On the Trail Again - Mile 1745 - 8/26

After spending an additional two days in Ashland working out package issues, it's back to hiking. I had to work out where my tent package was/when it will arrive in Ashland and I also sent a resupply box to myself around Crater Lake for the 160 mile stretch up to Bend, OR.

After not hiking for three days going back into the woods feels much more appreciated. Being in town around cars, the interstate, television and other loud things distracts you so much and when you hike out into the woods it's quite and calmer. Once I got to walking my stress of town issues went away instantly. I got out of town after eating a hearty breakfast at a cafe and started walking around 11:30-12. The hike was pretty mellow and my pack didn't feel as heavy as it really is. Oregon has felt different than California, it may just be mental but the breeze feels cooler, the landscape seems slightly different and the uphill don't seem as laborious. On the AT entering a new state was pretty frequent (14 states total!) and each state had a unique feature that made it different from the others. Oregon is shifting into the forest and woods. California was soo long it had many changes within itself but the last section was a dry hot and desert-like forest. There is floor vegetation and trees in every direction so far in Oregon and being around green things and in the woods is what I like best, so far so good.
The last seven miles of the day were waterless (12 mile waterless section) so I had to carry a full resupply and four liters of water which was a good bit of weight for the knees an shoulders. It went by pretty quickly and I'm hoping to get up early and get a full day in and get back to the swing of things. I'm excited to hike around Crater Lake in the coming days. The lake should be quite a breathtaking experience and I should have plenty of pictures assuming the next wildfire ahead isn't to smoky. The past day in town and today have both been a bit hazy so hopefully that clears up. It's been a while since I've been far enough from a wildfire that it's completely clear in the distance. Maybe tomorrow..

OREGON!!!!!! 8/22-23

So I awoke four miles from the Oregon border this morning and was very excited to finally be through with California, 1700 miles of California to be exact. When I approached the border Indiana Toad, Chocolate Chipmunk, and Diesel were hanging around celebrating. All of us missed the midway point of the trail due to the Chips Fire so this was our big milestone. The trail register had half a mini bottle if wine in it and other celebratory things people left there. I hiked in a small bottle of whisky for the occasion and swigs were taken. I, for one, am looking forward to Oregon and Washington and a change of scenery from the dry Californian climate. Today when we all woke up it was pretty cool out and a chilly wind gust hung around all day. It's as if we entered Oregon and it immediately stopped being oppressively hot out. The rest of the day Spins and I pushed to get to Ashland for the night. Late in the evening we caught a ride with a really nice couple who were out walking on the trail as the sun was setting.

The next day I spent organizing gear and picking up a few things at the outfitter. Also, Oregon doesn't pass through as many towns so I had to send a resupply box up a hundred miles to myself to make it to Bend. The plan is to bang out 260 miles fairly quickly. We'll see how that work out!! I heard the trail in Oregon is more gradual and nicer terrain so it's time to put it to the test.

Relatively Flat (meaning uphill) - Mile 1571.1 - 8/15

Indiana Toad and Chocolate Chipmunk left camp around seven which was a perfect alarm clock for me to get packed and going. Today looked on the map as a day of some gradual uphill but mostly flat so the miles should go by pretty effortlessly. The end of the day has a nice climb but it's nothing I haven't seen before. It was still hazy today but the smokiness wasn't as bad which was good for my lungs because yesterday morning felt like I was being choked. With the clearing of the haze also meant that the sun shone with all it's heat down upon us. It's august, it's humid, and it's exposed. The temperatures are near 100 the desert is back in full force. Even with the heat the day went pretty smoothly. Towards the end of the day I started the uphill and ran into thickets of blackberries and started filling my cup (and mouth) as full as possible. When I arrived to the top, I was greeted by two familiar faces, set up camp and called it a night.

Wildfires Everywhere! - Mile 1545.5 - 8/14

Luckily the bears around the crags isn't follow me to the campsite although there was a late night visitor, probably a deer. Indiana Toad and Chocolate Chipmunk who we passed by late night at the water came strolling through and I headed out shortly thereafter. It was windy last night and as Chocolate Chipmunk passed by she said wonder where this smokes coming from. Wherever it was coming from it smelt strong an the smoke was quite thick, so thick it was hard to breathe hiking up the ridge. It was hazy as well and it was a shame because through the haze was a beautiful view. The entire area was very scenic minus the smog.

I arrived at a wonderful cold spring for lunch and continued on. My feet knees and shins were starting to act up. I don't have to heavy of a pack and I have been walking on rather flat terrain so I don really know why they are aching. Spins and I got to the last water before the road and litered up making my pack way heavier. My legs were pretty shot, I wanted to do a 30 mile day today but my body was saying hell no. We got to the road and Indiana Toad and Chocolate Chipmunk were camped there so we joined them for the night. I gulped down some ibuprofen and went to sleep, I hope my legs and feet feel better tomorrow because those last few miles sucked.

Castle Crags, the Bear Sanctuary - Mile 1522.5 - 8/13

In the morning, Luanne cooked us a tasty breakfast and the three of them (with the company I their dogs) drove Spins and I to the post office. Saying goodbye, we went back into trail mode getting our packages. Spins was super excited about her new pack and all the space she now has and I was overjoyed with the brownies my mom sent me. We got back on trail around noon and started to hoof it up the big uphill ahead of us. Castle Crags is a really beautiful mountain but it's rather hot and the water is hard to come by. On my way up I saw bear tracks an then bear crap all over. A few miles later you could only imagine what I saw running uphill away from me as quick as it could. Bear number 1...check! In addition to all the bear-age, the trail had a huge amount of moths flying everywhere the entire way up the mountain and these tasty little morsels happen to be on the beta lists of things to eat so I wasn't to surprised to see the bear. A few mile later as I was climbing up a switchbacks I heard rustling below and a grunting noise. I looked down to see two bears wrestling. I couldn't tell if it was play or serious but I said "Holy Crap!" kind of loud to myself and they both heard me and took off!! (thankfully in the direction away from me) At the end of the day I arrived at the spring I was going to camp at but there was no camping...so we litered up on water and hauled another mile or two uphill at night until we got to a nice spot.

Postal Rush - 8/9-12

The goal was to get to Castella by 10am on Saturday. This was a pretty big deal if we pulled it off. The post office closes at ten in the morning and in order for Spins to get her pack and send the old one bac,k the PO needs to be open. So we set out after Burney Falls and pushed some big days. Big enough days that I don't have much to say beside it was a bunch of hiking. We got a ride towards town on Saturday with two trout fisherman, one who lives in Mt. Shasta and the other visiting from Maryland. Unfortunately it was already noon and the PO doesn't open until Monday morning so we just went up to Shasta and was dropped off at the health food store. I ran into Navi and Natty and they planned on camping down in Castella at the campground because all the hotels were really expensive so spins an I figured we'd end up doing the same. We went to the other grocery store where Spins ended up talking to a wonderful lady named Renee who offered us a place to stay for the night at her house with her partner Luanne and son Cooper. So we walked on back to their place got cleaned up and situated at their fantastically arranged place. We went out for burgers and beer later that night. The next morning Renee offered us their house to stay for Sunday night as well because they knew we were stuck until the post office opened Monday morning. Spins and I hit the movies (seeing Batman.....again and the Campaign). When we got back we went with Luanne, Renee, and Cooper over to their friends house for dinner an to catch the olympics closing ceremonies. Dinner was excellent and the ceremonies were quite.....British. I just want to say thank you again to Luanne, Renee, and Cooper you all were so hospitable and welcoming. You made my stay in Mt. Shasta something so much more special. I could have easily spent time in town and the campground but because of your kindness I now have an even greater memory and experience along this trip.

Relaxed By the Water - 8/8

So all of us hiked to the campstore in the park where we filled up on ice-cream, hot dogs, and snacks. Then we ate more and more...then most of us ventured down to Burney Falls. The falls were quite impressive especially the cool spring-like water. Scooter and I jumped in he was in for a while but not me that water was cold enough to take all the oxygen from my lungs and I was out of the water almost as quick as I got in! On the trail ahead of us was a few thousand foot uphill in exposed heat so everyone near the falls was a tad unmotivated to get moving. Spins and I left and got up the hill to a rushing cold creek with small swimming holes and promptly jumped on in. We liked the area much that we called it a day and set up camp. It was nice to soak and rest up for the afternoon became we planned to start a early hiking schedule tomorrow.

Trail Magic Everywhere! - 8/7

Started out to finish the other 15 miles of waterlessness and made it about 8 miles before coming across hikers sitting around a cooler. Sweet glorious trail magic which was just replenished this morning! Ice and soda which was perfect for this already hot morning. The ice was just as fantastic as the soda being so hot! I then hiked up to a fish hatchery for lunch with Papasmurf, Scooter, and Spins. After an extended lunch break we all hiked through a pretty well worn area with a bunch of off-road tracks everywhere and sure enough, I said to Scooter that I'm feeling more trail magic ahead. 10 minutes later we met up with Randy and his dog at a picnic table with a bunch of hikers trail names written on it. Randy had set up the bench for hikers to carve or write there trail names on and had a bunch of water, soda and candy there as well. I also met four hikers I had yet to meet, Cactus, Extra Credit, Hollywood, and Trip. I finally met Trip! I carried this guys IPod for hundreds of miles before relaying it up trail with another hiker at the Saufleys over 1000 miles ago! So those four Scooter, Spins, and myself hiked to the PCT camp right before Burney Falls State Park. Papasmurf and Janet were there and this was one of the larger crowds of people I have hiked with in quite a while. I went to sleep excited for Burney Falls tomorrow, I've been told that they are pretty spectacular!

Subway Cave and the Hat Creek Rim - Mile 1398 - 8/6

After a few easy morning miles I got to a small on trail campground store and had ice cream and soda. My foot still hurts but my chaffing was a bit better thanks to the creek soak and cleaner-ish clothes. A few miles ahead I arrived at the impressive Subway Cave whose smoothy and rounded ceiling actually closely resembled a subway. The cave was carved out from a lava tube and is a 1/3 of a mile long and popular with tourists. The 30 mile waterless stretch started past here but I found out about a water cache halfway through the stretch, so hopefully water will be there. Most people hung out in the cave all afternoon to escape the heat of this exposed stretch. Their plan was to nighthike the 30 miles so they wouldn't need as much water and it wouldn't feel as oppressive. Spins and I left around 2 or 3 (the hottest part of the day) heading for the water cache tonight. Te combination of a cool breeze and the smoke from the Lassen fire overtaking the sun made the exposed hike bearable. I mean I hiked 700 miles through the desert what's another 30 miles? Papasmurf showed up a few mile in and continued hiking the Hat Creek Rim with/ahead of us. Looking back towards Lassen Volcanic National Park the smoke from the fire was looking bigger and bigger even though we were getting further and further away; not a good sign for those hiking behind us. The smurf and I caught the sunset and we all hiked a couple more miles in the night to the cache and I cowboy camped under the stars. The Perseid meteor shower starts soon and I caught a few shooting stars before dozing off. A bunch of people arrived late late at night from the cave as well, they are gouge to be pretty tired tomorrow!

Where's There's Smoke - mile 1373.5 - 8/5

Woke up and walked over to Drakesbad with Papasmurf, Neon, Onnamove, Scooter, Spins, and a few others to get the leftovers of the breakfast buffet. Pancakes, cereal, sausage, toast, coffee, and eggs for breakfast...we were all happy campers. Then after hiking out, the day went to shit. It was exposed, hot, an smokey. I had an open blister on my heel right under the strap and also had some horrendous chaffing (of the ass variety). The smoke we hiked past was from a small fire started by the lightning storm last night. This fire thing is beginning a way to common theme...hopefully not in the future. So with 10ish miles left I had a slow limp from the heel and a short stride from the chaffing and my left arm's nerves were aching. I was moving painfully slow and was absolutely miserable. I hobbled into camp defeated, the Canadian couple and Spins were there and I promptly put my ass right in the stream next to camp. It stung something fierce and I did some trail laundry in the creek, now I was happy just for the fact that the day was over. A 30 mike waterless stretch was up ahead and boy was I excited to be miserable again!

Leaving Chester - Mile 1354 - 8/4

With the fire situation behind me I got a big diner breakfast plate then hitched back out to the trail. Trail magic was at the road and Scooter showed up a little bit after. I hiked a couple of miles to a cold flowing deliciously piped spring where I met a Canadian couple, Mr. C. and Snowwhite who were some of the last to make it through the fire section before it closed.

The goal was to make it to Drakesbad Guest Ranch tonight hopefully in time for dinner. I entered into Lassen Volcanic National Park early in the afternoon and saw that there was an active geyser slightly off trail so I planned on stopping there alan checking that out. This area is the transition between the massive Sierra Nevada mountain range and the volcanic Cascade mountain range which leads up through Washington. I arrives at the trail junction for the terminal geyser and waited to see the facial expressions of Scooter and Spins. The geyser releases Sulfur dioxide (most famously associated with rotten eggs) and Spins got there with the assumption that one of us farted ha! When we got to the geyser it was more of a vent but it was steaming out, hot, and a boiling creek/spring fed downhill. It was getting darker as we headed out from the geyser and passed a thermal lake and arrived at a campspot right next to Drakesbad Ranch. Cowboy ( who had been there a few days because of injury) told us it'd be better to wait till breakfast so we camped there and ton of other hikers trickled in from the ranch to camp here. A short but intense lightning storm passed at night with a little rain and I fell asleep with the thought of a delicious breakfast in the morning.

Long Story Short (Chips Fire) - 7/30-8/4

I spent half of the 30th playing 'find where my chacos are in the mail' while in Sierra City. Apparently the town doesn't accept FedEx so my sandals were forwarded to a distribution center in Reno, NV. My phone didn't have service in town so I didn't get the voicemail about it and called Chaco for the tracking number. The guy on the phone was extremely nice and helpful and actually talked to FedEx that morning about my sandals. So I called FedEx and had them forwarded to a small store in Belden and I would arrive around Friday to get them. After all that was figured out a bunch of us caught some more of the olympics at a bar then we hiked out up a big uphill. It wasn't terribly strenuous because the switchbacks were graded well and the views were fantastic. We set up camp right next to the trail, it was pretty dark so we called it a night.

The next day we spent hiking forever (and ever) and ended up doing 27 miles. Around dusk I was on the ridge and could see the smoke from the fire near Belden as the sun set next to it. The folks at Sierra City said the fire should be completely contained by Friday so it should work out perfect to get my sandals. Coming office ridge we were confronted in pitch black by a dog barking pretty aggressively. We shouted hoping to hear a person and after a couple minutes the owner woke up and calmed Petrofski down. Yeah sound it out because I have no idea how that dogs name is spelled.

The next morning we got three miles to a logging road that connected the towns of LaPorte and Quincy where a section hiker headed south who was just dropped off informed us of a bunch of new information. The fire near Belden had grown from the winds over the past two days back to an uncontrolled status. The fire could be seen from the road and the man said that highway 70 was closed from Belden to Quincy and that the walking detour around the fire was now also on fire. So the recommended way to avoid the fire was to take a bus from Quincy to Chester and if the road between Belden and Quincy (70) is closed, we need to get to Quincy. Aaannddd my sandals are in Belden, the town on fire the lucky streak continues. So we sat at the road for hours only really logging trucks passing by until a nice lady with a wonderful dog from Davis, Ca came off trail and gave Spins, myself, the crazy lady in a floral cat dress, and Pertrofski a ride into Quincy. Spins and I had to wait for packages in Quincy so we hung out and watched the olympics as well as the helicopters outside dip into the lake for water to battle the ever growing fire. The next morning FedEx called to tell me that Beldens being evacuated and they have my Chacos. The FedEx guy was nice enough to drive them over to Quincy and drop them off at the hotel!

The next day close to ten to twelve hikers took the public bus up from Quincy to Chester and Spins and I split a hotel room with Flagman, a retired Army Colonel, and Scooter. We'll finally be able to get back on trail in the morning.

24 Into Sierra City - mile 1197.5 - 7/29

The prospect of hiking a big day with a shower, ribs, and beer waiting at the end is enough motivation to get any thru-hiker to hike fast to town. I had two uphills to conquer in the morning and then it's all down to town. The entire morning I had a daydream of slow motion style commercials of hot saucy ribs and a ice cold beer in a glass. Good god I was hungry for town food. My stomach on the other hand was flipping out and I wasn't to thrilled. I'm guessing that my chemical water treatment. I have a filter so I'm going to pump water for a while and if my stomach gets better I'll know why. I arrived at the Red Moose Inn which is a nice place for hikers and I saw a bunch of people I haven't seen in hundreds of miles. It felt good to see that there are still a bunch of hikers around. I got my beer and ribs and ice cream so my town food craving was more than satisfied.

Day Hikers Galore! - mile 1174 - 7/28

After two 25 mile days everyone felt a little sore and groggy this morning especially after pushing a little further last night. Things got rolling to a slow start and for Typo an even slower start. Almost immediately these clean and fresh smelling people started to appear everywhere. I knew almost instantly that a major road must be nearby and that it must be a weekend. The weekend hikers were out in droves and it always seems like every group wants to stop and chat in the morning. Now a few conversations a day are fine and I truly enjoy them sharing my hike it's a wonderful part of the trail but when I have to hike over 20 plus miles in a day, my time becomes a bit new precious.

I made my way down towards the sound of traffic which was highway 40 and then I was lucky enough to cross under I-80. It also happens that the trail goes right by the highway reststop with bathrooms, water and such. My mind wandered to sweet dreams of vending machine glory all the sugary drinks and corn-based munchables I could afford. When I got there there were no vending machines, I got my hopes up for nothing and was mentally defeated, crushed.

On the way out I passed Listener who I have not seen since before the Sierras and she said she jumped up 160 miles because she couldn't make it up there. I was glad to see that she just moved along instead of throwing in the towel because when I last saw her she was in pretty rough shape.

I took lunch at a Sierra Club funded hut which was in really nice condition. After stepping up the miles the past few days my appetite has skyrocketed and I have been devouring calories. After lunch I hikes over two rolling hills to a big infested river to get water. A nice couple hiking south told me of a gushing piped spring two miles up, sounds much better than the water down here. Only a few more miles to camp past the fantastically chilling spring I am definitely having a fire tonight. After one more big day I'll be in Sierra City where hopefully I'll get my new Chaco's in the mail. My sandals are pretty destroyed and my feet can feel it so I'm pretty excited for new sandals. I've gotten 1000 miles out of them so they have definitely treated me well and new sandals days is always exciting.

Granite Chief Wilderness - Mile 1153 - 7/27

If there is one thing that's for certain out here, however many times in a row you do big mile days doesn't mean anything when it comes to waking up the next morning. Grumpy, sore, fatigued, dehydrated, and anti-motivated are words that fit the feelings I have in the morning when doing bigger miles. Luckily once I started hiking I reached the top of the ridge for once and got to hike ontop the ridgeline which was awesome! Usually I go up the ridge just to go right back down immediately and don't see much except the top from that high point but today I was lucky to hike up on the top of the mountains for most of the morning though the Granite Chief Wilderness which has multiple massive granite clifftops eroding within sight.(as well as cell towers and ski-resorts) Most of the morning was spent ontop and along the opposite side of the ski lifts. It was a cool area which was slightly forested but still open and exposed.

I hiked down the ridge around lunchtime and it wasn't long before I started to climb back up out of the valley again. I reached the top, passing by Granite Chief peak, just to go back down and up again snaking around Tinker Knob. Up there I was ontop of the ridgeline and exposed again. It was windy as hell up there (and with that cold) so I found a nice rock to use as a windbreak and stopped for a snack and waited for the others to catch up so we could figure out where to camp tonight. Well the potential spot was hard to find because the first potential area was a dud so we kept hiking another two miles or so to a decent area below one if the ski lifts. It was late and we hiked longer than we wanted so everyone was pretty spent.

Damn You Fontanillis Lake - mile 1129.2 - 7/26

Woke up and started to climb over Dick's pass first thing in the morning. It was only forested until halfway up so the view was really nice. On the way up you can see Half Moon Lake and the mountain chain behind it as well as Aloha Lake which I hiked passed before it got dark yesterday. I met a nice couple section hiking at the top and snacked. I headed down the mountain quickly and was stopped by huge rock outcrops on Fontanillis Lake. The lake water felt to terribly cold so I climbed up to one of the big rock outcrops and jumped off it into the lake. I was sooo wrong, it was absolutely freezing and swam as quickly to the shore as possible after letting out a howl of freezingness in the water. After the shock of the cold ass water finally wore off something felt different. I looked at my wrist and my leather PCT wristband was missing. Shit shit shit it fell off in the water. I ran up on the rocks again and looked down to the water to see if I could spot it....nothing, no trace and the wind made the water choppy so the visibility was crap. I've had this wristband since Idylwild, so for over 1000 miles. Because I couldn't see the wristband i sure as hell was not getting back into that freezing cold water again and looking around. So I pressed on for the rest of the day slightly more down having lost something with a good bit of sentimental value and kept hiking until around dusk. The campsite was nice though, there was a view of of Lake Tahoe to the left while tucked in a ravine and having leftover s'mores made it a nice ending to the day.

Goodbye Tahoe, Goodbye Towns - Mile 1104 - 7/25

So it's time to leave Tahoe and say goodbye to the last major town for hundreds of miles. It was a loud one-strip road with exhaust fumes and constant loud construction and I was ready to hit the trail again. Because it's Typos birthday tonight we'll be having a special trail birthday dinner. We all left Tahoe easily thanks to Twinkletoes and her rental car early in the afternoon an planned on getting 11 miles down. With my belly still stuffed with popcorn and sushi, it took a lot to get back moving to hiking pace. We hiked into the night, set up camp and made a small fire. Birthday dinner for Typo consisted of chocolate chip zucchini bread (thanks mom!) and something that I guess they don't make in New Zealand, s'mores. Quite a healthy dinner right? An endless perk of being a thru-hiker. We each dozed off into post sugar high comas knowing that big mile days start from here on out and days off in town are a thing of the past.

South Lake Tahoe - 7/22-24

So if there is something about towns that I have learned over this trail and the AT it's that if there is a natural wonder nearby, there will be a town with countless hotels, ethnic foods, and crap stores...welcome to South Lake Tahoe.

It's also a good environment to take a few days in. I caught the new Batman movie, ate Thai food, and ate plenty more. It was also Spins birthday on the 24th so we ate all you can eat sushi dinner. All you can eat is like the golden ticket for thru-hikers it's almost an invitation to a challenge. We eat so much food and burn so many calories that all you can eat places lose money on us. And that is exactly what happened at the sushi place. We kept asking for more rolls and the guy looked at us with surprise. By the time we left we calculated around 200 dollars of sushi eaten. They lost a lot of money on us. Tomorrow (the 25th) is Typo's birthday so mire celebrations will happen on trail. There is a certain American food/treat he's never had before so it will be a perfect birthday food.

Into the Night (yet again) - Mile 1062.4 - 7/21

So after an incident free night of sleep the plan was to get up early and hike twenty five miles. Well as you can guess plans never hold up. After hiking in late and the animal incident, I got up rather late and pancakes were on my mind. Good thing I bought bisquick and syrup! Got the fire going and the batter made. Spins used the lid of her pan and was in charge of the pancake making (mainly because my attempts at making them were less than successful). We could only make one at a time so it was quite a morning activity, but they turned out really tasty and was worth it.

Hiking out late pretty much destroyed the plan of doing 25 today but over twenty was still within reach. The morning was uphill and steady but the area was created through volcano activity so the landscape was absolutely beautiful. That also brought in a good concentration of dayhikers, everywhere so I knew that there was a highway somewhere. Sure enough, highway four was around halfway through the day and I ate my lunch by the road as the cars and motorcycles flew around the curves. Still no sign of Typo or Wolverine but I figured that I might catch them late today or tomorrow morning. A few hundred yards from where I ate lunch was a cooler with trail magic fully stocked with cupcakes and fruit...jackpot! It was nice to have some fresh fruit and there was also a trail register. Inside, it showed that Typo had been here three hours earlier. The race was on, only three hours back meant we'd definitely run into him later today or early tomorrow. The rest of the day was bumpy and rocky and sure enough it began to get dark once again...back on with the headlamps...hopefully no green eyes tonight. We went down into a dense forest and it got really dark but the campsite was right ahead and as usual dinner cooked over a big fire. As I was breaking logs there was a loud growling noise and Spins and I looked at each other thinking shit not again, two strait nights of animals. We heard it again followed by a grumbling yelling, phew only dogs. Easier to sleep tonight knowing it's only dogs.