Mile 1718.7, Day 125

Day 106 – Day 109 Chico/Halfway Point to Burney (7/12– 7/15):

This was a very hard section for me, but not because the elevation was tough. It was the heat, sun exposure, and ashy burn zone that made it so difficult. Most of this section was burned by the Dixie Fire just last year, so my days were spent walking through charred blackened trees in mid-upper 80 degree weather with very little shade. I fell asleep at night to the sound of dead branches falling from the dead trees around me. I also officially began hiking on my own for awhile because Joe and Diana stayed longer in Chico.

Despite that, there was still some good things in this section. I hit the halfway point (1,325 miles)!!! A very major milestone for me, as every step now brings me closer to Canada than Mexico. Three of the four days I was able to swim or dunk in a river/lake which did wonders for my morale, cleaned all of the sooty/ashy dirt off of me, and kept me cool for a couple miles afterwards. I saw Terminal Geyser in Lassen National Park, which was actually a geothermal feature (not a geyser) and smelled HORRIBLE. Trying not to breathe while hiking uphill was quite difficult, and I gagged like a drama queen. There were some funny comments about how this must be where Taco Bell dumps their waste… In this section I hiked my first marathon, hitting 26.3 miles in a day! I also spent an hour being a tourist- detouring to go through Subway Cave in Lassen National Forest. It was insanely cool (literally it was 48 degrees in there) and it was so dark that my headlamp on its highest setting didn’t feel bright enough! Lastly, I received some amazing trail magic along the way. The absolute best trail magic I’ve had along trail was 2 ladies named Chris and Nikki (mother/daughter) who were out near the fish hatchery near Burney cooking up meatball subs, vegetables, and serving cold drinks and watermelon. It really lifted my spirits at a low time. The trail provides! The best quote of the day was when Chris was telling us how they got into trail magic and said “when we first started doing this, we didn’t realize how hungry you all were!” She figured it out though because she had SO much food for us.

One of the absolute toughest parts, for me, of the whole trail was Hat Creek Rim. It was so hot and exposed that I had to stop every hour, tuck myself into any bush/tree I could find, and let my body temperature come down a bit. Additionally, it was a big water carry so my pack was heavy and I had to ration water. Since we’re near Lassen, there was so much volcanic rock embedded in the ground. I had to hike the whole day with my head down actively scanning the trail for the best route to avoid these, yet somehow I still stubbed my toes, tripped, and stumbled every few minutes. It was exhausting to say the least. BUT, I got through it, and now I never have to hike there again 🙂

I only spent 6 hours in the town of Burney getting a resupply and taking a shower, yet it might be the nicest trail town I’ve been in this whole trail! There’s a local church that lets thru hikers stay in their gymnasium and use their kitchen, bathrooms, and showers for free. The Safeway employee gave me a coupon because he said they love PCT hikers and want to help us out. And multiple amazing trail angels offered to give me a ride back to trail in the evening! The people of Burney are awesome.

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Day 110 – Day 114 Burney to Shasta (7/16 – 7/20)

While the temperatures hit mid-upper 90s in this section, I encountered more (leafy and unburned) forests, so the shade made it feel better than the last section! I took a little side detour to see Burney Falls, which was flowing strong. I also got some great views of Mt. Shasta, which makes Oregon feel close! One of the best quote of the days was when Spiderman told us “we’re only 350 miles from Washington if we were to walk straight there, but on the PCT we still have 750 trail miles to get there”. It was not a very uplifting observation, but hey, we agreed to the 2650 miles!

I camped with this great couple from Germany: Spiderman and Lucky Thumb for this section. It turns out I had actually camped with them for our last night in the Desert, 1.5 months and over 800 miles prior! I met some other cool people in this section, including a 7lb dog who has hiked the whole trail so far (except for part of the Sierra)! She is unfortunately leaving trail in Shasta because the trail is too hot for her and her owners are starting to hike more miles in a day than she can do.

The heat has kind of been beating me down mentally and physically. I have been sleeping terribly because of how hot it is, so I’m hoping my body can figure things out because I’m tired!!! They call it the NorCal blues- we’re past the exciting beginning, beautiful sierras, and still grinding along in the same state but now with big climbs in high temperatures. The promise of Oregon keeps me going though, because I am really excited to enter a new state. And supposedly Oregon has a lot less changes in elevation.

When I arrived near Shasta, my generous second-cousin Susan picked me up from trail and took me to her house in Lake Shasta!! It was an awesome break filled with food, air conditioning, and a very comfortable bed. I’m grateful to have family and friends spread out along trail to see!

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Day 115 – Day 118 Shasta to Etna (7/21– 7/24)

Wow, the climb out of Shasta is huge! I was able to camp close enough to it so that I could tackle the climb in the morning since it’s so exposed. I did 6000 feet of elevation gain and camped at the beautiful Porcupine Lake, one of the best swimming lakes I’ve had on trail! This area goes through the Trinity Alps which had great views.

In this section I met and hiked with two cool female hikers from Germany: Four Slices and Nudist. It was really nice to have some company for this stretch, because I did my first 29 mile day! I didn’t have it in me to try to hit 30, that can wait for Oregon 🙂 One quote of the day was “Are you… eating your cereal in water?” “Yeah, I do this at home too” -Nudist and Four Slices. Apparently it’s not as weird if you do it off trail as well?

Literally the most popular conversation topic on the PCT is pooping, and it doesn’t matter if you just met someone or have known them for awhile- no embarrassing poop story is off limits. I’ll let the person who gave me the gem quote of the day “I didn’t want to poop in my home, you know?” remain anonymous, BUT long story short it was an emergency poop right outside their tent, and they barely even made it out there (hence the quote of the day). The PCT really breaks down any barriers, we’re all just a bunch of roommates with the trail as our home!

We ended this section by shoving our faces full of delicious fried food at a place called Dotty’s in the city of Etna. I decided to get back on trail that night, so I did a quick resupply, shower at the local park, and WiFi stuff before catching a hitch back up to trail and hiking a couple more miles.

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Day 119 – Day 121 Etna to Seiad Valley (7/25– 7/27):

Upon leaving Etna I immediately hit mile 1600! The trail also enters the Marble Wilderness. Most of this section was spent up high on ridges looking wistfully down at clear beautiful lakes that I couldn’t reach, while I sweated so bad I developed a rash. Just fun PCT things 🙂

The descent down to Seiad Valley was pretty tough. The trail drops 6,500 feet over 19 miles, including about 5 miles of fairly intense blowdowns (fallen trees that we have to go over, under, or climb steeply around). There’s two types of blowdowns that I dread the most: one is when it’s so big and high up that for some period of time neither of my feet are on the ground while the tree tilts at a steep angle off the side of the mountain (I call it the Death Slide) and the second is when the tree is so high up that I have to go underneath it, but somehow I just can never quite get me and my backpack low enough and end up having to take a knee or even worse, The Crawl of Shame.

All day I dropped lower and lower in elevation as the heat rose, until finally I hit the 6 mile road walk into Seiad Valley where it was a pleasant 107 degrees. The only thing that got me through the hot descent was crossing Grider Creek twice and getting to dunk myself and get my clothes soaking wet. Somehow they managed to dry after only 30 minutes of hiking, but I guess I can’t complain because they are advertised as quick drying! When I finally got to the town of Seiad Valley I was able to do a quick resupply, take a shower at the RV park, and drink 32oz of chocolate milk before trying to fall asleep next to the highway in the humid, hot air.

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Day 122 – Day 125 Seiad Valley to Ashland, Oregon!! (7/28– 7/31):

I was quite worried about the infamous climb out of Seiad Valley. According to trail gossip (the most credible source) it’s the steepest climb of the whole PCT, and I was hitting it during an intense heat wave with temperatures in the 100s! Since I was able to get to Seiad Valley in the evening, I prepared to wake up at 4:30am and start hiking in the dark. The steepest part of the climb is the first 6 miles, so I wanted to get as much of that done before the sun hit me as I could. I mean despite the shade I was literally dripping sweat by 6am, but it could have been way worse in the afternoon.

This was my hardest day of hiking of the whole PCT: I did 7,000 feet of elevation gain (plus 3000 elevation loss) over only 20 miles through the heat and humidity. Whew! My legs were jelly, and definitely sore the next day. Manny made quote of the day with “I ate a lemonhead that someone gave me, and something about it just made me walk faster”. I’m proud of myself for completing that climb- the last big climb in California!

The best part of this section was FINALLY MAKING IT TO OREGON!!! I definitely had some mental low points in NorCal, but the promise of Oregon was what kept me going. To finally get there and know I completed ALL OF CALIFORNIA (and 1700 miles) was something really special. A big group of us ate lunch at the border and clapped and cheered every time a hiker crossed into Oregon. There were some tears, some whiskey, and lots of fist bumps and cheers! Oregon holds the promise of slightly flatter terrain, lush green shade, and lakes for swimming!

My mom and her friend Melinda decided to make a trip up to Oregon and we all stayed in Medford (outside of Ashland) for a much needed double-zero! I hadn’t taken a true zero day since the Fourth of July in Tahoe, and boy did my body need it. It was so much fun!

Unfortunately, a huge fire, the McKinney fire, broke out right after I arrived in Ashland which closed over 100 miles of the PCT (including the California/Oregon border section) and all PCT hikers were forced to evacuate. My mom let me borrow her minivan to drive back to Etna and rescue Joe and Diana (and some other hikers) who had to hike reverse and hike back out to safety. It’s sad that they didn’t get to hike into Oregon, but we are reunited! Unfortunately, another fire, the Windigo Fire, broke out ahead of me and closed off another section of Oregon. There is still the Lionshead Fire closure from a fire last year to contend with as well. In the span of 24 hours my 490 mile hike through Oregon has been significantly reduced, which I am sad about. However, I feel more sad for the homes, communities, and wildlife that are being destroyed by the fires, and the firefighters that are risking their lives to contain them. I am hoping for rain and and no more fires to break out as I continue north! My mom helped to shuttle me around the fire closure, and I’ll be back to complete my missing sections of trail in Oregon, that’s for sure!

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