Category: 2020 Pacific Crest Trail

Bear and I agreed before going to bed, that even though we were planning on a short day today, we still needed to get going early. It’s not really that bad of a day, just about the same amount of ascents and descents as yesterday with about a half mile less of distance. The big thing is still the heat. California has been having rolling blackouts because of the high power usage generated from AC. We were out of camp by 8:15. 

Bear has not been himself since Ashland. There’s just a few possibilities for this: 1) he’s entering male menopause, 2) he’s tired of being around me (I know I can be grating even on the most patient of people. I had a Lama kick me out of his cave in Nepal…even the most patient of people get tired of me), or 3) he’s lost his desire to hike. The most obvious answer is tired of me, but I thought I’d verify with Sassy what was wrong. To my surprise, she said he was fine with hiking, but didn’t know what he wanted to do. The polite way of saying he’s tired of me. I made it a point to be less obnoxious for a while. The only way I know to do that is to shut up and drop back further from the pack so I’m not tempted to talk.

When I’m quiet, which isn’t often, I tend to think too much (the driving reason why I’m rarely quiet). I started doing the math. We’re 50 days into our hike this year and we’ve only hiked about 540 miles…not quite 11 miles a day. To make our goal of Walker Pass, we need to average about 13 miles a day. That means we either have to walk more every day, or take fewer to no days off, or accept the fact that we’re not making our goal of Walker Pass this year. The drop dead date for all of us is to be home in time to vote this year. We all have strong opinions about this election and I’m not willing to abdicate my responsibility to cast my vote. 

The only real option is to change our plans because we enjoy our days off too much. We could hike longer days, but we don’t want to. This is enjoyment for us. We could skip the area between here and the Sierra which would give us enough time to get all the Sierra done. I know that the portion of Northern California that we’d skip would not be a big enough draw to get us back out. Only by skipping the Sierra, would we have enough of a draw to come back to finish the PCT. Bottom line, scratch the Sierra for this year. Now we have an extra 4 weeks to fill up before returning home. 

Originally, we had thought we might have enough time to hike the Tahoe Rim Trail and the remaining portion of the PCT we had left. We had even considered coming back to Tahoe after we made it to Walker Pass. What if we hiked all of the PCT except for the Sierra and finished up this year with the Tahoe Rim Trail! Since we’ve already been to both borders, the most logical ending point for us is to finish on Mt Whitney (then zombie walk the final few miles to Walker Pass). This is a possible plan I’ll share with the group in the near future. 

When we got to a break, I decided to risk talking to Bear. He said that he’s very goal oriented by nature. His first goal was to make it to Government Camp. Next goal was Sisters to have a zero day with our friends, John and Jenny. After that, he added a new goal of spending time in Bend, but the real goal was to make it to Crater Lake. But the crux of the issue, was that his real goal that he had set out for from the start, was to hike all of Oregon. When we made it to Ashland, it felt like he had completed his near term goal, but the stretch goal of Walker Pass seemed unachievable. If it wasn’t possible to make it to Walker Pass, why is he even hiking? Bottom line, the goal oriented person had no achievable goal to keep him moving (other than his goal to see me flying from a cliff which stood the remote chance of prison time IF someone were to report “Easily Forgotten” missing).

This was the opening I was looking for. I decided to talk about my alternative plan of skipping the Sierra and doing the Rim Trail. Bunny immediately disliked it because she wanted to hike the Sierra. Her disappointment was exactly what I was hoping for. Not to disappoint her, but because I knew that would be the driving force to get us back out here. Once it sank in a bit, she agreed it was the right thing. Bear, although reluctant to commit, agreed that this was a plan he could get his goals wrapped around given time to digest. We let it go at that for now. 

The hike, itself, was gorgeous today. We’ve attained the ridge, or near enough to it, that we don’t have big climbs or descents. The views are great. There is a bit of a smokey haze hanging in some of the nearby valleys, but we know there aren’t any fires of immediate threat to us. We got an early start to the day and we were making great time. We had a working alternative plan that might get Bear back in the hike. At any rate, Bear has slowed down a bit and is walking with the pack again. Things are looking better. The time crunch is gone. We can relax and enjoy. What could go wrong?

This is when Sassy stepped up to the plate. It started out innocently enough. Her stomach started hurting. We got to a nice scenic overlook and she asked if any of us minded taking a break while she was holding her orange bag for all to see. For the unfamiliar, the orange bag is the bag Bear and Sassy share which contains a trowel, toilet paper, wipes, powder, all the accoutrements required for a pleasant trailside/campsite BM. Sassy was full of it. 

A break is never frowned upon. Perhaps this is why we move so slow, but not one time in 50 days has one of us said “no, we don’t want a break. Clench you’re cheeks. We’re moving on.” We all happily dropped our packs whilst Sassy took care of business. She came back all smiles but admitted to a bit of frothiness in her stomach and asked for an Imodium. We offered to take a longer break, but she was ready to move on. She wanted to make it to the next water source in 4 miles for a lunch break. 

We immediately started to climb from our break spot…up and over a couple of humps, sometimes steep. We wound our way over a couple of passes into adjacent valleys moving further south and into the heart of the Trinity Alps. As we were climbing out of a corner of the third valley we had been in today, Sassy’s frothy stomach started getting the better of her. We were in an exposed, rocky section of trail nearly 700’ above a lake. Sassy took her pack off and set it down on the edge of the trail and stood up straight. The pack started to roll…in slow motion…over the edge of the cliff. It nearly stopped several times, but didn’t. It disappeared from our sight. 

I couldn’t decide if I should laugh or cry. We had heard of one girl, Dropsy, who dropped a sleeping bag and a tent off cliffs in a single day, but not her whole pack. Bear flipped out because he thought Sassy had fallen. It happened so fast even though we saw it in slow motion. Sassy yelled back in frustration and started heading down the trail to retrieve her pack. This is where I made the biggest mistake…I stopped her and started climbing down a side trail where I’d hopefully see her pack and be able to get it. I just assumed it had fallen down the rock scree 650’ below to the lake. 

The trail down to the lake was the worst and steepest trail I have had the misfortune to traverse. It made the Whites of New Hampshire look level in comparison. I heard Bear a few hundred yards behind me and yelled he should get some hiking poles. He just kept coming down. By the time we got to the bottom, we realized what we thought was a single huge rock slide as it appeared from the top had actually split into a series of gullies and cliffs we couldn’t see from above. I started traversing over to the gully I thought the pack had fallen into. I was still 150’ above the lake. 

There were two guys below that were watching us. Bear tried to yell to them what had happened and asked if they could see a pack that had fallen. I kept traversing and climbing without paying close attention to where I was actually getting to. Pretty soon, after climbing up a few slides and maneuvering around some boulders and rock shelves, I turned around to see where Bear was. He was now about 300’ below me. I had gotten myself into a precarious situation. I was below a 10’ shelf and couldn’t go up further. If I moved much, I stood a good chance of starting a rock slide that could injure or kill Bear. If I tried to go back down, I stood a very good chance of not only starting a rock slide, but being one of the lead rocks that gets buried. I froze. This is when I discovered I’m not an atheist after all. I started praying to the tree gods. 

My only hope of making it out, without falling, was a sideways traverse back to the crappy trail through a manzanita patch. These were not healthy, 8’ tall full grown manzanitas, but young, frail 6” sprouts which one day hope to become manzanitas. I yelled down to Bear “abort.” He yelled up “agree” because, even though he was a couple hundred feet lower, he also realized he had rushed too far and found himself in a similar position, but only facing a 150’ fall to possible death. I had the front row to a 400’ plunge.

I prayed to the tree gods to either help me out alive, or make certain I have a quick death. I didn’t want a middle ground, limp away messed up, outcome. I was so far up that I was above the gullies so I had a straight traverse of just 300 yards to the crappy trail. This was the longest 300 yards of my life. I couldn’t stand because it was so steep, I’d surely start a slide. I crab crawled my ass across the side of the mountain. 

As a side note, I hate being in the sun. All this was happening in full sun. I was overheating and sweating profusely. I was weak from my fear of heights. I was feeling stupid and resentful that I was about to die trying to save the tent poles for a Big Agnes tent I had been peeing on for the last 2 years. My only solace was that if I went down, they might forget about the pack making the tent useless. If I went down, we both went down.

The tree gods looked out for me. I made it across by dragging my ass over the loose rock and placing my hands on thorny plants and grabbing hold of the manzanita when I could. One of the guys was walking up from the trail and kept asking me if someone had fallen. Bear, in the mean time, had made it down to the other guy who was young, strong, and fearless. Bear convinced him to climb up the slide to look for the pack. From the bottom of the slide, the second guy beat me up the slide and across the cliff face only to end up about 100’ higher than me by the time I reached the trail. He didn’t see the pack. 

I made the trail but was too tired to stand. Bear decided to head down to the lake shore while I crawled the rest of the way up to the PCT. By the time I made it back to Bunny and Sassy, I was a wreck. Bunny was excited and wanted me to follow her. She thought she might have found the pack. Bear was down on the shore waving his shirt saying he could see the pack. It had gotten stuck on the uppermost shelf above the rock slide only about 75’ down from the top. Bunny had found a “level” way to get to the shelf. I was nominated to retrieve the pack while Bear started his crawl back up. 

The level shelf Bunny had found only looked level when you were looking down on it as compared to the rest of the slide. There was a small pine tree about 50’ down and the pack was about 25’ further down from it. Once again, I resorted to my tree god friend for help. I really didn’t want to die for a Big Agnes tent. Any other brand, maybe. But I felt guilt for having taken this long to get to this point. We were 2 hours into this ordeal which could have been over in 20 minutes if I hadn’t rushed down the side trail. 

I slowly drug my ass down the slide and made it to the tree. Just a bit further and I’d be able to touch the pack. The pack had stopped because the a Big Agnes tent poles got hung up on a rock. I grabbed the pack and started scooting back up on my ass. It was a slow process and I was constantly afraid of the pack getting out of my control and falling further down the slide making us go through the whole process again. I managed to get it up high enough that I could hand it up to the shelf to Sassy. She was reunited with her pack. Bear was crawling up the trail and both women ran to him. I was still one shelf down from the trail, easily forgotten by everyone else now that the pack had been recovered. 

Bear and I were super dry and managed to drink what water we had remaining. When I first grabbed Sassy’s pack, I checked for the water bottles hoping to get a drink. It turns out, the only thing missing from the pack were her two water bottles. Nothing else was damaged or hurt. Even her phone wasn’t hurt from all the tumbling. 

We still had two miles to go to the next water source. I was thirsty and motivated, so I lead the group. Bunny was right behind me and pointed out that I had torn a couple of holes in the seat of my pants. The new pants Bunny made me get because I had torn a big hole in the other pair. The new pants I didn’t want to get figuring I’d just tear another hole in the ass. The new pants I hadn’t even had for 100 miles yet. 

When we finally got to the water, we filled up what bottles we had, drinking a few liters in the process. It was too exposed to sit and have our lunch. It was already 4 and we hadn’t eaten yet. We decided to keep going to find a shady spot to eat. 

Some new rules have been established, mainly around Sassy and cliff edges. Sassy must never approach the edge of a cliff. Sassy must take her pack off only in a level spot or on the higher side of the trail. Whenever Sassy puts her pack on, at least two people must be behind her to ensure she doesn’t fall or drop the pack down the side of a mountain. And, lastly, Bear must be sedated if Sassy wants to approach the edge of a cliff for a scenic view. 

We made it to our camp by 6:45. Once we got our tents set up, the search for water began. It was much harder to locate than we expected. Bunny and I went one direction while Bear went the other. We circled back towards each other where I found a respectable, clear dribble in the middle of the meadow. Bear was not satisfied. He wanted the perfect water source. Bear disappeared looking for water.

Bunny and I cleaned up, cooked supper, filtered water, ate our appetizer, and finally ate our supper and Bear still hadn’t returned. As we were finishing up, Bear returned triumphantly sporting water directly from the source of the spring. It was perfect water. I asked, “are you going to filter it?” “Of course!” “Then how is it different than the water I found 100 yards from camp?” “This is perfectly clear water from the source!” “Drink it.” “I will as soon as I filter it.” We went to bed while Bear and Sassy filtered their perfect water and ate supper. 

EFG

All night long, we heard walking around the tents. It started out as soon as we got inside. Bear shined his light down the hill and saw 4 eyes reflecting back at him. The eyes were green, so he was ok. He said if they would have been red, he would have been concerned. As long as deer are hanging around, we know there aren’t any predators about. What predator would want to eat an animal that licks urine off the ground. Deer are disgusting so we are safe. 

I had to get up 3 times from all the water I drank trying to stay hydrated. Every time I did, I practically tripped over a damn deer. I’m not sure which was more annoying, the deer circling around the tents waiting for one of us to pee, or hearing them munch on the dirt after we peed. Our tent is still unfamiliar enough in design that the deer haven’t gotten used to it and avoided coming right up to it. They are familiar enough with the Big Agnes that they felt comfortable enough to lick Bear and Sassy’s tent, and even go right up anything sticking out from under the vestibules. I’m guessing there must still be residual salt from all the times I’ve peed on their tent. 

A new trend has formed in the group. People are trying to claim confidentiality, or try speaking to me “off the record” so it doesn’t go in the blog. A member of the party stopped by our tent this morning and asked “what does it mean if you have green poop?” Once we figured out all the possibilities and narrowed it down to eating too many blueberries, they then tried to claim blog immunity saying I couldn’t mention the green poop. I am a firm believer of free press, but I will honor the request for anonymity in this case. I agreed not to mention the individual’s name, but I didn’t agree to list everyone that had normal poop color. I’ll just mention that mine was not green and give everyone a 1 in 3 shot at figuring out this mystery. 

While I was finishing up my “non-green” maneuver, the first 3 thru-hikers passed by our camp. I returned just in time to see them but not catch their names. Other than these 3, we only saw one other nobo all day, Thorny. Thorny just retired from the USAF after a 20 year stint as a fighter pilot. He’s only 41 with a pension. He was hoping to get on one of the airlines as a pilot, but Covid has lowered airline demand. Instead of flying, he decided to hike the PCT to give time for other opportunities to present themselves. 

We had been so focused on getting out of Seiad Valley that we had only been focusing on the barrier the mountains between Seiad and Etna presented. We were completely caught off guard by the beauty of the a Trinity Alps. Bunny mentioned that this section reminded her of Washington, and I have to agree. Most people probably don’t slow down enough to notice the beauty of the Trinity Alps. After all, they have been through the Sierra and are just focused on getting out of California after nearly 1700 miles in one state. 

The Trinity Alps are a separate range of mountains between the California Coast Range and the Cascades. They are really a part of the Klamath Mountain Range where the Klamath River dominates (Seiad Valley). We had to cross the Klamath River and now we are headed back towards the Cascades. We’ll join back up with the Cascades around Dunsmuir and will be with that range until Lassen which is the southern-most volcano in the Cascades. 

It was hot and sunny right out of the box this morning. Thankfully, clouds formed up in afternoon, but it was still deceptively hot. Unbeknownst to us, the clouds of yesterday and today were actually the aftermath of several larger storms further south which, cumulatively, accounted for over 11,000 lightning strikes predominantly in Northern California along the coastal range. California currently has over 300 wildfires from these lightening strikes. At present, there are only 4 fires that might become threats to us, but we are keeping an eye on the California fire map. 

We stopped for water 3 times because today ranging from 2.7 to 7.8 trail miles. These stops still left us with 5 dry miles to camp. If Guthook is correct, as it has been so far, we should have a decent flowing stream when we make it to camp. Better yet, we should even have actual benches to sit on tonight. Seats, other than logs, are a rare luxury on the trail. The gold standard is, of course, is a privy. These are the marks of true trail luxury. 

We dropped our packs at the abandoned ranger cabin and went in search of the prophesied campsite and spring. Bear and I found Valhalla as Guthook predicted. As the prophesy said, there were 3 benches, plenty of flat spots for tents, and a piped spring. We were able to cooked and eat on the benches and make it to bed before dark. As has become the new custom in this area of woods, we heard footsteps and pee munching once we laid down.

EFG

As near as I can tell, we had a mild form of heat exhaustion from the last two days of 100+ temperatures. Bunny and I slept straight through to 8:30. To drive the point home, it was Bunny that woke up first. Altogether, we have slept over 14 hours since we arrived at the hotel less than 20 hours ago. This was almost as bad when we spent 18 hours straight sleeping in New Jersey after hiking 11 miles in 107 degree heat. 

I checked the phone and saw that Bear and Sassy had texted us over 6 times and we missed all of them. We were out! We ate the muffins and yogurts we had gotten from the store along with a pot of coffee we brewed in the room. Bunny insisted upon the futile effort of showering before heading out. I felt it was a waste of time because 15 minutes after we’re on the trail, no one giving us a sniff test will be able to tell who showered and who didn’t. Nonetheless, Bunny felt compelled to try to shame me into showering. I chose the additional relaxation time instead. We were both ready by 10. 

Cat picked us up at 10:30. When we left the room, it was the first time I’d seen sky all day. It was overcast and cool—not even 80 out. With any luck, we’ll be able to make the 14 mile climb out of the valley without dying. That’s the ideal scenario. I’d be happy if we make it up to around 5000’ elevation before one of us (Sassy) has heat stroke. I accept the fact that Bunny is going to miserable and vocal about it. 

The first 8 miles of trail follows Grider Creek with a very modest elevation gain. We go from 1400’ to just around 3000’ elevation. During this time, the overcast sky fades away to full sun. It was also unusually high humidity for California—it was probably 60% (nothing compared to a sweltering day in the Midwest or South where 80% is considered “not that bad”). We had been warned by several hikers that there was a lot of bushwhacking for the first 4 miles. Bunny and I had fallen for the hype and wore long pants. We were both overheating.

After 5 miles of the easy, bushwhacking section, I took the legs of my pants off and Bunny changed back into her shorts. We came to the conclusion that there are just a bunch of whiners hiking the trail. The bushwhacking on NorCal is the equivalent of all the whiners on the AT screaming “Rocksylvania” when encountering a few pebbles in the trail in Pennsylvania. We did notice that most of the bridges in this section were relatively new. One of the few benefits of wildfires is new trail infrastructure.

As we neared the 8 mile mark where we would leave the close proximity to Grider Creek, we decided to get under the bridge to get out of sun and cool off. Bear was the most reluctant to stop and cool off. He seems a bit out of sort today and is often way ahead of the rest of us. It’s easy to see that he’s not enjoying today and he wants to just get it over with. We all soaked our bandannas or hats and wiped ourselves off. I didn’t realize how hot I actually was until I started cooling down. I even took my shirt off and soaked it in the creek. We ended the break with Sassy passing out salt tablets to everyone. 

We only saw 6 nobos all day. I suppose that’s a good thing, meaning that we are past the bubble. Anyone still this far south is going to have a hard time finishing this year. A lot of testosterone driven hikers consider this negative input if it gets mentioned they are probably going to get stuck in snow in Washington. Everyone seems to forget Sherpa who has been missing for the last 5 years. He insisted upon pushing on from White Pass in WA when a snow came in. His family still leads multiple searches every year in the hopes of finding his body so they can have some closure. 

We were all dragging from the heat in the valley and all the uphill climbing. Even though we started out with an overcast sky, it was probably much hotter than we realized. As I predicted, no one would be able to give us a sniff test and tell which of us had showered today. The closest result anyone would come up with would be “you must have showered more than a week ago. Why would you want me sniffing you? Get away!”

Well before we made it to 10 miles, we all knew our goal of 14 miles for today was a pipe dream. At our water stop around 10 miles, we decided on an earlier bail out spot at an old road that probably had water 0.3 miles off the trail. We decided we’d stop here. There was another spot about a mile before that, but it definitely didn’t have water. I thought we had all agreed on the road. Bear, always the contingency planner, decided to carry enough water to stop at the earlier campsite to give himself more options. Bunny and I just carried enough to make the road and no more. We were all in. 

Before we made it to the earlier campsite, deer started following us on the trail. It wasn’t that we caught a glimpse of a deer while we were walking, it was two deer actually walking on the trail behind us showing no fear of us. I knew what they wanted. When we got to Bears option #1 campsite, he was willing to stop, but I said Bunny and I couldn’t. The deer just kept circling us while we talked. I finally mustered all I had and walked over to the edge of the site with my back to everyone. I concentrated hard and managed to push out a small stream. I returned to everyone and said “you’re not going to think the deer are so cute now.” Before I even finished talking, they were munching on my muddy pee spot. They wanted salt and minerals. I gave them gold.

We had no choice but push on. We thought we had seen the last of the deer now that I had given them what they wanted and we didn’t see anyone following us. We made it to the road and found trees had fallen across it. This was a relief because Bear was afraid there might not be spots to set up tents if the road was still in use. To be safe, Bear and Sassy set up their tent closest to the downed trees and we went a bit further. That way, if a vehicle came up the road, the sound of our screams might give them the time they needed to get out of the tent and survive. As always, I’m only here to help. 

Bear and I walked down the road and found a great water source. Once we had enough collected, we headed back so we could cook our women folk their ho5 suppers. Because it was already almost dark, we just cooked and ate in our tents. Bunny and I got out to pee one last time before bed. I was tired and didn’t feel like walking very far since it was so dark. Before I managed to get back inside, I could hear the familiar “munch, munch” as my pee was being eaten. We had been followed, after all. 

EFG

For so many people camping in such a close area, it was very quiet when people started waking up. We barely heard the 70 year old guy camped right next to us pack up and leave. He was gone by 6:30. I started packing up by a quarter to seven. Bunny wanted every minute possible. She started stirring at 7. Bear and Sassy were out of their tent and ready by 7:30. I was stunned. I was shocked. I was humiliated. They are getting faster and we’re getting slower. I was accepting with the fact that they hike faster than us. As long as we get ready faster, it’s all equal in the long run. Now, we are officially dead weight. 

The first half mile of today’s hike was actually the fifth time we had walked the section of the trail. We headed to Seiad Cafe for our third and final visit. Yesterday, Sassy had told the owner we would be back for breakfast today. She was ready for us. She closes every day at 2 in the afternoon. She knew Sassy was gluten sensitive so she had run to the store, an hour each way to Yreka, to get gluten free pancake/waffle mix so Sassy could have a surprise today. We drank a couple of carafes of coffee and spent more time at breakfast than we had planned, but everyone was so friendly, we just couldn’t peel away. 

The fact remains, these road miles aren’t just going to disappear. We can’t just hop in a car and they’ll all be behind us in 10 minutes…hey, wait a minute. This is 2020. Automobiles have been the fashion for well over a century. What’s keeping us from yellow blazing? In a word, integrity. Thank our lucky stars our group has me in it. There was talk of hitching (mainly heat induced delirium) but I put a stop to that. Bear came up with the idea of slack packing the road walk which was a great compromise we could all get behind (meaning, I’d agree to it). 

Breakfast ran a bit longer than we had planned, but it’s all good. We had less than 6.5 miles to go, we’re wearing sunglasses, and not carrying packs. We should be done in two hours unless something holds us up. Something like a Great Pyrenees dog walking out of the first drive to divert our (my) attention and slow me down. I’ve had 6 of these gentle giants over the last 20+ years. As a reminder, I’ll list their names and see if anyone can find a pattern: Nahani, Amangi, Holpe, Allumes, Nutiket, and Ilana. 

By the time I got done cuddling, everyone else was 1/4 mile ahead of me. No one even noticed I was gone. I think my name is very appropriate. I ran to catch up with the three forgetful people I’m hiking with just in time to enter shade covering the road. Part of the reason we were doing this slack-pack day was because we had all envisioned 6.5 miles of road walking on a busy road in full sun. It turned out to be a very pleasant, shady walk on a “not too busy” highway for the first 2 miles followed by a 4.5 mile country lane walk through Trump Valley with Dos Equis emblems everywhere. This is true America where loyalty to Trump is more important than country (as evidenced by Trump flag on top, State of Jefferson flag second, and if there’s space remaining, the American flag third. 

There was a fair amount of wildlife along the road. They clearly cannot read all the “no trespassing” signs posted. Or the “forget the dog, beware of owner” signs. We did pass one yard with a “beware of dog” sign where the dog was so happy to see us, but the owner wanted nothing to do with them “damn liberal hippy hikers” walking by his property. The dog barked hello and wagged his tail. The owner wouldn’t acknowledge us when we said “hi.” After we passed, we heard him kick the dog to toughen him up. 

Bear had arranged for Cat to pick us up at noon. We had visions of being taken to our hotel in Happy Camp, CA and luxuriating in a cool pizza palace for lunch before retiring to a cool hotel room for a nap. We were done hiking a full 30 minutes ahead of schedule. Bunny started searching for an open privy to kill some time when Cat showed up a full 20 minutes early. Our vision looked to be coming true. We piled in and headed to what must be the most enjoyable place in California (outside of Disneyland)…Happy Camp. 

During the gold rush years, Happy Camp was a bustling little city of over 10,000 residents. It was exciting. It was rowdy. It was known for its high murder rate. Today, it’s known for its most famous, albeit reclusive resident—Big Foot. Like Chicken Man, he’s everywhere, he’s everywhere. The first thing you see upon arriving in town is a 20’ statue of him (complete with face mask, Big Foot is old and falls into the high risk age group).

The owner of the hotel met us as we pulled into the parking lot. She had our rooms ready with the AC turned on high. She knew what we wanted. After she checked us in,she said she’d take us on a tour of town. She motioned for us to follow her out the front door. We obliged. She walked 50’ to the middle of the drive where we could get a good view of the highway and crossroads. She pointed out the pizza place, post office, and store. Thus concluded our tour of Happy Camp. 

We dropped our packs in our rooms and headed to the pizza place. We had hopes of AC, salad, and pizza. We got pizza with the option of sitting outside on the patio in full sun on a 107 degree F day. There weren’t salads, the lettuce wilted a while back. They didn’t have gluten free options. We got our pizzas to go and Sassy got a bag of Cheetos, the cheese that goes crunch, the only gluten free option (that wasn’t even on the menu).

As soon as we got in our cold room, I could tell I wasn’t going to stay awake long. I ate 2 slices of pizza before I was about done for the day. I told Bunny I’d finish up the shopping now because I knew if I took a nap, I was done for the day. I went to the surprising well stocked grocery store and got a few items for supper (to go with the leftover pizza), a few items for breakfast, and the few remaining items we needed for the 50 miles remaining to Etna. I came back to find Bunny already snoring. I quickly followed. It was not even 3. 

Bunny woke me up at 7. She said we needed to eat supper. She also quizzed me on what I had bought earlier. When I said yogurt for breakfast, she wanted yogurt for supper as well, so we made the trek back to the grocery store. It had cooled down to 95. We got the yogurt and some popcorn for dessert. Back in our room, we finished the pizza, the chef salad I had bought earlier at the store, our yogurts, 3 bags of popcorn, and a bag of powdered donuts. I drank a half gallon of iced tea. We were back asleep by 10 (yes, the nap empowered us to stay up much later than usual). Since getting into Happy Camp, I drank 2-32 Oz Diet Pepsis, a liter of water, and a half gallon of iced tea. I went to bed without peeing and slept, undisturbed, throughout the entire night. 

EFG

We were hoping for a day of recovery from the heat we experienced yesterday. Looking for relief from heat in the bowels of hell is probably not the smartest move. Not to say that Seiad Valley is like hell, I merely mean that Seiad Valley can give hell a great run for its money regarding temperature (and brimstone smells from fire). Sassy underwent a religious conversion. 

Typically, we eat, shower, eat, launder, eat, relax, eat, and go to bed when we come to a town. One of the great things about trail life is it makes you appreciate the simple things in life like chairs, running water, flushing toilets, and soft beds in air conditioned rooms. Although Wildwood Tavern and Lodge caters to hikers, it doesn’t cater to geriatric, spoiled hikers looking for a break from the heat to cool down enough to quit asking themselves “why in the hell are we doing this to ourselves?” Wildwood, even though it has Lodge in its name, only allows hikers to camp beside the tavern. There is no lodge.

We got up at 7:15 (with just a small nudge from Bear who had been awake for nearly an hour and a half) and decided to walk the 1/2 mile into town to Seiad Cafe. Like most businesses, Seiad Cafe has been impacted greatly from Covid. Like most trail towns along the PCT, thru-hikers are keeping small businesses in these towns afloat. Thru-hikers are finally achieving what they have secretly been dreaming of happening…they are welcome and appreciated even though they smell like urine, sweat, and feces swirled together and allowed to ferment for a week. They smell this way because they, for the most part, have avoided a shake here, an extra wipe there, suffered a bit too long in the sun, and fermented for a week in the process. They smell like what they are. But they are welcome at last. 

Seiad Valley has 3 businesses that thrive on hiker business: Wildwood Tavern and Lodge, Seiad Cafe, and the aptly named, Seiad Store (adjacent to the Seiad Cafe). All three of these businesses are really doing all they can to appeal to hikers by stocking foods hikers like to carry, feeding food to hikers that they like (non-dehydrated is usually sufficient, but both Wildwood and the Cafe are cooking delicious meals in hiker friendly sizes), and stocking drinks hikers like—beer being a large portion of the mix. 

We discovered several interesting facts while walking down and eating breakfast. Seiad Valley is Bigfoot Country. There is even a 300+ mile Bigfoot Trail that runs through Seiad Valley. Don’t put on your hiking shoes too fast, though. Because of Covid travel restrictions, Bigfeet (meaning plural of Bigfoot) were unable to re-enter the country from their winter location in South America. They did try to sneak in with the Guatemalan group of teens earlier in the year, but were easily identified and singled out by our border patrol and repatriated to Japan. This was due in large part to the fact that they were all wearing face masks before the CDC recommended them. Up to that point, only Japanese citizens routinely wore face masks. Knowing that bit of info, it’s hard to say our border patrol doesn’t racial profile, but the proof is in the face mask. 

Another fact we discovered was that we had entered hell. In reality, hell is probably cooler, but, nonetheless, we were sweating bad on our return walk from the restaurant and it wasn’t even 10a yet. Nor were we wearing packs. Of course, this caused everyone to wonder if this was the apocalypse and if we should look for some place cooler to hike. It was only 102 today and the humidity was less than 40%. All four of us are from southern states so we’re used to triple digit humidity, but for some reason, today’s heat was terrible. I tried to talk Bunny off the ledge (more like onto the crest) by pointing out we are normally a mile higher than we currently are and that the elevation “might” help out with the temperature. She knew it was 102 here, so it’s too hot on the trail. 

In the end, Bear pulled off one of his greatest maneuvers at compromise I have ever witnessed. He got Bunny and Sassy to agree to a road walk of 7 miles tomorrow, in the heat of the day when it’s supposed to get to 107. What did it cost us? A reward for all of us. He arranged to have the shuttle from Wildwood pick us up at the end of the road walk then drive us to an air condition hotel (actual AC in the rooms with beds!) in the next town where we will sleep for the night to bring our core temperatures back down into the “human range.” The next day, the shuttle will pick us up, drive us back to the end of the road where they picked us up the day before, and we’ll climb the mile up and out of the valley (also during the heat of the day). 

Bear is a genius. I’m serious here. He got our wives to agree to do what they had agreed to do but changed their minds about doing. All it cost us what what we wanted to begin with when we came in town…a night in a cool hotel with a soft bed. He even promised them a zero in the next town which we had already agreed we were going to do before we got into this town. No wonder Bear was able to make a successful career in a high intensity organization like NASA. He can read people and give them what they want even after they agreed that what they wanted is what they wanted. It makes me wonder what kind of stuff he’s tricked me into doing that I had agreed to do even before I knew I didn’t want to do it but did it. I’m not sure if he’s genius or evil genius. 

To recap, we’re going to get up in the morning and pack up. We’re going to walk to the Seiad Cafe and eat breakfast (the entire walk to the cafe is on the trail). After breakfast, we will walk another 6.2 miles before we are picked up and driven to an air conditioned hotel in the next town. We will eat lunch in a restaurant after we get to the next town. We will grill steaks at our hotel (we’ve already checked…they have a bar-b-que for us), we’ll eat breakfast in another restaurant, then the shuttle will pick us up and drive us back to where they picked us up. Our wives are happy. We get 3 extra town meals. We’re all happy. It’s still hot as hell, but everyone is happy. Yes, evil genius!

EFG

Yesterday, I set an alarm because I thought Bear and Sassy were trying to let us sleep in so they could get ready first. I used Bunny’s phone for the alarm (I don’t have a phone of my own, part of Bunny’s financial cost cutting). I guess another part of her cost cutting involves not charging her phone because the alarm never went off once the phone died. 

Today, we had a freshly charged phone but we never turned off the alarm. Since I was suspicious of Bear and Sassy’s intent yesterday, I had set it early for 6:15. Bunny was sleeping on her arms when it went off. This slowed her down because her arms were pinned under her and they had fallen asleep. The alarm did wake us up, but it also alerted Bear and Sassy to the fact that we were on to their game. My suspicions were correct because we all got ready at the same time. The only other explanation might be that Bear and Sassy are getting ready faster in the morning, but I dismiss that possibility due to lack of supporting scientific data. 

All night long, we had noticed a prehistoric figure standing guard over the trail. The first task this morning was to pass this ancient guardian of the underworld. Since Bear and I do most of camping work including cooking and water duty, we left it up to the women to fight the demon. Between the two of them fighting and distracting the fiend, we were able to safely pass as a group. Bunny’s new trim trail body made all the difference. 

Today was brutal but rewarding. Rewarding for the amazing vistas in all directions. We were walking near the crest of the range all day through recent burn areas. By recent, I just mean all the trees were gone, but far enough in the past that flowers have taken over as the stabilizing ground cover. 

The heat began to takes it toll on all of us. As usual, the weakest are the first to fail. No, not me. It was Sassy who almost went down. She made one fatal flaw. She tried to keep up with Bear as he ran up the hills. I rarely saw Bear as he was usually more than a tenth of a mile ahead of me. I only caught up at regularly scheduled water breaks every 2 miles (1 mile on extra hot days). There was no way I was keeping up with anyone. 

There are a few wildfires raging in California, not unusual for this time of year. There’s a larger one burning East of Yreka which is due East of us, but not near the trail. It does create a lot of smoke that tends to hang in the valleys where we’re hiking. It almost looks like an inversion hanging over the Seiad Valley. 

I do have a dead horse to beat. I was slightly put out (possibly irritated immensely) by the hiker in passing who told us that the only thru-hike that’s not a failure is one that starts at one border (Mexico) and ends at the other (Canada). Yesterday, we probably passed between 15-20 nobos. Today, before we made it to a dirt road crossing that leads to Seiad Valley, we passed 4 maybe 5 Nobo’s. From everything we’ve heard from passing hikers, we can expect at least 15 hikers a day for the next several days. So why didn’t we encounter anyone on the section of trail climbing out of Seiad Valley?

The answer is simple. The majority of “thru-hikers” are skipping this section of trail to get a shorter road walk (saving 3-4 miles of hiking), or worse yet, getting a ride up to the trail entirely skipping 11 miles of trail. So much for honesty and integrity. When we quizzed people about trail conditions, they all quoted Guthook’s comments. When we actually hiked the section in question, it was not nearly like the comments said. This only confirmed our suspicions that people were skipping it. 

But let’s not get too high and mighty. We met a hiker about 10 days ago that we were convinced was not actually hiking the trail. We didn’t really care, but we never saw him on trail. He’s a bit overweight and we were being narrow minded in our opinions. We hadn’t seen him since Hyatt Camp. A couple days ago, we saw his name in the register entering California. Today, we passed him taking a break in the heat. He later passed us while we were having lunch. We tried to catch up with him and couldn’t. This guy is the real deal and we publicly owe Get Smart an apology (even though we never called him out or stated our opinions to anyone other than ourselves). We were being hypocritical judging him like other thru-hikers judge us. Get Smart is kicking ass on the trail and doing it solo. 

I was never so happy to see a tiny hamlet in my life. We started the day near 7000’ and Seiad Valley sits below 1400’. That means we’ve got to drop over a vertical mile to get into town (and we’ll have to climb a mile on the other side to get out). Nonetheless, it was a vision because it meant our steep descent was nearing its end (not really, we still had 5 miles to go). For comparison sake, this is a larger drop down and climb out than dropping down into the Grand Canyon. 

My ankles were killing me. The trail from 7000’ down to 4000’ was loose rock with a slanted trail bed. I’m scared of heights, so I tended to walk with my upper trail foot above the screen cocked at an even steeper angle. This allowed me to keep my downhill foot solidly in the middle of the trail. When there wasn’t a 500+’ drop beside the trail, I would walk with both feet in the trail. That was rare at the upper elevations. 

As per typical Bear plans, we did have a bale out option (other than parachutes from 7000’ down into the valley…it’s my understanding that made no higher than option 6 in the plan). There was a spring at 6 miles out that had a very sketchy looking trail leading down to a piped spring. It we got water there, we could camp at 4.7 miles out of town. The spring junction was the make or break point. Since we passed it up before realizing it (only Bunny recognized the trail), we were committed to town. 

The final two miles, I was finally able to keep up with the group. I don’t think it was because I was getting stronger. It had more to do with everyone else was starting to fall apart. I had made the observation yesterday that 17 miles seemed to be our limit as a group. That’s not meaning we can’t do more, just that after 17 miles, we start to need longer recovery time. We can knock out 16s pretty consistently, but longer than that and we need a shorter day or even a zero day to recover. This was the 17 mile mark. Everyone else was breaking down to the point I had 5 miles earlier. I had company in my pain. 

The thing that kept us going,the thing that always keeps us going, was non-trail food. According to Guthook, the restaurant at Wildwood stays open until 9. Because of Covid, Wildwood is limiting its clientele solely to PCT hikers. We made it to the tavern before 7:30 leaving us plenty of time to eat, shower, have popcorn, celebrate another hiker’s birthday with chocolate cake alamode. During the course of all this eating, I managed to drink a liter of water, 2 diet cokes, and 2 unsweetened iced teas. I didn’t pee before bed nor did I get up at any point in the night to pee. I might be narrowing in on why I felt so crappy today. 

EFG

Our last night in Oregon was a bust. I slept great for the second night in a row and I credit the new CBD potion I bought in Ashland. The bust was not seeing a bear. Allegedly, the giant raccoons do exist in Oregon. One girl we met on the trail claimed to have seen one just outside of Shelter Cove. We missed that one as well. A couple yesterday, Salt and McGyver, said they saw one at Bear Dog Creek which is where we’re headed for our first night in California. 

I look ahead. Not like Bear looks ahead. He routinely falls asleep studying the next day’s map. He’s even been known to drop his phone on his face a time or two. My point being is that there is a pit latrine at an old cabin less than a mile into California. We are camped less than 0.3 miles from the border. I used to make it a week at a time when I was attending Boy Scout camp. I can make a mile to not have to dig a hole. I was the only one who planned ahead today. 

Sassy did give me inspiration for a song when I mentioned that I was the only one with enough bowel control to pull off the multistage brown blaze. 

 🎶 Bowel Control to Major Tom.
  Pit latrine lies just beyond.
  Hold your load until there. 
  There is no filter for brown air. 🎶

An instant trail classic. Even better than 🎶 I kissed a squirrel and I liked it. 🎶

We met a couple of guys, Wrong Way and Savior, at the border who had just the register. They had spent 4 1/2 months making their way through California. The PCT in CA is almost 1700 miles long…California is a huge state in area and population with over 38 million residents (more than the population of Canada). We chatted for a bit, took pictures, and signed the log book. In the spirit of William Shakespeare, inspired by our recent stay in Ashland, I could think of only one thing to say—“Get thee to a privy!”

I ran ahead of the rest. I was under a time crunch. I have a window of opportunity that is only open for so long of a morning and I could feel the window starting to close. I’m all about weight reduction these past few days. Spoiler alert, I made it. All I’ll say is that it was a 3 sided privy with a view up the mountain. It could have had better view orientation, but beggars can’t be choosers. There was a sign on the wall asking hikers to not throw trash in the hole as over 700 people use this outhouse every year. 

It only took an hour for us to cover the first 1.1 miles of the day, but it was an eventful start. It was time to get serious. Bear called for hiking formation and off we went. These next few days don’t make a lo5 of sense to be as we will be heading predominantly West to form a big loop before turning South and then, eventually back East. This is how the PCT makes a 40 mile distance from Mt Shasta into a 200 mile trail experience. 

We had not started the day carrying a lot of water because the Trinity Alp section which we have entered has many more reliable water sources. We verified this by stopping after a couple of miles for a snack and filling up with water. There’s another source in just 3 miles, so we only carried a bit over a liter each. This is how we hiked on the Appalachian Trail. We just carried a liter of water most of the time to save weight. 

Our hiker appetites are starting to grow after nearly 500 miles. Bear and Sassy had already hiked about 300 miles before joining us on the PCT, so Sassy’s appetite has been strong for quite a while. We’re just starting to catch up to her. We stopped for a lunch break at the junction to the next spring. After looking at the water 400’ below us, we decided we could make it another 6 miles with what we had on us. 

There were many more hikers on the trail today. It would appear that we have caught up with and are passing the bubble. In my opinion, most of these hikers are going to be running into snow in the North Cascades before they finish. Most hikers are aware of the risk, but are delaying making any decision to jump north and head back south. There is a big arrogance on the PCT regarding thru-hike purity. Most young hikers out here only accept a continuous hike in all one direction to be a success. On the AT, a thru-hike is defined as hiking the entire trail in a single year regardless of direction, flip flopping, slack packing, what have you. I definitely felt this arrogance last year when we were flipping around in the desert to keep moving because of all of the snow. 

One hiker told us it’s all part of the adventure. If you don’t run the chance of failure, it’s not an adventure. The PCT is not an adventure, it’s a challenge. An adventure is what Lewis and Clark did when they spent two years exploring pristine territory that didn’t have roads and trail. Today’s hikers have a Guthook which tells them everything they need to know, including where all the hard to find water is. We have towns every 50 miles on average to buy supplies. The adventurers were on their own. They might have gotten some help from Native Americans, but they killed their own food. The PCT is difficult. It is challenging. It can be a right of passage. It can be lots of things, but an adventure? All the tools at our disposal and the ability to mitigate risk would kind of reduce its stature as an adventure in the traditional sense of the word. 

By the time we made it to Bear Dog Spring, Bunny and I had been out of water for a couple of miles. If we hadn’t had Guthook to tell us where the water was and, if we weren’t carrying Sawyer water filters, it might have been more of an adventure for us finding water. Instead, we knew there was a water source hiding about 50’ off trail which we would have never found on our own. Now if a Bear had shown up while we were filtering, that would have been a bit of an adventure. Alas, we just had a bit of a challenge today. 

The camp we had set our sights on was less than a mile from the spring. We still try not to camp near water because wildlife relies on the same water we do and if people take over water sources, animals suffer. Although, it might increase our chances of seeing a bear. We rumbled on into camp and we’re trying to pick out tent sites. Bear went into an area in the trees and found a good looking sight, but someone had changed their baby’s diaper and left it on the ground. He went over to give it a little kick only to find it was a rock, but we had all seen a dirty diaper. 

Earlier in the day, we were seeing a lot of cow pies in the trail. Sassy stopped walking and backed up looking through the trees. I looked where she was looking. So did Bunny. We all saw the same thing…a cow standing behind the trees off the trail. We yelled at it, but it didn’t move. We yelled again and looked harder. It was just a downed tree with some white branches that looked like a cow. The mind sees what it wants to see. 

The mosquitoes are gone. We sat outside and ate supper together once again. Bear and Sassy’s tent is starting to fall apart and they are looking at the possibility of buying a new tent. It’s only taken 1000 miles and 120 nights of peeing on their Big Agnes tent, but my urine is finally having the desired effect. We gave them a tour of our new LightHeart tent. If they had a bit less trail dirt on them, we would have invited them in. The tent still has that “new tent” feel and Bunny won’t allow me to take any of the furniture covers off, yet. 

EFG

This was a first. Magic came to us in our tent and woke us up. Doc, who we had met at House of a Thousand Cups as well as heard of last year while hiking in Washington, came up to the shelter about 7 offering apples and oranges. In addition, he offered to take all of our trash. Bunny and I were still in the tent drinking our coffee when he showed up. At the mention of trash, Bunny pushed me out to get rid of it (she’s our designated sanitation engineer while on the trail. I’m getting some pushback on this designation). People don’t realize what a big deal it is for hikers to get rid of trash (unless they are/were hikers themselves). Hikers abhor carrying any extra, dead weight. Right behind slow moving spouse, garbage is at top of the list. 

Glen, who had cowboy camped on the floor of the shelter was gone pretty close by 7:30. We did talk to him a bit about the state of Jefferson, but didn’t push the topic very hard. For those unfamiliar, there has been a movement in Northern California and Southern Oregon since 1940 to break away and form a separate state. In a nutshell, these are people that now designate themselves as a Trump Republicans. It is kind of a single color group who feels the rest of the state has gone too liberal. They don’t want San Francisco or any of the coastal “pinko liberal” towns to join them. In other words, these are the descendants of the southerners who fled the south at the end of the Civil War. The areas they want to incorporate into a state would have no industry, consist mainly of desert, and have no natural resources to exploit. They don’t consider that they would have to pay for a new Capitol and government infrastructure, education, national representation, driver’s license bureaus, Fire stations, etc.  I’m guessing why nothing has happened in over 80 years of effort. 

There are similar movements and sentiments all over the country. Take my home state, Illinois, as an example. Downstaters mistakingly believe that Chicago sucks all the money from the rest of the state when it’s actually the other way around. There would not be the extensive road system throughout the state without the taxes collected in Chicago. Less dense populations just don’t generate the tax base to support a large state and all the required/mandated infrastructure. I get that people feel like their voices aren’t being heard and want to take some form of action. 

Bunny claims that I was snoring last night. I claim that Bunny was snoring. We can all agree that Bunny hates the thought of me peacefully resting and recuperating. Bear and Sassy were not bothered by my snoring. Glen seemed to sleep ok even if he tossed and turned a lot. As usual, she feigned sleep while I was preparing breakfast. She didn’t really perk up until she heard someone volunteer to carry our garbage out. Once she’s up, she’s a whirlwind of motion until she ready to go. I was the slow one today. If I could have avoided a latrine trip, we’d have all been ready at the same time. My bowels cost us today. 

We’re only 16.5 miles from being done with the Oregon section. There wasn’t anything significant to see today, but we decided to take it easy and try to enjoy our last full day and night in Oregon. It was hot, but not quite as hot as yesterday. The amount of climbing we did in the 16 miles was pretty equal to our gains and losses yesterday but over 6 additional miles. After debating about pushing on into California, we opted to stick with Bear’s original plan of camping just 0.3 miles from the state line. We’re going to give the Oregon bears one last night to show themselves. 

Water is starting to get better as we are about to enter the Trinity Alps of Northern California. We didn’t have more than 7 miles between water sources today and we hope to be able to reduce the amount we carry with us starting tomorrow. Having said that, we did camp at a dry site tonight so we had to carry water a bit over a mile to camp. 

There were several nice spots right next to a dirt road that leads into California. We picked our spots to set up and then ate supper together. We decided to look back on our Oregon experiences as we’re getting ready to leave. We’ve seen quite a lot in over 450 miles. We got to visit our friends, John and Jenny in Sisters but missed Leela and Brsni because of Covid. We spent multiple days in Bend and Ashland, both cities we liked. We saw deer, coyotes, grouse, osprey, peregrine falcons, and bald eagles (still waiting for a bear). We had Dancing Dog hike with us for the first 100 miles and we only lost her one time (but recovered her the same night). We saw a straight line of volcanoes that are part of the ring of fire: Mt Hood, Mt Jefferson, the Cinders, Three Fingered Jack, Mt Washington, the Three Sisters, the Bachelor, the Husband, Diamond Peak, Mt Bailey, Mt McLaughlin, and Mt Mazama. We walked along the rim of Crater Lake and were stunned by its beauty. We walked in lava fields and crossed snow fields (some times in the same day). We’ve lived through the plague of mosquitoes, been stung by yellow jacks, and survived each other’s farts (yes, it’s confirmed, all four of us do fart). I still haven’t found everything that gives me gas, but we can all agree if there’s water in it, I’ll have gas. 

Between Bunny and I hiking the Oregon Coast Trail last year and the PCT this year, we are approaching 1000 miles of Oregon hiking. We have not hiked more in any other state. The same can be said for Bear and Sassy. We hiked 600 miles of the AT with them and 450 miles of the PCT. We have spent more time with them than anyone else and we’re still friends (I think, they tend to run ahead whenever I have a drink of water). We still have another 900 miles to hike on the PCT, so I’m sure to test their tolerance levels. 

Oregon has been fun. We’ll see if the peanut butter I rubbed on the Big Agnes tent that appears beside us every night will provide us the bear sighting we’ve been waiting for. I’m sure, out of professional courtesy, Bear and Sassy will not be harmed. Just like a cougar will never attack us since Bunny is one herself. 

EFG

Nobody wanted to get moving today. Even Bear slept until 6:05. We had agreed to meet for breakfast at 8, but that got pushed to 8:30. Then we took our time at breakfast (since we had become regulars…this was our third day in a row at Brother’s Cafe). We didn’t leave the restaurant until 9:45 when we went 3 different ways: Bunny went back to the motel, Bear and Sassy went to the drug store, and I went to the barbershop for some heat relief. “Onion head Easy just got peeled.”

When Bear got back to the motel, he requested late checkouts for us. We got a ride arranged to pick us up a bit after noon, and then we wanted to stop at a drug store on the way out of town (Bear and Sassy couldn’t find what they were looking for downtown. When we got to the drug store, it was next door to an Albertsons, so I went in to find some Mio lemonade and bacon jerky (new staples for all of us). After my successful hunt, I felt the need for a celebratory prize. I further delayed the return to the trail by going into a Subway and getting a foot long for the trail. All together, it was almost 1:30 before we got dropped off at the steep trail leading up from Callaghan’s. 

Bear had already been a bit apprehensive about the heat and joked about staying another day in town. The high is supposed to be 97 today, but only 91 tomorrow. I was willing if he could use his charm to get us a great deal on the rooms for one more day. Bunny and Sassy were the kill joys that wouldn’t even let him try. They wanted to get back on the trail. I was serious about staying another day—I was dragging. In the two triple zeros we’ve had, I have yet to get a nap in. Between waiting on Bunny, getting food, doing laundry, updating the blog (that very few people even read), and eating, there just isn’t enough “me time” for Easy. 

The half mile trail connector was steep and hot. By the time we made it up the 400’ elevation gain, there was no indication that any of us had done laundry or had showers in the last 3 days. I cheated the system by being the only one of the four of us who didn’t take a shower this morning. What was the point? Give us all sniff test and see if you can tell the difference. 

By the time we were 3 miles in, I was dragging bad. Everyone else had eaten a big breakfast while I only had an order of bacon, some hash browns, and an English muffin. Bear had managed to get 4 eggs for 2 like he did most days in Maine. All I could do was dream of my sub sitting in the top of my pack, begging to be eaten. I’d even gotten jalapeños on it so no one would want any since they missed their chance. At the water break, I said I had to have food. 

It was already 3 and we still had 7 miles to go. Instead of feeling stronger after eating, I felt even weaker. After another 2 miles, we came to a picnic table and water faucet on the side of the trail at what used to be a bed and breakfast. The owner and his dog stopped by and talked for a bit bi was hoping that I looked enough like a cancer victim with my newly shaved head, pale complexion, and limp that he’d offer us rooms for the night. Further proof that envisioning my desires doesn’t work (we checked the lottery numbers today and we didn’t win—too bad because every regular reader of this blog would get a $10,000 prize if I win). 

Sassy gave me 2 salt tablets. Bunny slapped me and told me to man up. It was true. I was the obvious weak link today. Even though we still had 5 miles to go, we had already climbed well over 2000’ of the 3000’ we had to ascend today. The steepest parts of the climb were behind us. We still hadn’t seen many nobo hikers today, six at most. A lot of people must have jumped north. 

The salt tablets seemed to help me. I can’t take the heat (and it wasn’t even that bad today). I really can’t stand being in the sun for long periods. One other consideration might be that I am a direct descendant of Sampson and the haircut I got this morning actually took all my strength with it. If my strength comes back in a week with my hair, I’ll be really surprised. I didn’t really have any before I got my haircut. 

Bunny spotted our shelter across the valley while we were hiking. That helped to perk me up some. We just had to stop and get water a half mile before the shelter. It didn’t slow us down much. The end was in sight with its rewards…picnic table and pit latrine. Just a water source shy of nirvana. 

There were several cars parked around the shelter when we arrived, but it was just a couple of couples out for a picnic after work. We talked while we set our tents up. As they left, they gave us some fresh homegrown cherry tomatoes. They were delicious. We took over the picnic table and made supper. Bunny was getting tired and cranky because it was almost 9 by the time we finished and she wanted to go to bed. Sassy: “It’s getting later earlier these days.”

EFG

Our hotel didn’t have public laundry machines. I’m sure we could have just set in the lobby for a few hours and they would have offered to do our laundry for free, but we chose another route. After trying, unsuccessfully, to find a laundromat anywhere near us, Bear came up with the idea of asking at the hiker hostel. 

By sheer coincidence, we were only 1 block away from the former Ashland Hostel. We had heard great things about the newly named House of a Thousand Cups, but we’re afraid to stay in a hostel this year because of Covid. We went by and we’re impressed with the new owner, Heinz, and how clean the place is. For the average hiker, this is a great bargain and very clean. Heinz was very helpful and let us do laundry saving us a lot of time and hassle. 

Heinz attempted a sobo thru-hike last year. He was carrying a heavy pack and eventually got wore down and developed a hernia. He had made it to Ashland. He spent lots of time at the Ashland Hostel while recuperating. He liked it so much, he decided to buy it when the owners said they were closing it. 

Other than laundry, we got resupplied and ate. We spent 3 days in town eating…pizza, steaks, Indian food, Thai food, burgers, ice cream, ice cream, and pizza. Ashland has lots of great restaurants situated around the plaza area and Lithia Park. 

Last year, Ashland was on our plans to take an extended zero because of all the great things we had heard about it. Every year, it hosts a Shakespeare Festival from February to October where at least 10 productions take place. They even have a replica of the Globe Theatre. This is Covid year, so all productions have been cancelled. Even without Shakespeare, the town is bustling, but local merchants are complaining about the lack of business. 

Ashland has become a favorite relocation for Bay Area residents. They can sell their spot in San Francisco and come up here to pay cash for a “lower cost of living.” As a result, the housing market is way out of our price range. This is pretty apparent when there are almost as many real estate agent offices as restaurants in a small town of 20,000 people. We did like Ashland, but not so much that we’d want to relocate here. Bend is still winning that race. 

Ashland does have 14 city parks. All but two are dog friendly in an attempt to give wildlife an opportunity to come into town. We have seen more deer in Ashland in these 3 days than we have on a month on the trail. They are not afraid at all. 

The owner of the shuttle service posted on FB that she was thankful for the hikers that have come through town who have made it possible for them to remain open in such a tight year. Perhaps other people will pay more attention in the future to the economic impact long distance has on communities. We have been very welcomed throughout OR this year. 

We did enjoy our rest break, but it’s time to get back on the trail. We’ve arranged for a return shuttle around noon on Monday and we’re only planning on a short 10 miles (all uphill) to get us reintroduced to hiking after 3 days. I did weigh myself at House of a a Thousand Cups and saw that I had lost almost 15# on the day we arrived. I’m sure I restocked my fat stores, as well, while in town. 

EFG