PCT Day 12

Start: 1671.7

Stop:1691.9

Today’s miles: 20.2

Total PCT miles: 105.3

It stormed off and on all night long. With the tent being so much lower and therefore not able to hold up the “bathtub” floor of my tent, I had to improvise and set up my umbrella and my pack cover across the one side of the tent to keep water from splashing in from underneath. Surprisingly, it worked. But I’ve got to get a new pole, asap.

When I woke up, my legs still stung. I weighed my options. Trail=2+ miles of bad blowdowns, plus whatever the hell else the trail throws at me. Road to the right= 15 miles back to Seiad Valley, which I would what? Then hope to hitchhike to Ashland to get new poles and figure out life? Another section jumped that I’d just have to come back to do later? Road to the left= unknown amount of extra miles but the option to road walk down, across, and back up to a junction that’s 18 miles away by trail, and an extra 2 miles north from there is a cabin I could sleep in and not worry with my tent tonight.

I pondered while I packed, grateful to my friend, Poptart, for doing some recon for me last night from my Garmin Inreach (since I had no service). I messaged her and she checked out the roads I was considering to make sure that they did exist and would come back to the trail, since my topo maps didn’t download. I got everything loaded on my back and within my first few steps it started raining again. Jesus, Mary, & Joseph! My outburst made me think of Nancy, and smile. I knew I didn’t want to quit. I also knew it was highly unlikely my first 20 mile day on trail would be in this section. So. I decided to take a risk, and turned left down the road.

It’s all dirt and gravel. I could see semi fresh tire marks, so I was hoping beyond hope that the road was intact all the way down. I could see swiggles on my app, so I knew it was a road, but there was no way to really guess the mileage.

I flipping flew down that road. According to my arm swing on my garmin (not all that accurate), I hit 11.2 miles before 10am. When the road ended, next to a campground, I got water from a creek and turned right. At that junction, a big metal gate was across the road and said, “Road Closed” across it. Crap. I decided to go for it, what the hell, I’m not hiking 11 miles back up that hill.

I went around the gate and the road seemed fine. Then, out of no where, all of these “No trespassing” signs and “private property” and “keep out” signs were everywhere! I made my progress, not seeing any people, until a girl in a pick up truck came down the road, waved and carried on. Hmmm. I guess she knows how to open that gate.

Then I start seeing homes. Some that could probably be condemned, some very pretty, all with gardens and solar panels. I ended up passing a man that came to talk to me. I was expecting to get reprimanded for being on this road, but instead he was kind and helped me figure out the best way back up. I was secretly hoping he’d offer me a ride, but that didn’t happen.

I carried on, by noon my watch said 17 miles. No way. My feet were sore but I didn’t think I’d walked that far yet. I finally turned on the final road to take me to the top, and it was a long one. I walked over where the road washed out, I passed several more “road closed” signs and each time prayed that I would be able to pass through. I started hearing wind chimes at some point, then realized it’s cows with bells around their necks. I scared them! Sorry buddies.

I hit this spot of switchbacks on the road and my god my feet were aching. I started dry heaving for some reason (just typing that is making me do it again. Not sure what’s up with that?!), and slowly trudging along. I was at the top of the switchbacks, so all I had to do was this one straight away and I’d be at the intersection to get back on the PCT, hike 2 more miles, and then set up shop INSIDE a cabin. OUT OF THIS RAIN!

As I was going, I was wondering about the people in this area and that maybe they have four wheelers because I could see fresh tracks but some of this stuff a vehicle surely wouldn’t go over. In that moment a white truck appears in front of me flying towards me like a bat out of hell! I pictured Cruella Devile (cartoon version) as I quickly moved.

A man, maybe my age, with a gorgeous black lab with grey and white around his muzzle stopped in the truck. The doggie quickly popped his head out of the window for kisses, and who was I to say no? The guy started asking me about my hike and where I was headed.. then drops a “you still have a pretty long ways to go by foot.” I thought, meh, 2-3 miles tops. SURELY.

This man pulls out an app of all the forest roads in the area and proceeds to tell me I still have over 7 miles to that junction. And, he’s certain he’s telling me the correct junction because he is a forest road construction worker, and he left his “big machine” at that very junction. Son of a biscuit eating bulldog. Then, as he must have watched my entire body deflate, all but my right hand petting his sweet pup-he goes, “want me to just drive you back up there? Probably like 10-15 minutes by truck.”

Y’all. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten into a stranger’s car so damn fast. I tossed my stuff in the back seat with Jake, the lab, and then hopped right up front with John like we’d been best friends since I was seven. The whole way (which he had to make an awkward turn around in very tight quarters) he told me about how he’s the only one contracted in this area to maintain these back country forest roads. The other guy he had with him quit last fall, and they haven’t hired anyone to help him.

He literally comes out, with his pup (13 years old!) and fixes and clears and works on these roads. I was blown away. And also so very grateful I ran into him, otherwise I would have been setting up camp with my broken trekking pole in the rain, again, but this time at a weird side part of a dirt road. Sheesh.

It had been raining off and on all dang day. Thunder crackling and rumbling so deep I could feel it through my body. When John dropped me off, it was 5:15pm, my watch said I had gone 29.9 miles. Lord have mercy. I took off into the woods, hoping the 2 miles to the cabin weren’t bad. In the grand scheme of things, they weren’t, but I did have blowdowns to clamber over (and scrape my not once all dang day scraped legs). There was a little snow, but I walked over it ok.

Finally, around 6, I walk through a meadow of cows and their bells up to a cabin on the hill. It was beautiful! I unpacked. The cabin had cots, so I put my air mattress on top of a cot (blown up), and then put my sleeping quilt inside my liner and my pad inside that. This cabin is known for mice and the idea of a mouse on my good quilt is just too much to take.

I made dinner and ate outside at a picnic table, at times popping up my umbrella. Damn rain. And when I was all done, I stuffed my food bag into a 5gallon plastic bucket with a lid.. I found it inside the cabin, with some other random food items, and then I hung my pack from a carabiner on a wire that ran across the cabin. Hopefully the mice don’t like to do tight rope walking.

Now, I’m all tucked in, the sun is setting, my watch says 32 miles today (only 20 count towards my hike) and I be damned if I don’t see a mouse right now! He could care less that I’m here, just running around the rafters checking stuff out. Thankfully he’s up high, away from me, my pack, and my food bucket. Ah, let’s hope this night goes well! I think I’m probably too exhausted to care!