June 22, 2016

Bushcamp (mile 1432.3) to dirt road (mile 1458)

Miles: 25.7

Today started out like many others – our alarms went off and we didn’t want to open our eyes.

Typically on backpacking trips one catches up on sleep. For some reason on our thru hike we can’t seem to get enough sleep.

Blogging takes time, and with the sun setting late we unwind later. Plus walking 15+ miles per day our bodies need more rest than usual. Maybe by the end of the hike we will figure out how much sleep we need to feel refreshed instead of groggy in the morning.

We were hiking by 6:20 am. Unfortunately the mosquitoes were up early as well. Laurie hiked with her head net on while Andy’s beard protected him.

The trail meandered through lush forests. We walked by lots of wild roses and ferns. The air was warm but we experienced moments of relief as we walked through cool and damp areas of the forest.

Eventually we climbed up to a clearing and ridge. Shasta stood prominently in front of us. It seems like more snow is melting every day. We ate a late lunch staring out at Shasta and the foresty hills in the foreground.

For most of the afternoon we stayed up high, walking up and down small hills amongst waist high bushes. The views were expansive.

Laurie, who walks with her head down, was leading when she walked straight into a low fallen tree branch. It shocked her and hopefully will remind her to look up once in a while.

Up on a south facing ridge we were able to see Lassen. It looked so small in the distance. It is inspiring to see how far we have walked in a week.

Back in a shady and lush section of trail Laurie suddenly rolled her left ankle and when she tried to catch herself with her right foot, her knee buckled and she went down. She fell slightly off the trail onto some brush. She started laughing instantly; nothing hurt but her ego.

We walked on, determined to reach our goal of walking more than 25 miles. The daylight hours are long but our bodies are not used to walking much past 6 pm. Our feet were tired, but we pushed on.

We got water from a seasonal stream and walked up to the top of the last hill before Ash Camp. We debated whether to keep going another mile to Deer Spring to make it a marathon day. We opted to stay here since it was higher and would hopefully have fewer mosquitoes, plus there were only 2 spots at Deer Creek and this late in the day they may have been taken.

We found a flat spot alongside the dirt road and set up our tent. The mosquitoes were out in droves but luckily we had the safety of our tent to keep us safe from an itch fest.

Getting to camp around 7:15pm meant we ate later and thus went to bed later. Luckily we are both tired from the day and will sleep well.

Tonight we are grateful for our bug nets and bites of cheese after a long day.

 

June 21, 2016

Burney Falls State Park (mile 1416.5) to bushcamp (mile 1432.3)

Miles: 15.8

Everyday on the trail is special, but today was extra special. It was the longest day of the year (Summer Soltice) and in the thru hiking world it was hike naked day.

Unfortunately, this stretch of trail was not ideal for partaking in the festivities. We started hiking in a very populated State Park, spent majority of the day hiking amongst mosquitoes, flies and gnats, and bushwhacked through overgrown trail.

Nevertheless it was still an awesome day.

We woke up around 5 with the intention of hiking by 7 to beat the heat. As you can imagine based on our history, that did not happen. Laurie got up to go snuggle with her mom and Andy fell back asleep. We were all exhausted from the stress of the day before and appreciated the extra sleep.

We had a delicious shmorgesboard breakfast of hard boiled eggs, avocado, black beans, chicken, hummus, fruit and nori.

When you have been backpacking for over 2.5 months there is no right or wrong time to eat anything. And, if you are Laurie you have been eating savory breakfasts for years.

We drove back to Burney Falls and picked up the PCT right where we left off. The trail was mellow at first, paralleling a road. We walked under the cover of pine trees, shaded from the quickly intensifying sun. We crossed some dirt roads and began a gentle climb.

Sue walked with us for the first 2.5 miles telling stories about her first backpacking trip at age 7. It is amazing how gear and food options have changed in 60 years.

We parted ways at the top of a hill. Goodbyes are hard for Laurie, particularly when she is not sure when she will see her mom again. Maybe in 2 days, maybe in 2 months…

The heat and the swarming bugs kept our hugs short as we were all eager to keep moving.

After another 2.5 miles the trail dropped down to Rock Creek. We took a break to get water and relax. Laurie melted onto a cool rock in the shade and fell asleep almost instantly. Andy stuck his feet in the water and worked on yesterday’s blog post.

Just after noon we shouldered our packs and headed across the bridge. From there the trail gained 3000 ft. Luckily it was mostly gradual and shady.

But it was hot!

Although we were in the shade, without any wind we roasted. We walked slowly and steadily, both saturated with sweat.

In 4.4 miles we reached a junction to a creek. We dropped our packs and walked the 0.1 mile down to Screwdriver Creek.

The water was refreshingly cool. Laurie placed one of the cold water bottles on her stomach as we climbed back up to the trail. It felt wonderful.

The trail continued up gradually. We walked past vibrant ferns and overgrown bushes. At some points the trail was so overgrown we could not see one another through the brush.

Today, the trail seemed to have many scents. At differing moments we smelled artichokes, cotton candy, fish and the only one that actually made sense – pine.

It was an olfactory experience, adding to the usual sights and sounds of the trail.

We passed 4 southbound hikers from Taiwan. They had also flipped up to Ashland from Kennedy Meadows. It felt like we were fish swimming upstream against the current.

This led Laurie to second guess our decision of hiking north from Belden yet again. Andy reassured her by reminding her that we are having fun, enjoying the trail, and that everything will be ok. Really, Laurie just wants to fit in.

“But why fit in when you were born to stand out?” Andy asks her, channeling Dr. Seuss.

Around 6 o’clock we got to our potential campsite. Earlier in the day our plan was to take some fun pictures here and keep hiking, but as the day wore on we both felt tired and liked the idea of an early evening.

As we turned the corner Laurie spotted a tent. Darn! We had gotten used to having no competition for the good camping spots. This spot was on a ridge with a spectacular view of Shasta.

Having spent all day in the trees waving our arms to get rid of bugs, the idea of an exposed and potentially windier and thus less buggy spot was very appealing. Apparently it was appealing to other people as well.

We chatted for a bit with the 2 guys camped there. They were section hikers from the Bay Area and curious about our experiences in the Sierras.

It is interesting how everyone focuses on the snow as the challenge, while for us it was the stream crossings.

We walked on another two tenths of a mile and found a spot on a ridge near a dirt road. Almost immediately the bumblebees, flies and mosquitoes found us.

But they couldn’t stop us. We wanted to celebrate hike naked day – at least for a little bit.

So we put up the tent, stripped down to our birthday suits and took a few photos with Mt. Shasta as the backdrop.

The cool breeze moving around our bodies felt really good. And so did the freedom to just be in that spot, together, enjoying ourselves.

After about 10 minutes we retreated to the tent. Andy put on some clothes and went to get the rest. By this time several bumble bees had made home inside our clothes.

Carefully and without getting stung Andy returned to the tent with all of our clothes.

We ate dinner and watched the sun drop behind the horizon. And the sunset. Oh my, what a sunset! It was stunning.

The sky turned pink before becoming orange. This is one of the many reasons we are our here.

Tomorrow we hope to beat our mileage record. We will see what the trail and our bodies provide.

Tonight we are grateful for magical sunsets and avocados.

June 20, 2016

Baum Lake (mile 1405.9) to Burney Falls State Park (mile 1416.5)

Miles: 10.6

We had a hard time waking up today but were determined to be up and moving before the mosquitoes ate us alive. We rallied and were on the trail before 6:30am.

Success. No bugs!

Four tenths of a mile up the trail we celebrated our 1,000 mile mark. We can hardly believe we’ve walked this far. It’s rewarding to know we can walk this many miles and feel as good as we do.

We hope our feet, bodies and minds continue to serve us well over the next 1,650 miles.

We walked fast, making miles quickly in the cool morning air. At a sort of high point near power lines we had reception so we took a break, made calls, answered emails, uncussessfully attempted to upload blog posts and moved on.

A few miles later, after crossing a series of dirt roads we came upon the Wild Bird Cache.

Trail magic!

Coolers full of soda, water, red vines, cheese puffs and pretzels were generously left by a family for hikers to enjoy.

Laurie finally got the fizzy, sugary drink she was craving yesterday. It wasn’t as rewarding since it was morning and still cool but she enjoyed a root beer nonetheless.

The table had boards nailed onto it, encouraging hikers to use sharpies to sign their names and a message if they so desired.

We appreciated the surprise and creativity of this cache. Thank you to those who maintain it!

We walked less than about hour and ran into Laurie’s mom headed toward us. She found us again. Yay!

We walked the 3.5 miles to Burney Falls State Park together.

It was beautiful! Millions of gallons of water cascading down two main waterfalls and at least a dozen others careening over weeping rocks covered in lichen. The lush forest surrounding the falls added to the beauty.

We then headed to the general store where Andy picked up our packages and Sue bought coconut popsicles for Laurie and herself.

The store wanted to charge us $16 for holding two packages. We were expecting to pay only $5 per box and were quite irritated. We told them that online it says the fee for holding packages is $5 per box, at which point the young lady behind the register looked in her log book and lowered the price to $11 for both boxes. Very shady.

Andy had chosen to send our resupply boxes to businesses and motels so we don’t get stuck in towns when the Post Offices are closed, but many businesses have increased their package pick up fees. A lot of them just before the hiking season started.

It was almost noon and we needed to charge our electronics, get food, shower, do laundry and post our blogs.

Andy stayed at the store charging everything while Laurie and her mom hiked one mile back to Highway 89 to get the rv.

When they returned we headed for the showers. We hadn’t showered in 7 days! But before we could go to the showers Sue insisted we go to the dump station to fill up her water tank.

It was hot, we were hungry and this was one more thing to do. Once the tank was full we all got in the rv. Andy was holding into the frame of the rv while getting in when Laurie shut the front passenger door on his fingers.

Andy’s ring finger was bleeding and his index and ring fingers hurt too, but nothing seemed broken.

Andy rushed back to the filling station, turned on the water and rinsed his bloody finger while Laurie grabbed a band aid.

Andy will be ok. He won’t lose any of his nails.

Finally we were on our way to the showers. We divided the quarters we had between the three of us and went to get clean.

Laurie had never used a coin operated shower before and it had been at least 7 years since Andy used one.

Laurie and Sue seemed to be enjoying themselves but Andy was not. The machine had returned one of his quarters. But it was too late when he noticed this had happened.

The water turned off just as he put in the quarter. Rats! He put in another quarter to get at least two more minutes of blissful hot water but nothing.

He was out of quarters with his upper body still covered in soap.

The day just kept getting better and better…

When Laurie was done she came to check on Andy and offered him three quarters. Thank you Laurie!

Andy put the quarters in the machine. No water. Frustrated, he called for Laurie while punching the machine.

After punching the machine a second time it returned his quarters.

He quickly grabbed his things and moved to the other shower. He put in the quarters and he had water again. But it was really cold and he waited what felt like a minute for the water to warm up.

The race against the clock isn’t a game Andy enjoys. He knew he had enough time to rinse himself off but it was still frustrating.

When he got back to the rv it was 2pm. We got to the laundromat in the town of Burney around 2:30pm, put in a load and headed for the Safeway for lunch.

We bought two roast chickens, a dozen eggs, hummus, carrots, kimchee, salad greens, grapes, cottage cheese, nectarines and four avocados.

We took the grocery bags to the rv while Sue went back in to buy more fruit. We felt uneasy with our clothes sitting in the washing machine but Sue insisted we get gas first. She asked Laurie to clean the windshield which took additional time.

Finally around 3:45 we returned to the laundromat, put our clothes in the dryer and went in search of a place to eat.

Needless to say, we were all hangry and irritated by this point. None of us had eaten or drank much since 10am.

We were all on edge.

After lunch, we drove to a potential campground but it was closed. We drove back to Burney Falls State Park in hopes of camping there but they were full, so we dropped off Andy so he can charge the electronics while Laurie and Sue went in search of home for the night.

It’s been a long day. Our town stop was a luxury and became more of a headache than it was worth. We go into “go” mode when we get into town and it is hard to make time for tasks other than our own.

Sue was a good sport and we tremendously appreciate her driving us around. We will plan the next visit where there are less distractions so it is more pleasant for everyone.

Laurie and Sue returned to pick up Andy after having secured a spot at Dusty Campground just outside Burney Falls.

We ate dinner in the park before heading to our campsite on the shore of Lake Britton. It was pretty but buggy.

We were all tired and ready for bed. Laurie hung out with her mama while Andy relaxed in the tent.

It’s now 10pm and we are finally in our sleeping bags. What a day! We are ready to get back on the trail. But first we sleep.

Tonight we are grateful for grapes and available campsites.