Yeeeeehaw! We finally made it! California, see ya later. It's on to new terrain and adventure in the northwest.
Did a quick in and out at Etna and we all hit the trail hard with wide eyes set on the Oregon border. Before we got there though we had to hit the last official pit stop in California - Seiad Valley. Home of the biggest challenge on the PCT - a five pound pancake eating contest. If you get all five of these frisbees down the breakfast is on them and you enter a prestigious and small society of winners. If 200 out of 400 get to the finish of the PCT this year I'd say less than 10 will complete the challenge. Many may finish the trail, but few can eat 5 lbs of pancakes! We didn't make it in time for breakfast, but after a long night and a 4:30 wakeup that morning we were able to get to the diner before it closed at 2 for some amazing milkshakes and patty melts. Mmm. Then a little chilltime by the river and a few thousand calories out of the convenience store and we were ready to keep on walking. A big climb out of Seiad led up to some beautiful ridge walking with views of valley after valley leading all the way back to Shasta. That mountain is beautiful but I'm ready to get a new valcanoe in view.
Three good days of walking and we were lined up for a morning arrival into OR. Getting to that border was surreal. Once I saw it in the distance I immediately started racing to the finish line. Got to the sign, gave a big hoot and holler, and then took some time to try to figure out what just happened. Judging from the sign I knew that I had walked the 1700 miles or so through all of California but it was real hard to FEEL like I did. Out on the PCT it's like we're all in our own trail bubble that's somehow separate from points on the map although we do collide with towns you can point to from time to time. Thinking back I could remember all the adventure and challenges and good times I'd had to get me here but conceptualising all of it as a continuous walk from Mexico to Oregon was too big to wrap my head around. A funny feeling for sure that I'm sure will only get harder to sort through as we hit borders up north.
We did a little celebrating at the border and took the rest of the day easy - mosying to a spot not far from town. I've been rolling around with Team Molasses - Flash, Rattler, Rocky, and (sometimes) Speedbump - a crew of good folks that pride themselves on capturing faster hikers who race up from behind them but then wind up hanging out for a while 'cause they enjoy the company. I was definitely one of those hikers and fully appreciated the friendly faces and a few days of easier walking. Just before I ran into this crowd I really started burning out on walking big miles for the sake of big miles - always focusing on the goal and not on the present. Pushing hard when I was tired or hungry 'cause my watch said to, and not taking as much time to enjoy great things along the way. Just before Etna I decided to pull the plug on that strategy for now and get back to walking for the sake of walking, as opposed to just getting places. Team Molasses helped me stay true to that and now that we're all rejuvinated, we're all talking about getting back to big miles - the Oregon Challenge!
On the PCT Oregon is definitely the promise land. Along the trail, the state is known as the section where all of a sudden the trail flattens out and all of the zeros and short mile days in the Sierras get made up for in a race to the Columbia river. All of your trail sins will be pardoned and you will magically be transported to the other side, rejuvinated and ready for a hard and mysterious (cause no one one talks about it) slog through Washington.
It won't be all it's cracked up to be I'm sure. Rumors about the trail are never as glorious or severe as they're made out to be. But it is going to be cruiser terrain and a good chance to catch up on some time (and some people). Starting tomorrow morning I'll get started on what's known as the Oregon Challenge - finishing the entire state in a quick 2 weeks. It'll be quick work but hard as well. But with not a lot in the way of big views and rewarding climbs a mile marker might be just the right motivation to get through the state. Hard to believe CA took over 3 months and I'm talking about being in washington in a handful of days. But if I can push 32 miles a day including restock stops throughout the whole thing Washinton will be in sight in early September. I'm psyched to get there quick and breath more easily about finishing up before the snow starts coming down.
Time to give up the computer to some other folks at the Ashland Hostel (great spot). Not much in the way of towns in OR but I'll catch you all at the next border. Start your watches and wish me luck. See ya on the other side!
Monday, August 22, 2011
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Cruisin' through Nor-Cal Mile 1610
Holy Mole! What to say. It's been a long and lonesome stretch. After the halfway I kept truckin solo. Coming out of Chester I hit the Drakesbad resort in Lassen National Park - such generous people! They set me up with a shower, a hot spring fed pool, a cooler of the good stuff and a humongous meal at half price. I got seated with a pair of identical twins that had grown up coming to the spot with their family and a man from the bay area who was running a star watching program that night. Good company. And when I asked the owner if they might have any leftovers of an awesome prime rib family style diner he came out with a plate bigger than the first one I got. Hell ya!
From Drakesbad I did a day's walk to Old Station - a sleepy town with an RV resort and a general store. After a soda and some ice-cream I decided, "what the heck. I'll hike the next stretch of hot waterless miles tonight and get into town a day earlier than I expected." So I hit the Hat Creek Rim around 7 or 8 and hiked 'til about one in the morning, my biggest day yet - 43 miles! It seemed well worth it too after reading the registers about all the heat and blisters etc. I dropped in Burney, CA the next day, got my food, had a pizza to fill me up and was right back on the trail. I kept up the 30 mile average coming into the Dunsmuir/Mount Shasta area. Finally I ran into more hikers! The weeks of hiking solo were finally over as I came across Hans Solo, Pfiesty, and Wandering Dot. Also ran into Samurai and Frito-Ray, some section hikers working their way to Ashland. When they get there, Samurai will be done with her PCT hike! I can only imagine what that will feel like for her... and what that'll feel like for me when it's my time. Spent a bunch of time in Dunsmuir at the cool not-for-profit laundermat and then some more time at the Dunsmuir Brewery Works. Good home-made brew and awesome house-smoked ribs. Life was good. Ran back into the hikers there and wound up sticking around a little longer for some more food and beer. Samurai and Frito-Ray were super generous and picked up the tab on my second meal. Thanks again guys! Got a great ride back to the trail that night and was making miles again in the morning. Another few days of 30s and I hit more of the crowd - running into Flash, Rattler, Rocky, Anthony, Crasher, Speedbump, Holden, Quake, Unload, Cherry Picker... Lots of people! I'm definitely back in it. We all dropped into Etna, CA around the same time and after getting chores done spent a good amount of time at the Etna Brewery... great suds and good company. From here I'm looking at a hard hitch back to the trail and then just a few days to get out of this humongous state. We're Oregon bound!
From the registers I figure that Boots and Bubbles are about 3 days ahead. Bubs says she's going to be spending some time visiting friends in Oregon and I'm going take on the 2 week Oregon challenge (getting through all of OR in 14 days) so it's a recipe for running into one another. For now I'm going to enjoy the company I'm in and the miles ahead. Can't wait to hit that border and feel the first big accomplishment of the hike. We worked for it that's for sure. I'll catch you all on the other side!
From Drakesbad I did a day's walk to Old Station - a sleepy town with an RV resort and a general store. After a soda and some ice-cream I decided, "what the heck. I'll hike the next stretch of hot waterless miles tonight and get into town a day earlier than I expected." So I hit the Hat Creek Rim around 7 or 8 and hiked 'til about one in the morning, my biggest day yet - 43 miles! It seemed well worth it too after reading the registers about all the heat and blisters etc. I dropped in Burney, CA the next day, got my food, had a pizza to fill me up and was right back on the trail. I kept up the 30 mile average coming into the Dunsmuir/Mount Shasta area. Finally I ran into more hikers! The weeks of hiking solo were finally over as I came across Hans Solo, Pfiesty, and Wandering Dot. Also ran into Samurai and Frito-Ray, some section hikers working their way to Ashland. When they get there, Samurai will be done with her PCT hike! I can only imagine what that will feel like for her... and what that'll feel like for me when it's my time. Spent a bunch of time in Dunsmuir at the cool not-for-profit laundermat and then some more time at the Dunsmuir Brewery Works. Good home-made brew and awesome house-smoked ribs. Life was good. Ran back into the hikers there and wound up sticking around a little longer for some more food and beer. Samurai and Frito-Ray were super generous and picked up the tab on my second meal. Thanks again guys! Got a great ride back to the trail that night and was making miles again in the morning. Another few days of 30s and I hit more of the crowd - running into Flash, Rattler, Rocky, Anthony, Crasher, Speedbump, Holden, Quake, Unload, Cherry Picker... Lots of people! I'm definitely back in it. We all dropped into Etna, CA around the same time and after getting chores done spent a good amount of time at the Etna Brewery... great suds and good company. From here I'm looking at a hard hitch back to the trail and then just a few days to get out of this humongous state. We're Oregon bound!
From the registers I figure that Boots and Bubbles are about 3 days ahead. Bubs says she's going to be spending some time visiting friends in Oregon and I'm going take on the 2 week Oregon challenge (getting through all of OR in 14 days) so it's a recipe for running into one another. For now I'm going to enjoy the company I'm in and the miles ahead. Can't wait to hit that border and feel the first big accomplishment of the hike. We worked for it that's for sure. I'll catch you all on the other side!
Friday, August 5, 2011
Halfway and still lovin' life! Mile 1340
Been CRUISIN through northern California making miles and looking to catch up to my people (and have enough time to actually make it to California). After leaving Katherine in King's Beach (a hard decision to make. That place rocks!) I took a day and a half to blow into Sierra City, walking my first 30 mile day. Cool SMALL town with one main street that's about 2 short blocks long with one general store and 3 restaurants (two of which are bars). There are some trail angels there at Red Moose Cafe, Bill and Margaret who run the restaurant there and let hikers spend the night, use their computer, take showers, and basically help out any way they can. Awesome awesome people who seem genuinely happy to help and serve up a mean breakfast with all you can eat breakfast (and I hear a tasty BBQ rib dinner). Definitely like no greasy spoon I've been to before. Great spot, I'd love to go back sometime and hang more and help out.
Left Sierra City and took a funky "short cut" to get back to the PCT right out of the backside of down. An old forest road I guess that goes through a ton of old mines on the hill there and past a lot of private property owned by people who clearly want to be left alone (lots of signs like "beware of killer dogs" "we don't call the cops" "we have guns and know how to use them"...). I judged the signs as more bark than bite... only saw one dog and didn't see a single person before I was back on public land. Then it was cruisin' into Belden. Did some leap froggin' with a hiker named Josh but he was the only other person I saw before running into 7-11 the day I arrived in Belden. Had a hot meal, picked up my package, jumped in the river, and it was back to the trail to tackle the big climb back up to the ridge. One more big day (31 miles this time!) and then a short walk into Chester. Back in town again! This time I'm going to stick around for a couple of hours and get a shower, a couple of meals, and my new shoes. They just arrived from REI this morning right in time. I have a photo of them side by side and you'll see it was definitely time for some new tires.
Yesterday I ran through the official halfway mark of the trail. There were a lot of mixed emotions. At the time I was starting to feel a little frustrated about not catching up with my crew as soon as I'd hoped. And I've been feeling anxious about getting up to Washington quick before the snow sets in. Plus outside of a few folks here and there I've pretty much been on my own. The solitude was a welcome break but I'm back to wanting a little company to keep me motivated and to ramp up the fun out here. Anyway, I was a little down and out when I hit it but looking at the register and all the names of folks I'd traveled with along the way so far reminding me of what an awesome adventure it's been so far. To think that I have that many more good times, beautiful places, and fun adventure ahead (even if I have to do it in 2/3rds the time) was super uplifting. Now I'm back on top of my game and ready for more. I'm definitely still looking to catch up with Boots, Bubbs, and the rest of them up ahead but I'm not going to run past opportunities to have fun and meet cool people along the way. We'll all be together again soon but in the mean time I'll definitely be enjoying myself. As for Canada, if I keep cruising the way I have been it won't be a problem. Plus the word on the trail is that it only get's faster from here through Oregon. Onward and upward!
So you folks know, I'm moving faster than I planned on last time around. If you're still planning on sending something out, here are some updated dates:
Burney, CA 96013 ETA: 8/8
Mount Shasta, CA 96067 ETA: 8/12
As usual check out the mailing how-to if you want to send anything.
Left Sierra City and took a funky "short cut" to get back to the PCT right out of the backside of down. An old forest road I guess that goes through a ton of old mines on the hill there and past a lot of private property owned by people who clearly want to be left alone (lots of signs like "beware of killer dogs" "we don't call the cops" "we have guns and know how to use them"...). I judged the signs as more bark than bite... only saw one dog and didn't see a single person before I was back on public land. Then it was cruisin' into Belden. Did some leap froggin' with a hiker named Josh but he was the only other person I saw before running into 7-11 the day I arrived in Belden. Had a hot meal, picked up my package, jumped in the river, and it was back to the trail to tackle the big climb back up to the ridge. One more big day (31 miles this time!) and then a short walk into Chester. Back in town again! This time I'm going to stick around for a couple of hours and get a shower, a couple of meals, and my new shoes. They just arrived from REI this morning right in time. I have a photo of them side by side and you'll see it was definitely time for some new tires.
Yesterday I ran through the official halfway mark of the trail. There were a lot of mixed emotions. At the time I was starting to feel a little frustrated about not catching up with my crew as soon as I'd hoped. And I've been feeling anxious about getting up to Washington quick before the snow sets in. Plus outside of a few folks here and there I've pretty much been on my own. The solitude was a welcome break but I'm back to wanting a little company to keep me motivated and to ramp up the fun out here. Anyway, I was a little down and out when I hit it but looking at the register and all the names of folks I'd traveled with along the way so far reminding me of what an awesome adventure it's been so far. To think that I have that many more good times, beautiful places, and fun adventure ahead (even if I have to do it in 2/3rds the time) was super uplifting. Now I'm back on top of my game and ready for more. I'm definitely still looking to catch up with Boots, Bubbs, and the rest of them up ahead but I'm not going to run past opportunities to have fun and meet cool people along the way. We'll all be together again soon but in the mean time I'll definitely be enjoying myself. As for Canada, if I keep cruising the way I have been it won't be a problem. Plus the word on the trail is that it only get's faster from here through Oregon. Onward and upward!
So you folks know, I'm moving faster than I planned on last time around. If you're still planning on sending something out, here are some updated dates:
Burney, CA 96013 ETA: 8/8
Mount Shasta, CA 96067 ETA: 8/12
As usual check out the mailing how-to if you want to send anything.
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