Day: August 11, 2016

Today was an interesting day.  I had a pancake breakfast with the same crew as last night then walked the last 6 or 7 miles into Seiad Valley.  There I was able to buy a days worth of food, shower, do laundry, and eat a burger and milkshake.  All that was left to do was climb 5000 ft out of town.  Yikes.  I’ve been dreading this climb for three hundred miles.

I slept in a little bit but probably got up just before 6:00.  I needed to get water since I ran out in the middle of the night so I went down to the river and loaded up.  I decided to go ahead and pack up to give Legend a chance to get things in gear and since I was walking the road into town, I didn’t want to waste any more time packing after breakfast.  Everyone except Peru was awake by now.

Legend was just flipping the first pancakes as I got back to the picnic table.  They were hot and fluffy and he had molasses for syrup.  I’m not normally a pancake guy, but these were good.  I must have eaten four of them.  The last batch he put raisins in.  They were good as well.

After breakfast, everyone helped pack the truck and they were off to town.  I was the only one who elected to walk it in.  It took just over two hours and was a nice walk.  I stopped several times to pick blackberries.  There was very little traffic, even on the main road for the last mile and a half.

I went to the store first to get a drink and an orange and basically to scope it out for when it came time to buy the one day of food I needed to add to the food bag.  Next was over to the RV park for shower and laundry.  It ended up costing $12 for a shower and laundry, which I thought was a little steep, but I stunk.  Meanwhile, I was charging all my goodies.  As I put the laundry in the dryer, it was time to hit the café.  Burger, salad, and fries went down quickly.  I ordered a blackberry milk shake but not to make it yet, so I could eat it on the way out of town.

Back to the store to buy food for tomorrow.  Mashed potatoes, cheese, Fritos, crackers, and a tram bar.  Oh, and don’t forget the Skittles.  Back to the RV park to pack.

Then a local told me about a forest road that passed by two waterfalls, was well shaded, smoothly graded, and crossed the PCT about 14 miles up the trail.  That sounded much better than a steep, rocky, shadeless exposed hike up a mountain in full sun.  It was 1:30 and already 92 degrees.  Legend had driven up the road before and confirmed everything the local said.  So I grabbed my milkshake and headed up the road.  The first mile had no shade and the milkshake did not last the entire first mile. 

I passed a road crew patching a section of road and talked with them a while.  The main thing they wanted to know – how many miles do you get out of a pair of shoes?  I told them 750 to 800 and they said that what the last guy said.  They like to talk about shoes, I guess.  I had a nice chat and headed on up the road. 

There were houses along the road as the shade started to come into play.  Lots of neat and interesting houses on this road.  One of them had the Sasquatch sign, so this must be a popular alternate route.  I stopped at one of the houses where the owner had just driven home and he had one of the interesting trees that I saw yesterday that I thought were a cross of magnolia and rhododendron.  He said they were madrone trees.  Tight grained white wood that splintered and split badly, so everyone used it for firewood since you couldn’t use it for much else.  I’ll have to research these more when I get home.  They were all over town, but yesterday is the first time I saw one in my life.

The road turned to gravel after about four or five miles, but stayed well graded.  The shade continued the while way and there were creeks along most of it.  I took a snack break at about 5:00 and noticed I was about out of water.  This area didn’t have a creek, but I checked the map and the waterfalls were only a mile ahead, so I could get water there.  The first waterfall was a decent size and getting water there would be difficult just because of the mist and splashing.  So I went on to the second one and it was much smaller and had easy access to the water, so I filled two liters there. 

I was just over a mile from the trail and got there about 7:30 and there were camping spots there, so I set up camp there for the night.  The couple from breakfast was already there.  They had taken the trail and it had taken them eight hours.  My route on the road took six hours.  I’m glad I took the road because I would have hated to hike until 9:30 to make it to the camp site.  I think the road was actually longer, but since it was less time overall, I think it was the right choice given the time I started.

So here I sit 21 miles from Oregon, eating mashed potatoes, tuna fish in oil, and sour Skittles (not all at once) and life is good.  The breeze up here is nice and cool and the trees have returned.  Let’s hope they stay all the way to Oregon.

I didn’t get up super early, but got out early enough to get me within striking distance to town, had shorter stops than usual, met a trail maintainer, and then had a trail angel serve me dinner.  The trail wasnt too rocky, it wasn’t too steep, it wasn’t too hot (in fact most of the day I was cold), and it was pretty well maintained in most areas.

The morning was very damp and cold.  The picture is from about half a mile from the campsite at about 6:30.  There were heavy clouds and fog in most areas around me.  I knew even before I got out of my sleeping bag that it was going to be a cold day.  The air was so thick with moisture and all my clothes were quite damp.  That made it all the more difficult to get dressed and get going.

When a arrived last night it was essentially dark.  And in the darkness I did not notice the PCT sign pointing to the left of the cabin.  So when I set off in the morning, I started off on the wrong trail.  I only went about two tenths, so it was not a big deal to backtrack, but when you have hiker hobble in the morning where your Achilles tendons keep you to a slow pace, even twenty feet can seem like a chore.

The morning was a little rocky and overgrown, so with the dampness in the air plus the dew on the vegetation, my legs stayed pretty wet for the first hour of the morning.  My hands were cold, but I had already sent my gloves home, so I just had to tough it out.  Once out of Marble valley, the trail returned to its usual ridge walks in and out of pines with moderate elevation changes.

I stopped for lunch at 11:30 at the last spring before the big climb.  I needed another liter and there was a huge pine tree with cut logs for tables and benches.  It was too perfect to pass up.  I ate salami and cheese wraps again, and was able to water, eat, and get going right at noon.  Yeah, finally a short lunch.

The next hour was steep downhill hiking.  It battered my feet a little bit, but nothing major.  Most of the forest was burned out, but it was still cool until about half way down, then it got noticeably hotter.  There was enough tree cover to keep me cool, but I was definitely no longer cold.  I took several breaks on the way down, but mostly quick ones five or ten minutes long.

The last campsite was six miles from town and was a developed state forest campground.  I was due to hit it just after 6:00, so a town entry was still a possibility.  The café would be closed, the store probably closed, and unknown if the RV park office would still be open.  Still on the fence.

About three miles from the campsite, I ran across a man and woman packing gear onto two horses and a donkey.  Bill and Peggy were their names and they had just cleared logs across the trail.  I talked with them a short while then moved on.  The trail kept getting easier, and even with the chat, I would still get to the campground by 6:15 and could be in town by 8:15.  Still on the fence.

I ended up getting to the campground right at 6:15 and I was tired and my feet sore, but I still had six miles in me.  Then the decision was made.  At the campground was a trail angel named Legend who was all set up and ready to cook spaghetti dinners.  I had seen this guy in Mount Shasta, so I knew who he was.  Walk two more hours or eat free spaghetti.  The mind was made up, and spaghetti it was.  He made a huge pot and put a can of chili in it to add meat to it and it was quite good.  Six more hikers rolled in a few at a time, and each time a new pot of spaghetti went to boiling. I think I ate five plates of it before I actually got full, but I did eventually get full. 

So town will have to wait for the morning.  But town might have to wait for pancakes, too.  Legend is making pancakes tomorrow morning.

I listened to music in the morning, headed out about 6:15, dealt with more rocks, passed up on an easy hitch I to Etna, and hiked until dark.  All that and I’m still 32 miles from Seiad Valley.  I’m not sure if I want to make tomorrow an easy day and roll into town early Wednesday, or try to push and make town late tomorrow.  I’ll let the morning tell me what to do.

The wind died down early in the night and when I awoke, the lake was mirror flat.  Leaving the lake, the trail was quite rocky and I did not make good time.  I took many short breaks and stopped at every peak trying to get a cell signal.  The town of Etna was to the east and did provide a good signal if you were faced in that direction.

The trail eased up on the rocks after a few miles and started to look like the trail has looked for the last 200 miles – nondescript ridge walking through dying pine forests.  There are so many dead trees on the forest floor and not enough young ones to take their place most of the time.

I hit the road to Etna at about 9 am and there was a truck there that pulled up and asked if I wanted a ride to town.  It would have been so easy to just stroll into town and eat breakfast and grab a coke.  But the road has so little traffic, I was worried I would never get back out to the trail.  I did not want to risk wasting three hours so I declined and hiked on.  That’s the third easy hitch I’ve turned down.  I must be crazy.

I met a new through hiker, Cougar, who is camped near me now, and two couples who I did not get names of.  I saw a few day hikers near the road to Etna, and there are several tents at this campsite that I suspect are short term hikers.  I got here too late to really see the place well.

I ate lunch at the top of a ridge in shady pine trees and thought I ate quickly, but it still took a full hour.  I need to figure out how to make lunch faster.  I wanted to eat quicker today since I took so many breaks this morning.  I had only gone 11.5 miles by noon today.  Oh well, there’s always tomorrow.  I try to do 12 by 12.  Some days I can hit 14 or 15.

There were lots of clouds in the afternoon, which was good because most of the terrain was barren either because it was rocky or burned out.  Between the clouds and breeze, I was actually cold more than hot most of the day.  But even though I was not hot, I sweated alot because the terrain all day was pretty hilly.  And more rocks, too.  The rocks really slow you down and pound your feet to a pulp.  The last  hour of hiking today, they were pretty sore.

Today was also supposed to be a dry stretch, so I had loaded up a full 4 liters this morning.  It turns out there were several undocumented water sources, so I could have done with two or three.  It did not feel too heavy because I am starting to eat the food down pretty low so there’s less food weight right now.  Three days of food is about where it shifts from heavy to light.  I hate loading up six days of food.

I ended up hiking all the way to Marble valley to camp, when I had intended to stop about a mile or two short of there so I did not have to hike all the way until dark.  But the last two miles of ridge were just too rocky or steep to pitch a tent, so I had no choice.  I was making good time despite the sore feet, so I guess it worked out fine.  I hate showing up to a camp full of people late and having to set up and cook while they are trying to go to bed.  I got everything done as quickly as possible and got to bed by. 9:45 which wasnt too bad.  Now to see what the feet tell me in the morning.