From the windy ridge, I hiked through a heavily burned area to Etna summit. The silence there was the most striking part; there were no birds chirping, not even insects humming. Then I created a saddle and came back into the land of the living and breathed in the scent of flowers again and saw Mt. Shasta in the background.
It was very hot, but in 28 miles I reached my goal: Etna summit.
In the previous 14 days I had hiked over 450 miles. I hadn’t taken a day off in 19 days and in that span only one day was less than 24 miles.
The reason for the big push was to meet Jacob in Ashland for some plays. Obviously I had not made it there, but we wanted to meet on a weekend and not July 4th, so our plan was to meet in Etna then drive up there together.
I got a hitch into town then stopped at the brewery for a veggie burger. Jacob was still a ways away so I managed to hitch from Etna to Yreka (in two rides) and check into our motel just before he arrived. We were ready for a relaxing weekend together!