Month: September 2023

Start: 1274.1

Stop: 1284.4

Today’s miles: 10.3

Total PCT miles: 1135.2

I’m shocked today wasn’t a nearo, honestly.. we kicked ass!

We woke up around 8ish, well, I did-Margot was already awake, but lying in bed still. We got dressed and brushed our teeth before making our way down to the bakery. Apparently they have a pastry that comes from the area Margot is from in France-it was delicious!!

It was so smoky outside. From the door of the motel room it looked like we were in a cloud of grey/white. Some hikers were planning to hike south from here today, but the smoke is so terrible, I don’t plan to do that. Other hikers tried and turned back because of it. A trail Angel said that just because it wasn’t officially closed yet, it doesn’t mean it won’t be-there are more fires south of Etna, too-and another storm is expected tonight. NO. THANK. YOU. I’ll just have to come back and do Etna to my Grizzly Peak bail out spot either later this year or next year. I’m not messing around with fire and smoke for over 148 miles. It’s just not going to happen.

She headed to the outfitter and I went to the post office. I got my socks, finally, and I sent my shoes to Andrea, since I’m skipping ahead I won’t need them as soon as I thought I would, so now I’m all confused about what to do with them. At least if she has them I know I’ll be able to get them quickly.. being that the trail just keeps getting closer and closer to her house now.

We packed our stuff and checked out of our motel room. With fresh drinks in tow, we sat at the bus stop for over 30 minutes. It was late. I was getting worried.. a lot needed to happen to get the two of us back on trail today, and this first leg being late would mess everything up!

While we were sitting there, on the sidewalk, in the smoke filled sunshine and heat, a man walked up and said he and a friend were driving back to Mount Shasta with their rental car and we were welcome to join them if we wanted to skip the bus. HECK YEAH WE DO! Otherwise we would have to take 2 buses and wouldn’t get to Mount Shasta until after 2pm-and that was when the bus was still on schedule! With these guys taking us, we’d be there by 1! How awesome!

We hopped in and we talked as the hour drive went by pretty fast. Within a mile from our destination, Margot got car sick and threw up in a paper bag she was brilliant enough to bring with her. She felt so awful, but managed to get it all in the bag and then threw up again on the side of the road when they pulled over to let her get some air. Poor thing. The rest of the mile drive, she sat up front with the windows down.

We weren’t in Mount Shasta 5 minutes when a trail Angel, Noelle, arrived to drive us to the Burney area. She pulled up and as we were getting to her car, we hear our names being called: CEO AND BLUEBS! I ran over quickly to give hugs and say hi, Margot did too, and then we said our byes, not wanting to leave Noelle waiting on us after she came all this way to drive us another hour south of here. Hopefully we’ll get to catch up with them again soon!

Noelle took us through Starbucks, Margot got a large ice water to help settle her stomach. I got an iced coffee. It’s hot as hell still. She had us cackling the whole way to a tiny dirt road, where we left her and hopped in another trail Angel’s car, Dennis, to be taken the rest of the way to Hat Creek Overlook-the parking lot that Andrea and I made it to back on day 4.

We talked with Dennis the whole way there, too. Margot never got sick again, both of these angels were wonderful about the air and windows, she sat up front, and they took their turns easy and smooth-not much bouncing around. I know she was grateful. When Dennis dropped us off, and almost 4pm, it was hot outside, our packs are heavy, filled with 4 days of food, and we were slap worn out. She had been nauseous from the car sickness, and a mile or so in on the hike, I was nauseous from the heat.

Even with all of that chaos, moving around, jumping cars and the heat of it all: we managed to hike over 10 miles in 4 hours! We stopped to eat dinner around 6:30 and made it to camp by 8:30. It was already mostly dark though, so that part is frustrating. We’re losing daylight every single day. Part of it, I guess.

Tomorrow we’ll see how far we get. We’re 4 miles from Lassen National Park and we have to get all the way through the park regardless, because to camp within the park you have to have a bear canister-and we don’t. So, minimum, we have a 23 mile day, but I’m thinking we may be able to push farther. The elevation doesn’t look bad at all. So, here’s to getting back on trail, no fires nearby, and seeing our 4th national park!
Goodnight!

Start: 1284.4

Stop: 1308.4

Today’s miles: 24

Total PCT miles: 1159.2

It started to lightening last night, before I fell asleep. I got nervous, but it never thundered so I prayed it was far away. And then, around 10:30pm, I had to make a mad dash out of my tent to go poop. It was pitch black, thank God for my headlamp!

After that, I didn’t sleep too well. My stomach was roiling and I couldn’t seem to get it to calm down. So, my sleep was off and on, worried I’d have to get up in a hurry again. Thankfully, I didn’t until 6am.. which still sucked, but at least it was daylight. I don’t think the iced coffee yesterday was my best idea.

Margot and I left camp right at 7am. I was pretty cruisy all morning.. I felt fast and was making the miles. There wasn’t a whole lot to look at, even if we did cross into Lassen Volcanic National Park after 4 short and easy miles. This whole area was a burn zone, so it was just exposed and hot. I stopped to eat lunch in front of a ranger station, mainly because I was getting hangry and didn’t care to look at the maps to see if anything better was around. Apparently I stopped only a quarter mile from a nice lake.

Margot joined me, and didn’t mind that I stopped before the lake, either. And after we got started again, the lake was covered in mosquitoes, so i no longer regretted it. I got water as fast as I could and kept moving. I slowed down tremendously in the afternoon. While some of the views were pretty, it was all through burned trees. It rained for maybe 20-30 minutes, although the storm clouds looked like they were ready to release a flood.

The wet, charred wood got to me late in the afternoon. My head started hurting and tears kept pricking my eyes. I couldn’t explain the why, but I was definitely struggling with my memories and they kept snatching my breath away from me. At one point I had to take my headband off, because it felt like it was suffocating me.. trauma and claustrophobia, how fun.

The wind picked up within our last 2 miles of trail before camp. I saw two dead trees fall, heard 4, and saw plenty of little limbs go flying. It was pretty nerve wracking. We went down a side trail to see the Thermal Geyser. It was neat, and a short side trip, so I was happy we went to see it.

When we got to the junction for where we were going to camp, I honestly didn’t like it. There were so many dead trees everywhere, the water wasn’t easy to get to, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep good there, after seeing trees fall today. We kept moving down the trail, got water from a stream crossing it, and then about half a mile later, I spotted a fire ring downhill from the trail.

I waited for Margot to catch up to me and asked if she thought it would work. She agreed and we made the side quest to the fire ring. The area is the end of a gravel road, so it’s rocky, but flat. We were able to stake our tents out by using the bigger rocks, lots of cuss words were said by both of us. We made it work, and then sat down to eat dinner. We’re both pretty exhausted. I’m afraid tomorrow will be a tough one, with lots of elevation gain and loss.. hopefully it’s the mild kind that you don’t really feel that much.
One can dream, right? I’m off to do just that. Goodnight y’all.

Start: 1308.4

Stop: 1336.1

Today’s miles: 27.7

Total PCT miles: 1186.9

I seemed to roll around a lot last night, but every time I checked my watch (I love my new watch!) a few hours had passed, so I think I slept ok. Once again, we were up, packed, and on trail by 7am.

Pretty much all of today was walking from one burn zone to the next. Most of the morning was spent on a downhill with pretty views. Even through the burnt trees, it was enjoyable. I didn’t have any of the same overwhelming sadness like I did yesterday. I was grateful, because these burn zones will continuing being an every day thing for quite a while. They can be so exhausting on my brain.. and I never know when they’re going to trigger nightmares for several days in a row. Hopefully these don’t.

We collected water at a pretty river and then headed uphill for a good chunk of the late morning. It sprinkled on us, just enough to prove the water really can come out of those big scary clouds.. and then it stopped. It had been hot and then unbearable, then back to just hot, and even a little cool. The weather was all over the place today.

We ate lunch sitting beside a pond on a slab of wood. It was nice and sunny, but no bugs at all. From there we climbed up and down and walked through some active logging areas. When we met the road to Chester, California.. we couldn’t decide what to do. We have plenty of food, so we didn’t need to go, and we had only gone 19 miles so we needed to push farther-but the rain clouds looked Ominous and honestly sometimes town just calls to ya out here.

I decided to stick my thumb out for 5 vehicles. If one stopped, it was a sign: we deserve town food! And if not-well, we didn’t I guess. No one stopped. I pouted, but we kept hiking. We continued through more logging areas until we came upon a wide river-slow if moving at all.. with cows on the other side and no bridge. It had fallen through. Awesome.

I took off my socks and shoes and put on my crocs for the wide trek. It got up to mid thigh in the middle of the river, and the river bed was thick mud, causing me to have to yank my crocs up with each step, but I made it across just fine. Margot went across barefoot (this water really looked nasty) and went a slightly different way, but made it to the other end safely, too. The herd of cows all left, mooing and glancing back at us every so often.. I guess no cow tipping for us today!

While we were sitting on the shore, letting our feet dry and getting ready to put our socks and shoes on, Switch, from awhile ago (the one that said he knew I was a nurse because I give off nurse vibes), appeared! He had already went north to the Canadian border and had just flipped back down to Chester to finish his hike in the Sierras. Small world! He powered through the water with his shoes on and then kept on trucking past us. He’s fast, and he’s still pretty dang hot, too. Forgive me, but I’m not blind over here.

After we started moving again, the majority of the the afternoon was spent climbing uphill. There were switchbacks of course, and the heat had cooled off tremendously, but it still had my heart pumping. Around 6:30 we made it to the midway point marker! Although, since I had to jump that 148 miles due to the fires, im technically not half way yet.. but close enough.. and as far as getting to Mexico this year, I am! I won’t be going back to do that 148 miles until next year more than likely, since I won’t have time before my trip to Egypt this year.

We took pictures and I ate my dinner sitting at the marker. Margot sat with me, but wasn’t hungry yet. When I packed up, we had our headlamps out and were ready to hike the next 7 miles regardless of the time. We got to watch the sunset while walking up to a ridge line and then down through the trees. It was stunning. We got swarmed by a bunch of hummingbirds.. which was incredible and had me laughing and talking to Paula. Even Margot indulges me and says it’s Paula when she sees them, too!

It got all the way dark just after 8:30, and headlamps were on for the next hour or so. We passed some green eyes, multiple times, which would cause me to stop in my tracks and hold my breath.. and every time it was a deer. Sneaky boogers. Which, thank god-I’d probably pass out if it was a mountain lion! We made it to camp around 9:35, and my feet were and still are throbbing.

We set up our tents as far as we could from the dead trees.. but the whole time I’ve been laying here with my feet propped up, typing this out, I’ve heard tons of cracks and pops from these dead trees. I’m praying none of them end up falling on or near us. It’s a little unnerving for sure-but when the whole area you’re hiking through for an entire week is a burn zone, it’s hard to find places without sketchy surroundings. It’s either *some* dead trees, a ton of them, or exposed ridgelines in the wind and potential thunderstorms that keep threatening us daily.

Fun times, huh? I really should be on a beach somewhere.. lol. Type 2 fun, living up to the hype! Ok, it’s 10:30 now and I’m absolutely wiped out. Goodnight, fingers crossed the trees stay put 🙂