2004 PCT Hike Journal Entries

 

 

Day 1, July 21, Mile ~1269 (miles are PCT accumulative miles)

        Wow, another day 1!  This one was great though.  It started off less than smoothly when it took much longer to drive to the PCT crossing at Bucks Summit.  My mom was nice enough to drive me, but we got stopped along the road toward it by construction and were told we’d have to wait half an hour, or take an alternate route.  We opted for the alternate route.  Then we had to wait again later for more construction.  Then we got lost.  Finally we made it to the trail at about 6:25 pm.  I stretched and said goodbye to my mom, and then started hiking.  I paused about 100 yards up to watch my mom drive away and then realized I had forgotten to take photos at the start.  I walked back to the trailhead and used the self-timer on my camera to get a few.  Not perfect, but it’ll have to do.

        Climbing up the trail was very pleasant.  The temperature was in the high 70’s and there were great views as the hour grew later.  It felt strange without Beaker here, though.  Somehow I feel like he ought to be hiking with me now since we were together when we were turned back by a forest fire around here in 2000.  This feeling is amplified by how quiet it is and that I have seen no other people.  I feel pretty alone and isolated.  It doesn’t bother me, though.  It is very relaxing.

        Continuing to hike, I traversed meadows full of wildflowers and open forest with large mossy trees.  It is much less arid here now than it was when I was here in 2000. 

        At about 8:45, with a great view of the sunset off to my right, I pulled off the trail to my left, found a place to camp, ate some food, and am now writing in this journal!  This is a very beautiful place and I feel like I belong out here.

        Time for some shuteye.

 

Day 2, July 22, Mile 1283.1

        The mosquitoes were pesky last night- a bit of an annoyance on an otherwise perfect night sleeping under the stars.  I awoke early and was on the trail just before 7 am.  The hiking was nice and easy and the views great.  I passed a few trail maintenance crews and said hello.  At Clear Creek I stopped to filter water and reminisce.  It was here that Beaker and I spent the night after turning around when we hit the forest fire.  The morning after we spent the night there I was sitting on a rock and filtering water and Beaker kicked a section of log that had been cut out to clear the trail.  The log section rolled towards me and lodged between the bank and the rock I was sitting on.  Amazingly the section of log is still in the same spot.  I expected a strong run-off would have washed it away, but other than some of it rotting away it looked like it did when Beaker rolled it in there.

        Hiking on I reached the spot where Beaker and I turned around.  This time, instead of turning around, I started the descent into Belden.  That’s when things started getting unpleasant.  The trail was steep and exposed and overgrown.  I am missing my gaiters and could not keep the rocks and sand out of my shoes.  I developed a blister and had to walk gingerly down the many switchbacks with the temperature climbing.  To make matters much worse, there was tons of poison oak growing along the trail.  Ah well.

        I made it down to Belden by a bit after 2pm and found their restaurant closed.  After calling Meryl and my Mom, I decided to give the Braatens, who are local trailangels, a call.  My blister needs a little care before I climb out of this canyon tomorrow.  The Braatens have a little apartment for hikers and I got a shower and headed down the road to do laundry and get a meal at a different restaurant.  If only something around here had air conditioning!  Well, the hospitality makes up for it.

        I also met another PCT hiker here.  He goes by “Manzanita” and is a retired guy who started at the border.  He came with me to do laundry and get dinner.  After dinner at the Caribou Café we went back to the Braatens and I met another section hiker, Brady. 

It is very hot inside, so I’m sleeping out on the porch.

 

Day 3, July 23, Mile ~1299

        My mileage today was terrible, but it felt like I did much more.  Linda Braaten made us breakfast then dropped me off at the trailhead and took Manzanita to the post office.  The hiking was hot, uphill, overgrown, and full of poison oak.  I saw a rattlesnake, but it just slithered off.  I stopped for lunch at about 11:30 and Manzanita caught up about 20 minutes later.  He took a shortcut from the post office.  We ate and started hiking again.  It was sooo hot with so much poison oak!  The hike into Belden was a steep drop with switchbacks.  The hike out is a continuous 14 miles (no exaggeration) that is uphill the whole time.  At about 3 we caught “Pathfinder” who is Ron Strickland- father of the PNT!  He entertained us with lots of interesting stories and Manzanita chimed in with some of his own both about the hiking trip and his time in Iran with the Peace Corp.  During the course of the day I managed to get dehydrated.  After drinking lots of water at a spring at about 5pm I started feeling better, though.  When we finally topped out on the ridge it was cooler and had awesome views.  Now it’s off to sleep!

 

Day 4, July 24, Mile ~1320

        This morning the hiking was great.  It was flat, shady, and high enough to be out of the poison oak.  We made it to Cold Spring, our next water source, in about an hour and a half.  Just in time because I was out of water.  The spring was cold and clear.  Manzanita and I left before Pathfinder and that was the last we would see of him today.  I hiked in the lead and Manzanita caught me at lunch.  He then went ahead and I caught him at a junction where we had to go a mile and a half roundtrip to get water.  It was at the end of a 13 mile stretch with no water.  This stretch was hot and involved some climbing although it was pretty with great views of Lassen and interesting geology with lava rocks.  We had dinner then hiked some more and are now camped on a flat shelf below the trail.  It was a hard day, but we made over 20 miles.

 

Day 5, July 25, Mile ~1335

        About 15 miles today despite spending about 5 hours in Chester!  This morning Manzanita and I hiked quickly to the spring that was our first water source, drank, and sped off to Highway 36.  Literally as we walked up to the highway a series of cars pulled up, a guy got out of the first one and asked if we were thru-hikers.  Manzanita said yes, then said we needed a ride into Chester, and after the driver left his cargo of Boy Scouts starting a 50 miler, he drove us into Chester.  Easiest hitch ever.  In Chester we got great burgers at a fantastic restaurant and got some stuff at the grocery store.  I worked on my feet for a while, then we got milkshakes and then started trying to hitch.  Many, many cars went by and none stopped.  2 hours we tried to hitch.  No luck even with a sign and smiling faces.  Then a bicyclist passed us and said if we were still there in 20 minutes he would give us a ride.  Sure enough 20 minutes later he came back with his car and picked us up.  We got back to the trailhead and started hiking.  We soon got to a spring where the Boy Scout troop was camped.  We chatted with some of the scouts and the scout masters, then went on our way.  We are now camped atop a knoll above the trail on rocky soil.  Great view, though!

 

Day 6, July 26, Mile 1348.1

        Today was a very interesting day.  We awoke, hiked to our next water source, the N.E. fork of the Feather River, and then continued on.  By about noon we entered Lassen National Park and came to Terminal Geyser.  We walked around the bank of the geyser where the steam was shooting from among the boulders.  The ground where we were walking was making hissing noises and the stream leaving the geyser was HOT.  Things only got better.  We came to Boiling Spring Lake, which was a milky green color.  We walked along the bank and stepped among steaming vents, boiling water, boiling mud pots, and the smell of sulfur.  Manzanita decided to see how hot the lake was.  He stepped on a shelf just above the water so he could dab his hand in but his foot sank a foot and a half into hot mud.  He didn’t burn himself, but he got quite a scare and said “Yeah.  It’s hot.”  Hiking on for half an hour we got to Drakebad’s resort.  They let us take showers (in hotspring showers!), relax in the hotspring pool, and have dinner.  The dinner was a full three courses with a pork tenderloin as the entrée, plus I got a couple of corn dogs because they were serving them to the kids and they looked sooo good.  Great friendly people and great food!  While we were there a bear decided to come visit.  We saw it once from a distance when we were at the pool.  Then it came again and the employees ran around banging pots and pans.  The bear took a running leap and climbed 25 feet into a tree in about a second and a half.  I think I got some great photos!  After leaving Drakesbad, the caretaker for the campground down the road came by and told us we could stay at the campground.  And it has bear lockers!  We decided to do so and he is not charging us.  Anyway, time for bed now since we have to put the miles in tomorrow.

 

Day 7, July 27, Mile 1371.6

        Another interesting day today!  Initially the trail climbed but for the rest of the day it stayed fairly level.  At about 8:30 Manzanita spotted a plume of smoke off in the distance.  We continued hiking until we were very close to the plume when we spotted a side trail that seemed to head in its general direction.  We dropped our packs and went to investigate.  After going ¼ mile on the side trail and another ¼ mile cross-country we came to it.  A forest fire!  Presumably a bolt of lightning had struck a tree and an area about 500 feet by 500 feet was burning.  A few other patches around it had burned earlier apparently, and then gone out.  Manzanita tried clearing a perimeter around it but a couple big trees quickly went up in flames (with an impressive “whooshing” sound) and it became clear that we were not going to be able to do anything to stop it.  We took some photos and then hiked back out.  Back at our packs we had a snack while the valley we were in filled with smoke, then we hiked on.  The rest of the day was much less eventful.  We hiked fast and the terrain was relatively easy.  When it became apparent that we might make it to Old Station tonight we pushed harder in hopes of getting there early enough to get dinner at the restaurant and getting a motel room for the night.  We came to a sign at about 7:30 that said the store and café were ½ mile down a dirt road and that the café was open until 8pm.  We nearly ran down the road and then crossed into the resort.  There we were met by Brady, the guy from the Braatens in Belden, who had passed us since he didn’t stop in Chester or Drakesbad.  He told us that everything was closed.  Both the store and the restaurant were closed.  The restaurant is only open Wed-Sunday.  And the motel is totally full.  We had rushed in for nothing.  Manzanita and I took showers in the motel shower house and then snuck off into the woods to camp.  It was a depressing end to a 23.5 mile day.

 

Day 8, July 28, Mile ~1380.5

        Turtle rolled into town today.  He is a very friendly middle age guy who is hiking with the same pack I have.  We all left Old Station late, after 4, and walked 4 miles to Subway Cave.  We explored that (it is a collapsed lava tube) and loaded up with lots of water.  I was carrying over 6 liters.  My pack was heavy!  We hiked uphill and made our way to the top of Hat  Creek Rim.  At the top of our climb we came to a gorgeous lookout that the forest service had made near Highway 44.  At twilight there we had magnificent views of Mt. Lassen, Mt. Shasta, and everything in between.  During the day it would have been great.  During twilight it was awe inspiring.  After admiring the view for over half an hour we donned our overloaded packs and started hiking in the dark.  My feet hurt but the terrain was relatively flat.  Brady spotted a rattlesnake across the trail, which, at night, made me a little nervous.  We were all concentrating on the trail so Brady got quite a startle when he heard something and glanced up to see a cow standing about 10 feet away from him.  It got better when Brady told the cow that he was going to eat it for dinner at the next town.  On cue the cow lowered its head as if to charge and Brady ducked down to protect himself.  The cow didn’t do anything, but I laughed hysterically.  We stopped at a flat area and after watching carefully for snakes I laid out my stuff.  It will be an early day tomorrow, so it’s time to sleep.

 

Day 9, July 29, Mile 1405.1

        A near 25 mile day today.  And it felt it!  I set my alarm for 5 am but when it went off it still looked almost totally dark out so I reset it for 5:15.  After eating and packing up I hit the trail but was limping pretty severely because my left heel hurt like mad.  I took a couple ibuprofen and started hiking again.  I felt better in about 20 minutes.  The view from the rim was incredible and there was a nice wind that morning.  Soon the sun came up higher, though, and it got very hot.  The wind was even hot, and it was sucking moisture away.  We stopped near a lookout tower to have a snack and then hiked on.  Although we had a few brief breaks we never really stopped for lunch.  The terrain was barren and dusty and hot.  Around 12:30 we came to Amigo’s water cache at Road 22, nicknamed “Cache 22”.  It was great!  He had built a shade shelter with branches and left tons of water!  By about 5 pm my foot was killing me.  It hurt tremendously to walk on the heel, so my body compensated by keeping the muscles on the bottom of my foot tensed and walking just on the ball of my foot.  Soon the muscles started to burn, but no matter how hard I concentrated I couldn’t get them to relax.  I took 4 ibuprofen, which helped but didn’t solve the problem.  Eventually I rolled down to Rock Creek where I found Manzanita had made camp.  It was about 7 pm and I washed up, made dinner which I ate with Turtle and Brady, set up my tarp to avoid the mosquitoes, and am now off to sleep!

 

Day 10, July 30, Mile 1409.8

        After getting up and packing Manzanita and I left before Brady and Turtle.  Since I am taking a zero day in Burney and they are not, I may not see them again, although I hope I do.

        Manzanita and I made it to Highway 299 by about 9:30 am.  Yogi’s book said we were supposed to hitch to the right.  We walked down the highway a few hundred yards to a turnout.  I made a sign that said “Burney” and Manzanita had a sign that said “Hiker to town”.  We stood there with our thumbs out and people just stared at us.  Most of the traffic seemed to be going the other direction.  We wondered what they were driving to.  Eventually about 45 minutes later a tow truck driver with a handlebar moustache pulled over and looked at us quizzically.  “Where are you going?”  Considering I was holding a sign that said “Burney” I thought it was a pretty stupid question.  But I answered “Burney.”  He asked how long we’d been there, and when we told him how long he said that we might have had to wait so long because we were trying to hitch the wrong direction!  Burney was to the left!  Oops!  After asking a few questions to make sure we were legit, he told us to throw our stuff on the back and he’d take us to town.  He did, and told us about all the places to eat once we got here.

        We checked into the hotel, ate a big late breakfast, and set about relaxing.  The hotel people were even nice enough to drive us 2 miles to the theater and back where we saw the Bourne Supremacy.  Now it’s off to sleep in a bed.

 

Day 11, July 31, Mile 1409.8

        Today was a zero day.  I just relaxed in town.

 

Day 12, Aug 1, Mile 1422.9

We got a ride from the hotel managers again and got to the trail at about 11am.  We hiked the 9 miles to Burney Falls State Park fairly quickly.  It was easy terrain.  My heel only started feeling a little sore in the last mile or so.  The falls were amazing—much more spectacular than I was expecting.  There was a lot of water and much of it was pouring straight out of the rock face. 

        When we got to the store in Burney Falls that had my package we found 3 other thru-hikers there – Ukulele Nate, Britt, and Orion.  Ukulele & Britt are married and Orion is a college student who is hiking really fast.  He started at the border on May 23, and is averaging in the high 20s.  Orion left to hike and I had lunch (a hot dog and two corn dogs from the grill.  Gotta love those Corn Dogs!) and sorted my resupply package.  I had way too much food and was trying to give a lot of it away.  Two more thru-hikers arrived, Start Slow and Taper Off, a middle-aged couple hiking together.  They seemed very nice and friendly (as did everyone there).  I gave Meryl a call and then Manzanita and I headed out at about 5:30.  My heed ached a bit but was ok.  I tried a bunch of new insole combinations to see what made my heel happiest and the new insoles definitely seemed to be making a difference.  I felt a hot spot on the back of both heels, though, and I discovered little holes had formed in the shoe behind my Achilles tendon.  I put duct tape over the holes in the shoe lining and hoped that would solve the problem.  It didn’t.  About an hour later I pulled my shoes off expecting to find a little hot spot on my left foot that I could put duct tape on, but instead there was a blister that had already formed and then broken.  I washed it off, put some liquid bandage on part of it (OUCH!!!!) and put a blister block pad on.  That seemed to take care of it.  Once that was done Manzanita and I ate blackberries growing along the trail and I made the stupid mistake of confusing a pea plant flower for an orchid.  Manzanita enjoyed making fun of me for that.  Once he stopped laughing he kept me entertained with stories of his travels, including a trip to an island in Micronesia in which he was able to swim in a brackish lake full of jelly fish that had lost their tentacles because there was nothing for them to eat in this lake (they got trapped in it long ago).  Instead they rely entirely on a type of algae or something that grows inside of them and lives off their waste product and sunlight.  The jellyfish then consume the algae periodically.  But in order to get it to grow they are always swimming near the surface where the sunlight is so the algae can get sunlight.  I found that really interesting. 

        At dusk we made it to our next water source, Rock Creek.  There are no camping spots anywhere so we are literally camped directly on the wooden bridge across the creek!  Off to sleep!

 

Day 13, Aug. 2, Mile 1445.6

        We got decent mileage in today, but it was hard.  The first hour after we left our bridge campsite at Rock Creek was fine.  I was ahead of Manzanita for the first part of the morning and when he caught me he related his altercation with a skunk!  He saw it off in the bushes about 15 feet away and decided to take a photo.  The flash went off on his camera and the curious skunk ran over to him to check it out.  Before he could react the skunk was standing on his foot grabbing onto his pant leg and looking up at him.  Manzanita froze.  The skunk looked around, seemed a little annoyed by his trekking poles that were swinging from his wrists, and then turned around.  It backed up so its tail was running up Manzanita’s leg and looked sure to spray.  Then it just walked off.  Manzanita seemed understandably relieved.  I don’t think I’d want to hike with him anymore if he had gotten sprayed. 

After we got water the trail got unruly with overgrown plants – the kind with thorns.  The next 7 miles to our next water source took forever and since it was another 15 miles to more water we decided to make dinner at lunch.  After lunch my feet started to bother me increasingly and the trail became even more overgrown.  We were treated to some nice views from atop a ridge, though, including an awesome rainbow after a storm had come through and brought wind, but only a few drops of rain.  There were some impressive clouds on display. 

That’s about it for today.  Off to sleep.  I hope my foot is better tomorrow!  I fear I may have to spend time recuperating at Castella and then I’ll have to say goodbye to Manzanita so he can continue his trek to Canada. 

 

Day 14, Aug. 3, Mile ~ 1465.5

Today was my brother’s birthday.  Happy birthday Devin!

Ugh, what a terrible day!  It started out fine.  Manzanita had spent his first night in his hennessy hammock and seemed to like it.  I left camp before he did and we met up a mile later at a spring.  Manzanita left the spring a few minutes before I did and as I was leaving I got stung on the leg by some sort of wasp or yellow jacket.  I never got a look at it so I am unsure exactly what it was.  The sting stung, of course, and then started swelling up.  Toward the end of the day it started to itch. 

Hiking on I climbed and eventually topped out and started undulating along the top of a ridge.  My heel hurt a bit and my small toe, which I put duct tape on yesterday, was hurting much more than I expected.  At lunch I laid out my sleeping bag to air, ate lunch, and set to working on my toe.  The small blister that was on my toe yesterday had gotten huge and a new one formed on the top of the same toe.  I ran some thread through the big one and just popped the one on the top of my toe, then taped it all back up with duct tape.  My lunch was long because of all the foot attention and I still had not seen Manzanita again.  I eventually came to an alternate route that the guidebook recommended and that Manzanita took.  I followed his footsteps up a very steep jeep road to the lookout tower at the top of Grizzly Peak.  The view from the top was amazing!  I saw Shasta quite clearly and Lassen could be seen off in the distance.  The door to the lookout was open and I peered inside.  The place was trashed, with remnants of a stove, sink, heater, etc.  For some strange reason it felt very eerie being inside.  I’m not sure why.

I re-intersected the PCT and started a decent.  I stopped at a stream to make dinner, which I did as fast as I could.  After dinner my little toe hurt more.  The trail kept descending and soon entered oak trees, and where there are oak trees there is poison oak.  I had to circumnavigate the nasty plants quite frequently.  Where there are oak trees there are also the annoying flies.  They kept trying to land in my mouth, nostrils, and on my eyeballs and generally hovered in front of my face.  All these elements combined made for a not so fun evening.  I set up camp slightly early (a hair after 8pm) at the only flat spot I had seen in a while.  I was tempted to keep going but I didn’t what to have to avoid poison oak in the dark if I did not find a campsite within in the next half-mile or so.  It will be hard to catch Manzanita tomorrow.  Hopefully I can.  It looks like the ants will be joining me tonight.  They are so large that one can actually hear their legs hitting the groundsheet as they walk around on it.  I will have to bundle up in bug-proof clothing. 

 

Day 15, Aug. 4, Mile ~ 1485

        Today I was busy doing a little more suffering in Section O.  I didn’t catch Manzanita.  What I did do was spend all day with sweat dripping down my face and singing my eyes, while simultaneously trying to avoid the poison oak and prevent the flies from landing on my eyeballs.  It is quite a task trying to do all these things at the same time.  The poison oak was, quite literally, the most prevalent plant on the trail by far.  I was tired as it was because I got very little sleep last night.  It was hot during the night and I was covered head to toe in bug-proof clothes to avoid the ants, and that made me even hotter.  My tiredness made hiking slower today than normal.  Even worse, I managed to develop a very large blister underneath the nail of my second toe on my left foot (the same foot I have had all my problems with).  The whole nail is floating on top of it, so I am bound to lose the nail.  I think it might have been triggered by my catching my foot on a very small tree stump sticking up in the middle of the trail that was obscured by the overgrown plants around it.  I worry about what sort of problems losing that nail will cause for the rest of the hike. 

        I have set up camp in an open spot along a ridge.  It is a nice spot except that after I set up I discovered a 4-foot high ant nest about 20 feet away from me.  Ah well.  Tomorrow I get into Castella where I will try to recuperate.  Enough complaining for one day.  G’nite!

 

Day 16, Aug. 5, Mile 1499.7

        Amazingly the ants seemed not to bother with me after I went to bed last night.  I woke up early this morning and found it still pretty dark, so I ate breakfast while I waited for it to get light out.  Once I had eaten I got to work draining my blisters and bandaging them up.  The giant blister under my toenail had me worried this morning, but there was nothing I could do but bandage it up and hike out the last 15 miles.  I was on the trail by 7am.  After about an hour and a half of hiking I passed an abandoned jeep road and thought to myself that it provided some nice campsites.  As I climbed up the trail beside it I looked down on the jeep road and saw…Manzanita!!  He was just finishing packing up.  He said his leg started to bother him badly and so he was hobbling and would have to take some time off in Castella.  We hiked on, got water, and kept going, knowing we would make it into town in just a few hours.  I kept stopping to remove stuff that had gotten into my shoes (I promised myself I would be better about that) and Manzanita went ahead.  At one shoe cleaning break I heard a loud rustling sound behind me and wondered if there was a huge deer or a bear coming down the ridge.  Then a hiker popped out!  He introduced himself as Homemade.  He was taking shortcuts to eliminate large switchbacks and just plowed cross-country down the ridge behind me.  We chatted briefly and then he went ahead (down the trail this time).  He was moving much faster than I was, particularly so since I had a bum foot. 

        I found Manzanita about a half-hour later sitting at a Jeep road.  He was reading from the guidebook and telling me that the road used to be the old PCT, and that the new one makes a circuitous path through some oak filled gullies before reconnecting with the road farther down.  Manzanita wanted to take the more direct road walk down.  We started walking but I shortly had a change of heart and decided to take the trail and meet Manzanita farther down.  He then decided to take the trail too, so we hiked along and eventually came to the road that we take into town.  It was a painfully long 2.1 mile road walk into Castella.  Once there we grabbed our packages, ate lunch with Homemade at the little restaurant and pub, and tried to decide what to do next.  Outside a bunch of other hikers arrived.  A trio of guys whose names I can’t remember pulled out their cigarettes and started smoking.  I have no idea how they can be smokers and thru-hike, but somehow they manage.  Start Slow and Taper Off also showed up.  Manzanita and I made a sign and went to the interstate on-ramp to hitch into Dunsmuir.  45 minutes later someone stopped and took us to town.  We stopped in front of a Bed and Breakfast that had been recommended in yogi’s book.  In front was a group of retired folks drinking champagne and eating cheese and crackers.  They were very friendly and found us to be quite an entertaining novelty.  We talked with them for quite a while until the B&B owner returned.  We got a room and asked about laundry.  She told us where the Laundromat was and then asked if we had change and detergent.  When I told her that I might have detergent in my box but that I’d have to check she just told us to give her all our laundry and she would wash it for us.  Cool!  Then it was time to shower.  I took my bandages off my foot while showering and discovered that the blister underneath my nail had split and the nail was partially attached, but mostly not.  It was a pretty gruesome site.  I realized I might not be back on the trail for a few days.  I might even need to go home and stay with my folks and see a doctor.  I’ll decide based on what it looks like tomorrow.  I wrapped it in gauze and tape, donned my sandals, and I headed down the road to find a phone to call Meryl.  After that we had sandwiches at the pizza factory and are now back at the B&B ready to go to sleep. 

 

Day 17, Aug. 6, zero day—no hiking.

        An examination of my toe today confirmed my fears.  I would need to let it heal up before hiking more.  Manzanita saw it and was a bit grossed out.  He said he was glad he had his leg injury, which is likely shin splints, rather than my toe problem.  I think it looks worse than it is, but there is no doubt that I can’t do any hiking on it until it heals up.

        I called and arranged to get picked up so I could recuperate back at home and avoid the cost of staying in town.  My Dad was nice enough to come pick me up.  Manzanita and my Dad and I had dinner in Dunsmuir, then we took Manzanita to the campground at Castle Crags, and then to the phone in Castella.  Then we headed home to Sacramento. 

 

Day 18, Aug. 9, still at home recuperating

        I saw a podiatrist today.  He said the nail had to be removed and then proceeded to take it off.  It came off without too much effort or pain – just a little use of the scalpel.  Although it will take 4 or 5 months for a nail to grow back, he thinks it is almost a sure thing that a nail will eventually show up (I was worried I lost the base of the nail to the blister also, and that no nail would grow back).  The good news, though, is that I don’t need to wait until the nail grows back.  I just need to let the wound heal up, which should happen in less than a week, and then I can hit the trail again!  He also suggested an over the counter orthotic that he thinks will work better than my current orthotic and insole combination, so I ordered that.  Hopefully my problems will be solved!

 

Day 19, August 14, Mile 1507.5

        My mother was nice enough to drive me to the trail today.  Somehow there were fewer exits for Redding than I had expected and I flew by it even though I intended to stop for lunch there.  Instead we had lunch in Dunsmuir and then my mom dropped me off at the trailhead, one exit north of Castella.

        The first half an hour seemed really hard and I wondered what was wrong with me.  But then the trail flattened out and it was easy.  Ah- it had just started uphill.  The trail is much better maintained here and although there was poison oak it was easy to avoid and I got about 7.5 miles in since 4pm.  I’m a little concerned about water.  I passed the last “for sure” water source and filled up.  I hope the next “maybe” water source is running or I’ll be hiking a long way with little water. 

        The views of the crags were great today.  There was smoke off in the distance from the fires near Lake Shasta.  It made for an impressive sunset!  The only major downside was the annoying flies.  Tomorrow I climb out of their range, though.

        I am camped on a ridge in the only flat spot I could find, among some manzanita bushes.  There is bear scat about 15 feet away from where I’m camped.  Hopefully that doesn’t mean I’ll have a visitor tonight.  Looks like a clear night full of stars!  Off to sleep.  Hope the ants don’t bite! 

        Oh- no major problems with my feet today!

 

Day 20, August 15, Mile 1525.9

        Wow, what a day!  I got about an hour of sleep last night because it was so warm and my sleep schedule is messed up from being home.  Then at 4:15am I hear yelling.  I figure someone camped a mile or so away has gotten visited by a bear.  Then, total coincidence, I hear something very large moving around in the manzanita bushes near me.  It gets close enough that I could hear its grunting in response to me calling “hey bear.”  I got up and walked around trying to see what it was and scare it away.  I’m sure it was a bear but I never saw it.  Eventually it wandered off. 

        I tried to go back to sleep and just decided to get up at 6am.  I packed up and started hiking by 7:15.  Almost immediately the flies attacked.  I came to a dry streambed and found a note from Bald Eagle and Nacona saying there was a trickle upstream.  Nacona hiked in 2000 and got pulmonary edema in the Sierras.  I’ve heard all about her.  I’m anxious to meet them.  The note was dated 6pm yesterday.

        After I left the streambed the flies got so bad I had to put my poles away so my hands were free to whack the flies with my towel.  Luckily poison oak wasn’t a problem.  My pack was overloaded with food and water and the trail started climbing.  And kept climbing.  Nearly 3000 feet over the next 5 miles.  I had to stop for breaks more frequently than usual.  At one spring I crossed I saw a huge colony of the very rare carnivorous California pitcher plant!  As I climbed, the views got better and better.  I got great sights of Castle Crags, Mt. Shasta, and the lakes in the Trinity Alps drainage.  And the flies went away!  The last couple of hours of hiking were gorgeous!  I was walking along the top of a ridge and could see for miles in every direction.  Finally, the hike has started to get nice!

        I am now camped at a lake that the guidebook said was 250 feet below the trail.  Turns out, that was 250 vertical feet, and it’s a bit more than a ¼ mile cross country off the trail.  It’s pretty, though!  And I needed the water.  Off to sleep- it’s much cooler tonight and I expect to sleep much better.

 

Day 21, August 16, Mile 1545.7

        Finally the trip has gotten good!  I left the lake this morning at about 7:15am.  The cross-country climb back to the trail took a lot out of me, but I got to see more CA pitcher plants.  Although the terrain was relatively flat I couldn’t get moving at a good pace for a long time.  I stopped at a spring at about 9:30 and ate and took a long break.  After that I slowly started to get in sync.  I started passing lots of gorgeous lakes, though they were far below the trail.  At noon I had only gone 5 miles and I started to get worried.  But then I suddenly started going quickly.  The views were great, the weather was decent, and the terrain was easy.  I made the 7 miles to my next water source by 3:30 and stopped there to make dinner right on the trail.  Little did I know that the lakes I had just passed are popular day hike destinations and about 10 dayhikers went by while all my stuff was spread out on the trail while I was making dinner.  Ah well.  Dinner was great.  Whole wheat pasta, pasta rosa seasoning mix, dried milk, olive oil, broccoli, and chicken.  After dinner I motored down the trail until I got to the road and parking lot where the dayhikers park.  I managed to talk a dayhiker into taking my garbage, and I also gave my jar of peanut butter away to another.  I wasn’t eating the peanut butter and it weighed over a pound.  One hiker gave me a soda and another some chocolate, both of which I finished on the spot.  When I put my pack back on it felt noticeably lighter.  I started moving again around 5:15pm.  The trail went through some gorgeous open country and then through an open forest that was so pleasant I wanted to build a cabin and live there.  It had the simple name of “High Camp”.  I kept hiking, though, and somehow managed to make 8 miles since 4:30 and get to my next water source where I am now camped.  Another hiker walked by- I’m sure a thru-hiker, and set up camp about 100 yards away.  I said hi and he asked where the water was.  Maybe he’ll be more talkative tomorrow morning.  Off to sleep! 

 

Day 22, August 17, Mile 1568.2

        Finally I did some better mileage today.  This morning I had a cappuccino flavored breakfast shake that tasted surprisingly good and seemed to provide energy.  I kept a decent clip for the first couple hours this morning, then I stopped at about 9:45 to take care of some blisters.  Yes, my blister problems are back, but they are not as severe as before.  I passed lots of colonies of pitcher plants as I was moving along.  As I was stopped checking my map, the guy who camped near me last night, who wasn’t quite packed up when I went by this morning, came up.  He was in a rush to get to Hwy 3 to hitch out.  He was out for a week or so- he wasn’t a thru-hiker.

        By noon I had gotten in just under 10 miles.  I wasted some time checking out a water source that turned out to be a disgusting cow polluted pond, and decided to try my luck at Scott Mountain campground down at Hwy 3.  The guidebook said it sometimes had an operable water system and sometimes not.  It didn’t.  But luckily someone had left a couple jugs of water there so I made dinner.  I had quinoa, whole wheat pasta, broccoli, corn, salad dressing seasoning, and olive oil, which turned out surprisingly good.  I worked on my feet some more, including my insoles.  Yesterday I changed back to my orthotics (the custom ones) because the over the counter orthotics my podiatrist said to try were not giving me enough support.  I taped some twigs to the bottom of the arch of the orthotics to boost the support and decided to give them a try.

        I hiked the 1200 feet of climbing from the Scott campground without too much effort, probably because of the meal.  I found that there was nowhere to camp when it started to get darker, so I continued until just about the time I needed my light and set up camp near a ridge. 

 

Day 23, August 18, Mile ~1586.3

        Lots to write about today.  I’ll start at the beginning.  Last night I heard the pitter patter of little feet on my groundcloth and then something small, like a mouse or chipmunk, jumped onto my head and then quickly leaped off as I started to sit up.  In the morning I discovered that the cotton rag I use to wipe my face of sweat had gotten chewed to shreds- presumably for the salt.  Hmmm.  A little before dawn I heard what I thought was a hiker going by.  Then it made a strange noise that was a cross between a snort and a bugle.  In the morning I heard it again and saw it came from a deer.  I had never heard a deer make noise before.

        I was late getting out of camp today and didn’t get on the trial till a bit after 8am.  Then, while hiking along, I struck my left knee against a rock…hard.  I swelled up seriously and I hiked slowly with a limp for the next couple hours.  I stopped to cook a meal at a creek at about 2 and for some reason took an exorbitantly long time and didn’t leave till 3:30.  I was dehydrated and I had eaten too much, but I was carrying a lot of water and drinking as quickly as I could.  The trail ascended a lot.  The climbing was hard.  When the trail finally topped out it would take a steep descent, then climb steeply again.  I was moving agonizingly slow.  At 7:30 I made it to the sign for entering the “Russian Wilderness”.  The trail looked to follow a very steep ridge.  I checked the map to see if I’d be able to find a spot to camp.  Nope.  The guidebook said the trail was blasted out of a cliff face for several miles.  So I had to make camp early here at a saddle at the entrance to the Russian Wilderness.  It was very frustrating because I was just starting to move at a good clip.  I didn’t get my 20 miles in today and now I have nearly 14 miles to go to Etna.  I wanted to make it to the road by 2pm so I have a reasonable chance of hitching into town in time to get to the post office before it closes.  We’ll see if I can do it.  Off to bed so I can get up earlier.

        Oh, I forgot to mention one plus- the spot where I camped is probably the most beautiful campsite on this summer’s PCT trip so far!

 

Day 24, August 19, Mile…

        I got up before dawn this morning but was still slow getting ready and didn’t leave till 7am.  While I was packing up 2 other hikers came by.  We just said good morning and they went on.  About an hour later I caught them again at the next water source.  The guy introduced himself as “Germanator”, and he does indeed speak with a thick German accent.  The woman introduced herself as “Fishstand” which she apparently got when she misunderstood a German phrase that Germanator said.  The two of them seemed very friendly.  I think I saw Fishstand in Dunsmuir when I had lunch there with my mother.  We talked at another break and then I went on ahead. 

        I stopped to check out a lake about 30 feet off trail and then waited a while for them.  When they didn’t come I got to thinking they had passed me while I took pictures of the lake, so I hiked on.  I got to Etna Summit at 1:56 pm, and didn’t see Germanator or Fishstand there.  In an hour they came down, though.  Between 2 and 3pm 1 car went by going in our direction.  About 10 minutes after Germanator and Fishstand showed up a white van went by.  It was unexpected and I didn’t have my backpack on, but I stuck my thumb out anyway thinking it wasted effort.  But it stopped and gave us a ride!  Now we’re in Etna staying with a trail angel named Father Serge.

 

Day 25 and 26, August 20 and 21st,

        Zero days in Etna.  It was great hanging out in Etna these last couple of days.  Father Serge’s hospitality was overwhelming!  He let us camp in his yard, take showers, do laundry, and generally hang out, all for free.  And he is one of the most welcoming people I’ve ever met.  Cathy is also amazingly generous.  She is an older woman who drove us around all over the place and hung out with us a lot.  She is a little eccentric (she had us sign our names on her legs) but extremely sweet and helpful.

        On Saturday the 20th it was Germinator’s birthday.  A huge group gathered outside the bathroom window while was in there and we sang him happy birthday.  Serge made excellent chocolate cake too.  That night we went to see a play that Serge did the sound for.  It was called “Academia Nuts” and was very good.  Oh, a new hiker arrived today- Chef!  He’s a great guy, and true to form he made us all dinner.  We all had a great deal of laughs, including about how moist Serge’s chocolate cake was (Fishstand does not like the word “moist” though she cannot say why).

        On Sunday the 21st I got sucked into the Etna vortex.  The group decided they would go to Walmart, and I figured I would go so I could get arch pads to put under my orthotics.  Bad idea.  The whole day was gone.  We had dinner after coming back and prepared to leave tomorrow.  This morning Pathfinder came in, too.  He hitched from Seiad Valley back so he and Serge can hike together from Seiad Valley to Ashland.

 

Day 27, August 22, Mile ~1619

        This morning was a bit hectic.  We all ran around getting packed, eating, and getting ready to go.  We took lots of pictures and said goodbye.  Germinator, Fishstand, Chef, and I piled into Cathy’s hiker shuttle.  Chaco Man stayed behind to tie up one last loose end, but still planned on hitching out and starting to hike this morning.

        On our way up to Etna Summit, where the trail is, it started raining.  At the trailhead it was wet and cold.  I said goodbye to Cathy and said goodbye to Germinator, Fishstand, and Chef, who are skipping ahead to Seiad Valley.  I started hiking in the horrendous weather by myself.  I don’t remember much about the first 5 hours of hiking because it was so misty that I could see nothing more than 20 ft in any direction from me.  I had a hard time finding a place to have lunch where my pack and I would not get soaked.  At about 3, though, the sun peeked through a few spots and visibility improved.  It was still overcast and raining, but I was treated to some awesome views!  The views and weather remind me very much of Washington.  I came across 2 small lakes today that were full of red-bellied salamanders!  They were adorable!  I found one standing on the trail about 50 ft from one of the lakes and decided I needed to take him back to the lake.  I didn’t want to grab him with my hands because I have gotten salmonella from salamanders before.  My efforts to get him to climb onto a rock I could carry failed and he crawled under some brush where I couldn’t get to him.  I hope he’s ok!

        The bad weather and 20 foot visibility came back at 5.  I couldn’t bring myself to stop and cook or even get water.  A little after 7pm I found a decent campsite on a wide saddle and set up.  I am really low on water, so I just had some lunch food for dinner.  I will have to put breakfast off tomorrow morning until I get to water too.  A herd of cows came to the saddle and I had a little standoff with one.  I didn’t want them too close to my camp, and she seemed not to like me yelling at her and kept snorting at me.  They eventually left, though I can still hear their cowbells in the distance.  Off to be and hoping for sun tomorrow!

 

Day 28, August 23, Mile ~1634.5

        Last night I woke up and saw stars!  Then I woke up a few hours later and heard it raining on me.  The morning was misty with only a light rain.  I was out of water and had to go about ¾ of a mile off trail to get water at the first possible source.  The sun came out while I was there!  Then the sun left and it started raining.  It rained the whole rest of the day.  Visibility fluctuated between nothing and fine.  When I could see, the views were great.  I stopped to cook a meal at about 3:30 at Paradise Lake.  It started pouring while I was there and it was hard to keep from getting soaked.  I heard a loud rockslide and got up to look and in the process kicked over my pot of water and had to start over. 

        Good views despite the weather today.  Lots of cows, though.  I made terrible mileage.  The poncho I am using is a pain and makes everything slower.  Chaco Man got in a 27 mile day today and caught me just as I was making camp, so now we’re camped together.  I’m cold and wet, so off to sleep.  I’m hoping for sun tomorrow.  Oh, I got stung by a yellow jacket on the leg, but it doesn’t look that bad.

 

Day 29, August 24, Mile 1657.0

        Today when I awoke I heard the sound of drops on the tarp.  When I got out I saw that the drops were coming off the tree above us, but the sky was clear!  Sun!  Chaco Man and I took our time getting ready since there was no way we’d be able to get to Seiad Valley before the post office closed anyway.  We left camp at about 9.  The trail descended, usually pretty gradually, over all 21 miles.  The last 6 ½ were a road walk.  Luckily it stayed slightly overcast so it was not too hot.  As we got lower the poison oak came back in abundance.  The flies also emerged but were not as bad as before.  We got to town at about 7:30.  Everything was closed and we got a spot to camp in the RV park.  7 dollars plus tax for a dirt spot under a security light and near a large propane tank.  Chaco Man tried to bargain but the guy wouldn’t hear of it.  So much for the RV park being really hiker friendly.  I had a shower then it’s off to sleep.

 

Day 30, August 25, Mile ~1663

        I awoke at 5:00am to mist which later turned into rain.  I hadn’t set up my tarp.  Oops!  I pulled half of my groundsheet over me and tried to wait it out.  What a rude awakening!  We gave up and got up and had a great breakfast at the café where the waitress was friendly (finally someone friendly!).  Then we sorted food and dried stuff in the RV park laundry room.  We had lunch at the restaurant again, and heard all about other hikers (and the restaurant) from the waitress.  Then we got things ready and headed to the trail.

        It immediately started climbing.  There was some poison oak, but the trail was well maintained and it was easily avoided.  The really great thing is that it was overcast, but not raining, and it was windy.  The temperature was relatively pleasant and the flies didn’t bother me!  Other hikers had horrible heat doing this part, so we got lucky.  I sweat a lot, but that’s unavoidable with this kind of climbing.  We have a total of about 4400 feet of climbing before it levels off.  I think we’ve done about 2/3 of that now.  We are camped on a narrow ridge with few campsites, so Chaco Man is about 100 yards away from me.  It is a very beautiful campsite.  The only problem is that there is a big weather system above us and I fear lightning (and I have a metal trekking pole sticking up in the air to support my tarp).  I haven’t heard any thunder yet, though, so everything is probably fine.

        The new silk sleeping bag liner I got in Etna is working great, and the new shoes I picked up in Seiad Valley seem great, at least over the last few hours.  We cross into Oregon soon and I’m looking forward to it!  Time to sleep.

 

Day 31, August 31, Mile ~1684

        I was ready a few minutes before Chaco Man this morning so I walked ahead and we met up again shortly at a spring where I was getting water.  The sky was overcast but it never actually rained.  That made for cool windy conditions- not bad for backpacking.  I discovered that bees don’t like me.  I got stung by a couple and then stumbled while I tried to run away, scraping up my knees.  We didn’t move as fast as would have been ideal and we got to a road and good lunch spot at about 1:30.  We both started cooking, though I went to filter water first.  While the food was heating a van pulled up on the dirt road.  The driver was picking up some day hikers.  We talked for a long time, and they gave us each some mini-snickers bars and took our trash.  They also gave Chaco Man water so he didn’t have to filter!  Unfortunately it was 3:15 by the time we left, and we had only done 9 miles before lunch.

        Chaco Man got ahead of me.  I stopped to “dig a hole in the woods” and then I pressed hard to catch him.  I never did see him again today and although I would have thought he was in front of me, I may have passed him when he stopped at a spring and I may be in front of him.  Tomorrow we cross into Oregon, so the trail register will let me know if he’s in front.  The evening brought cold, but cloud free hiking.  The sights were beautiful.  I would be in a very good mood, but I discovered something horrible.  I have had blisters on my right foot.  Annoying, but not a big deal.  But tonight I discovered a blister under my toenail- the same toe that caused me such problems before on my left foot.  I don’t know what to do.  I can’t afford to get off the trail for another 9 days.  I don’t see how I can continue hiking with it either.  The nail surely will soon come off.  I never even felt that blister forming.  I have had an awful lot of bad luck with my feet on long distance hikes.  Hopefully the picture will be clearer tomorrow.  Off to sleep under a very bright moon.

       

Day 32, August 27, Mile ~1704

        My last night in California was COLD.  I was colder by far than any night in Montana or the PCT this year.  I didn’t sleep well.  When I stopped to take a break mid-morning Chaco Man came up, though, so that was good news.  We’re not sure how I got in front.  We hiked on in sunny but cool weather until we came to the OREGON border!  A new state!  It was pretty anticlimactic though, as the trail register was in the middle of forest ravaged by fire and logging.  We had lunch shortly after signing the register and taking photos.  In the evening we stopped at a great piped spring to get water and cows around it stared at us.  We hiked through some strange rock formations that looked out of the Flintstones, and are now camped on a flat rocky ridge that butts out from the main ridge the trail follows.

        Tomorrow we get to Ashland.  There I will see how my toe with the blister under the nail is doing.  I taped it up this morning and have not examined it without the tape since.  Hopefully I won’t discover anything too bad under the tape.  My other blisters are bothering me, but they are only an annoyance.  Off to sleep.

 

Day 33, August 28, Mile 1721.5

        Last night was much warmer than the night before, particularly since I set my tarp up.  The hiking was relatively uneventful.  We passed a lot of day-hikers as we got closer to the highway from which we hitch into Ashland.  Once we got to the little traveled highway we started walking, then got a ride from a miner who was restoring an old railway tunnel and who was driving a circa 1950 jeep.  I was in the back (which is legal in Oregon) holding on for dear life.  He dropped us off at a gas station a couple miles from downtown and we stood trying to hitch for about half an hour until another car stopped and took us into downtown and the hotel we’re staying at.  Tomorrow is a zero day.  It’s Sunday and I can’t get my package until Monday anyway.  I may also see a podiatrist on Monday.  My toenail looks better than last time, but I still think I’ll probably lose it.  Time to start running errands and EATING!

 

Day 34-36, August 29, Zero days in Ashland

        Our Ashland stay was OK, but ended up getting a little frustrating.  Toward the end the town was getting on my nerves.  The first night in the Columbia Hotel was fine.  It is a cool old hotel and the prices are lower than for other hotels in Ashland.  Of course, you don’t get a private bathroom.  The food at the restaurants was decent, though overpriced.  On Sunday we could not get our boxes because the Post Office wasn’t open so we ran other errands and just generally relaxed.  On Sunday night we spent the night in the hostel.  Baaaaad.  The facilities were ok (not great), but the woman running the place was very off-putting.  She was very rude, but it is difficult to describe how.  It was entirely in her mannerisms and the way she delivered the things she was saying.  If you wrote out the words she said, there would be nothing objectionable.  Nonetheless, she was very unpleasant.  Chaco Man was even more bothered by her than I was.  That left us in a bad mood for Monday.  I got my box, sorted it, and ran more errands.  We ran out of time to do all the necessary grocery shopping, though, since Chaco Man had to mail food ahead (so he had to get it done before the P.O. closed).  We spent Monday night in the Columbia again and then took the bus out to where we could do a little more shopping and from where we could hitch a ride.  After about 45 minutes a guy stopped.  We thought he was stopping to give us a ride, but he actually stopped to retrieve a CD that had flown out his window as he was making a turn.  He gave us a ride anyway, though, and we soon arrived at Callahan’s.  Callahan’s was extremely hiker friendly.  We sat down and Chaco man ate his $6.00 all-you-can-eat sphegetti dinner while I had a coke so I could let my appetite build before I ate dinner.  We signed the register and saw in an entry in the register that Dumptruck, Vice, and Spreadsheet, 3 hikers in front of us that we met in Etna, likewise hated the woman at the hostel.  Chaco man finished his food and hoisted his pack on and we walked to the front of the resort and said our goodbyes.  He walked away toward the trail and I made use of the payphone to call Meryl.  Being away from her for so long is tough, and the phone conversations help a lot.  After talking for nearly 2 hours I made arrangements to camp on the lawn out back of the resort, then started my AYCE (All You Can Eat) dinner.  Another hiker, Christy, introduced herself while I was eating.  She had hiked from the Mexican border, then had to leave the trail for work related stuff, then came back and found that she was way behind everyone else.  She is considering quitting now.  We talked, I finished eating, then Christy went back to her hotel room and I went to set up camp on the lawn. 

 

Day 37, Sept. 1, Mile ~ 1737

        September already.  Scary.  I ate breakfast with Christy and a section hiker she had met, though the breakfast was a bit later than I had hoped for because the cook at the restaurant didn’t show up and someone had to come and take his place.  They game me my French toast free since I was a hiker, though, so I was happy.  Christy and the section hiker drove me back to the trailhead and I started hiking with a backpack loaded down with lots of food and water.  It was slow going at first but I gradually sped up.  The views were nice and the terrain was not too hard.  I passed a group of older dayhikers going in the opposite direction who were very friendly and asked me all about my trip.  A bit later I came to a crest with a great view, which held my attention.  I was looking at the view and not the ground, when I kicked what I thought was a stick.  When I looked down a saw a large snake that I was pushing around with the toe of my shoe!  It had markings like a rattlesnake, and I almost had a heart attack.  On closer inspection I discovered it lacked a rattle or a diamond shaped head, so it must have been a gofer snake.  I apologized to it and then took some photos of the nice view (the snake slithered away into the bushes and I was unable to get any photos).  Another dayhiker arrived with a giant tripod and a view camera in his backpack.  We talked about photography for a little while, then I hiked on.  It was pleasant hiking with a nice wind, though my blisters were bothering me again.  I am now camped under a star filled sky, though clouds occasionally intrude.  I hope it doesn’t rain!

 

Day 38, Sept. 2, Mile ~ 1758

        Last night I awoke a number of times to see black sky with now stars, which indicated clouds.  I decided to just hope it didn’t rain and go back to sleep each time.  Luckily it worked.  The morning was cool, very misty, and had very low visibility.  I stopped for lunch at the outlet to Little Hyatt Lake and while there I saw a man who was staying in an RV, and very much looked like a red neck (he had a mullet).  He walked around looking in the bushes searching for his ashtray.  Why there would be an ashtray in the bushes I don’t know.  Very strange.  I left him to search, and soon I passed by the road to Hyatt Lake Resort and saw a note from K-too, whom I had met in Etna.  The note was to Bald Eagle, Nocona, Sherpa, and Crow, all of whom I had also met in Etna.  A few feet farther I found a note from Nocona to Fishstand and Germinator saying she had gone into Hyatt Lake Resort because her blisters were “severe”.  A few feet farther and I found a beer sitting on top of a note for Yum, who was a southbounder (attempting a full thru-hike, though he is late), whom I had met yesterday.  Since I knew he had already passed I could have drank the beer, but I decided I shouldn’t.  I continued on through windy cool conditions and relatively easy terrain.  I was slow and stopping frequently for the first half of the day but sped up for the second half.  Although my feet were sore, and I changed from the new insoles I had just bought in Ashland back to my old ones, which give more support, my blisters bothered me surprisingly little.  After dinner, which I made with water from a canal that smelled like sewage (hope I don’t get sick!) I had a burst of energy and sped along until I came to a spring that I was relying on to be a good source.  It was a mud pit and my filter wouldn’t pump it, though I tried everything in the book to make it work.  I hiked half a mile farther and am now camped in a clearing, under my tarp this time.  I have 1 liter of water to last me tonight and 7.5 miles tomorrow.  That is doable but it will be uncomfortable.  Hopefully it will stay cool.  G’nite.

 

Day 39, Sept. 3, Mile ~ 1778

        I wasn’t cold during the night, but this morning it was pretty cold.  I didn’t initially realize how cold it really was.  There was a little condensation on my gear, and a lot on my tarp.  After I peeled my tarp back all the condensation turned to ice in about 10 minutes.  I had to wear gloves, for the first time this trip, to pack up my tarp. 

        I made the 7.5 miles to a shelter with a water-well much more comfortably than I expected, even though I was dehydrated.  There was a register at the shelter and I saw Chaco Man’s entry from yesterday.  I did not see an entry for Germinator, Fish Stand, Nocona, Bald Eagle, Sherpa, or Crow, so now I am wondering where they are.  I had a long lunch break there while I dried my tarp, then I hiked over relatively level terrain that included lots of old lava flow.  It was 10 miles to Hwy 140 and I did all if it without taking a single break.  On the other side of the highway I found water and made dinner.  I hiked a bit farther and am now camped on a forested ridge.  Remarkably, although my feet were sore for parts of today, my blisters didn’t bother me much. 

       

Day 40, Sept. 4, Mile 1805

        What an incredible day!  I woke up to a warmer morning than yesterday.  I got on the trail at my usual time – 7:30 am.  By 11:30 I had gone just over 10 miles and I reached my first water source.  I cooked a meal there, rinsed my clothes, and filtered water.  Then I started hiking again.  In a couple hours I came across a hiker heading south who was carrying a light pack and wearing no shirt.  He asked me where I started and I asked him the same.  He started with “You’re not gonna believe this, but…” and I knew instantly.  “You’re not Scott Williamson, are you?”  I asked.  Indeed it was!  He attempted the “rebound” PCT hike (also called the Yo-Yo, in which the hiker starts at the Mexican border, hikes north to Canada, then turns around and hikes all the way down to Mexico again) in 1996, and again in 2000 when I was hiking.  He got snowed out in the Sierras on the southbound leg both times.  Now he is trying again.  He hit Kennedy Meadows on May 8.  He did the whole state of Washington in 13 and ½ days.  13 & ½ days!!!!  The whole state!  That’s insane!  He plans to do Oregon and Washington combined in under 30 days.  He was a very nice guy and I was glad to have met him. 

        I hiked on, stopped for a snack at 4pm, and kept going.  Most of the day the terrain was flat but toward the end it started climbing.  I was hoping that the Snow Lake Trail, which would lead me to water, would come soon.  I had to hit 2 trail junctions first:  Divide Trail and Hemlock Trail.  After Snow Lake I would get to Devil’s Peak.  I reached the Divide trail after what seemed like way too long.  I kept hiking and kept climbing.  It was taking forever to reach the Hemlock and Snow Lake trail junctions.  I passed a really cool and sinister looking peak and thought to myself that they should have named this peak ‘Devil’s Peak’.  Then I reached the Seven Mile trail junction.  I checked the map and discovered that I had gone by Hemlock and Snow Lake junctions without ever seeing them, and had just passed Devil’s Peak!  It was still light, so I kept going to honeymoon creek.  That makes for a 27 mile day!!  Now its off to sleep under a star filled sky. Oh, I forgot to mention – I got great views of a huge lake, Mt. McLaughlin, and Mt. Shasta in sunset conditions after I passed Devil’s peak.  Impressive!

 

Day 41, Sept. 5, Mile 1825.3

        Turns out there was more than one junction for the Seven Mile trail.  I only did about 25 miles yesterday.  But I did the remaining 23 today by 6pm and got into Crater Lake at Mazama Village, where I found Pathfinder!  Now I’m rushing to get finished doing my resupply so I can go eat at the AYCE restaurant.

 

Day 42, Sept. 6, Mile 1837.5

        Yesterday’s buffet was great.  I’m glad I went with Pathfinder up to the Rim.  A guy who hiked most of the CDT and some of the PCT drove us up there.  We camped in a hidden spot we found in the dark and then had breakfast this morning at the restaurant.  I then said goodbye to Pathfinder and, after leaving my backpack with the employees at the restaurant, set off unburdened to do the 4.5 miles back to Mazama Village, where I got a ride from yesterday in order to go to the AYCE buffet with Pathfinder.  I didn’t want to skip any of the PCT, so hiking this section was imperative.  It was a relatively easy and uneventful hike that took about an hour and a half.  Once there I got a nosebleed, waited for it to stop, and got a ride back to the Rim from the second car of people that I accosted.  The couple driving was very nice and I was happy to have gotten the ride, particularly considering that hitchhiking is illegal inside a National Park.  Once back at the Rim I checked out the tourist center, got a burger, made a bunch of phone calls, and then talked with a southbound thru-hiker that walked in.  His name was Savant and he assured me that there was indeed water cached at Hwy 138, 17 miles from here.  That is much better than the 26 miles I would have had without water if not for the cache.  I set out hiking along the Discovery Rim Trail at about 4:30.  It was actually a pretty dicey trail.  I got great views of Crater Lake, though.  I figured I would illegally stealth camp along the Rim and be treated to a great sunrise over the lake, but the trail diverged from the Rim far before dark, so I said goodbye to Crater Lake and kept hiking until dark.  Now I am camped (still illegally since I am technically still within the park boundary) in a clearing under a sky full of stars. 

 

Day 43, Sept. 7, Mile ~ 1860

        Walking along this morning I saw an elk.  It bounced away.  Literally.  It jumped up and forward with all four legs, landed on all four legs at the same time, and jumped again.  It was very funny looking.  I reached the water cache at Hwy 138 at 12:01.  That was 10 miles from where I camped, which means I missed my goal of 10 miles by noon by 1 minute.  A few hours after getting water I caught up to Pathfinder.  We took some photos of Thielsen Peak, then I hiked ahead to a creek to make dinner, where Pathfinder shortly joined me.  After dinner we did another 5 miles while Pathfinder kept me entertained with stories about his very strange nomadic life.  We are now camped on a bench overlooking a valley with a lake far in the distance under another gorgeous star filled sky. 

 

Day 44, Sept. 8, Mile ~ 1882

        This morning I started hiking a little late, at about 8am, but it was because Pathfinder found that he could get reception on his cell phone and he called Manzanita.  It was an awesome way to start the day by talking to him again!  He is getting orthotics for his feet tomorrow and hopes to be able to do dayhikes soon.  He sounded very enthusiastic about meeting me at the end of my hike. 

        My stomach was bothering me some today and it slowed me down for the first few hours.  Still, I made it to the junction for the spring where I needed to get water by about 1pm, at a distance of 11 miles.  Unfortunately the spring was over a third of a mile down a steep ridge and the water was of questionable quality.  After getting the water, getting back up the trail, and making a cooked meal, Pathfinder and I started hiking again a bit after 3:30.  We basically just hiked the rest of the day with one small break for a snack.  Pathfinder decided to stay at a site on a ridge a little before I felt like stopping, so I went on.  I hope I wasn’t rude!  It turned out to be a bad move because I shortly came to a very confusing junction that I had difficulty figuring out in the dark.  I am camped nearby and will have to figure it out in the morning. 

 

Day 45, Sept. 9, Mile ~ 1904.5

        I awoke this morning and everything was covered with so much condensation that I wondered if it had rained during the night.  I wiped things off the best I could and started walking down the first trail I thought might be the PCT.  Nope.  I tried the second and found a PCT marker, then started hiking, taking lots of photos of the beautiful lakes below ablaze with the morning sun.  I made it to Summit Lake, my next water source, at about 10:45.  I cooked a meal (during which I had to diligently scare off marauding birds) and hung out my sleeping bag to dry, and checked my feet.  There was a bloodstain on the tongue of my shoe and on my sock.  Ack!  Turns out that the edge of some duct tape that I had put there before to cushion a sore spot had itself opened up a sore.  I took the duct tape off and applied some “new skin” superglue (OUCH!!!) then I pumped water and started hiking again.  It had been a very long break and somehow Pathfinder had gotten in front of me.  I caught him where he was talking to another hiker he ran into within a few minutes of starting to hike again.  I went ahead and started passing lots of ponds.  I saw 2 elk at one of them.  Pathfinder caught me when I took a break to snack.  I mentioned that I wanted to get within 1 mile of the road to Shelter Cove.  Pathfinder expressed serious doubt that I could do that since it would require over 10 more miles of hiking and it was already late afternoon.  I hiked on ahead of him, climbing and climbing, and then circled around Diamond Peak, which was gorgeous.  I stopped to get water from a spring issuing forth beneath the peak, and hiked farther, descending past lots of ponds and a few gorgeous lakes, where I saw 2 more elk.  I hiked until dark.  I think I got in about 24 and ½ miles today.  I can hear the train that goes near Shelter Cove, so maybe I got farther.  I don’t think I got within a mile of the road like I had wanted, but I am pretty sure I got within 2 miles, and that’s not bad.  I should get into Shelter Cove tomorrow morning.  I am not sure if Pathfinder will get to Shelter Cove while I am still there or not, but we’ll see.  I am tempted to stop at a pizza place at the ski lodge at Willamette pass when I cross Hwy 58, about 2 miles after leaving Shelter Cover.  I’ll figure that out tomorrow, though.

 

Day 46, Sept. 10, Mile ~ 1914

        I got into Shelter Cove, which was quite beautiful, at about 9:30 am, got my box, and started walking toward the showers.  The people working at the resort were surprisingly friendly.  I didn’t expect them to be, since the place does not normally cater to hikers, so that was great.  While walking to the showers a woman walked up and asked me about the hike.  She seemed very friendly and said her husband, Boris, was hiking the PCT in sections.  I showered and put my laundry into the machine and then sorted my box while talking to Boris and his wife, whose name was Camille.  I had a hard time sorting my box because the chipmunks and squirrels were extremely aggressive about stealing food.  I had to constantly be on the lookout for them.  One squirrel got my chocolate bar and I had to run after it to get the wrapper and about half of the chocolate back.  The people at the resort feed the chipmunks and squirrels, which is why they are so aggressive.  The woman working there told me not to worry if a squirrel crawled up me—it was just looking for food.  The squirrel’s name was Wilma and it had a little house (full of food) that the resort owners had nailed to the storefront. 

        Pathfinder showed up about 3 hours after I got there, and before I knew it Camille was making us all a great lunch of chicken and vegetable pasta and a salad.  I called my Dad and Meryl, and then eventually left Shelter Cove at about 4:15.  Pathfinder stayed behind.  Camille was nice enough to drive me back to the trail.  I hiked about 7 miles in the evening, passing gorgeous lakes along the way.  It has been rare that the PCT passes nice lakes, so it was very welcome.  Now I am camped on a ridge.  The sky looks clear, but the weather report calls for rain, so I set up my tarp tent.  Hopefully there will be no lightning to make my ridgetop position dangerous.  Off to sleep.

 

Day 47, Sept. 11, Mile ~1938

        It is not lost on me that today was the 3rd anniversary of 9/11.  It is strange to think that out here I have no way of knowing what is going on in the world.  Hopefully everything is fine. 

        Ugh, what a hard day!  The clouds had rolled in by morning and it started raining about 20 minutes after I started hiking.  It played tricks with me. When I put my poncho and rain hat on it would stop and I would start to overheat.  I’d take them off and it would start to rain again.  Luckily it wasn’t coming down very hard.  Because there was nowhere dry to sit I ate my lunch standing up and then continued on.  Early in the afternoon I crossed paths with Mogley and Alex, two southbound PCT thru-hikers.  They hope to get to Mexico but know it is unlikely they’ll make it through the Sierras in time.  They seemed like nice guys.  I stopped for dinner at Brahma Lake.  The rain had eased up so I just hoped for the best.  I started cooking and then the sky opened up with a deluge.  One major limitation with my poncho became apparent.  Do I use it to keep me dry or to keep my gear dry when the gear is not on my back?  I chose to keep my gear dry, so I ended up getting soaked.  I ate dinner quickly, again without sitting down, and was happy to have the warm food in me.  I repacked as fast as possible when the rain eased slightly, then donned my pack and my poncho.  My timing this time was actually good.  It started raining the hardest that it had all day about 30 seconds after I got my poncho on.  I hiked on passing gorgeous little lakes as the rain continued to come down at a simply unbelievable rate.  The trail turned into streams and puddles.  I stopped earlier than I had hoped, at about 7:45 pm, so I could find a campsite in the daylight.  Now I am inside my tarp trying to get dry.  I feel pretty comfy in here, though.  Hopefully tomorrow will bring better weather!

 

Day 48, Sept. 12, Mile ~ 1958.7

        When I awoke this morning it was raining.  I packed up the best I could inside the tarp and then emerged during a spell when the rain lessened.  I threw on my pack and started down the trail.  The rain stopped and I started getting warm with my poncho on.  I stopped and took the poncho off, hiked for about 20 minutes, and then it started raining again.  I put the poncho back on, and it kept raining and getting heavier.  It seemed like it was taking forever to get down to the trail that led to Elk Creek Resort.  Finally I hit what I thought was it, but I was not sure because half of the sign was gone from a forest fire.  I took the trail and arrived at Elk Lake Resort in about 30 minutes.  I had originally intended to skip it but decided to stop to call my Dad and ask him to come meet me in Sisters earlier.  I also wanted to get a burger, get some more food to augment my lunch stuff since I was eating more of that in lieu of stopping and cooking, and I just wanted to get out of the rain.  The place was empty but I was able to get a cheeseburger, turkey sandwich, and a pepsi.  The food lifted my spirits quite a bit.  They were seriously lacking in the way of food to augment my lunch stuff, but I did get a few candybars.  I asked about their phone and they said all they had was a cell.  I asked if they had anything set up for customers to use it.  She asked me if it was an emergency.  I thought for a second and admitted that it was not.  She asked what I needed to call for and I said it was to let my ride know to come at a different time.  She said that was good enough.  I called my Dad and spoke for about 3 minutes, but I did not try to press my luck and call Meryl even though I really wanted to.  I didn’t know how to spin that as an emergency, especially since the woman letting me use the phone dialed the number for me and stood there while I talked.  At least my Dad will pick me up earlier to go into Sisters so I can call Meryl earlier then.  I’m anxious to get home!

        I hiked back up to the trail and it started raining again.  I got all my raingear on (which takes a while) and kept going.  The trail climbed high up on a ridge, to the crest of a mountain.  I didn’t feel safe from lightning up there, despite passing a good campsite, so I hiked until well after dark until I descended and could find an acceptable place to camp.  Luckily the rain stopped while I set up my tarp.  I did 24 miles yesterday and just over 20 today, plus a little over 2 miles to get a meal at Elk Lake.  Time to sleep!

 

Day 49, Sept. 13, Mile 1979.9

        Today was, from a frustration standpoint, my worst day of hiking ever.  When I woke up I found that my sleeping bag was damp and I was cold.  It was pouring outside.  I snoozed for a little while hoping it would lighten up.  It didn’t.  I packed up the best I could under the tarp, then did the rest outside and got wet.  I started hiking at about 9 am in the rain.  The wind was horrendous and my poncho was blowing everywhere and whipping me in the face.  I ran into a southbound hiker out for a week who looked pretty miserable and said he was getting out the next place he was able.  I kept hiking across an open and exposed mesa and was frequently knocked off the trail by the wind.  My hands were freezing so I stuck them in my pockets and let my poles drag behind me.  Later that morning my stomach started to hurt.  An hour later I had to go dig a hole in the woods for the second time today.  I had stomach problems for the rest of the day.  The visibility was even worse than it had been the last two days.  I’m finding this especially frustrating because the Three Sisters Wilderness is supposed to be one of the most spectacular on the trail, yet I’m not going to see any of it, just like I missed out on seeing the Goat Rocks Wilderness in Washington in 2000.  The rain changed to hail and sleet as I climbed higher.  Eventually it turned to snow for a few minutes.  The trail took me up to a lava cone and then went up ridiculously steep switchbacks to the top.  I followed a 3-foot wide ridge for about 20 feet, which was scary because of the incredibly strong wind, and then thankfully descended the other side.  At about 7pm I checked the map and discovered that I was going to climb higher and over lava fields, so I was not going to find another campsite for a while.  I found a spot close to where I was standing that was partially sheltered from the wind.  I sent up my tarp, hoping that it will survive the hard wind.  Then I decided I would cook a meal.  I walked down to a nearby stream and got water in my pot, then put my pasta in.  I filled my stove with alcohol and got out my lighter.  It wouldn’t light.  I played with the lighter for about 10 minutes and then searched around in my pack for my emergency firestarter.  It wouldn’t get the alcohol to light either.  It was just too cold and wet.  I tried the lighter again to no avail, then gave up, buried the noodles, ate some cold food and crawled into my tarp.  My sleeping bag is damp, as are all my clothes, so it will probably be a cold night.  I took an immodium so hopefully I won’t need to leave the tarp during the night with any stomach issues. 

 

Day 50, Sept. 14, Mile 2001.6

        Since I had a low mileage day yesterday it meant that I had 24 miles to do today.  It was still raining when I woke up so I had to pack in the tarp again.  Everything was still cold and wet.  About 10 minutes after I started hiking I saw a small patch of blue sky for about 15 seconds.  How exciting if it stopped raining, I thought.  About 15 minutes later it did!!  For the rest of the day the clouds and sun played tug-of-war, but it never did rain again.  I hiked down toward McKenzie pass as fast as I could, watching the spotty sun do spectacular things with the landscape as parts of it was revealed.  I passed some dayhikers who were nice enough to give me some extra water so I didn’t need to filter any, then I crossed the highway at McKenzie Pass.  It was then that I saw the namesake Sisters mountains that I had been hiking around but had never seen due to the weather.  They were covered with snow and gorgeous!!  After the pass I had 17 miles left and about 7 and ½ hours to do it to get to Santiam Pass where I was meeting my Dad.  The trail went over lava rocks that were a little over fist size for about 2 miles.  Very annoying, but it wasn’t raining so I was happy.  Then the trail leveled out and moved along soft dirt, so it was easy hiking.  I met my Dad on the trail about an eighth of a mile from where he had parked the car at about 6:50.  Apparently I missed Chaco Man by about half an hour.  He and Brenda from Etna had talked to my Dad.  I’m not sure what Brenda was there for.  Now it’s off to Sisters for a Zero day tomorrow!!

 

Day 51, Sept. 15, Zero Day in Sisters

        My Dad has been incredibly patient with me today as I did my laundry, got my package, sorted it, learned how to use my new MP3 player (sooo cool!!  Thanks Dad, Mom, Devin & Meryl!), and relaxed.  I felt bad because I was doing backpacking chores and not spending any quality time with my Dad.  He also bought me a huge number of restaurant meals including a great greasy burger that I had for dinner tonight from a hole-in-the-wall sort of place.  My Dad also brought poppy seed bread that my Mom had made.  Overall it was a great day for food!  While I was going through my backpacking gear I noticed something interesting.  I had a ziplock bag of quinoa (a grain).  It had been so wet these last few days that water got into the ziplock bag and a bunch of the quinoa grains had sprouted! 

I also talked to Manzanita on the phone and I talked to Meryl, who had learned a song and played it for me over the phone!  She really knows how to motivate me to hike fast and get home!

 

Day 52, Sept. 16, Mile 2028.9

        I more than made my birthday challenge today!  I did over 27 miles when my goal was just 26 for the number of years old I turned today. 

This morning my Dad bought me breakfast again and then drove me to the trailhead.  He wished me well and I did the same for him.  He is stopping at Crater Lake, Lava Bed National Monument, and Burney Falls on his way back.  I hope he has fun since I am sure he was bored while I was doing all my backpacking stuff yesterday. 

I hiked on through mist but it didn’t actually rain on me during the morning.  I tried out my MP3 player after hiking for about 20 minutes and listened to it for the whole rest of the day non-stop.  That thing is awesome!  It has all of my favorite songs on it and I played it from 8:45 am until 7pm without repeating a single song.  It’s great for getting me moving.

At 2:45 I discovered that I had only gone about 11 miles, though, which had me worried.  The terrain had involved mainly climbing up to that point.  Then it seemed to level off a little.  I passed along high ridgelines and got some great views through the clouds, though I am sure I missed other views. Amazingly I reached a lake by 6:45 pm that was only 3 miles short of my 26 mile goal.  I hiked briskly onward and soon found myself on the side of a ridge.  It got dark and my headlamp was not bright enough because I need to change the batteries, so I stumbled along.  I got to Milk Creek, over 27 miles from where I started, before I found a campsite.  The spot I’m in is way too small for my tarp, but I’m rather surprised with how well I got it set up anyway.  It rained a bit in the last half hour and is raining lightly off and on now.  I can hear the “meep” sounds of picas, so I may get little visitors tonight.  Hopefully they won’t chew a hole in my backpack.  I have only 18 miles to Ollalie Lake, so I should make it there tomorrow – earlier than planned.  If the weather gets really nasty I might be able to get a little cabin or yurt there.  Ok, off to sleep. 

 

Day 53, Sept. 17, Mile 2047.8

        Ugh!  I only have about 125 miles to go before I am done with my hike and Mother Nature seems to be conspiring to make things as difficult as possible.  It rained throughout the night and continued raining (or worse) all day.  This morning I noticed some sort of rodent, possibly the pica I heard last night, had chewed into the hose and bite valve of my hydration bladder.  This especially annoyed me because the hose was brand new – I picked it up in Sisters.  I patched it with duct tape, packed my backpack up the best I could while still under my tarp, and then continued on in the rain.  In a bit over an hour I came to Russell Creek.  It was milky colored because of the glacial silt, about 6 feet deep, and running very strong because of the rain.  I searched around for the best place to cross and then just walked in since my shoes were already soaked anyway.  It was up to my knees, but since I had poles to steady myself it wasn’t that bad.  Just cold and wet.  After another couple hours I came to a nearly identical crossing.  The rain continued.  It never stopped even once for even a few seconds.  The trail climbed and it started to get much colder.  The rain changed to ice.  I finally stopped for lunch because I was starving and lacking energy.  I quickly got uncomfortably cold.  My hands began to get numb and sting badly which made packing things up again very difficult.  Once I finally got moving the trail continued to climb steeply.  I warmed up a bit, but it got colder around me and started to snow heavily.  The trail topped out at a bit over 7010 feet and there was snow everywhere.  The trail started descending over barren rocky ground covered with snow and staying on the trail was difficult.  Once the trail got low enough that the snow wasn’t sticking I found much of the trail to be underwater.  This necessitated some precarious circumnavigation.  As I went down farther it continued snowing but with very wet snow.  At 4:50 I discovered that I had over 6 miles to go to get to Ollalie Lake and I started rushing.  I made it to the resort at 7:15.  The office and store closed at 7.  Luckily I found someone who worked here and he told me that were other hikers staying in cabin 5.  It was “The Family”!  I’d heard all about them.  It’s a family—Mom, Dad, and 10-year-old daughter—traveling the whole length of the trail.  I introduced myself and they let me crash on the floor of their cabin, which was thankfully warmed by a nice wood stove.  Bald Eagle and Nocona are also here.  They told me that Fishstand left the trail.  Germinator got giardia and they thought he probably left the trail too.  I’ve been told that the weather is going to be worse tonight.  It is snowing now, though I can see some stars outside.  I will probably take a zero day tomorrow to dry things and wait out the worst of the weather.

 

Day 54, Sept. 18, Zero day at Ollalie Lake

        The weather alternated between being better, such that I thought that I should be out hiking, and horrible such that I’m glad I stayed here.  I spent the day relaxing, getting to know “The Family” (whose trail names are ‘Captain Bly’, ‘Nellie Bly’, and ‘Scrambler’), and staying warm by the wood burning stove.  I’ll leave early tomorrow morning, hopefully avoid any extremely unpleasant weather, and get to Timberline by Tuesday and Cascade Locks by Thursday.

 

Day 55, Sept. 19, Mile 2078.1

        Ok weather + easy terrain + Mp3 player = high mileage.  Yup, I did over 30 miles today.  Yay me!  I said goodbye to “The Family” this morning and headed toward the trail at about 7:45 under overcast but not raining skies.  While heading toward the PCT I finally saw Mt. Jefferson through the clouds.  Its image was reflecting off Ollalie Lake and it was incredibly gorgeous.  Hopefully the photos will come out.  The rest of the day was relatively uneventful.  I listened to music non-stop and hiked over pretty flat trail.  Although things were wet, there were almost no large puddles, bogs, or lakes covering the trail.  It rained a few times, but only briefly and lightly.  I never put on my poncho.  At 3:30 I stopped at a spring to get water, checked the data book, and discovered that I had already gone 19 miles.  I have had a personal goal to do a 30-mile day before the end of this trip, and this looked like a good opportunity.  Only 11 more miles to go before dark.  I hiked hard and fast and by 8 pm I found a campsite by headlamp light, though there was still a tiny amount of light in the sky.  30 miles done.  Now I am camped near a clearcut area, under my tarp, and it is raining.  I’m hoping for a clear day tomorrow! 

 

Day 56, Sept. 20, Mile 2099.7

        It rained most of the night, but held off while I got ready this morning.  I wasn’t moving as fast as I wanted for the first half hour of hiking until I started listening to my MP3 player and then I started moving at a better pace.  About 2 hours later I ran out of steam and had to eat some more.  I could tell today was going to be a low energy day.  While I was eating a family of adorable raccoons walked by.  They ran away before I could get a photo.

        The clouds were moving fast today, but it never did rain.  I actually stopped to take off my silnylon chaps, goretex socks, and jacket at about noon!  It was then that I noticed blood on my sock and had to patch up some cuts that had formed.  Later on my stomach started to bother me.  I stopped at a spring to get water and eat a little, but my stomach was still a little funny.  At 5:30 I stopped and cooked dinner (for the first time in many many days).  I also took an immodium.  After dinner I caught some fleeing glimpses of Mt. Hood through the trees.  Snow covered and gorgeous!  Now I am camped at a site by a stream with 2.3 miles to go to Timberline Resort tomorrow.  I may try to eat breakfast there, sort my package, make phone calls, then eat lunch before leaving.  We’ll see.

 

Day 57, Sept. 21, Mile ~ 2111.3

        I had a very restless night, mostly because it was very cold, but it did not rain once!  I started hiking under perfect azure skies.  In about 45 minutes I was treated to AWESOME views of Mt. Hood, and then of Mt. Jefferson and the Three Sisters in the distance.  Slowed because of taking lots of photos, I arrived at Timberline Lodge at about 9am.  I had breakfast as soon as I got there – an AYCE buffet!  Bad move on their part.  It included waffles with whipped cream and syrup, pancakes, eggs, fresh squeezed orange juice, bacon, pastries, and more.  I ate about twice as much worth of food as the $11.95 price tag would have covered.  After breakfast I got my box, sorted it, and made phone calls as the resort began to get busier.  I can see why it is full of tourists even when not in ski season.  The views are incredible.  I had lunch, which I was not quite able to finish because I pigged out so much at breakfast, then I relaxed for about half an hour to let the food digest.  I felt very awkward around all the clean tourists, but my desire for food was greater than my desire to remain inconspicuous. 

        I left Timberline later than planned and was sluggish because of all the food I ate.  I hiked with an older man who was doing a loop around Mt. Hood.  He was very personable and talkative.  We went our separate ways after about an hour and a half. At about 7:15, with the light beginning to fade, I made a slightly dicey crossing of the Sandy River.  It would have been easy for someone with better balance, but I got my right foot wet in my rock hop attempt.  I only made it 9.3 miles past Timberline and that leaves 39 miles to get to Cascade Locks.  That’s bad.  If I want to have only 10 miles to do early Thursday, to assure I can make it to the Post Office in Cascade Locks before it closes, it means a 29-mile day tomorrow.  Ugh!  We’ll see what happens. 

 

Day 58, Sept. 22, Mile 2134.9

        What a day!  The first half involved going up steep switchbacks, then down, then up again, then down.  Needless to day, it was difficult.  Much of that portion of the trail was under construction, as well, so there were roots and rocks sticking up everywhere that I had to negotiate.  After a refreshing lunch I hiked much stronger.  The trail went almost continuously, but gradually, uphill following a very long ridge.  It finally ended at an open area that afforded spectacular views of Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Adams, and Mt. Rainier.  I could not see Rainer because of the clouds, and the tops of St. Helens and Adams were also obscured, but the view was incredible anyway. 

        After taking lots of photos I descended to Indian Springs Camp.  From here most people take a shortcut trail down to the Eagle Falls Trail.  Doing so knocks off about 3 miles from the trip.  Considering how late it was, I started heading down the shortcut trail.  Then I started thinking about how this shortcut would mean that I would miss the campsite that I stayed at on my last night on the trail when I hiked in 2000.  Did it matter?  It sounds ridiculous, I’m sure, but it did to me.  I had spent too long thinking about going back to that campsite, this time triumphant rather than beaten.  I climbed back up the 200 yards to the PCT and started hiking down it. 

        It was nearly dark when I got to Wanton Lake, where I camped in 2000.  I think (though I will know for sure in the morning) that they converted the place where I actually camped in 2000 into a day use only area.  So instead I headed up to the campground where in 2000 I spent some time with two guys that were camped there, who then accompanied me down the Eagle Falls trail the next day.  Everything looks a bit different than I remember, which may be in part because it is dark.  Nonetheless, it is bringing memories streaming back.  At the campground I met a single other camper who gave me some water so I didn’t have to filter out of the lake.  He also offered me steak, potatoes, beer, and weed, all of which I refused.  I just wanted to head to sleep so I can get up really early tomorrow and meet Manzanita when I said I would and get to the Post Office in time. 

Like I wrote in 2000, it feels strange that this is the last night setting up my tarp, my last night crawling under my sleeping quilt, and my last night in the woods, but this time it is a last night that brings with it my having successfully hiked every step of the Pacific Crest Trail!

 

Day 59, Sept. 23, Mile 2150.2

        I woke up fairly early this morning and got ready as quickly as I could, which was not very quickly.  I started hiking just after 7am.  The trail was frustratingly un-maintained for the first few miles and despite pushing as hard as I could I didn’t feel like I was making good time.  After a couple hours I started crossing streams and each one I passed became progressively more waterfall like.  I passed a spot near the top of the trail where it starts paralleling the Eagle Creek that I remember vividly being where I stopped with the two day hikers in 2000 to eat lunch.  That made me think maybe I wasn’t going as slow as I thought, because it was still before 9am.  I continued down and then suddenly noticed that the river to my left had disappeared.  After walking another 20 feet I saw it had dropped 100 feet in the first spectacular waterfall.  I have hiked this section of trail before, but it has lost none of its impressiveness!  Continuing on I came around a corner and saw tunnel falls, where the trail goes behind a huge waterfall through a tunnel blasted out of the rock.  Absolutely amazing!  I walked behind it and continued walking, passing huge waterfall after huge waterfall.  At about 10:45 I was getting really hungry so I sat down on the end of a bridge and ate a little bit.  Once I started hiking again I started to pass lots of day hikers heading up the trail.  When I got to within what I thought was probably 4 miles from the end of the trail a group of about 5 people in their 60s came walking up.  The one in front started talking to me and said that they were in a big group and more were coming.  I continued talking to him as a long line of older people formed, until there were about 30 or 40 of them.  He asked me where I had hiked from, how long I had been hiking, etc.  He said I looked very clean for having been hiking so much.  I was rather surprised and said thank you, but admitted that I sure didn’t feel very clean.  He then announced to the large group of people gathered behind him that this is what they might look like if they had been hiking for 2 months, and to notice how clean I was.  He hiked on and each of the people in the group walked by, nodded, and looked me up and down.  It was very strange.  I felt like I was on display at some sort of museum exhibit.  After all of the people had passed I started walking again and within about 5 seconds Manzanita came around the corner!  He immediately recognized me even though I had much more of a beard (though he commented that the beard was looking good) and welcomed me.  He said that I was much farther down than he expected – he thought he would intercept me around tunnel falls.  We made it to the parking lot in less than an hour and I went over to look at the creek (now more of a river) because the last time I was here I remember seeing salmon trying to swim up in the very shallow water.  Initially I didn’t see any, but then I spotted a bunch.  We watched them for a while, then got in Manzanita’s car and headed into town.  The Post Office was closed for lunch, so we went to the Frosty in town and I had a couple giant burgers.  Ahhhhhh, post-hike burgers.  Then we went down to the Marina where I looked around, took some photos, and read my register entry there from 2000.  I added another register entry, and then we headed back to the post office.  I looked up my entry there, added something to it, and made a new entry.  I also checked on the entries of all the hikers I had met on the trail that had come through earlier.  It was great to read through it and see how people were doing.  I saw that Germinator was still hiking north, but that he accompanied Fishstand to the Portland airport where she flew home.  I was sad to hear she had left the trail, but I had heard that she had from Bald Eagle and Nocona before.  Bald Eagle and Nocona had decided to hike north into Washington since the weather had gotten better.  Overall it was an anticlimactic ending to my hike, but for some reason it was also a very happy one.  I hopped into the car with Manzanita and we started driving to Portland where I will stay with him until Sunday when I catch a plane back home. 

        This ends my PCT hike for this year, but I have a feeling I will be back again.

-- HIKER 816