Exit stage California: Shasta-Trinity NF, Trinity Alps Wilderness, Klamath NF, Siskiyou Mountains

Maps p, q, and r/a (onward to Oregon)
Shasta-Trinity National Forest from map o continues into map p.
Flora: The forests and woodlands will be filled with gray pine, ponderosa pine, knob cone pine, jeffrey pine, sugar pine, white fir, douglas fir, canyon live oak, huckleberry oak, blue oak, and black oak. Common shrubs will include the whiteleaf manzanita, California buckeye, and California coffee berry, and western redbud. In the canyons we should see willows, big leaf maples, white alder, and dogwood. I am going to make a pdf of pictures and names off common and some uncommon plants we will/may see on the trail. Should be posting that sometime in February after I complete this trail section overview and finish my gear special in January.
After walking around Castle Crags, the trail goes up and follows the Trinity Divide. Follow this link to see a good map of where the trinity divide meets PCT. There are so many things in this area with Trinity in the name; it's a bit ridiculous. The Trinity Divide is known for it's solitude, granite peaks (my fav), glacial lakes, and nice forested land in between.

The trail goes from the Trinity Divide to the Scott Mountains. Here we have another endemic gem! The Scott Mountain phacelia.

The next Trinity along the trail is the Trinity Alps Wilderness apart of the Klamath National Forest. It is known for having 55 alpine lakes. The Scott Mountains are in the northern part of the wilderness.
Farther north in the Klamath Forest are the Siskiyou Mountains which have a population of the endangered Spotted Owls. There are also salmon that live in the Rogue and Klamath watersheds. 
In general we should have mild temperatures and see the signs of more precipitation in this section.

Rock Climbing: none…at least not marked on mountain project so I will have to keep my eyes open to possible boulders or routes. I'm sure there is something to keep the callouses on my hands :)

Southern Cascade Mountains: Plumas NF, Lassen NF, Lassen Volcano NP, Shasta-Trinity National Forest

maps m and n and o: and the halfway mark!!
After Sierra City the trail enters Plumas National Forest. We will pass the beautiful Gold Lake, cross the Middle Fork Feather River, and head up to Bucks Lake.

We will then head into an area called the crossroads; where granite meets active volcanic region. We will see Mt Lassen, the southern most peak in the Cascade Volcanic Range and the largest plug-dome volcano on the planet. It last erupted in 1915. Lassen National Forest has signs of volcanic action with boiling springs lake (below) and steaming areas.

We go from the pine and fir filled national forest to Lassen Volcanic National Park. Here we will get into some pretty hot territory in the sun and pretty scary territory in a thunderstorm. It's known as Hat Creek Rim. It is a long 27 mile stretch with volcanic rock underfoot and no water in sight. Unfortunately, I have gone 24 hours without a water source before while hiking. It isn't fun, especially in heat and sun, but it is doable. I will probably hike to Old Statioin the morning, eat and resupply there, head to Subway Cave until it cools and then hike until the water cache or beyond depending on how I feel. Some people say this is the hardest section of trail, others seem to pass by it without making a stink. Staying positive and hoping for an overcast but not raining day is all you can hope for. Remember, it's only one or two days of hiking.
Mcarther-Burney Falls State Park ends map n. It is within the Cascade Range and the Modoc Plateau. The Modoc Plateau describes a flat area with pine forests and grasslands with conical mountains. There are wild horses that roam the Modoc Plateau, they probably will not be seen. It is wonderful that wild horses still exist, they are a relic from a time when the planes of North America were filled with herds of wild animals. Mcarther-Burney Falls State Park was designated as such because Samuel Burney bought the land including falls and donated it to the state.

From here the trail heads west into Shasta-Trinity National Forest. This NF is gorgeous and huge and we will see great views of Mt Shasta, but we will also be going south of all the areas that are usually visited. This is both good and bad. I will have to make a trip back down to this area to climb Mt Shasta and rock climb/live around there for a while.
We end map o with Castle Crag.

I will scrambling and climbing about, exploring some route options and then continuing on my way.

Rock Climbing:
Outside of Sierra City there is the bouldering spot Free for All. I will hopefully be moving through these three maps rather quickly. Then I will spend a little time (maybe a long lunch) at Castle Crag. The Cosmic Wall looks like a good route to quickly free climb as long as there is an alright descent.

Central Sierra: Eldorado NF and Tahoe NF

maps k and l

Eldorado National Forest was established in 1910. It had previously been used for harvesting timber and mining. Now that is if forest land the mining has stopped but commercial logging still occurs in some areas. There are islands of private land in a mass in Eldorado, surrounded on all sides by forest lands. This is a forest with many roads new and old, paved and otherwise. Within the National Forest is  Desolation Wilderness. Below is a picture of Horsetail Falls

I can't find any climbing spots on the internet, but this is a gorgeous granite basin; carved by glaciers in ice ages past. The Crystal mountain range can be seen from Aloha Lake. The trail skits the edge of the lake. The photo below gives you a real feel for what we will be walking through.

With bedrock granite and limited soil no fall will be cushy, so good footing and taking a lot of mental breaks will be very important for this section. I hope to run into a porcupine in lower elevations and marmots in higher. Both are comedic animals. Marmots sun bath like they are on a swim suite calendars and look at you like "do I really have to run away from you?"

Tahoe National Forest was established in 1905 but President McKinley had sectioned off a portions of the land in 1899 as forest reserve. It was an attempt to protect the trees from the over logging practices being used at the time. Within Tahoe NF is the Granite Chief Wilderness. The PCT passes right by Granite Chief Peak, the highest in the wilderness ( 9006ft/ 2745m.) It is nothing too special in the summer, but in the winter there is a popular ski traverse from Granite Chief Peak to Needle Peak. Despite the name, this area actually has quite a lot of greenery.

I couldn't find any endangered flora, but if anyone knows of some I would be happy to learn of them.

Rock Climbing:
Echo Lake is not just home of a resort, but also home to some pretty wicked climbing. This is another PCT score because all the approaches start from the PCT. The trad routes are right close. I pretty much have to try my hand at Path of Life: AKA Thug Life; it's an easy 5.8 trad route on Gangsta Wall and it's a perfect route to climb free. If I meet up with people with gear, I'll hopefully jump on some of the 5.10s and try my hand at an 5.11 while I'm there (AKA fail, 5.11 is still passed my pay grade, maybe in 2015). Flagpole Wall and New Peculiar is close too.
Next bit of climbing is at Donner Pass. For those looking for a classic 5.11d, check out Manic Depression on Snowshed Wall. Donner Pass also bring some more moderate climbing, it looks a like another trail jackpot. I'm looking forward to Baboon Crag; apparently the PCT walks right up to this odd shaped wall. Just look at The Gecko (5.10c).

Central Sierra: Yosemite NP, Humboldt-Toiyabe NF, Stanislaus NF

Halfmile maps i and j

This is where we start to come down from the high's of the Sierra's and into the land of the granite domes. Going to Yosemite has always been a dream of mine and being able to walk through it's Wilderness will make the experience even richer. From Tuolumne Meadows we trek from tourist mecca, across some beautiful granite outcrops and into the area less traveled. We pass by Mt Matterhorn in the Sawtooth range and thus passing what is considered to be the start/end of the High Sierra's.
Yosemite Wilderness ranges from the Lower Montane Forest of Yosemite Valley to the Upper Montane Forest and the Subalpine Forest. Maybe when near water you will be visited by a endangered Yosemite Toad.
From Yosemite National Park and Wilderness area we head into Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest; the largest National Forest in the lower 48 covering 6.3 million acres mostly in Nevada and a bit over in California. Although large, it is not contiguous. The forest lies in 13 counties in NV and 6 in CA. We just pass through a patch before we head into the Stanislaus National Forest.
Stanislaus National Forest got national attention this past year. It was where the Rim Fire began in August of 2013. It grew to be the third largest wildfire in CA recorded history. We will no doubt see the damage from last years event. If you read the Forest Service Website, Stanislaus National Forest sounds dreamy. "You can swim near a sandy beach or wade into cold clear streams cooling your feet" now that sounds lovely. After many miles of hiking, I could probably use a good swim. Even though the website doesn't show any weakness in it's nature-perfect facade, I'm sure the dreaminess/insane beauty of this forest is also partnered with a great sadness. Fire may be necessary for life, but it still hurts my heart to see the impact of a large burn.

Carson-Iceberg Wilderness is partial in the two national forests above. The Silver King Creek within it's borders supports the only native population of Paiute Cutthroat trout in existence. I'm going to use this amazing fact to iterate how important it is as backpackers to respect water. Soap residue is become a huge threat in remote areas. Unfortunately the safest option for taking a shower with soap in the backcountry is also a pain in the butt; collect water needed for shower, walk 200ft, shower and poor grey water out (double check location to make sure no water sources are around). That seems hard for me to actually commit to on a trail. So I like using two options: 1) the easy and cheap option, don't use soap expect for hands and dishes (I am happy to cart a half liter of water 200ft)  2) if I really can't take it I can wet a pack towel and take a quick towel bath with soap 200ft from water source. Just please don't take a bath directly in the stream/lake with soap. I have made this mistake before because my soap didn't have any chemicals in it, but really adding anything to the environments we will be traversing would be detrimental to the small, local animal and plant populations.

The Mokelumne Wilderness is where granite and lava beautifully collide. This is Piero's view headed up Round Top. In most of the pictures I've hunted down, the wild flowers in this section look unreal.

Flora:
With this section a new tree is added to you usual suspects. Along with Lodgepole pines, jeffery pines, aspen, and juniper comes mountain mahogany.
Endangered to this area is the Slender Stemmed Monkey Flower

Mariposa Desert Parsley

Yosemite Woolly Sunflower

Phantom Orchid

Fauna:
Record where and when you see a California Condor, Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep, and cutthroat trout as these animals have been having a hard go of it.

Rock Climbing:
Map i starts and ends with good climbing areas, but nothing is really marked in the middle. It starts with Tuolumne Meadows, which were covered in last blog entry, and ends with Sonora Pass. There is bouldering, route climbs (mostly sport) off Highway 108, and another area named Saint Mary's boulders. Then we jump to map j which starts with Sonora Pass and ends with Echo Lake. Same deal as with map i; good climbing at ends, nothing in the middle. Luther Rocks is a bit east from the trail off of the highway. Echo Lake rock climbing will be covered in the next blog with map k.