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7/7/2017: Disappearing Creek Mile 1508.8 to Mt. Shasta Mile 1498.7

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. 

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7/6/17: Parks Creek Trailhead Mile 1537.2 to Disappearing Creek Mile 1508.8

28 and a half miles today for my 27 and a half birthday! One extra mile for good luck I guess. 
Today did not start out like it was going to be a big day. We did our new thing of not setting an alarm and slept in til 7ish! We didn’t get moving until a little after 8, which is at least an hour before we typically get hiking. 
We passed Flame, another SOBO, that we’d met a couple days ago and she told us Yote and Two Point Toe were about 10 minutes ahead of her. We haven’t seen them since the day before yesterday when we were leaving camp! They must’ve passed us and not seen our tent this morning. We eventually caught them and they were very confused how they’d gotten ahead of us! We chatted for a bit but then we kept hiking while they took a snack break–we had to make some miles with our late start. 


It was beautiful walking this morning (I realize I say this everyday, but it really is so pretty and there are constant views). We passed a bunch of alpine lakes just off the trail today. We didn’t stop and swim unfortunately but they were really pretty to look at. The terrain today was quite pleasant. It was mostly flat or gentle uphill or downhill for the majority of the day–making for not very strenuous walking, which I’m a big fan of. We passed a lot of nobos today, which seems to be the new norm. I’d guess we passed 20 or even close to 30! They tell us they see a lot of people walking south but we have only met three others! I imagine the number of people going south is a fraction of those hiking north. 
We crossed a couple minor lingering patches of snow today. We had a view of Mt Shasta all day today, well actually more like all day for the past week or so. It is beautiful to look at but I also feel like I’ve seen all sides of it by now and it makes me feel like the trail is just meandering in circles
We had a bit of a dry stretch today which hasn’t happened since the desert. About 13 miles without water. Not a big deal, but we’ve been spoiled with abundant water as of late. We took a brief break to fill up on water but then didn’t stop again until lunch, around 2:30. We’d done over 19 miles by then! This was good news for us, as our late start didn’t put too much of a dent in our progress. We took a quicker than usual lunch and decided to push on another 9.5 miles for the day. Sadly this probably meant Yote and 2.Toe wouldn’t catch us tonight, but we will see them in town. Wolf Bird and I like to maximize our walking time so then we can have fewer miles in town with the overarching goal of maximum lazy time in town. 
After lunch we had 4.5 miles remaining in the dry stretch and by the time we got to the water I was quite thirsty! I was debating not filtering the water (sometimes I don’t if it’s a nice spring), but Wolf Bird found a dead snake in the water. Definitely filtered it!
We had all downhill for the last 4.5 miles to camp. It was super hot in the blazing sun but I was grateful to be going down the rocky switchbacks rather than climbing them like the many nobos we passed. We arrived at camp around 6:30 and set up and ate quickly. The mosquitoes were fairly bad so I finished my dinner in the tent. We are excited for town tomorrow! We are heading into Mt Shasta and I get a new replacement backpack. Mine has been sitting about six inches to the left on my back for at least half the trail. I’ve had a huge knot in my left shoulder as a result. I finally reached out to Osprey and they sent a replacement pack to an outfitter in Mt Shasta, no questions asked. I’m so excited for my pack to sit normally again!!! 

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7/5/2017 Mosquito Lake Outlet Mile 1563.6 to Parks Creek Trailhead Mile 1537.2

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. 

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7/4/17: Payne’s Lake Mile 1591.5 to Mosquito Lake Outlet Mile 1563.6

Happy Fourth of July!! Big day for us today! 28 or so miles. We didn’t set our alarm this morning so it was nice being able to wake up naturally around 6:15. We packed up and set off relatively quickly, about quarter of 7. The morning’s miles seemed to fly by. We passed a bunch of NOBOs (northbounders) and chatted with a few, mostly telling them about the snow they had ahead and also finding out where these hikers flipped to (none of these people did the Sierra, they skipped them and decided to walk north to Canada and later go back, rather than do our south then north plan). Eventually Wolf Bird used the facilities, in the woods that is, and I kept hiking. I wanted to try to get as many miles as possible out of the way before lunch so I set a goal for myself of reaching a certain stream before stopping. This would make about 17.5 miles done before lunch.


The walking was pretty easy until I came to an uphill section. I popped in some music for a while and before I knew it I was at the stream id been aiming For! And good timing, because Wolf Bird caught me not five minutes after. We stopped and had a nice long lunch break by the stream. We discussed where we wanted to aim to camp tonight. We were eying two options, one 7.5 miles ahead and one 10 ahead. We decided to go 7.5 and see how we felt. 


The walking again was really nice–the terrain in this section has been super gentle and gradual, even for the PCT which already tends to be pretty gradual. We got to the campsite at 7.5 around 6 or so. It was on a ridge and thus had a beautiful view of the surrounding mountains including Mt Shasta. We debated staying so we might have a chance to spot fireworks somewhere in the valley below. We both were feeling like we could walk more though so we decided to keep going the last 2.5 to the next campsite. It was all downhill and flew by. 
There was one person already camped there but he kept to himself. We cooked dinner–I made mac and cheese, quite the luxury as it weighs a lot and I don’t carry it often. We also washed up in the stream nearby… I always find a way to get the dirtiest legs imaginable. Then we watched an hour of Brokeback Mountain, which I made Wolf Bird rent on amazon prime on his phone. All in all a good day! Although it didn’t feel like Fourth of July to us at all–we didn’t even hear fireworks in the distance or anything. Still, it was a beautiful day and we are very grateful to be out here. 

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7/3/2017 Etna, CA Mile 1597 to Payne’s Lake Mile 1591.5

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. 

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7/2/17: Shelly Meadow Tentsite Mile 1607.9 to Etna CA Mile 1597

Town today! We did something we never do and didn’t set an alarm this morning. Wolf Bird told me he’d wake me up if I was still sleeping by 6:30AM and of course I was. It was a nice treat to sleep a bit later than usual. Wolf Bird told me the other two were already gone so I felt like I needed to get a move on. But once I packed up and was out of the tent I saw they were still there! Evil conniving Wolf Bird! Actually I think he didn’t see their tent but still it was a good tactic to get me moving. 


We only had about 11 miles to walk before town and they flew by. It was a beautiful morning with great views and just really enjoyable. We walked from around 7 to 11 and arrived at the road ready to hitch. There was not very much traffic on the road so we mostly sat around in the hot sun. Yote and 2.Toe soon arrived and we eventually decided to walk a ways down the road to a different pullout that was on less of a blind curve. Almost immediately a car stopped for us!

A super cool old school jeep stopped for the four of us as well as a NOBO hiker Ikie. The jeep was pretty small but the retired couple told us they’d be happy to take us all if we could fit. Wolf Bird sat crammed in the trunk with all the packs and the four of us squeezed in the backseat. The couple was very nice and told us they travel the country all year in their bus and tow their jeep along. They are in this area for about six weeks. 
After a long winding drive down the mountain we arrived in Etna and had the couple drop us off at Dottys, a local burger joint. We all pigged out and soon figured out where we’d stay in town. Yote and 2.Toe opted for the hiker hostel as they were expecting a package there. We decided to stay at the city park as it was much cheaper yet still had wifi and showers etc. We had to go to the grocery store to buy tokens for the shower. As we were walking from the grocery store to the park to set up camp, a woman in a driveway who was unloading stuff from her car shouted to us, “hey, want a beer?!” We of course couldn’t turn down that offer so we followed her to a nice shaded porch where she introduced us to her sister. 


Wolf Bird and I hung out for quite a while chatting with Chris and I can’t remember the other sister’s name. They were hilarious and so generous. One had just moved to town only six months ago from Buffalo and was already trying to set up a little spot in her barn to host hikers! We enjoyed a couple Coronas and even some cotton candy grapes (what even are those!) and then said our goodbyes. They even invited us to join them for dinner later if we wanted. The kindness of strangers along this trail is truly amazing. 
We then went and set up our tent in the park and then did town chores. We did our laundry and resupplied and unfortunately that took too long so we didn’t join the sisters for dinner. We did meet up with Yote and 2.Toe for a late dinner at a local restaurant and went to bed full and happy and well past our bed time. 

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7/1/2017 Buckhorn Spring 1632.0 to Shelly Meadows 1607.9

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. 

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6/30/17: Seiad Valley to Buckhorn Spring

We got to sleep in today because we planned to go to breakfast at the Seiad Valley Cafe, which opened at 7 AM. Wolf Bird’s favorite meal to go to a restauarant for is breakfast, while I prefer to go out for lunch or dinner foods. Luckily we got the best of both worlds as they allowed me to get a sandwich off the lunch menu! Our meals were super tasty and we ate so much we felt very full.

We packed up our stuff and finally got hiking around 930 or so. The first 6 or 7 miles of the day was all road walking. I guess it’s all private land around here so the PCTA hasn’t been able to secure land to create a trail on. The road walk was hot and felt neverending. It changed from paved roads to a dirt forest service road after a while. Eventually a forest service truck pulling a horse trailer passed us and a older man dressed in all denim with a cowboy hat got out. He chatted with us about the trail and about his horses. Well actually there were two mules (huge ones, as they’d been bred from draft horses) and one horse. He was quite talkative while his younger volunteer Marissa just stood there silently. They were going to do some trail work and told us we may see them later today.
We said goodbye to our new friends and finally reached the part where the actual trail resumed. We passed an established campground that is temporarily closed from a forest fire last year. Not long after Wolf Bird spotted a black bear off to the left of the trail in the woods! I only got a quick peek at it as it walked away from us but it was huge! We guessed that it must have used to have raided the now closed campground.
Our entire day was to be uphill, as sections out of town typically are. The walking wasn’t too difficult and we passed a bunch of other thru hikers heading north. All of them must’ve skipped the Sierra and resumed the trail somewhere north of them. It’s funny because even though we are doing the same thing as these northbounders (that is, thru hiking) we don’t really stop and talk to them. Just a quick hello and pass each other.
We were really feeling the miles today and felt like we were just dragging. We passed Yote and 2.Toe who were hanging out in the shade under a bridge over Grider Creek which we were following all day. We had the same idea and planned to stop at a bridge a few miles up. It was a much needed break. I soaked my feet and Wolf Bird of course went all the way in the freezing water. We ate and relaxed in the shade by the creek. There have been a ton of butterflies in this section and during this break at least four landed on my hiking poles! It was so cool and beautiful to see them and I was able to get a couple photos and a video.

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After our break we had 8 more miles until our campsite for the day. Again we were dragging although eating definitely helped give us some energy. This section is a recovering burn area and the actual trail was super overgrown and I grew very frustrated with all the brush scratching my legs nonstop. After an hour or so all of a sudden we rounded a corner to see a giant mule in the trail! Along with our cowboy forest service friend from earlier. He yelled hello to us and even remembered our names–his was Bill Roberts. He chatted with us for quite a while. He is a man with many stories, most involving his horses or mules. He also apparently has written a poetry book and offered to recite a poem for us. We of course said okay and as he was on maybe the third or fourth line (and reciting with much excitement) his mule let out a huge slow fart. It was a giant expulsion of air with a prolonged whoosh noise. Better yet the mule’s butt was right next to where Bill was standing so it perfectly interrupted his poem. We all laughed and he eventually restarted the poem… But man did Wolf Bird and I have a good laugh about that fart later in the tent that night! How well timed.
Bill was an interesting man and it was nice to talk to him… But alas we had more miles to go. Just as we were leaving, Yote and 2.Toe caught up and enjoyed seeing the mules as well. We finally got on the road and realized we Must’ve talked with Bill for nearly an hour!! Jeeze! We still had five miles to go and they were quite the slog. All uphill in the hot sun. I threw in my headphones and listened to a podcast Crimetown to help the time go by quicker.

I ran out of water on this section (just poor planning on my part) and got soo thirsty. I had trouble thinking about anything but how thirsty I was. Finally I passed a small stream that had super cold water and just chugged a liter without treating the water I was so thirsty.
We arrived at our campsite by a spring soon after. A Canadian couple also going south in the same flip flop pattern was there. We chatted with them and later a girl Flame showed up who is also going South. Then Yote and 2.Toe arrived and we all chatted and set up camp. As I was taking a photo of the view I noticed a deer right near our camp! It appeared to be limping and also did not run away once it noticed me. It stood eating a plant and let me get pretty close to take photos. 2.toe later said it was wandering around near their tent all night! It was so cute and a treat to get to watch up close.


We went to bed and slept very well even with a sloped campsite.

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6/29/2017 Stealth Site 1678.0 to Seiad Valley 1653.4

Not a lot to say about today, mainly because I am having trouble remembering what we did.  I do remember the hike went quickly, though painfully, and it was very beautiful even though we belted out 24.6 miles. We were in Seiad Valley by 4:30 p.m. and immediately began consuming as many different beverages as we could get our hands on at the general store. I got a chocolate milk, Bai, Coors Light, Sobe, and a coke. I was so dehyadrated after walking 4 miles or more dry.  Soon after 2.Toe and Yote showed up and they said they had a tough day with a lot of foot pain. 

We all headed over to the campground and set up for the night for $15 a head which was a bit expensive for us but it was really the only option for the next 8 miles. We all enjoyed the showers and I did laundry for the group and soon we were all in bed and sleeping like little hiker babies. 

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6/28/17: Grouse Gap Shelter to Mile 1677(ish)

It was hard getting up this morning as it was chilly out and we were warm and comfy in our sleeping bags. But alas we had miles to walk. We left the shelter and had to walk by the cows we saw yesterday, which I’m of course afraid of due to my cow incident on the AT. I made Wolf Bird act as my buffer and shield from the cows and luckily survived without them even really looking at me. 

The morning really flew by today! There was a section with a fair amount of snow but Wolf Bird and I opted to go off trail and walk downhill below the snow, paralleling the trail for a bit. This was easier than walking on the snow and before we knew it we were past the snow. We leapfrogged a bit with a guy whose name I don’t know but will call Angry British Guy. He is my trail enemy. Well not really but back in Bishop we did get into sort of an argument. A bunch of hikers were sitting around chatting (including him) and somehow Inchworm came up. She was an AT hiker in her 60s in 2013 who went missing in Maine on her thru hike and later was found dead in her tent less than a mile off trail. Wolf Bird and I had met her the day before she went missing and always found this story so especially sad because of how nice she was and how competent she seemed. Anyway people were talking about her and Angry British Guy (ABG) kept trying to contribute to the conversation but with incorrect facts. He was like “oh yeah wasn’t that in 2015” and the guy he was talking to was like “no, 2013” and ABG sort of denied it and made it seem like he still thought it was 2015. He also thought it happened in Virginia not Maine and acted like the other guy was wrong when he stated it was Maine. I wasn’t participating in their conversation but only listening and slightly amused at how people sometimes try to act like experts on something they know very little about. But then ABG went on a rant about how Inchworm was so incompetent and did everything wrong and didn’t know what she was doing. This really crossed the line for me and I couldn’t just stay silent. I felt he was being extremely disrespectful talking poorly about her when he’d already demonstrated he didn’t know the basic facts surrounding her situation. I thought it was even worse to talk bad about someone that has passed away in a tragic situation when we couldnt possibly know her exact circumstances. So I spoke up and said something to the effect of “inchworm was just as competent as any other hiker on the AT or this trail. I don’t appreciate the way you’re talking about her” and he replied asking if I knew her and that he’d heard she got lost all the time and how can you even get lost on the AT. I told him I felt it’d be very easy to lose the trail or get turned around especially in such a rugged part of Maine and he of course disagreed. I could tell we wouldn’t agree on anything so I then just asked him if he would stop talking about it because I felt he was being disrespectful. He then argued he wasn’t being disrespectful. I didn’t want to argue so I was just like ok, fine, will you please stop talking about it regardless. Finally he did and it was sort of awkward for a while but I’m glad I spoke up.  Anyway since then I was not a fan of ABG and was absolutely shocked when he also flipped like us. He’d been bragging about how light his pack was for the next section of the Sierra! I guess he changed his mind. 

Anyway so we were around him a fair amount yesterday and today and he was not friendly (maybe he also dislikes me). It was just awkward as he didn’t greet us when we walked by as is normal etiquette especially when we greet him, and he gives off a very stressed and negative vibe. I am happy to say we did a 26 mile day today and lost him! At least for now. Ok rant over!

We passed the California/Oregon border today and actually took a lunch break at it. It was weird because we didn’t actually walk all of California yet so it wasn’t an exciting moment as it would’ve been walking north all the way to this point. Oh well, one of the downsides of flipping I guess. 


We waited for Yote and 2.Toe for an hour and a half at the border but they didn’t show. We wrote a note to them in the register that we planned to go about 12 more miles today and hiked on. 

The afternoon passed quickly. There was more snow but we were able to walk pretty quickly through it by opting to follow a forest service road that parallels the trail. This allowed us to avoid difficulties in navigation, as it was obvious where the road went even when it was covered in snow. Not so much for the trail. 

We decided to stop a mile shy of our intended campsite as it was growing late and we found a nice area with a good view. We weren’t sure if the other two would Come along or not. I was brushing my teeth just before bed when I spotted them down below the trail on the forest service road! I was glad for the coincidence because if we’d been in our tent I don’t think they couldve seen it from where they were. We chatted with them briefly before bed and got a good nights rest.