July 6, 2016

Callahan’s Lodge (mile 1715.2) to bushcamp (mile 1738.6)

Miles: 23.4

Total miles walked: 1332.3

Sleeping in a king size bed felt wonderful. We were able to snuggle and then sleep like starfish without disturbing one another. Someday we hope to have this same luxury in our home. Until then, we will continue to enjoy our cozy tent home and occasional nights in big beds.

Although we were next to the highway the noise didn’t bother any of us, not even with the window open.

Our room was east facing and the rising sun was beautiful. The open blinds let in the bright orange rays of yet another clear Northern California day.

We woke up around 6 am and continued to work on blog posts. We like to get caught up before walking away from reception. It lets you, the readers, stay updated and allows us a clean slate for the next “backpacking trip.”

We consider this whole 6 month adventure a string of shorter backpacking trips. It makes it sound much more feasible, more enjoyable and less overwhelming.

When sorting through our resupply packages the day before we realized we had one too many dinners. Since they were all good, we decided to each eat one for breakfast instead of going to the restaurant downstairs.

So around 7:30 am Andy enjoyed buckwheat with sautéed veggies and a tin of sardines while Laurie wolfed down quinoa with kale and pinto beans.

At 9 am we hoisted our now full and heavy packs and walked away from Callahan’s Lodge. Our mighty trail family of 5 had shrunk to only 3. Cardinal was going home and Fixie was taking a zero.

Speed walked with us back under Interstate 5 and along the old hwy 99 for what felt like forever. The road was a gradual and continuous up. It was one of those roads that don’t look bad but when biking up them your legs burn.

Our legs were burning today just by walking – but not because we were walking fast – our backpacks were too darn heavy!

It was about a mile on asphalt before we noticed the familiar PCT emblem on a signpost.

Ah… Soft dirt! It felt fabulous.

We walked along the roller coaster trail for about 10 miles before stopping for lunch. We walked past Pilot Rock – an outcropping rock with hexagon shaped spires.

The trail meandered between forests and grassy meadows. The scenery was not as dramatic as in the past week but still beautiful. We were surrounded by green and brown rolling hills. The temperature was pleasant and the sun was out.

Unfortunately Laurie wasn’t feeling good. Today was the first day of her period and she felt sluggish. Her backpack was heavy with 5 days of food synched tightly around her already bloated waist and hips. The first few miles and hours rolled by slowly.

At lunch Andy offered to carry Laurie’s food bag. She reluctantly took him up on the offer, feeling guilty for not carrying her own stuff.

“We are a team” he kept reminding her.

“Okay, okay… But if you feel one ounce of pain let me know and I will take it back.”

The exchange was made and off we went. Laurie felt more comfortable and Andy felt good knowing he was helping.

The afternoon was uneventful. We got water from a beautiful spring that had water flowing from 3 parts of a pipe.

Again we walked up and down small hills and in and out of the sun and shade. Andy’s new blue shoes acted as a rock magnet as he tripped his way through the miles.

He had a small temper tantrum after tripping over one too many rocks. The extra weight of his pack propelled him forward and with every trip came an even harder landing.

Luckily he was never injured, just frustrated. After tossing his hiking poles 20 feet ahead of him and kicking one of them when we reached it, he felt better and continued on.

At mile 1731.3 we passed our personal halfway mark. There was no sign post of course but we did our own little celebration. It was a toned down version of a celebration as Laurie wasn’t feeling so hot and we just wanted to reach camp.

At 7:15 we came to one of our proposed campsites. Speed was asleep under a tree. He had eaten and was resting, waiting to hear our thoughts on continuing or making home for the evening.

It didn’t take long for us to decide to stay. We had hiked plenty, particularly with a 9 am start.

We ate a yummy dinner, polished off a bag of 18 Rabbits granola and made a plan for the next day.

Ideally we have 1 more day of easy walking before the snow and blow downs… We will see though, each person we talk to has a slightly different trail report.

For now we hope to go to sleep soon to the noise of the waterfall less than a tenth of a mile away.

Tonight we are grateful for injury free tripping and supportive partners.

July 5, 2016

Bushcamp (mile 1700.1) to the Callahan’s Lodge (mile 1715.2)

Miles: 15.8 (15.1 PCT miles plus .7 mile side trail to the Callahan’s)

As a request from one of our readers we are adding our total miles walked to each post.

Total mileage walked: 1309.6

Sometimes it is easiest to wake up the morning of a town day. Large breakfasts or the appeal of fresh fruit call our names. This morning however, the coziness of our sleeping bags won the battle.

We braved the cool air and started walking around 6:30 am. We enjoyed the uphill as a way to warm up. So far the weather in Oregon has provided a nice change from the oppressive heat of Northern California. We hope it continues but without rain.

The trail paralleled dirt roads for a few miles. We walked amongst corn lilies in meadows and admired all the flowers. It feels really special to be here at this time of year – the skies are smoke free, temperatures refreshing and the colors of the flowers are vibrant.

At the top of our climb we found 2 lawn chairs and coolers on the trail.

More trail magic!!

It didn’t matter that it was only 8:30 am, we sat down and enjoyed a soda. There is something delicious and incredibly special about finding random sodas in unexpected places. Thank you to whoever maintains this cache.

So far Oregon has been pretty amazing. We have had trail magic 2 days in a row!!

From here it was a long 10.5 mile descent to Interstate 5 and the Callahan’s Lodge. We took our time, winding through open fields and shady wooded areas.

We passed many day hikers out enjoying the flowers and nice weather.

Eventually we came to the Callahan cutoff. Initially Laurie walked right past the sign since, in true Laurie fashion, she was staring at the ground. To her credit, the sign is located much higher than most signs and everyone else in the group missed it initially as well. Everyone except Andy, he looks up a lot.

We followed the narrow path straight down through the forest. The steepness of the trail helped us appreciate the gradual grade of the PCT. We walked past a sketchy railroad yard and down a few dirt roads to the I-5. We crossed under the freeway and finally made it through the double doors of the lodge at 1:30 pm.

Fixie and Cardinal arrived a little before us. Speed, who seems to always arrive at our destination at least an hour ahead of us, had already enjoyed lunch and inquired about room rates.

We discussed our lodging options and opted to share a penthouse suite. We added two rollaways to our room with a king size bed. The jacuzzi tub turned into a great foot and long underwear washing station!

We sat on the patio while waiting for our room to be ready. We sorted through our resupply boxes and organized our backpacks.

Fixie’s partner arrived around 2:30 pm with gluten free and vegan banana bread. Town magic!! We devoured it within 10 minutes. Thanks Steven!

Around 3:30 our room was ready. We showered and piled into the car for a field trip to Ashland.

We got fuel at the outfitter, Andy bought new shoes at the local running store and we all ate dinner at the Ashland Food Co-op. The store was amazing and also a bit overwhelming.

We wanted everything we saw. The highlight of the dinner was the sautéed kale, a normal staple in our diet.

We were still hungry after dessert (coconut ice cream, peach and nectarine) so we ordered a burrito bowl. We are not sure if we should be amazed or frightened by how much we are eating these days.

Once back at the hotel we tried to catch up on blogging before falling asleep.

We love neros. We get the luxury of fresh food, a clean body and clean clothes after an active morning. But we don’t break the bank because we only eat lunch or dinner once.

Tomorrow we start our 5 day trek to Crater Lake. Neither of us have been there and are really looking forward to seeing it.

And we really don’t know what to expect from the trail. We keep hearing mixed things. Will there be lots of snow? Blowdowns? Mosquito clouds so thick one can’t see their feet?

We will find out!

Tonight we are grateful for food co-ops and comfy beds.

July 4, 2016

Bushcamp (mile 1676.8) to bushcamp (mile 1700.1)

Miles: 23.3

We slept well in the cool breeze. It was so refreshing to feel cozy rather than sticky in our sleeping bags.

When we got going, we gradually climbed out of camp. The cool air and our rested limbs made the walking feel easy.

A couple miles from camp we reached our first spring. It is awesome getting cool and clear water out of the little streams that pop up from under the ground. Andy is thoroughly enjoying drinking non chlorinated water. Seriously, he can’t get enough.

At camp we were 12.5 miles from the Oregon border. We had joked that we would meet for lunch in Oregon.

We spent the morning walking apart, sporadically catching up with one another but now as a group of 5 we all have different needs at different times.

Around 11:30 we reached Oregon. Wahoo!!

Speed, Fixie and Cardinal were already there, sitting in Oregon waiting for us.

The moment felt surreal for Andy. Over the years he has seen so many pictures of hikers under this distinct California/Oregon sign. And now he is here himself. It feels really good to know that all the hard work saving money, planning and researching has allowed this dream to become a reality.

Along with the other milestones, this pivotal transition felt like it came with an asterisk. We still have 406 miles of California to complete so we really aren’t done, so it is hard for both of us, but more so laurie, to celebrate the milestones.

We both continue to think and talk about this as we walk. Why is it so hard to celebrate the nearly 1300 miles that we have walked? Why does the order matter? Oh brains, why do you make it hard to feel accomplished?

We congratulated one another, took celebratory pictures and decided to hike on given there was no shade and it was still too early for lunch.

We didn’t get far though. About a half mile up the trail we came upon a sign that read “PCT 2016” and pointed to the left.

Trail magic!

Talk about a warm welcome to a new state! Ed had an amazing setup which included watermelon, cold sodas, hot dogs, chairs and much more.

Laurie felt so happy and was so surprised that she almost cried tears of joy.

We sat in the shade, chit chatted, ate and drank til our hearts were content. We must have been there for at least an hour.

Since we still had 10.5 miles til camped we pulled ourselves away from Ed, Rio (his dog) and the Pinnacle Bar and Grill and continued on.

Thanks Ed for the delightful treats. You are awesome.

We climbed a gradual hill, talking about Ed, his trail magic and commenting about how we had everything hikers could want at a trail magic stop.

After we crested the hill, the trail was gentle. We walked passed more bear grass and fields of wildflowers.

After hiking up and around a tricky snow patch, we cruised to the 1,700 mile marker.

Congrats to Speed and Fixie for having walked this far!

A tenth of a mile later we reached camp to find Speed already done with dinner and his tent set up.

We all sat around and talked as we ate. It was really enjoyable to be outside without any mosquitoes around.

After dinner the temperature kept dropping, which led all of us to retreat to our tents. We’ve chosen to sleep without the rain fly again tonight. The breeze is going to feel wonderful.

We decided our trail names of Silver and Saver were not playful enough to match our personalities. Now that we are in a new state and nearing our halfway point we have changed our names to Shuffles and Dribbles. We will let you figure out who is who ☺

Tonight we are grateful for trail magic and new states to walk through.