Daddy and I hiked out at the same time and walked and talked for an hour. Soon we caught up with Cal who I met yesterday. All of a sudden, we saw Stallion ahead of us in the middle of the trail. He informed us that there was a huge bear up ahead and he didn’t have any luck scaring it away by himself. We hurriedly went to where he had seen it, as is SO eager to see my first bear in the wild! Selfishly unfortunately for me it had already clambered away into the woods. Daw!!
Stallion in the front, Cal, then me, and Daddy bringing up the rear on bear patrol.
The four of us hiked together until the next water source, where I stayed behind to start pre-soaking some beans and rice for lunch, and they went on ahead. There was a super big climb starting from there, and that’s why the early start was so important today. Around 8am I came around a corner and felt something I hadn’t felt for a long time. A breeze!! Ah it felt so good! I never realized how much I appreciated a simple breeze until today. Although the sun hadn’t broken through the trees yet, it was so hot and muggy and sticky, that I stayed on Breeze Ridge for almost 10 minutes! How hot was it? This hot:
Definitely not hanging around for next week!
A selfie originally meant only for Claire that turned out surprisingly well! Haha.
Today there was a LOT of poison oak! Like, up to this point there have been specific areas that people have talked and warned about, but right now it’s the standard. I might have accidentally brushed some today twice, since it’s very hard to avoid it all in shorts. I might not even have any reactions though! We’ll know for sure in a few days...
More poison oak than trail...
Shasta hiding behind local fire smoke
Stallion and Daddy and Shasta
The three of us leapfrogged all day today. We have a pretty matched pace, I like it! The trail went way up to the viewpoint you see above, and then waaaaaay back down in the last 7 or so miles down towards Castella. Just before I hit the I-5, I hit a neat milestone..
1,500!! Whoo! There’s some light at the end of the tunnel! (Even though I’m STILL in California!! Only 1,150 to go!
About a mile later I came across a freshly stocked cooler with Gatorade and sodas! The lid read “FOR PCT HIKERS - Magic from Misfit’s parents. Just what I needed at the end of a long descent back into the 100°+ temps down at 2,000ft. I kept walking until I hit the road leading to the freeway. There was a train crossing the road and a familiar looking RV was stuck waiting for it. It was Misfit’s parents!! I got to thank them and talk story for about 30 seconds until the train passed. It was truly perfect timing!
Thanks guys!!
Daddy caught up at the road. He was planing on going up to Mt. Shasta and spending the night, where I was just planning on going a couple miles down the interstate to Castella to pick up some packages. The side rod to get there was VERY unused, but one of the two cars that passed in about 10 minutes circled back and (sort of) offered me a ride. I sweetened the pot with a monetary offering and he gladly sped me down the road to Castella. It was sort of a strang little ride. I only had two $1’s or a $5, so I gave him the fiver.
Ammirati’s is a great little store with a Chevron attached. They are very hiker friendly. There’s not much shade there, but their single picnic table was just fully getting covered by the awnings shade when I pulled up, so it was perfect. They let me change my phone and hang out outside. I picked up three packages from here, it was like Christmas! I’m Claire’s package I received my first pair of shoes back, which were in much better shape than the ones I had on (the ones I got from Lone Pine, 750 miles back...)
A 750 mile shoe
There were some awesome goddies on that package. I think I’m most excited about the Justin’s honey peanut butter and the Trader Joe’s juicy dried mandarins! From Mom I received lots of food too, super stoked on the fresh pineapple, refills on my refried beans and rice burrito kit, and some “PCT Mix” bulk trailmix!! Sarah also sent me some great stuff! I’d say my favored there is the teriyaki beef jerky, and Mauna Loa Macadamia Nuts! Oh, also, a TON of breakfast bars which I’m really excited for! Thanks so much guys for everything you send me! You save me loads of money and time and I really appreciate you!
After waiting out the sun for hours (like actually 4+ hours), I decided to try and find a hitch back to the trail, one freeway off-ramp North on the interstate. It wasn’t too hard as there were lots of people just stopping by on long trips, to fill up with gas and get some ice cream and soda on the blistering afternoon. Oh by the way, it was 100° in the SHADE at 3:15pm!!
After asking about 5 or 6 people, one couple said they’d give me a ride. They were super super cool and the girlfriend let me sit up front and laid in the back with their dog as we took the 2 minute trip. They were driving back up to Olympia from Oakland, where they were scouting a job and are planning on moving to. They had some neat stuff glued to the dash of the car, including a bullet shell with flowers coming out of it like a vase!
When I got dropped off at the trailhead, I saw Magic and Stallion! They had both gone into Dunsmuir and back out today, and here we all were back at the trailhead! We hiked a few miles up the big climb in the nice and cool afternoon. It was great to talk and joke around as we weren’t going TOO fast for once up the big old hill. I’ll try and take a picture of Magic tomorrow so you guys can remember who he is.
Well, I’m feeling pretty good! I am pretty tired but that’s because of my new sleep schedule and the HEAT!! I’m climbing back up to 7,000+ ft tomorrow so hopefully it gets cooler! I’m really stoked that I still did over 22 miles today even though I hiked slow, hitched into Castella, spent 4 hours there, AND hitched back out! I’m super impressed with myself! Look out Canada, I’m on a roll!!
Thanks for reading!!
You're welcome!
ReplyDeleteI REALLY like the selfie, thanks for sharing with us too!
Re: shoes - I'd say you got your money's worth out of them! Every. Last. Penny.