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 96: July 12, 2025

Location: NorCal
Start: Chips Creek Trail – 1290.7
End: Little Cub Spring Junction – 1317.3
Miles: 26.6
Ascent: 6835 | Descent: 3115
Sleep: Tent

Marathon days plus our biggest ascent day on trail yet! I am pooped. We cowboy camped last night and I slept good thanks to a Tylenol and Benadryl combination to help with a weird rash in my legs and soreness. I got up around 4:30am and we were on trail around 5:30am just as the sun was starting to come up. The trail from our campsite to the junction was very overgrown, it we made it back to the PCT and began the notoriously long climb.

We’d spend the next 5 hours climbing over 5000’ over a span of 12 miles. It was mostly through burned area with some patches of pine forest, but it was very exposed. We wanted to leave early to try and do as much of the climb before it got stiflingly hot. Thankfully there was a lot of water on the ascent so we had plenty of opportunities to drink cold water to refresh ourselves. There were multiple steep sections, but primarily the trail was gradual and gentle.

That didn’t stop us from working up a sweat and it was dripping down my face from the very beginning. Truffles’ thermometer said it was 65 around 6am, but it was very humid and exposed. Despite the climb, the morning went by quickly as we trudged uphill.

Nearly at the top of the big climb we passed a sign announcing we were officially out of the Sierra Nevada range and were entering into the Cascade range. Shortly after that we crossed the 1300 mile marker! We took pictures and continued going up hill. We ran into several groups of people, none of whom we’d seen before. We chatted briefly but never exchanged names.

Just before 11am we finally got to the top of the mountain. We were rewarded with hazy views of mountains off in the distance and were able to make out what we believe is Lassen Peak. Because of fires burning to the north of us, there has been a constant haze in the air. The air isn’t smoky and I don’t think the air quality is bad, but it makes the mountains look like there’s a thin layer of gossamer over them.

After cresting the top of the ridge we began going downhill. We found a decent place to rest in the shade near Frog Spring and congregated ourselves for getting the finishing the big hill. We snacked and refilled our water before continuing on. This section of trail was all burned area and it was honestly really sad, ugly, and boring. Truffles and I both said we felt bored and like we just wanted the day to be over when hiking through these sections.

We stopped for lunch at Cold Spring where there were nearly 10 other hikers gathered. We’ve seen more people on trail these last few days than we have in weeks! There haven’t been this many people around us since the desert. Small groups sat together in the shade and Truffles and I found a good spot to eat. The spring was blessedly cold and flowing strong out of a pipe so it was easy to collect. We took our time eating and relaxing and were finally rolling around just after 2pm.

The rest of the afternoon was more hiking past burnt trees the underbrush has grown up thick and there were more of thrones and scratchy leaves we had to walk through in addition to blow downs. It was boring and tiring, especially given the morning that we’d had. We kept putting one foot in front of the other and trudged on.

We descended towards a dirt road and saw in the back of the parking area and bunch of tables and pop up tents. We didn’t want to get our hopes up, but it looked a whole lot like trail magic… and indeed it was! When we walked up we were instantly greeted and told to take our packs down and make a sandwich. The trail angles from Chico, CA had a handwashing station and more food than they knew what to do with. There were apparently beginning to slowly pack up, so they wanted to get all the food gone. This meant they were piling our plates full of everything they had! I made myself a very hearty sandwich with a side of pasta salad and slaw plus grapes, a brownie, and beer.

There were lots of other hikers hanging out and we were introduced to Scroto and Caveman. We all sat eating our food and hanging out for over a hour before we finally found the willpower to keep hiking. As we were leaving the trial angles gave us food for the road and a mini bottle of champagne to toast the halfway mark tomorrow. How fun and thoughtful!

We only had 4 miles to do to our desired campsite. We tired to hike hard to get there before the crowd that was behind us. Thankfully this section hadn’t been burned and we got to hike through the shaded pine trees as the sun slowly began sinking in the sky.

We made it to camp around 7pm and were greeted by Scoutmaster and several other tents set up. Truffles went to putting up the tent while k hiked down to collect water. We didn’t have to cook dinner since we were still so full from trail magic, but I ate the fruit they had given me as we relaxed in the tent. Excited to hero in and out of town tomorrow! I can’t believe we’ll also hit the halfway mark! It’s hard to wrap my head around.

Day 97: July 13, 2025

Location: NorCal
Start: Little Cub Spring Junction – 1317.3
End: North Fork Feather River – 1342.1
Miles: 24.8
Ascent: 3604 | Descent: 4761
Sleep: Tent

A full day PLUS we went into town! We woke up early to try and beat the heat plus make it into Chester for lunch. We had some climbing to do first thing, but we were on trail around 5:30am and got to watch the sunrise over Lassen Peak and other volcanic rocky mountains. The majority of the area we were in today was burned area so we were very exposed, but that meant we got good views of the sunrise through the gnarled and charred trees.

Numerous switchbacks took us to the top of the climb after a couple of hours. We began the descent and quickly made our way to the halfway marker. We have officially walked 1325 miles towards Canada! Now we have more miles behind us than we have left in front of us. That’s pretty amazing. When we got to the monument Savage and Bat out of Hell were there drinking their champagne from yesterday’s train magic. We toasted to our hikes, signed the log book, and had our photo opp. We chatted for a while and as other hikers came up we packed up and moved in.

We still had about 7 miles to do down to the highway into Chester, and most of it was downhill and through burned forest. This meant the hiking was boring and time passed slowly because we wanted to be in town already. At least the hiking was easy aside from all the overgrown throne bushes that constantly scratched at our legs.

We stopped once to filter water, but otherwise kept rolling. It’s been so hot during the day recently that taking a break to enjoy cold fresh water felt like a luxury in the glaring sun. It almost felt like we were back in the desert, especially with the heat.

The trail leveled out at the valley floor where we walked through a marsh area before one final bump to take us to the highway. As soon as we walked up a truck was waiting for us. Apparently Bat out of Hell arrived just a few minutes before us and got a hitch, but asked the driver to wait for us. How kind! The nice local rancher drove the 3 of us the 8 miles into town and dropped us off at the hotel Bat out of Hell was staying at. We said our goodbyes and went to find food.

Our hitch recommended Bing’s restaurant so we made a bee line there. The restaurant served Asian American food and we were delighted to learn they offered a daily lunch special. Truffles and k both got the lunch special which came with more food than we could eat! We got huge salads from the salad bar and I got fried rice and shrimp, he got chow mein and chicken. We split a fantastic dragon sushi roll. We asked the waitress if we could charge our batter banks while eating, but unfortunately the outlet she let us use didn’t seem to work so that town chore was a bust.

Full and undeterred by the charging situation, we made our way to Dollar General to resupply. This was our first DG of the PCT which is crazy because I feel like the only place we resupplied in the AT were DGs. We felt nostalgic and grateful combing through the isles. DG has perfect hiker food because it’s all garbage, we found exactly what we were looking for. Because of trail magic and our longer days this last stretch, we really didn’t need a ton of food to get us to Burney so our bill was cheap.

Afterwards we loitered outside of the store for a while sorting our food and sharing a gallon of lemonade. Several other hikers walked by and we chatted with Werebear for a while along with an Australian couple. I told the couple about my recent chaffing issues and the guy was nice enough to give me a small tube of dip at rash cream that he swore by. Hopefully this will help with my swamp ass!

While we were trying to get our packs in order, I sat down on my hip belt and broke off one of the prongs to my buckle. Truffles tried to super glue it back in while I ordered another buckle online to be shipped to Dunsmuir. Around 3:30pm we had accomplished all we had set out to do in town (aside from charging things). There was a laundry mat that had a coin operated shower, but we wanted to do 10 more miles in the afternoon and didn’t feel like we had enough time for such frivolous indulges like cleanliness.

We started trying to hitch outside the DG with no luck. The road was bus and we got a lot of waves but no one picked us up. We stood there for 30 minutes before Flap Jack and Vamp came by and started trying to hitch with us. We were there for another 15 of so minutes before a pickup truck finally pulled over.

These two local guys jumped out of the truck and immediately offered us all a joint and they started clearing out the backseat for us to sit. With our packs in the bed and us all squeezed into the back, the main guy proceeded to show us his large collection of various varieties of weed and tell us about the recent passing of his girlfriend. He and his friend were super nice but obviously had a lot going on in the personal lives. They were happy to help out hikers, though, and dropped us off at the trailhead with a smile.

We procrastinated hiking by talking to Flap Jack for a while and finally started hiking again around 5pm. It was 95 degrees and we were once again walking through a burned area. Within minutes I was dripping sweat and huffing and puffing. Thankfully there was a breeze, but that meant I couldn’t put up my Sunbrella.

After a couple of miles the trail crossed a dirt road and Truffles informed me we could walk the road almost all the way to camp. I didn’t take much convincing since the road was well graded and free of the spikey shrubbery we’d be fighting through all day. The road was steep but still easier than the trail. We filtered water along the way and before long we were at the junction to get back on trial for the last 3 miles of the day.

These miles were all downhill and passed by quickly. We made it down the river and there were lots of other people around. The main reason we wanted to push to this campsite was because it’ll make tomorrow a 25 mile day to get through Lassen National Park and the 19 mile stretch within the park where bear cans are required. We sent our cans home in Quincy so we have to get through that section quickly.

Truffles sound a spot on the other side of the bridge away from the crowd and we set up camp. We were tired but still full from lunch so we just snacked before getting ready for bed.

Day 98: July 14, 2025

Location: NorCal
Start: North Fork Feather River – 1342.1
End: Hat Creek and Tentsite – 1371.1
Miles: 29.0
Ascent: 3786 | Descent: 3933
Sleep: Tent

Today was probably the worst day scenery wise in the trail so far. All day we walked through burned area, so we hiked hard and fast to try and get through it. We woke up early again to bear the heat and were on trail by 6am. The terrain today was super duper easy with the only climbs being in the morning. This worked out well for the heat and allowed us to covered more ground in the afternoon.

Early on in the day we crossed into Lassen National Park. This section of trail requires a bear can, but it’s only a 19 mile stretch so we knew we could bang it out in a day. This area was burned severely and there was nothing but dead trees all around. It’s sad to think what a beautiful place this must have been, just miles and miles of pine forests.

Shortly after crossing into the park we came to a thermal geyser. It was a short jaunt off trail so we dropped our packs and walked down to the overlook. It was more of a giant steam vent than a geyser, but there were small spurts of water coming out of the ground. More impressive was the giant cloud of steam constant flowing upwards out of the ground. It smelled heavily of sulfur so we didn’t stay around too long, but it was really neat to see!

After the geyser we constituted on and went up and down a little before descending to Drakesbad Guest Ranch. The ranch is still closed, but we walked a short ways to the Warner Valley Campground and made use of the pit toilets and trash cans. The final big hill of the day was directly after this, and although it was only 10am the sun was searing and we were drilling sweat as we hiked upwards.

Once we got to the top of the ridge we turned on the jets and powered forward. We passed multiple people and there wasn’t a whole lot to stop and see, so we just kept cruising. We had decided to eat lunch at Lower Twin Lake so I hiked hard to get there. We rolled in around 12:45 and were the only people enjoying the beautiful lakefront campsite. A small grove of trees was left untouched by the fire, so we sat in the shade and marveled at the fact that we’d done 17 miles before 1pm. That just speaks to how easy the day was!

I developed another hike in my sleeping pad, so being at the lake was the perfect opportunity to submerge it and look for air bubbles to indicate holes. With Truffles helped we found the hole quickly and were able to mark it to seal it after lunch. The lake water was cool but not cold and very welcomed on this 90+ degree day. I took advantage and swam around a little before rejoining Truffles at the campsite for lunch. We set my sleeping pad and our clothes out to dry in the sun as we relaxed in the shade.

By the time we’d eaten, patched my sleeping pad, and packed up it was after 2:30lm. We decided to push another 12 miles to Hat Creek and turned on the jets. The afternoon was again just more burned area, but it was all flat and downhill so we were flying! We covered the 12 miles in less than 4 hours. We both listened to music and podcasts to keep us motivated, but by the end of the day I was dragging. The last mile seemed to take forever, especially because i could hear the creek but couldn’t see it or the campsites.

Around 6:30pm we finally arrived and were greeted by Enigizer Bunny and Mad Stomper. We hadn’t seen them since KMS so it was nice to catch up and talk about our plans regarding the northern fires. We chatted for a bit before going to find a campsite.

We found the most beautiful site in the shade right next to the creek. I took advantage quick dip to wash my legs off and then Truffles and I made dinner. We were both tired from another long day and waking up early so we wanted to go to sleep earlier. Hopefully my patch job works and i don’t wake up on the ground!