Month: July 2017

Today is a special day for us. Today we hit 1,000 miles on our custom pct hike. We are so proud of ourselves and to make things even more exciting, we are heading to town! We only had 10 miles to knock out before reaching Interstate 5 for a hitch. It was a perfect morning and easy trail the whole way. We chatted most or the way and when we reached our 1,000 mile mark, we made ourselves and little stick model of 1,000 to take a celebratory selfy. 

Soon we found ourselves at the road crossing and it looked st first that a hitch might be tough but within minutes Tony, a highway patrolman, picked us up. We had heard he was a trail Angel and he was very friendly. 

We chatted wirh him on the way to Shasta and found out he was only days away from retiring and planned on hiking the PCT or AT next year. He dropped us off at the Black Bear Diner and we stuffed ourselves. Afterwards we wanted to resupply but on our way to the grocery store we saw a movie theater! We quickly adjusted our plans and went inside to watch The House. It was hilarious, I was crying laughing, and we were basically the only ones in the theatre since it was only noon. 

After the movie we hit up the grocery store, burger king, then the outfitter. Sherpa secured a new free bag because her frame was bent. She has been putting up with some serious discomfort on account of her bag so we are really excited about the new pack. After the outfitter we headed to a hotel I booked and stopped at the thrift store for some cheap town clothes. 

The hotel, The Mount Shasta Inn & Suites, we experienced the worst customer service I have ever seen. First they asked for a 20 cash deposit and they said they would need to check the room before we left, which was a little odd but I didn’t mind. But soonafter the owner/manager was watching our room and when Yote and 2.Toe showed up they called our room to say they couldn’t stay with us. They were very rude and seemed to be listening into our conversations, which we have no proof of but they made some very odd comments which led us all to feel that way. 

After arguing with them for a few minutes they finally relented and said they could stay for an additional $20 cash. Very odd behavior. We read many hilarious comments about their paranoid behavior and other people saying they recorded conversations without their permission. They should consider a business other than hospitality as they made us feel very uncomfortable and put upon. 

Amway we enjoyed ourselves by napping and watching tv till after 10 p.m. then fell asleep like little hiker babies. 

Today was super casual. I honestly don’t have much to say except that it went very quickly and it was beautiful and very flat relative to what we have been hiking. We only really stopped once at around 1 for lunch and were done by around 5 with just over a marathon. At camp we watched Brokeback Mountain which was a really good movie I had not seen. 

Soon after we were asleep like little hiker babies. 

Today was a good day. I woke up early as usual and slipped out of the tent to let Sherpa sleep in while I grabbed some coffee and worked on the blog.  Last night I woke up a few times for no particular reason and walked out and looked at the stars.  I have become really good at picking out the big and little dippers and the little dipper has the north star.  I have become enamored with the night sky and each day I am more instinctually more aware of nature’s compasses and time keepers. At night the outermost stars in the trough of the dipper form a hour hand with the north star at its axis, which is the outermost star of the little dipper. In the day in California, the sun always makes little compasses with every shadow. In the morning the shadows point west and in the evening they point east. My mind is constantly making maps as we walk oriented by these little indicators. Sometimes it can be annoying when we suddenly turn north when our ultimate direction is south. We will swing around a giant bowl only to end up a mile from where we started. Oh well, the trail knows best. 

Anyway back to the coffee. I was at the diner for quite a while and Sherpa never joined me. I ended up eating two breakfasts I was there so long, first a hot bowl of cream of wheat smothered in brown sugar, butter, and cold cream. A few hours and 9 cups of coffee later I sat with Yote and 2.Toe and had eggs, sausage, and hash browns. They were also there catching up on their blog and chores and it was fun to sit with them.  Poor Yote was dealing with some bureaucratic nonsense related to taxes. I do not envy him though I need to fix some health insurance info myself so that’s on my list. 

After my blog posts, Sherpa asked me to bring her a chocolate milkshake, which has become the quest of this town visit. Fourth of July revelers has cleaned out the town of Etna. No milkshakes were to be found in any establishment within 100 miles. It was a desperate situation for dear Sherpa, who begins to wither after 12 hours if not supplied with chocolate ice cream in one of its many forms.  

I collected one of the last shakes in town and then met her at the grocery store and it was nice to see her. We went to the post office to collect our aqua mira and then went back to the park to pack up.  

At the park we took a last shower, topped off our cell phones, packed our bags and went back to Dotty’s to get one last meal before hitting the road. We were eating our burgers at Dotty’s and suddenly, out of no where, Stripe appeared, our friend from the Appalachian trail! We didn’t even know how to act it was so shocking to see someone from the trail out here, though it shouldn’t have been surprising. Him and his partner are hiking a section they missed when they hiked the trail last year. We were so surprised we kind of all just made small talk as if it were no big deal.

I texted Yote and 2.Toe to see how they were doing and they were eating at the diner next door and were finishing up. We said our goodbyes and then met up with our regular fools and we walked to main street to get a hitch to the trail. 

We are always surprised how quickly we get a hitch. Within minutes we were riding in the back of a locals pickup. It was no small trip to the summit so we were really grateful and it was clear it wasn’t on his way. The ride was beautiful and the wind felt amazing. At the top he invited a bunch of hikers to jump in and he headed back down the mountain. People can be so generous. 

We all set out together and it was already passed 5 p.m. so we didnt expect to get far and before too long we encountered our first obstacle. The trail had taken us over a ridge to the north face of the mountain and the entire ridge was covered in a steep snow bank. 

We looked at our maps and decided to go around on the southern ridge. It was largely a boulder field leading up to a narrow pass. The massive boulders kept us moving at a snale’s pace but it kept us above the brush and it was covered in a dry, black, moss-like substance that was very grippy, and ultimately pretty enjoyable. Yote and 2.Toe took the lead and found a good path through the pass and back over to the north ridge to ride the top of the snow bank, which was nearly flat, and eventually dropped us down to the trial which was now exposed 400 yards below.  

The rest of the evening was smooth sailing and we ended our day at a gorgeous lake. I had packed our some cheap brats so I was contemplating making a fire. While setting up the tent I noticed that Yote was collecting sticks, so I got really excited and started helping him. 

He had just started piling kindling in the fire when Sherpa noticed that there was smoke already coming out of the fire pit. It was really scary to think that someone hadn’t fully extinguished the fire when they left after seeing so many devastated acres on our hike. It was convenient though in this instance and we all sat down around a pleasant fire and 2.Toe and Yote produced some wine which we passed around to wash down the brats. It was perfect. 

Soon after we all went to our tents and slept like little hiker babies. 

Today is the 4 year anniversary of the day that Sherpa and I met. I am so glad every day that we did and have shared so many wonderful adventures as friends and as partners.  It’s also the Trailiversary of The Breakfast Club. To top it off it was one of the most scenic and enjoyable days on trail to date. 

We spent the morning walking through the Marble Wilderness and it wss breathtaking. There were snow capped peeks and lush meadows. Tall pines and marshes near glacial lakes. It was a true pleasure and I was feeling so much stronger than when I entered Seiad Valley. We really enjoyed ourselves all day even though we encountered a few patches of tricky snow. 

We had little difficulty navigating the snow but it was slow going.  By 11:30 we had only gone 7 miles in spite of feeling like we were moving. 

We took a break with 2.Toe and Yote at a glacial stream and had an early lunch. While we were sitting there a buck walked by nearly noticing us. Deer in this area seem very used to seeing people. 

After our break we came across a cabin that was really neat. I slipped into the window and took a quick picture of some antlers. 

The next section was covered in herbs like wild parsley and mint. I picked some for my dinner. Eventually the lush mountainside gave way to dryer ground and I found myself again without enough water. Sherpa of course had prepared and had two litres. We were in a burn section but I knew we would come across a trickle somewhere soon. Sure enough we found a beautiful seasonal spring 10 yards up a steep bank in a dyhedral streaming with ice cold water and yellow flowers. 

I didn’t filter the water and it was delicious and cold! Sherpa was jealous and so I swapped a litre of her warm water for a fresh cold one and so we sat and ate lunch and enjoyed ourselves. 

After a while we began the last and most striking push of the day. We had no idea what was in store for us when we approached a narrow pass between two mountains. We could see the moon hanging just above the opening and as we crested to ridge we saw that the other side was a giant bowl of snow, trees, and streams. 

Our first impulse was to glisade the whole bowl but the approach turned out to be a bit tretourus so we picked our way down through the trees and found a safe way all the way down. Once at the base of the bowl we traversed at roughly the same elevation for a couple miles passing many beautiful waterfalls where we filled our bottles at will without filtering. The water was so fresh, cold, and delicious. Sherpa was as brave as ever as this is some of her most scary terrain. We took our time and got through it without issues. 

A couple more ridges and we made it to camp. I felt like celebrating so I made a fire after Yote and 2.Toe showed up. We sat around ate and chatted. Only 10 miles to town tomorrow and we felt very glad to have a tough but enjoyable hike done. 

Sherpa went to bed first and then a few minutes later I drenched the fire and got in the tent and we slept like little hiker babies.