I was awoken at 5 am by Ice Cream’s alarm going off. I thought that I wouldn’t have to hear that sound for these four months, but alas. It was actually good to get up and out of camp early since we had a big hill to climb and it was going to be hot later in the day.
This hill was even bigger than the Belden Beast: it was 4,300′ of climbing in 8 miles. Red Bass and Thunder took off like rockets and I had a hard time keeping up.
I spent the first part of the morning hiking with Red Bass and learning his life story. I hadn’t talked with him much before and our easy conversation made the time and hill go by quickly.

When we reached the top of the big hill, we took a break and then I hiked with Thunder for the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon. We were going through sections of rolling hills and Thunder pounded up them at breakneck speed. It was great to talk to him and learn about his hobby of body building.
We went through some beautiful meadows and the sunlight made the grass look golden.

The four of us hiked together until 6 pm when they stopped to set up camp. By then we were only 6 miles from the Oregon border and although I had already gone 27 miles, I really wanted to go for it. Once I realized it was mostly downhill I was set on sleeping in Oregon that night.
I made it to the border around 8:30 pm and celebrated with Breathless, who soon approached.

I hiked just two more miles after the border so I could fill up on water for the night. Oregon welcomed me with this amazing sunset.

I didn’t know it at the time, but I had made it to the top of the ridge the night before which worked out well. I was up early and started hiking when the temperature wasn’t too bad. There was a long flat section with mostly dead trees. Some had been burned, but some were just dead.
Luckily I left that area and got to some places that were much more scenic.

I went down a huge hill into a narrow valley with a river at the bottom. I crossed the river several times and a few times I had to Ford because the bridge had been burned or washed away.

It was so hot out that I was actually very happy to walk through the cool water with my shoes on. It helped to cool my feet a lot. I even dunked my hat at one point. It was a hot and sweaty walk. And then I got to the road.
The trail followed an unpaved road for three miles then a paved road into the town of Seiad Valley.

The last few miles down to and over the Klamath river were the worst. It was so hot and the sun was just beating down with no shade. I wanted to get to the store before it closed at 8 pm and I didn’t have much time to spare.
When I was less than half a mile away and really flagging, a car pulled over and a woman offered me some cold watermelon she had just cut up. It was amazing!! Cold and juicy and sweet. Just what I needed to get me the rest of the way!
When I got to the store I found a bunch of hikers there: Seven, Breathless, Indy, Huck, and heard that I just missed a few others. Even with taking 2.5 days off I had caught up with a lot of people quickly. They had been there all afternoon and left while I was in the store. It was unbearably hot, even at 6 pm.
When I picked up my box I also got a pint of ice cream and a quart of orange juice. I downed both in ten minutes.
I was going to stay at the RV park, but it was not very inviting so after the shortest resupply yet, I got back on the trail at 8:30 pm. I departed the road after less than a mile, then started to climb. I got about another mile before it was dark and in a small campsite I found Thunder, Red Bass, and Ice Cream. It was the hottest night yet and I only got in my sleeping bag to avoid the bugs.
I hiked 40.5 miles that day. A new personal record!

When Jacob dropped me off at Etna summit, it was 3 pm but luckily it wasn’t too hot and I was mostly in the trees with some shade. I knew the next few days were supposed to be blistering hot so I tried to put in as many miles as I could that day. I hiked until 9:15 pm when I found a very small flat place that wouldn’t actually be considered a campsite but served me well.
The moon is getting full again and it was so bright it kept waking me up during the night so I didn’t sleep very well.

After spending the night in Yreka, Jacob and I drove up to Ashland and saw two plays on Friday. The matinée of Much ado about Nothing was spectacular!! And the evening show of Fingersmith had me on the edge of my seat.
We stayed in a lovely studio apartment just a few blocks from the theater and were able to escape the heat in the air conditioned room.
On Saturday we did chores and ran errands then saw a performance of the Count of Monte Cristo in the evening. It was good, but it’s hard to summarize a 1,000 page book into a 2.5 hour play.
Sunday morning we took a backstage tour of the theaters which was really cool then we had a picnic lunch in the park.
Sadly, our lovely, romantic weekend had to end. Jacob had to drive home on Sunday afternoon so he dropped me off at the trail on his way.
No pictures with this entry, sadly.

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!

The morning after leaving Deadfall Lake I had a flat 20 miles to cruise along. At one moment in the morning I was checking the tie on my phone when I heard a rustling in the woods on my right. Thinking it was a deer I didn’t pay much attention until a large black furry shape scurried across the trail about ten feet in front of me and raced down the slope. It was a young black bear, but was much more afraid of me than I was of it and I didn’t get a good look until it was far away.
I entered the Trinity Alps Wilderness that day and was awarded with some stunning views.

But it was hot!! And there wasn’t much shade. And in the afternoon I had a huge hill to climb. At least the views and a bit of music kept me going.
I also saw the best sign ever. I think this tree is trying to eat it.

By evening I had made it to the top of a ridge where I set up in a windy sight and looked out over this:

I forgot to mention how bad the bugs have been in this section. Mosquitoes are out at dawn and dusk and are annoying but there are also a ton of flies all day. They seem to love divebombing my ears especially and sometimes drive me to distraction.
I’ve also been hiking by myself for the past few days which makes things mentally harder and some of the miles longer. But it’s been worth it.

When I left Castle Crags State Park, I had a huge climb, as always. There is nearly always a long downhill into town and then a huge climb out of town. This one was nearly 4,000′ and took me nearly all morning.
I went through Castle Crags Wilderness and then entered the Trinity Wilderness. Once I got to the top of the hill, my day was flat and then downhill. I passed through some beautiful meadows filled with wildflowers.

Ever since Lassen, I had been able to see Mt. Shasta in the distance. It was slowly getting closer, then the trail took a big turn and I skirted around it without getting very close. I was now north of Mt. Shasta, but at some times throughout the day I could see it right I front of me and I couldn’t tell if I was getting closer to it or farther away.

Often recently the trail has been easy on the feet although sometimes the ground is very hard and dry. However, there are some places where it is very rocky and a lot more difficult to walk over. This was the case coming into Deadfall lake where I camped that night. The trail was like this for nearly half a mile:

I was exhausted when I got to camp. It was nearly dark and I had hiked 34 miles that day. As I was looking for a place to set up my tent I met a section hiker and commented on her hiking skirt. She had been in camp for a few hours and was very excited to talk to someone. I chatted for a few minutes while setting up my tent but wasn’t really in the mood to talk, just to sit. She asked me if I got really pumped up at the end of a 35 mile day and I said, “no, I’m just tired.” I think she got the point after that and I was left in peace to wash my legs in the lake and go to sleep.

On June 22, I continued on a long downhill section and did an easy 24.5 miles into the tiny town of Castella. It was an easy and fast walk and I listened to the traffic on I-5 for miles before I got to the bottom of the hill.
The last few miles into town were along the road and I really don’t like walking on roads anymore. The surface is so much harder than the ground that it makes my feet and legs hurt a lot.

I made it to the store and got my package. While having a cool drink and rearranging my food I debated about hiking more that day. 25 miles was a good distance and I had a few hours of daylight left, but I had put in a lot of miles in the previous week and I was feeling it.
Finally, I decided to take it easy and camp at Castle Crags state park, just across the street. They have a campsite reserved for PCT hikers but no one else was there. The campsite next to me was occupied by an older couple who I chatted with for a while. They invited me to join them for dinner which was very nice. I was treated to salad and sautéed mushrooms, along with a great conversation. The people I’ve met along the trail, both hikers and nonhikers, have made all the difference in this journey.
No pictures from today. Nothing of note to look at except trees.

Coming off the saddle where I camped, I hiked along a ridge overlooking a beautiful meadow filled with tall grass and wildflowers. In the middle of the meadow, about 100 feet in elevation below me was a black bear, foraging for food. This was the first bear I had seen the whole hike. It was too far away for a picture with my phone, but I watched it for a few moments and it never noticed me.
I see deer nearly every day and have seen some really young fawns but a bear is a much more rare sighting and I was glad to finally see one.
I also saw an amazing sunrise:

In midmorning I came upon a section hiker and started chatting with him. He asked me if I had stayed at the Anderson’s in SoCal. I told him no because they were at kick off that weekend. He paused, then said, “Damn those Andersons!” Pause. “I’m Papa Joe Anderson”.
We hiked together for a few miles and chatted it up. It was really interesting to hear his stories of being a trail angel for 15 years.
I left Papa Joe when he stopped for a break and I continued to hike through the woods along a ridge on an easy downhill stretch until I reached a river.

That night I camped by an old road, having hiked 35.1 miles.

After Hat Creek Rim, Seven and I got an early start to make it to Burney Falls State Park before lunch.
Along the way we encountered a bit of heaven: Wild Bird Cache, which should actually be called an oasis instead. It had the usual cold drinks and candy bars, but also a solar shower, a cupboard with tons of canned food, a picnic table that you could write on, and a great place to hang out.
I was a bit sorry we didn’t make it there the night before because I didn’t spend much time at the oasis, but I was glad fr it and happy to know other hikers camped there.

In just a few, short, conversation-filled miles we made it to Burney Falls, which is a much bigger waterfall than I would have expected considering the river that feeds it.

I got my resupply box and an ice cream, then took a shower and tried to rinse out my clothes a bit. I put them on damp and the cooling effect they gave was wonderful.
In less than three hours I was back on the trail. But now I was alone since Seven was taking a zero at Burney Falls.
Just after leaving the park, I crossed a huge dam and talked to two guys who were driving across. They asked me about the trail and I hope they are reading this now.

After climbing up a large hill, I made it to the top near sun set and camped at a saddle.
I was on a pretty aggressive schedule in order to meet Jacob in Etna on June 25 and this was my 4th day of 33+ miles per day. I had hiked more than 200 miles in the last six days! I was really proud of my accomplishments and feeling good about putting in more miles.

I needed the extra water bottles from Old Station because we were about to enter a 33 mile waterless section called Hat Creek Rim.
This section is notoriously hot so Seven and I got up at 5 am and were hiking by 5:30. We were making good time and having a great conversation when before we knew it, we got to a road and rest area.
Unfortunately, that meant that we had missed the turn off for Subway Cave, which is supposed to be a great cave to explore, and more importantly is the last water source for 33 miles.
I had less than a liter of water 10 miles into the dry section, but I had heard from a south bound hiker that there was a water cache near a road. I hoped it wasn’t far.

Just as I was about to take my last swig of water, we came to the Twigloo, which contained lots of water jugs and some chairs to sit on. It was a wonderful place for a break and we both filled up our water bottles. I was so thankful for that cache! It really saved the day since it was so hot.
The trail was flat and we finished 20 miles before noon! That means we averaged over 3 miles an hour the whole way along the rim. I never thought I could hike that fast with a pack.
After getting off the rim, we stopped at a fishery to fill up on water, which is kind of random, but when that’s all you got, you drink it.

That evening, we camped near a lake that had a lot of birds and geese. I was serenaded to sleep by their calls…along with the sound of mosquitoes buzzing just outside my tent!

After leaving Feather creek, I did a big climb to leave the valley and soon entered Lassen national park. The area in general is very volcanic and I took a short side trip to see the Terminal Geyser.
There was a lot of steam and some noise but I didn’t see any water spouting up. I also didn’t wait around too long for a real eruption.

Most of the 20 miles that I hiked through in the park were actually wooded and the ground was littered with pine needles. However, there were a lot of down trees which made the going slow at times. Some of the blowdowns were easy to step over, but others required really climbing over or walking around. A few time it was difficult to find the trail on the other side.
Even though I had it tough, I could tell from the fresh cut trees that the park service had cleared a lot of trees from the trail already and I was glad for that.
After going through the blowdowns for a while I came to a section of forest that was entirely burned. I thought it would be awful to go through, but there were no down trees, the wind picked up and it was down hill so I started to fly.

I also got some great views of Mt. Lassen, which you can barely see in the picture above. I didn’t go near it, but it still had a lot of snow and I got to see the north and east sides which I had never seen before.
I came across a section hiker going my direction who wanted to talk, but I had a deadline: I wanted to get to Old Station Resort before their store closed at 7 pm and I didn’t have much time to spare so I flew past him and kept going.
In a while, I stopped at a river to refill water and I found Seven in his tent. We chatted for a few minutes and I explained my plans for the next few days. He said he would join me, so he broke camp while I washed my legs in the river then we pushed on to Old Station.
We got to the store at 7:15, just after they closed. However, the owner was still there and he let us in as long as we could pay cash. I got an ice cream sandwich and cold drinks because I needed the extra water bottles for the next day. It was really nice of them to accommodate us so and we thanked them a lot.
It was pretty late by that time so Seven and I hiked just a mile more and set up camp for the night.

When I woke up near clear spring, Red Bass, Thunder Thighs, and Ice Cream were still sleeping so I packed up my stuff quietly and headed out. The trail was mostly flat and the morning was cool so I moved fast and got some miles in early.
I usually wake up around 5:30 and am hiking by 6 am. On a fast morning I can finish 10 miles by 10 am (10×10) and 20 miles by 2 pm (20×2). This was one of those mornings.

The trail followed a ridge through the woods, sometimes giving me a view out. At one point I saw a thick plume of smoke and worried it was a forest fire on the horizon. With the continued drought in California, fire dangers are high and I hope they do not interfere with the hike.

In the early afternoon I reached a small opening on the ridge and the thing I was most looking forward to that day: the half way monument!!

According to the monument I was 1,325 miles from the Mexican border, with 1,325 miles until the trail end in Canada. According to my GPS, I was at mile 1,320, but I considered it close enough to celebrate with some sweet snacks and text messages.

The rest of the day was all down hill to the middle fork of the Feather River where I made camp. I hiked just over 35 miles that day, over 14 hours and was feeling really good.
When I got to the river, I found Two Dots and Lady Bug, hanging out in their tent. I hadn’t seen them in weeks and we spent an hour catching up while I stretched and ate. It was nice to hear their stories about the Sierras and everything since then. I was sort of hoping they could be hiking buddies for a few days but they weren’t going as many miles per day and they were only just waking up as I left the next morning.

When I stopped to get some water from a stream, I realized that I had lost the O-ring that goes in my squeeze water filter. Without this piece, the filter is essentially useless because the water just leaks out around the connection to the water bottle I have it on. I needed something to substitute for the O-ring in order to filter my water.
I had a few gummy lifesavers I had bought as a snack. I thought, “well, that will never work”, but I thought I would try it anyway.
Surprisingly, the gummy lifesaver did the job and I was able to filter a liter of water. However, I ran into a complication the next time I needed to use the filter. The sugar and gelatin in the candy was coming into contact with water and heat, which resulted in a melty, gooey mess. I replaced the gummy saver which helped but I only had a few left and knew this was not a long term, viable option. I tried using some mole foam as a replacement but that didn’t work. I ended up not filtering my water at all for the next week and just drinking from springs and fast moving streams. If I don’t get giardia from this trip I’ll consider it a minor miracle. 😉

Even after my longest day, I was still feeling energized, which was good because I started the day with a big climb out of the river valley.  Lot of the morning was spent hiking through more forest, with soft ground and good cushion. Gone are the granite landscapes of the Sierra mountains. At these lower elevations the trees and plants are different too; there are more firs and oaks and no more sequoias or aspens.

I didn’t have many views so there aren’t a lot of pictures from these days. I did take a slight detour into the Buck Lake area which was a 6 mile road walk that goes past a few resorts. I got a free ice cream at one place and chatted with two section hikers for a while which was nice. I hadn’t seen many people in the past two days and it was nice to chat. But soon enough I moved on and left them.
That night I camped at the top of a ridge, just 5 miles from the town of Belden and I laid out on my back, talking to Jacob as the sky got darker. The night was like ink and the sky was lit up with the milky way. I saw a dozen shooting stars and several satellites before drifting off to sleep.
The next morning I made swift progress down the hill and got into Belden by 9 am. There are two famous trail angels there and I got a ride to their place quickly. In the span of three hours I did all of my chores (I.e. shower, charging phone, email, resupply, etc.) and was ready to get back on the trail.
My timing wasn’t great though, because it was noon, nearly 90 degrees and I had a 14 mile hill to climb, with 4,700′ of elevation!! There were only a few steep sections, but I was sweating buckets in minutes. So much for that shower. I walked uphill for 6.5 hours before I hit the summit and then I had a few more miles to get to any water. When I got to clear springs, I was too tired to really talk to Red Bass, Thunder Thighs and Ice Cream, who were already camped there.

It is a bit hard to see in this picture, but a deer posed very nicely for me and I managed to get this shot.

After spending a restful night in Truckee and having an amazing breakfast the next morning, Merkel, Horizon, and I got back on the trail while Mama Merkel hung out with Papa Merkel. Horizon and Merkel both had plans to stay in Truckee through the end of the weekend so they decided to slackpack (I.e. day hike) from where we left off to I-80 over the next few days. The weather was much improved and was forecasted to be sunny and warm for the next week so our spirits were high.
It took awhile to hike back up the forest road and get back on the PCT and we felt like we were making good progress, but somehow we weren’t as fast as we thought and Merkel and Horizon had to adjust their plans and take a different side trail in order to meet Mama Merkel.

It was a sad parting for us because I didn’t know if I would see either of them again on the trail. Three days head start is hard to make up and I planned on increasing my daily milage soon.
After I left them, I headed toward Tinker Knob where I met a southbound thru hiker named Tom Parker and his dog Bob Dillon. I’m not sure if he had it all together because when he heard I was from Berkeley he asked me if I was there in the 60s! I replied that I wasn’t alive in the 60s then he asked what my major was and when I would finish school. He was a bit off in both directions but kind of amusing. The trail accepts all kinds of people.

The next day I hiked through several ski resorts, went over Donner summit, and crossed beneath I-80 through a pedestrian tunnel.

I climbed a large hill and had wonderful views down into a valley.

Midmorning I stopped at a hut along the trail to sign the register and Monk came up. I hadn’t seen him since Independence so it was nice to hike with him and catch up. He kept up a steady stream of conversation all day and the time passed by quickly. We camped on the top of a ridge that night with a southbound section hiker and another northbound thru hiker named Indy. Indy (trail name after Indiana Jones because of his hat) went to undergrad at Berkeley and worked in the lab of one of our friends so there yet another small world connection here.
We were only 15 miles from Sierra City and we all got an early start to get into town for breakfast. Monk, Indy, and I hit up the Red Moose right away and we each ordered two main courses. The full stack of pancakes after the scramble was a bit much but it was so good. I waddled across the street to the store and got my resupply box and took my time reorganizing things.
We had come down a lot in elevation to reach Sierra City and it was hot there! It was in the upper 80s with full sun so we hung out in town during the heat of the day. We also met up with Fluffy Star and Breathless, two women thru hikers whom I had met briefly at other times.

Around 4 pm we decided to head out, but that meant climbing a huge hill to get out of the valley. We took an alternative which consisted of walking on a dirt road from town up to the trail. It was hot and sweaty with little shade and the going was slow but we eventually made it to the top and camped near a lake.

Since I wake up with the sun, the next morning I was up and ready to go before some of the others were even awake so I took off by myself (my m.o.) and had a great day walking through a forest where it was mostly flat. There were a few places with views which was nice.

And I saw the best sign for the trail yet.

The wildflowers are out in full force right now and they are stunning.

With the trail so flat and fast, the miles flew by and before I knew it, I was coming down a huge hill into my camp next to a river. That day I hiked 38 miles, a new one day record for me!!