Day 91, 24.1 miles

The first thing I got to do this morning was one of the best things in the world! Take a shower!! Here’s where 90% of readers need to prepare to cringe: NOT including rivers or lakes as real showers, I haven’t had a real, indoor, soap and shampoo shower for 250 miles!! All the way back at Drakesbad Guest Ranch! Go ahead and judge, I have no regrets!! Haha. I figured I should take a shower before seeing my mom in a few days ;)

The motel that the four of us had stayed in offered free rides up to the trailhead, but since it was originally going to be just Drippy and Calamity staying there, I’m not sure the motel KNEW about 4am and I. Luckily, Cribbage and Hobbit were staying 4 doors down from us, and they said they could give me a ride up! (4am needs to stay in town for two more days as he has an interview on Wednesday!) 

Hobbit got off the trail in Chester, but now she’s back, following Cribbage around in the car for support and resupply. It’s so awesome! Oh the retired life! Hahaha.

Hobbit on left and Cribbage on right, and a nice Subaru Outback! 

Hobbit dropped us off at the trailhead at around 9:30am, and Drippy and Calamity got dropped off minutes after from the motel shuttle. There were about 10 hikers trying to hitch into town, and both vehicles went over to give some of them a ride back. I knew I still wanted to do about 20 miles today, and I knew it wouldn’t be that hard to achieve. The trail started in a steep climb, and I hiked out with Drippy, talking and catching up some more. He knew about Benton Hot Springs (the place Claire and I went during her visit) and he actually lives right in Mammoth!!

1600 today!!

Drippy

The trail was actually very beautiful today, and I took a lot of pictures. I’d say 30% of everything I went through today were burn areas. The southbound section hikers that took me down to Etna had told me that I wouldn’t like the section because it was steep up and it all got burned. I thought it was super nice! A tough day nonetheless but very beautiful! 

My favorite of the day!

There was one section that looks like the fire had only gotten to half of some of the trees, and on the other half was untouched green pine! So crazy! 

Whaaaaa?!? 

Cool ridges

Nice alpine lakes!

Although it was hot, there was a nice breeze for a lot of the day! All the hikers around me (including myself) all seemed like they got their butts kicked today. A lot of the trail was just loose sharp rocks, so you really had to be more careful with each foot placement in your steps. Oh, speaking of feet! The strange mark on my right foot is slowly getting better and doesn’t hurt as much anymore! It’s definitely just a bruise and not a fungus! Anyway, back to the pics!!

The haziness of the smoke from the nearby fires made for a lot of cool looking views, like in the picture above. Luckily, I along with the other hikers, have not felt a deterioration in air quality or have noticed any difficulties  or discomfort breathing. It’s still just a far away haze.

 

For some reason, in the later afternoon once the sun started hiding behind some of the trees, all of the gnats like to sit on the rocks. Maybe they’re still “warmish” from the sun? At least they’re not flying in my face! 

Super pretty flowers just before camp

Tons of deer here, I can hear them walking around and grazing very close to me. One hiker that’s camped here said “Hey if there’s deer around, then there’s no bears around!” Don’t know how true that is but I’ll take it.

Wow, I’m really really tired.. I can’t believe I still did 24 miles and didn’t start until almost 10am!! I also took a bunch of breaks today. Granted I DID hike until about 8:30pm, which is way later than normal. It’s 10:04pm as I’m typing this, I need to pass out now!

Thanks for reading! 

Day 90, 13.6 miles

What an unexpected spike UP on the PCT rollercoaster! Yesterday I decided that I’d head into Etna, and immediately this morning I felt way better off the bat, knowing that I wouldn’t need to stretch my food until Seiad. There was a lot of climbing in the morning, but luckily the sun was hiding behind the ridge to my east during the toughest part. 

Beautiful morning 

Cool burn areas

Still so smoky trail-East!

Smith Lake

I got down to the highway before 11am, which I thought was pretty good! I’m tired, and was stoked to be going into town. The hitch down into Etna is notoriously hard, and I waited for about 45 minutes before some southbound section hikers came by and said they could squeeze me in their car for the ride back down to Etna. 

I got dropped off in the center of town, and was ready for some lunch! Paystreak Brewery was open, and I knew they supposedly had great food, so I went for it. It was there I saw Lucky! I hung out with him for while at the bar, when someone called my name from behind. It was Drippy! I had finally caught up to him! I met Drippy way back at Cajon Pass, mile 280! I haven’t seen him since Tehachapi and assumed he was long gone after my 5 day break! 

Drippy and his friend Calamity. Lucky is far back at the bar.

We caught up and talked for while, and I ate a huge turkey sandwich and two big beet tacos (not a beef typo, these were great beet tacos with tahini and lots of other flavors!) At this time it was almost 2pm and I started thinking about resupply and a cleanup. Some locals in the bar were going to the creek nearby and asked if I wanted to join! It sounded like a sweet swimming hole so I was super down! I forgot the other names except Eric, but the three of them were a great group of people. They had two cool dogs and I jumped in the back of the cab.

Beers to the river!! 

Doggos ready to swim!

A perfect swimming hole!!

The swimming spot was soooooo good! The water temperature was cold and refreshing but not too icy cold! I got to rinse my body and hair out, and also got to wash and ring out my socks, gaiters, and my shirt! I was so glad I joined them! We hung out down there and met a bunch of other locals out for a swim. After that it was time to go back to town and Paystreak and eat some more! 

A great salad!

I had been planning on resupplying at the grocery store sooner than later, but it soon started raining really really hard outside! It even hailed for a few minutes!! They were setting up for some love music inside, so I just kept eating! I ate a whole ‘nother turkey sandwich! That’s 4 plates at the brewery today!

Raining hard!

Sunny but raining in Etna, CA

A local named Glen was playing the guitar and one of the waitresses was singing with him. They said that if anyone else wanted to come up and play instruments they were welcome to. A southbounder named Cartographer got his harmonicas, and a northbounder named 4am who I met two days ago, jumped on the violin. Soon it was a huge jam session and they were absolutely crushing it! 

4am on far left, Cartographer on harmonica, and Glen on Guitar! 

Ah what a sweet day this has turned out to be! Ok, so get this: At around 5pm, I was sure I had lost my sunglasses, and I was so bummed! I figured I either left them at the river or in Eric’s truck. I asked a worker there if they could keep an eye out for me and I basically deemed them lost. She said that Eric was still around out back and I should go check with him. He told me that he had already taken the truck home, and that now he was too drunk to drive, but he GAVE me the keys to his own car, as well as directions to his house, and let me go look for them.

Let’s recap: Basically, a near STRANGER gave me his car and let me go to his HOUSE and look in his truck!! This town is so freaking nice to us hikers! What’s super great is that I ended up finding my sunglasses! I’m so glad! 

At this point it was still sort of raining, and I had given up all hope of leaving town tonight. Drippy said that I could pitch in and split a hotel room that he, 4am, and Calamity were splitting! It was only $19 each and it was so cool to be out of the elements and in a nice bed for once! Also, there’s a ride to the trailhead tomorrow at 8:30am that is included in the price! We stayed up watching Whose Line is it Anyways for way too long, and now it’s almost 11:30pm as I’m finishing this. Good thing I get to sleep in tomorrow! 

I’m really glad I took this half day of rest here in Etna. It’s a tiny town but everyone was so cool! I got to catch up with Drippy and meet a bunch of new hikers. I’ve been really set on going as fast as I can these last few weeks, as I really want to make it back up North, and there seems to be an ever growing drive to get there FAST! What I need to remember is that I have to take breaks every once in a while, or else my quick pace will become good for nothing if I burn my body out!!

Well, I don’t want to keep 4am up on our small shared double bed! Time to crash!

Thanks for reading! 

Day 89, 24.5 miles

It felt good to do 30 miles yesterday, but my body is definitely feeling it today! I think I’m going to stick with ~25’s as my goal for now, and sprinkle some 30’s in here or there when I feel like I can do them comfortably. I don’t think I’m in a place yet to sustainably be hiking 30+ miles everyday, and don’t know if I even want to be in that place! I’ve done 4 so far, and it seems that I don’t get to stop for very long or even look around for very long on those days, and that’s no fun! Haha. I’m well on track for Canada mid-September, and don’t have to hurt my body getting there!

This morning I continued up the huge hill that I started last night. I was on trail by 6am and the cool morning was nice! It didn’t get as hot as quickly as it did yesterday, and I hoped that would be true for the rest of the day as well.

Trinity Alps!!

Pretty morning peak

Gonna skip that one! :p

The trail was also a nice gradient, definitely not close to some of the other really steep climbs I’ve done so far. Sooner than I knew, I was at the top and started rolling up and down nice valley traverses with occasional views into the wilderness. 

This chipmunk was just sitting on the top of the rock at the top of a pass, just staying out into his kingdom. Seeing that the rock is already a mountain for him, what must it feel like to be on top of the actual mountain!?! 

The trail winded down through many little Meadows and water sources, and then would once again hug the valley walls for some time. It was really a pretty day! A little reminiscent of the Sierra for sure! 

The second half of the day got a liiiiittle tougher! There was a big 6 mile waterless climb up a STEEP steep mountain in the afternoon heat. It still wasn’t horrible, likely thanks to the elevation, nice shade, and occasional breeze.

Still pretty hazy out here!

At 5pm I got up to the top of the really big hot hill and some water from a tiny spring. I was really hungry and got INTO my food! I looked up the camping situation and saw that I either camp in a mile or 6 miles, as there was a long narrow traverse on the side of some steep valleys. Like I said, I don’t want to be killing my body, and pushing 6 more miles would’ve meant nearly another 30! It looked like an early day for me! 

Another thing I’ve decided is that I am after all going to hitch into Etna tomorrow. I have about 2 days of food left and Seiad is still almost 3 away. Although it’s supposedly a really hard hitch on a very low traffic road and may take hours to get a ride in, at least I can go get a beer and make sure I have enough food to finish the stretch! I remember telling myself in the Sierra that I’d never not bring enough food again, and I’m sticking to it! 

It’s not that I didn’t bring enough food, I actually brought too much! I was originally planning on carrying only 4 days of food and stopping in Etna anyway. But at Castella I got sooooo much food in the mail (not a bad problem to have) that I decided to push for 6 days all the way to Seiad! Now here I am going back to the original plan, but it just means that I can eat more food tonight, get some town food tomorrow, and get some blogs uploaded! :)

I lazily took my time going up that last mile to the campsites on the ridge. Cribbage was there and of course he had Cribbage!  I love trail games and it felt great to actually have an “early” day and relax and play. I still got 24.5 miles in and I was chillin hard with all the breaks I wanted! Not too bad!!

 Cribbage with Cribbage! 

His friend 3-D printed the super light board, which glows in the dark! And Cribbage made the legs himself out of super light wood! We played 6 or 7 rounds and I got whooped! To be fair, his name IS Cribbage and he’s been playing since he was 7! (He’s 50 now). As the sun was setting I saw a Swiss hiker named Pants who I met earlier today. He went to go climb up onto some nearby rocks to catch the sweet sunset and I joined! It was so beautiful!!

My pics are blurry but he took some great ones of me and he’s going to email them to me. I can’t wait to get them and post them in a later blog post! 

——-Edit to add Pants’ photos——-

So much better and in focus!!

Cool capture of me!

——-Pants’ Photos——-

There is a thunderstorm building towards our campsite so I definitely set up my rainfly. I’m hoping for a storm as I love sleeping in the rain!! Tomorrow is Etna and you guys will finally be able to read these last 7 posts!! 

Thanks for reading! 

Day 88, 30.0 miles

Another big day in the books! It started off great with my decision to camp on the ridge last night paying off big time! The sun was rising right behind Shasta!

Toad Lake down below

What a beautiful morning! I usually try and get gone by 6:00am, but today I had to hang out and fully watch the sun peak over Mt. Shasta. I’m stoked that I’ve been able to see this mountain so much in the past hundred miles. I can’t wait to scope out the Oregon peaks from afar and hike closer to them! 

 Today was SO much flatter and easier than yesterday, it was GREAT! There was a small climb in the morning, but it wasn’t steep at all and it was under 5 miles. Then, we got to stay above 6,000ft and just meander slightly up and down or traverse long canyon walls on the flat! It was still a decently pretty day as well! I didn’t see any mosquitos at any of the water sources or during the hike today, only bees and flies which I’m fine with! 

Great use of a leaf for a water collector! 

Lots of cool red rocks. Can you see Shasta peaking its head out to say goodbye? Today might’ve been the last time I see it!

I didn’t camp with the rest of “The Boys”, (Magic, Chuck Wagon, and Stallion), so at first I wasn’t sure if I was ahead of them or behind. It turns out Stallion went an extra 5 miles last night and he’s probably long gone as I didn’t see him all day! Magic and Chuck Wagon passed me around lunch and I think they went farther than where I’m camping tonight. 

Ladies and gentlemen, you won’t BELIEVE what I found on the trail today!!

A trail magic cantaloupe!!

Perfectly ripe!!

That’s right, just after I took my lunch break, I was zooming down the hill, and not 20 minutes later did I see a cantaloupe just lying near the trail under a tree! On the sticker was written “Enjoy”, and on the melon itself was written “Trail”. I don’t know if this means “Enjoy the Trail”, or if there was once another cantaloupe next to it that said “Magic”. Either way, I knew it was (Trail Magic!)

I didn’t hesitate to knock on it for ripeness, cut it open with my knife and scoop and slice! My mama taught me well! I cut it into 12 slices thinking I’d give some to the others who I just passed after my lunch break. They must’ve taken a break right after that, because they took forever and I ate 9 of the slices! Hahaha. Cal, Chuck Wagon, and Cribbage were all still appreciative that I saved them some. This is definitely one of the best trail finds I can think of!! 

After a double lunch and a lot of cantaloupe, I was ready to put in some miles for a 30 mile day! I met a few other people today. There was Cribbage who I met a looooong time ago. He started in March. He and his wife Hobbit flipped up the trail because of too much snow in the Sierra. I got off trail for 5 days, they went to a family reunion for 8 days, got back down through the Sierra, and then flipped back up to Chester. Hobbit got off trail and now I catch Cribbage after Castella. What are the odds that after all that we’re in the same spot! Haha.

I also met Dr. Jones, Slide, Alex, and 4am. Slide is pretty familiar with Athlete’s Foot. He had a look at mine and says he thinks it looks more like blunt force trauma to that specific area of my foot. Like maybe I stepped right in the middle of a rock, or stepped on one of my stakes while wearing a flip flop around camp one night. I can’t remember any specific instance like that, but I know I step on stakes all the time, and I’m hoping that’s what it is instead of a fungus! Either way I’m continuing to monitor it, and if it gets itchy and flaky or spreads, I’ll know that it is Athlete’s Foot and get some anti-fungal cream in Seiad. 

Also, I’ve been saying “Say-ee-ad” this whole time, and I guess it’s pronounced “Sigh-ad”. Oops! 

I like this picture! 

Well folks, that’s about it! I’m pretty tired but also glad I got in a 30 today. The trail gets a lot more climby and descendy (yes, these are made up words to make things easier to say), and so I think I’ll be stocking with the 25-28 mile a day range until Seiad. I don’t want to make my foot worse whatever it might be! 

Also, if some of you are worried about all the fires in Oregon, and especially near the Oregon/California border, do not fear! I’m updated on all the fires and am monitoring them closely. When I get to Seiad I will decide what’s the best move, (alternates or skipping), and although I’d really hate to skip at this point since I haven’t broken my continuous footpath, I will chose my safety over my pride and make the right deduction when faced with it! (Also, the PCTA is very good at making trail closures known and working with different counties to keep hikers out of danger or possible danger). 

Almost to Oregon! Stoked to see my mom and finally take a zero! I will have not zeroed for 775 miles by the time I meet mom and take one! Whew!! 

Thanks for reading!!