Wolf Bird & Sherpa's Adventures

Today was a great day for both of us. We had hiked our first official 30 yesterday and that only left us with 18 miles to the Burney Mountain Guest Ranch with the Burney Falls and State Park General Store at the half way point. I could tell it was going to be a rewarding day.

We woke up at 6 and were walking by 7 with only a few bug bites. I was really plugged into the BBC space podcast all morning, as I was most of the day the day before.  The podcast isn’t “good”,  it is really just a random collection of broadcasts by the BBC that they must have simply tagged as space related. That being said, it has really spiked my curiosity by frustrating me with a lack of detail. I am realizing on this trail an old desire to become a scientist is still very much alive in me. I am not sure I could stomach the public sector though my conscience really protests against the private sector.  The first BBC podcast I listened to was about the history and significance of the study of Infinity. It was such a poor podcast in some ways because it was so high level and elementary but it was sufficient to leave me wanting more. As I have been listening it has been very easy for me to see how math, science, art, and philosophy have always been intrinsically linked and I am eager be a part of that development.

My favorite topic they discussed was Zeno’s paradoxes. Especially the Dichotomy argument, where essentially if you attempt to go from a point A to a point B, you will have to go half the distance of A and B. And in order to continue to get to B you will have to go half the remaining distance, and so on. It raises so many wonderful questions about our conscious finite and unconscious infinite experiences that have still yet to be fully answered. In fact, the phrase “and so on” in it of itself is an amazing feet of human consciousness. The fact that we can contemplate a summarized and approximated version of infinity is both striking and beautiful to me. It also has special significance in a seemingly never ending walk each day that suddenly comes to a close.

After just 3 hours and 3 podcasts we arrived at Burney Falls and we were not disappointed. First, because of hiker priorities, we went to the General Store for ice cream, soda, and a real bathroom! After we were refreshed and relaxed we walked down to the falls and wow what a gorgeous scene that awaited us. It was like out of a hidden corner of Hawaii or something to that effect.

We took a few pictures and hit the road to the ranch. Unfortunately as soon as we walked a mile away I immediately had to go to the bathroom again so I broke off on my own and Sherpa on her own.

I caught her a few hours later at a wonderful trail magic with snacks and lemonde! I really needed it because we entered a section of hot, red, volcanic rock and with little water. I only had one sip left of water to get me through the next 3 miles which I was planning on rationing. Apparently Sherpa was in the same boat. We stopped for a few minutes and then gobbled up the next couple of miles to the Ranch.

The Ranch was .3ish off the trail and when we arrived it was very hot and so we were eager to get in the shade. Immediately we were greeted by the owner and manager with ice cream. The best part of all was seeing old friends. Rise, Shine, and Snake Bite were there to greet us and as always they were there with smiles and hugs. Which when you are smelly and not fit for society feel so welcoming, friendly, and kind. They are all sisters and I am amazed at how well they have supported and strengthen each other throughout their trail experience.   They seem as though they are not sisters so much as really good friends. It was the highlight of our experience at the ranch to sit and talk with them.

We soon settled in and washed ourselves and our clothes. Then we sat down for a wonderful potato bar and salad dinner then spent some QT at the pool. After the pool we were just about to get in our tents when we saw 2.Toe and Yote! We were so excited to see our trail family again. It is not the same without them. They have only been a short distance behind us this whole section bumping into all the Nobos we have seen only a little while after us. We helped point out all the amenities and then turned in.

Once in our tent we chatted for a while and fell asleep….. like little hiker babies.

This morning was very peaceful leaving camp and walking over the bridge heading south on the trail. The moon had made a major appearance during the night and woke us both up. It was as if a single headlight was being held over our heads at 45 degrees and shining right into our eyes. You could have read a newspaper in our tent. I was awake for about 45 minutes but not disturbed by it at all. Lately my anxiety about being able to fall asleep after waking in the night has been low because my body is so tired that I am confident that if I can settle my body, my mind will follow.

We were walking through dense trees littering giant pine cones and several times we encountered deer on the trail that were only mildly amused that we were near them.  We both love deer sightings and so we stick around as long as they do. It’s really fun to watch how excited Sherpa gets. That being said, we didn’t take a lot of additional breaks with the exception of Sherpa trying to figure out how to make her bag feel better. We had hoped that swapping her bag out would correct what seemed to be a bent frame causing it to drift to the left of her back. It turns out that this bag model appears to just not fit her well and so she is constantly dealing with discomfort. She is, as always, full of determination and finds a way through the struggles. All hikers experience a measure of pain daily on the trail so learning to manage it is par for the course. Though it doesn’t make any individual case any less stressful or difficult.

The first half of the day was pretty smooth but toward the latter half we began a climb that we would  be on for nearly the remainder of the day.  It was hot and humid and we were slogging our way for a sold two hours before we stopped at a cold stream called Butcherknife Creek for lunch.  Halfway up the climb to our rest spot, we encountered some Nobos that said their was a sign for trail magic / beers and we should ask around in the parking lot. I really didn’t feel like stopping midway up a difficult climb to get beers because I knew it would make me feel even more sluggish. Sherpa on the other hand was disappointed because she was excited about the prospect, though when we arrived there was no one obviously handing out beers. So we hiked on to our lunch target. During lunch, we both were really able to dig into our food bags because we had slightly over-packed for this stretch heading into the Burney Mountain Guest Ranch.

The stream was wonderful and refreshing and we both really enjoyed lunch and washed ourselves in the stream. I even laid down flat in one of the deeper pools and the water left me breathless. It was so fresh and so cold we couldn’t get enough. We also saw smallish snake bathing on a rock that we politely asked to move after taking a poor picture.

After lunch we packed up and began tackling the last 6 miles of our slog. It was hot and sticky but we were grateful to be on the last leg of our journey for the day. When we approached the top we decided to keep our target destination which would put us at 26.5 for the day. Anything over a marathon feels good these days.

We just had over a 2 miles to camp and we descended into our first big views of the day and it was very pretty. I was thinking that I was grateful we weren’t walking this section in midday because of its exposure.

Soon we reached the junction to Gold Creek and I noticed that we had 4G! So exciting to have a little internet. I quickly checked Facebook and the gram and realized I had nothing to do but it was exciting to get a little worldly comfort. I switched it off and we walked the .2ish to the stream. We were both very tired so we made camp and got water at the very overgrown stream as quickly as we could. The bugs started picking up so after dinner we jumped into bed and soon, after some chatting, we were asleep like little hiker babies.

 

I didn’t sleep very well last night so I slept in very late for me on this trail until 8:30. Wolf Bird of course had gotten up at 6 something and gone to a coffee shop. I went and joined him for a bit and then we eventually returned to our hotel to shower and pack up before check out. We were feeling a little paranoid at having to clean the room before leaving due to the crazy owners. We had to go grab the owner to have him examine our room for cleanliness in order to get our cash deposit back. It was such a weird policy and after he checked our room and gave us our money he felt the need to justify his actions and basically started another argument with us. This was the worst hotel I’ve ever stayed at and in reading the reviews after the fact I found out I am not alone in thinking as much. 

After that Wolf Bird and I went to do laundry while Yote and 2.Toe worked on their town chores. The laundry machines were making a noise in a repetitive beat and Wolf Bird rapped for me with them. We then stopped by the outfitter and grabbed some Burger King before hitting the road. wolf Bird is doing a Burger King resupply where he is packing out three burgers to eat for dinner in this section. Interesting choice I must say. 
We texted Tony, the trail angel who drove us into town, and he picked us up and drove us back to the trail head. He is a super nice guy and only has two more working days as a highway patrolman until retirement! Congrats Tony! 
Yote and 2.Toe weren’t ready when Tony was going to pick us up so we got on trail without them. I imagine they were probably only an hour or two behind  
Unfortunately upon starting up the trail I discovered that I am having the same issue I had with my old pack but with my brand new pack. I just couldn’t get it to sit right and got super frustrated at how no matter which way I adjusted the straps it still seemed to irritate my back and shoulder. Not sure what I will do about it. 
We had a big climb to start of the hike out of town. It was about 230 and really warm and humid out. We chatted as we walked and it helped the miles fly by. We passed a few northbounders as we walked. One girl, Nature Monster, was asking about how close she was to other nobos. It’s funny because to us it seems like there are sooo many northbounders–we see at least 20 a day. But they all tell us that they feel the trail is very empty and some miss being around so many people as it was earlier in the trail. We have only met three other people total heading south but have been told by nobos there are a lot of people going our direction. It doesn’t feel that way but to me that is really nice. It has been hard adjusting to always having many people around both while I’m hiking and at camp or in town. One of the best parts of choosing to flip and go south for a bit has been having more solitude, which was something I enjoyed from the Appalachian trail. I think the people along the trail are what makes the trail so special, but I prefer having the option to be social or have solitude, rather than constantly having people around me. 

We ended up walking until about 830pm, about 16 miles out of town. Not too bad for a nearly 3pm start. We camped a bit off trail near a parking area for a trailhead. There were a couple campers in the parking lot but we were the only PCT hikers. We went to bed a bit later than usual and in the morning I discovered I had a nighttime mouse visitor get into some of my food. We also were awakened in the night by the moon. we hadn’t put our tent fly on so the incredibly bright light from the moon was in our eyes! It was so bright in our tent. The moon was casting shadows! Luckily we admired it but were able to fall right back to sleep. 

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.