Category: Long Distance Trails

Start: 1661.5

Stop: 1671.7

Today’s miles: 10.2

Total PCT miles: 85.1

Today was.. weird. It was beautiful and challenging and so dang slow. I don’t really know what took me so long.

I was up and on my way before 7am. The trail was pretty and switchbacked around the big “hill” the bear last night came barreling down (I had no issues over night and slept really well). Less than a mile maybe into my morning, I got trapped in shrub overgrowth hell. Every single step was a branch or twig scraping my legs. I attempted to take my pack off to get out my rain pants to help shield them, but no luck-not enough space!

By the time I came out of that mess, I had a broken trekking pole and my legs were on fire and actively bleeding from all my new cuts. Neato! It probably only looks worse because of the cuts I already commandeered during my snowcapades were easily sliced right back open. Even as I sit here in camp they are burning!

The trail was lazily strolling and switchbacking between mountaintops. It was beyond gorgeous!
I got to a water source and filtered what I needed, then washed down my legs as best I could. Just in case I ran into anyone, I didn’t want it to look like a fresh massacre, although it kinda was.. and I haven’t seen a soul out here. So sad.

At 11am, I had only gone a little over four miles. This just didn’t seem right, because when I wasn’t stuck in that brush, I felt like I was moving at a decent clip. I guess not. I did take a lot of pictures and loved the scenery. Mountains on top of mountains, it felt like I was able to see the blue ridge mountains on one side, and mountains from Mars on the other.

When I crossed over to the backside of rattlesnake mountain, I hit some snow.. enough to make me put on my microspikes. It wasn’t deep and it wasn’t too terrible, but I was slightly sloped into a valley and I just wanted to be cautious. The snow stopped long enough for me to think I was done with it, so I took off my microspikes, only to put them back on less than a mile later.

Once I crossed over this perfect little ridge, that I walked to on switchbacks and calm trail, I was smacked with steep snow. I couldn’t tell where the trail went, because the snow had started melting only on one side, and I couldn’t see over the ledge. It also went straight up to a peak. I chose to walk up the shrubs and rocks on the closest side to me, to see if at the top I could make it around the snow all together, basically by bushwhacking, and you guessed it, cutting my legs.

When I got to the mostly top though, I realized even if I could, the grade was so steep with shale rock I’d probably get hurt trying to get down. So, I came back down the shrubs the same way I got up there, but from this vantage point I could see where to go “over” the snow and safely into a tree well, instead of a drop off. I started off attempting to walk down to that point, but right above where I needed to be, I slipped and slid a little. When I got to a sitting position still on the snow, I stayed put for a few minutes trying to decide my next move. If I tried to stand, all of this could break away and whatever is under here could be worse on my body.

Very shakily, I let myself slip down to the next tree well. I went FLYING! It was so dang fast, and my pack got hooked on a branch sticking out close to the tree well, so my pack was half way up my back.. otherwise, I was ok! Nothing got jammed and nothing hurt (more than normal). I did have to unhook myself to get out of my pack to get up though. From there, I bushwhacked by holding on to branches and rocks and avoided the snow down the embankment until I reached the trail, that I could now see, in all of its glory.

I was able to take the microspikes back off, and walked around a bowl of a valley, with an alpine lake in the middle. Whatever I did, I knew for certain I did not want to slip in there! I got water from a snowmelt waterfall, sat and ate lunch. When I was up and moving again, big, dark storm clouds were rolling in. Uh oh. That does not look good.

I got to an unmarked road crossing and made a split second decision to follow the road instead of the trail. There wasn’t anymore snow, but the trail looked to be going up along the ridge line of an area from a previous fire, and I didn’t want to be up any higher if lightening was coming.
This ended up being a wonderful choice in so many ways! When the rain came, my umbrella had plenty of room to not smack against any trees or limbs. AND, speaking of limbs, my legs got a break from all the shrubs rubbing up against me on that overgrown trail. I was ecstatic!

My one issue, well besides the whole rattlesnake the rattled all wound up and hissed at me (and almost caused me to jump off the side of the dang road off the mountain when I screamed, jumped, and ran), I didn’t realize I had to pre download the maps of each section on my app to have the topo on it. I’m kinda going blind with these roads. I don’t know if they’ll go higher in elevation than the trail, therefore maybe having snow, and some of them don’t even show me the entire road, so I have no clue if it’ll actually take me where I want to go! Looks like I know what I need to do the second I get service.

When the road met with the trail, the rain had just eased up. Up ahead, I could see that the trail goes up through another burn area. The comments on the app say that there’s 2 miles of “horrible blow downs” before the next campsite area. The clouds are still angry. My pole is broken. I said screw it and put my tent up at the little spot right here by this crossing.

The bottom part of my pole is broken, I sat awhile trying to finagle it, to no use. BUT, my tent did still set up with the broken pole out at the absolute highest it would go! It’s short and it’s a little sketchy on how well it’ll set up and stay in this wind and rain, but this campsite is spacious and flat, so here felt safer than attempting it later, after 2 miles of blowdowns and a thunderstorm in a burn area.

I just keep falling short of my goals everyday. But that’s ok. Tomorrow is a new day, and I’ve been good about having a couple extra meals in my pack in case this happened again. I do know I’m ready to be at Callahan’s Lodge in Oregon in a few days. Let’s hope the next few go much smoother! If my tent doesn’t do well tonight in this storm, I’m at a junction that I can take a forest service road back down to Seiad Valley. But I think I’ll only do that if I think I won’t be able to safely pitch my tent tomorrow night. Ok, time to attempt to get out of my “semi-safe haven” to cook dinner when there’s a break in the rain. I’m actually hungry tonight!

Start: 1657

Stop: 1661.5

Today’s miles: 4.5

Total PCT miles: 74.9

I got up at 7:30 and got dressed. I attempted to pack a little but before I knew it, it was already 8am. I grabbed all the things I needed to ship and walked the mile to the post office. They opened at 8:30 and I was the only one inside.

I shipped my ULA pack and my hat (just cannot seem to manage wearing it) back to myself. I shipped my bear can to Andrea, and my next food drop to the place I should make it to in the next week. All together, all 3 packages were $57. Because of the packing and writing and correcting addresses and taping-I got out of there at 8:50. I walked as fast as I could, but knew I wouldn’t make the 9:30 bus. I still had to pack my pack completely, check out, and then walk the half mile in the opposite direction..

That was alright, the next bus left at 11:45. That gave me time to work on the blog, relax on the bed, get everything packed just right. I left right at 11am and walked the half mile. The bus stop was in the parking lot of that gas station I walked to yesterday.. and oh no! The bus was already there!
I ran up to the bus, and the driver opened the door.. he told me I hadn’t missed it, he just got here early. I still had at least 30 minutes. So I got a sandwich, some chips, and a grape soda. I made myself a “PCT Hiker to Seiad Valley” Hitchhiking sign and ate my food at a picnic table.

I boarded the bus at 11:40 the driver was upset that they don’t have a bus riding out to Seiad Valley directly. I told him I knew I’d have to hitch and it was ok, he gave me a transfer card to get on another bus when this one ended to get me to the correct side of town to hitch from, so I wouldn’t have to walk that far.. so very kind! It’s an hour to Yreka, California, and then Seiad Valley is an hour hitch from there.

I got off the bus, got on the other one, and before I knew it I was being dropped off in front of a Speedway Gas Station and a Liquor Land store. Alrighty then. Not knowing how long this hitching business would take, I went to the gas station and used their bathroom before crossing the street, standing in front of Liquor Land and sticking my thumb out. I was a bit worried this would all be in vane, because not many cars were coming to my side of the four way stop. But I was all smiles anyway. Even when the thunder started to rumble and the skies grew dark. Lovely.

I had a backup plan, if I couldn’t get a hitch in the next 3 hours, I would get a room at the super 8 motel behind the Liquor Land and come up with a new plan in the morning to get to Seiad Valley. To my complete shock, though, I had a ride in less than 10 minutes. This kind man named Jeff drove me the whole hour to Seiad Valley, which was 35 minutes past his house! He’s a retired high voltage lineman, and was a wealth of knowledge!

He told me all about the towns out here, how 5 counties in this area almost broke away and fought to make themselves their own state, Jefferson. And the only reason it was “stalled” was because the bombing of Pearl Harbor happened right when they were planning to go to the government over it, and they dropped that fight to be patriotic and stand together for the war effort. Hmmmmm.

As we drove between huge mountains and along the Klamath River, he pointed out his own home, right there on the river, and the burn areas from last year’s huge wildfire, to the flood markings from 1997 . He pulled off to the side of the road (after making sure I was comfortable with him doing so) to show me a cool cable bridge I would have never known existed if he was just so genuinely kind and so very happy to tell me all about his home area. He even helps the firefighters when big fires break out, a true volunteer. I offered to pay him when we got to the tiny town of Seiad Valley, and he refused, “I did it because I want to, not to get paid for it.” I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to this.

When I went inside to grab a drink from the general store, another hiker was there. I can’t believe I forgot to get her and her friend’s names. But the four of them have just gotten here from going over the area I’m about to be walking into. We went outside to the picnic tables and they gave me the run down: lots of big blow downs, LOTS. Like took them 45 minutes to go just over a quarter mile because of the climbing up and over and around and under. For miles. And then miles more. Then, my favorite part: snow. Yep. According to them, lots of it. Son of a bitch.

I asked when it started and they didn’t give me an exact answer. They said they covered the whole stretch I’m doing in 3 days, but they’ve been hiking for a while now and definitely have their trail legs (they started in the desert). Makes me wonder.. and panic. I have read literally EVERY. SINGLE. COMMENT. About this section on the app. People mention water is flowing. People mention great campsites, and yes, in a little area people mention “snow free campsite!” And “the north facing road is completely melted out, the trail isn’t, take the road!” But no where has anyone said the words “dangerous,” “I should have bailed,” “melting cornices,” or anything like that, so I’m praying this snow is more manageable. And that doesn’t start for awhile.

As we were talking, big storm clouds were rolling in, I think they followed me from Yreka. I was contemplating staying a the campground and getting started tomorrow.. but I’d be in my tent, then, too. So, instead I started hiking up the trail. It was less than 2 miles to a campsite, then another at 4 miles and another at 4.5. I had options. The trail immediately started climbing once it was off the road. Switchbacks through some dense, dry forest, until coming up on top of a bluff with beautiful views of Klamath River and the mountains surrounding it. Just breathtaking! This is what I was expecting when I said I wanted to hike the PCT!

It was overgrown in areas and around 3 miles in I pulled off 4 different ticks. Then, I saw my first snake of the trail! Thankfully he was moving away from me into a bush, so I never saw his face.. just his long never ending body. I literally ran past, just in case his head was pointed in my direction. I was too freaked out to get a picture standing still, I just snapped one while I ran.. and looking at it now, his creepy little head is in there! I shutter just looking at it. I’d probably pass out of one of those things stood up and hissed at me!

I got to the 3rd campsite and it’s, meh. There’s a big dead tree on the ground through the middle of the trail, and my spot is up close to some brush. Oh well. It’s been a long day. I didn’t feel like pushing another mile or two. I set up camp and while I was sitting on the ground looking through the FarOut app, trying to figure out where to get to tomorrow and if there will be snow (I still don’t know when or where it starts, ugh).. I hear a crashing, crunching sound behind me a little ways, coming from the top of the hill opposite the one my tent is next to.

I pop up to see what it is. A big ole black bear is barreling full speed down the hill towards me!! Oh my god! He was HUGE! And once he noticed my movement, he veered to his right, and continued sprinting straight down hill, like a very steep downhill.. all I could hear was his crashing into bushes and plants and loose limbs. It sounded like he got pretty far away, I heard all of that for a minute or two..But I’ve been on high alert since.

I still ate my dinner, but I did it standing and pacing around; hahaha. Something tells me I might be a little jumpy trying to sleep tonight. Hopefully every creature keeps its distance. Oh! And so far, no rain. It kept thundering like something big was coming.. and honestly I’d welcome it if it would melt that snow over there wherever I’m going during the next few days.. ah, well. One last also: if I feel even a little bit worked up like I was out there a few days ago, I’m going to just hike back down and wait until I come up with another plan on how to proceed. Period. I don’t want to feel like that again. I think I’ll read a little bit while I wait for my phone to charge all the way. (As always, check my FB page for more pics, you know I post them all on there! Uploading them here takes forever). Goodnight, y’all.

In the middle of the night, I woke up needing to turn off of my hip (I’m a side sleeper), and my arms were so sore I couldn’t lift myself up to roll over! My goodness, I guess my body was really hiding a lot of stress from myself during those snow filled days!

I took some ibuprofen and fell back to sleep, after wincing and yelping out in pain. I woke up again at 10am to my phone going off: mom calling. She could hear in my voice yesterday of how stressed I had been and how exhausted I was, so she was just checking in. During the scary parts of those last few days, I never told her I was worried, otherwise she’d just be sitting there worried, too. But now that I was safe, I let her hear it all.

I was super stiff and all of my muscles ached. My brain felt like it was still in a fog, not completely sure it was allowed to relax completely or not. I was slow getting anything done. I walked to the gas station a little ways a way and got some drinks, then came back to eat some left over pizza. I turned on a Law and Order SVU marathon for background noise as I moseyed through my gear, opened my new pack, and set to reorganizing my life.

I was in contact with Dusty, the hiker yesterday that was wanting to figure out a game plan. After lots of research, and even more giving up half way through and starting again-reading every single comment on FarOut and looking at snow on Postholer.com I decided I wanted to jump ahead to Seiad Valley, California, and hike north from there.. slowly.. to give the snow more time to melt. There is a small chunk of miles starting in Seiad valley that are snow free, and then only three areas saying there’s snow for 5-10 mile stretches, BUT every single one had comments saying “snow free campsite!” And “snow on trail but the road is dry!” So, fingers crossed this isn’t a complete bust.

I organized everything and made a list of stuff in needed to get today. I was going to also swing by the post office-but-lo and behold-it is indeed Sunday. Looks like I’ll have to stay here tonight regardless and get a later leave in the morning. The post office opens at 8:30, and the bus half way to Seiad Valley also leaves at 8:30. The next one is at 9:30, which I’ll try to make.

I walked to the dollar general on the other end of this 1.5 mile stretch of town. The walk was a pretty one, each of these mountain houses on Main Street covered in gorgeous flowers.. I’ve never seen so many homes on par with being beautifully well manicured. About half way there, I was miserable. I was wearing my long sleeve sun shirt, because I don’t have another shirt, but I also had on my black wool sleep leggings, because my legs still needed a break from each other, specifically my thighs. Dang those things love to be close to each other.

It was 88 degrees, I was actively pouring sweat and having to laugh at the fact that yesterday my feet were numb in snow. So weird. The dollar general had most of what I wanted: nail polish (don’t judge me), shampoo/conditioner/dial soap so I could really feel clean, food for breakfast and lunch.. the only thing they didn’t have was bandaids. Annoying.

I left there and headed to the grocery store, about midway back to my motel room. I got bandaids and peroxide there, my one gash on my right hip looks a little sketchy. And then I walked across the street to a brewery. Mainly because it was sweltering hot and a cold beer sounded delightful. Inside, I saw a couple that was clearly thruhiking. They were talking to someone about how scary Grizzly Peak was!

They invited me to sit with them, Jelly and TakeCharge, and when I said my name they immediately knew about me on that ridge line! Someone had reached out to them to see if they were anywhere near me to be able to get to me so I could hike out with them! But they were already too far ahead to turn back. They were going to wait where they were for me though, to make sure I was safe and ok if I attempted to go over yesterday morning. Just, wow. A true network of angels were at work for me and I had no clue how far they were reaching to get me to safety. I was almost in tears again.

They showed me pictures and videos and I was relieved I backtracked. They were getting picked up today to get a ride in to Redding, to rent a car and go explore the Redwoods for a bit, to give the snow time to melt. Not a bad idea, at all! We sat and chatted for a good long while, then, close to 5pm, we all departed.

I made it back to my hotel room, showered again with all the good stuff and finally felt clean. I put on deodorant-the one thing I just KNEW to leave at home.. because, while I’ll stink regardless out here, the chaffing my pits decided to unleash on me is next level irritation. So, for now, until some of the chunk disappears (which it BETTER BE on its way out the door, crappy thyroid or not), I’ll be toting deodorant religiously.

I painted my nails and cut them, too. Finalized my gear, got stuff situated to ship.. watched SVU and worked on this blog. The time flew by. Before I knew it, it was after 1am! So, I turned everything off and tried to make myself sleep. I tossed and turned a lot, but it wasn’t too terrible. Tomorrow is a busy day of post office visits, bus rides, and hitch hikes. Let’s all pray it goes smoothly!