles: 24.9
Ascent: 4916 | Descent: 2541
Sleep: Tent

After a horrible night’s sleep, I was happy to be up and moving again this morning. We cowboy camped on the patio of the general store (the pebbles were surprisingly comfortable) and the house next door had a party. It started around 9:30pm and they had loud music and kids running around shouting. Even with my earplugs in it was hard to fall asleep. Around 11pm I got up to go to the bathroom and took some melatonin. That did the trick and I slept fine once I was finally asleep.

We slept in until around 6am since we didn’t have to take down the tent. Two other people slept on the patio and we were all up milling about around the same time. We ate, packed up, and were walking out of town around 7:30am. We stopped at the visitor center to use the flush toilet one last time and use the WiFi to download more podcasts.

We had about a mile and a half road walk up to the trailhead. The roadway went by quickly and we were back on the trail around 8:30am. We had a long climb ahead of us up to Sierra Buttes. Turns out this was the big rocky outcropping we’d been seeing for the last several days! The beginning of the climb had a ton of short switchbacks but was graded well and blissfully shaded. We hiked through pine forest for the first 3ish miles.

The switchbacks had us climbing higher and higher until finally we turned a corner and the trees were replaced by rocks. We were instantly exposed in the sun but were greeted by stunning views of the Buttes towering over us and the tree covered hills rolling away in the distance. We were rewarded by completing the first half of the climb by crossing the 1200 mile mark! We paused to take pictures by the rocks laid out in “1200” and continued on.

From this point on we were in the wide open. This meant great views but it always meant full sun. There was a slight breeze but it was still smoldering, especially while climbing. We were both dripping sweat. The first few miles out of the forest were very overgrown and the shrubby bushes were constantly scrapping my legs. I had to put my trekking poles up because the trail was so narrow to the point that it felt like we were bushwhacking.

We stopped at a small stream to fill up on water and take a break. There were two other woman there when we arrived and we talked a bit before they continued on. It was hard to get going again in the heat, but eventually we rallied and started walking again. There were still switchbacks, but these were much longer and we could see the trail off in the distance. Despite the heat, I think this section was less steep than the first.

Finally around 11:30am we made it to the top of the 8 mile climb. From there we hiked along the ridge for a bit before crossing a road. Truffles found a comment on FarOut suggesting to take the road for 6 miles is read of the trail for the next 9 miles. The road was shorter and had less elevation so obviously we took the road. We got to see some beautiful views of the Buttes along with Packer Lake and Deer Lake. There were still climbs, but they were short and overall we moved faster on the road.

We stopped for lunch at Summit Lake just before reconnecting back into the PCT. We hung out for about an hour and kicked our feet up to relax for a while. Once we started hiking again, we only had a small hill before mostly trending downhill.

The afternoon went by quickly. We hiked mostly through trees but saw some pretty views of the lakes way down below us. My right shoulder had been bother me, so I spent most of the afternoon fiddling with my shoulder straps trying to find some relief. I think the pain will subside once we ditch our bear cans (hopefully in Quincy). Truffles and k both listened to an Ologies podcast episode about trees so that we could talk about it together. That and my audiobook helped the afternoon go by fast.

Just before 6pm we made it to the road and A Tree Spring. We found a campsite and Truffles started dinner while I set up the tent. I went down to check out the spring and happy to see a piled spring! I took my nasty socks down to wash them out and gave myself a little bird bath to wash the dirt off my feet and legs.

Truffles had both our dinners ready and we ate together outside the tent before the mosquitoes drove us to seek shelter in the tent. We’ve got to go through a big section of blowdowns tomorrow and are still planning to do about 30 miles, so we’re heading to bed early tonight.

Day 92: July 8, 2025

Location: NorCal
Start: A Tree Spring – 1221.4
End: Middle Fork Feather River – 1251.4
Miles: 30.0
Ascent: 3786 | Descent: 7361
Sleep: Tent

Another 30 mile day! Today was kind of weird because we had to do a lot of road walking/forest service road hiking because of a large section of trail that was previously burned in a fire. The trail is still open, but the PCTA recommends everyone to hike around this section. Their first recommendation is for folks to skip this 30 mile stretch, but the unofficial alternative is the mixture of road walking we did today.

Since we knew we wanted to do higher miles today, we woke up an hour early and were on trail by 5:30am. The morning was absolutely gorgeous, it was cool and we got to see the sky lighten and hues of gold and pink spread across the horizon. People have been hating on NorCal because they say the forest is boring, but I have been loving all the tall trees and green leafy plants and flowers. It makes me feel like I’m home!

We had a couple of small climbs in the morning but they went by fast. It’s been humid recently so we were both sweating profusely as we hiked. By 9am we’d already done 10 miles. We stopped for water at Whiskey Spring and were mostly done with the uphill at that point. We had one final bump before beginning the long descent.

Eventually we came out on the paved road to Laporte-Quincy and began our road walk. I’m not sure how many miles we did on the road, but we were on it for several hours. The trail paralleled the road but because of the fire supposedly had tons of blowdowns that made for slow going. The road was smooth and easy, we were able to walk and talk and just cruise.

We stopped for water and lunch at a spring just off the trail/road and then continued on our way. We were on the road for another hour or so before getting back on the trail at Fowler Peak trailhead and hiking on the trail for a couple of miles. This section was overgrown but had obviously been tended to by trail crews with a chainsaw. There were blowdowns, but they were all sawed through so it made for easy hiking. It was just the shrubbery on the sides of the trail that was unruly.

The trail spot is out at a dirt road where we ran into Leah. She wasn’t sure if she should take the road or the trail and ended up walking the dirt road the whole way with us. We talked about our hikes so far and our trail family dynamics. I enjoyed our conversation and before long we were at the trailhead where we were getting back on the trail.

Sitting at the trailhead was Vegas, an online friend who I hadn’t met in real life until now. We all talked for a while about podcasts and the trail conditions before bitting the bullet and finishing out the mast few miles of the day. This section of trail was NOT maintained and was super overgrown and had tons of blowdowns. It was so going but we made it across them all.

Finally we came out on the river and were done with the blowdowns (for now). We crossed the humongous metal bridge spanning the river and went to make camp. Afterwards we went out to the river where we saw Leah and Vegas. Vegas showed us where an awesome swimming hole was and together the 3 of us got the water and hung out for a while. Vegas did the AT IN 2023 so we spent a lot of time talking about the differences in the two trails.

When we were finally really to start cooking dinner, the mosquitoes came out. We were forced into our tent where we ate and got ready for bed. I’m pooped after another big day. Town tomorrow!