PCT from Jackson Meadows

Four of us camped right by the PCT at East Meadow Campground.  The weather was cold and windy which worsened during our stay.  The others arrived earlier and hiked south on the PCT.  When we arrived we decided to take the "shortcut" to the southbound PCT as well.  Big mistake.  Our topo on the Gaia app didn't show the correct position of the PCT so we headed directly up a very steep hillside, clinging on to vegetation while searching.  Meanwhile, the others hiked far enough south in order to be turned around by the increasing cold and wind.  We finally found the PCT and headed south as well but turned around right about when we hit the ridge and outcroppings.  We got back to our campers quite cold.  A bit later it was spitting rain and snow with more rain during the night.

The second day we were joined by another hiking group member and we took off north on the PCT. The hiking was fairly easy with some large elevation gains and losses. Our goal was to get to the Milton Creek Bridge which is where we hiked to last year when we camped at Wild Plum, near Sierra City.  We ticked away the miles, finally arriving at a Milton crossing.   It didn't look right. But checking our mileage, we were shocked that we already had hiked nearly 8 miles!! That would make a round trip of 16 miles. We hatched various plans of a hiker returning for a car but the miles he would have to drive scotched the plans. As a result, we all hiked back and managed to survive the 16 miles. Hence there is a short section between the two bridges that we haven't hiked. 

The last day we decided a rest was needed so we moved camp to the Little Truckee River, north of Truckee. We traveled to Sierraville and soaked in the hot pools. In the morning the outside temperature was 26. No wonder we were so cold.