We made it to Oregon!! We had to walk 1,699 miles to get here but finally we have made it through California and now resting in Ashland, Oregon before we start off again and try to tackle another state. California was long. I mean we knew it would take a long time and just looking at any map to the United States will tell you that it is long but I didn't appreciate just how long it was until I walked from the southern end of it to the northern end. Unfortunately we have not been able to update our blog at all since Belden Town due to not being able to get access to a computer. We are now sitting in the lobby of our hotel and we are on the public computer here and we have a 20 minute time limit if there is anyone waiting... we are the only ones here for now but I may have to cut this short if someone shows up to use the computer.
We left Belden Town after taking two zeros there to visit my mom. For some reason we left Belden at 10 am and started the 14 mile climb that would take us 5,000 feet higher. It was already hot at 10 am and only got hotter as the day went on. To make matters worse, we decided to not stop in Chester (a two day journey from Belden) and instead carry a week's worth of food (heavy!!!!!). We were both drenched when we finally made it to camp that night and grateful to have a spring with really cold water flowing just a few feet from our camp sight. The next day we set off early because we were excited to get to get to the halfway point of the trail! It felt so good to see that trail register and read up on which of our friends had already made it! We made it a few more miles and actually caught up with a couple of our friends and camped by a highway where some nice trail angel had left a cooler full of sodas for hikers. Great night.
The next few days were really hot. And we had to tackle a section called the Hat Creek Rim - a 33 mile waterless section that is notorious for being one of the hottest parts of the trail. Boy oh boy we were not let down either. We both carried 6 liters of water for that section and I'm still happy that a trail angel had set up a water cache about 20 miles in. There were chairs and lots of gallon water jugs in a nice shady section. We spent about 2 hours there before taking off to finish the rest of the waterless stretch. That afternoon was easily the hottest of the trail so far for me. We stopped nearly once an hour or so to sit down and try to cool off in the shade. Apparently, right after we left the water cache someone showed up with a thermometer and he said it was reading 102 degrees in the shade. That night when we finally made it to our water source it was still really hot. We camped (probably illegally) by the fish hatchery but when a worker drove by us all he said was, "sprinklers come on at 7 am" and drove off. Normally we get right in our tent after dinner but it was so hot we sat outside as the sun went down trying to cool off. Finally around 10 pm it cooled down to a comfortable temperature.
Over the next couple of days it stayed uncomfortably hot. We stopped and did laundry in a town called Burney and then took 4 days to make it to Shasta City and although we have done longer stints on the trail, my clothes have honestly never smelled worse. For each of those four days our clothes were soaked with sweat. We would take them off and hang them up all night but each morning they would still be wet. I guess it was just so humid that they couldn't dry off. So we would put on our wet clothes and head off and by the time we got to Shasta City I was so thankful for a shower and a laundry machine. We straight up smelled like sweat and mold. It was nasty.
At first, we didn't even plan on going into Shasta City. It was the second to last stop on our way to Oregon and we were so anxious to get out of CA that we wanted to blow on by but we got a call from our friend, Miss Maggie, saying that her and her husband and brother in law were all in Shasta City and they were going to see the Wolverine movie that night and (and this was the kicker) the Outfitter in town let PCT hikers camp in their backyard for free. We had such a fun night with Miss Maggie, Uncle Famous, Ian aka Old Man Wrinkles, and Hummingbird. The next day we ran into our friends Dinnertime, Leftovers, and Lullaby whose friends were doing trail magic for the day 26 miles up. We got a ride up there thinking we would hang out all day, leave some heavy stuff there that night, get a ride back to the trail the next morning, and fly those 26 miles up the trail with light packs. It was the perfect plan... till I came down with flu like symptoms that night and ended up throwing up 10 times between the hours of 9 pm and 3 am. Easily one of the worst nights of my life. And poor MudD couldn't get any sleep either because I was getting up so much so often the puke loudly right outside our tent. The next morning MudD packed up all our stuff while I concentrated on not throwing up and we got a ride back in to Shasta City where MudD got us a hotel room and so that I could sleep away my nausea and fever. What a guy.
The next day I felt great and we finally left Shasta City. We spent nearly 3 full days in a town that we didn't even plan on going into. Luckily for us, in those three days the temperature had broken and so instead of hiking in temperatures in the 100's, we experienced temps in the 90's - a significant difference. It actually was cold at night! That first day though when we left Shasta City was rough. A couple miles in, MudD started coming down with the same symptoms I had but instead of going back, he pushed on even though we had a really demanding steep climb. He was exhausted when we stopped and fell right asleep. He had the nausea and the fever but luckily he did not have the vomiting so he (and I) was able to sleep the whole night. The next morning he felt fine and we took off!
We basically ran through that section. We did our first back to back 30 mile days and felt great! On our last day on the trail before reaching Etna, our last stop in CA, we woke up to the smell of fire. As the day went on, we found that we were hiking through tons of smoke. At one point, I noticed that something was falling on us as we realized that we were literally being rained on by ashes. I was freaked out. There was obviously a forest fire nearby and I did not want to get stuck in it. Luckily we met Etna's youth pastor on the trail who informed us that we were safe for now but that the fire was indeed really bad. Someone had gone down by the Salmon River and started 5 fires! When we reached Etna (the youth pastor ended up giving us a ride) we realized the town was ready for the fires. Fire trucks were driving through the little town all day long. It was nuts!
When we left Etna, a woman from the Forest Service informed us that the PCT had not been closed... yet. It was open that day but they were probably going to close it the next day and that if we decided to hike out of Etna, we had to move it pretty quickly and get at least 20 miles from the trailhead and then bust it the next day to Seiad Valley to ensure our safety. I guess a bunch of hikers didn't want to risk getting caught in the fires and opted to hitch hike to Seiad Valley instead of hike there and I was all for doing that as well but MudD really wanted to hike it. When I told him I didn't want to do it, I could tell he was disappointed but agreed to hitch if that was really what I wanted to do. We were almost about to get in the car when the Forest Service woman said, "oh don't be a wuss... you can do it. The fire fighters are going to hold the fire at the PCT so if things get bad the whole trail will be full of fire fighters and they'll get you flown out. You'll be fine if you stay on the trail." So we went. I was terrified the whole time and MudD was just happy that we had decided to go. In hindsight I'm happy we went too. It would have been a disappointment to have skipped 55 miles of the last 93 in California. And hey, we didn't die, we didn't get airlifted out, and we didn't even see the fires so it all turned out fine.
We made it safely to Seiad Valley where we waited out the midday sun in an RV park and then took off to tackle the steepest climb on the trail. In the next 8 miles we would gain 4,500 feet in elevation - that's a huge climb! Again, our clothes were soaked with sweat but we did it! It wasn't so bad as I imagined but my legs were dead afterwards. We only did 16 miles that day... and only 10 after Seiad Valley but that was plenty for us. We were beat! That night we ran into a trail crew and we camped with them. It was a nice, cool night but it was really creepy being surrounded by all that smoke.
That next morning we woke up early and took off with tons of excitement - this day we would finally walk out of California. It was a hard day - lots of uphill. In the end, we reached the Oregon/California border around 5:45 pm after walking 27 miles that day to get there. We sat down and celebrated by drinking the beers we had both carried out of Seiad Valley. It was just one beer each but after 27 miles and before dinner, I could feel the effects. We made it about another mile before we decided to call it quits and eat dinner.
The next day we were woken up by rain! Welcome to Oregon!!!! It was our first time we had been rained on while we were walking on the trail. I couldn't believe it. I was cold and wet and it felt good! The rain only lasted a little bit but it stayed cool all day. We quickly did the last 27 miles into Ashland. And although we have only walked 28 miles in Oregon so far I already love it! This is both of our first times ever being in Oregon and everyone is so nice! One woman (a senior day-hiker) told us that she was proud of us even though she didn't know us when we told her we had started from Mexico. Other day hikers on the trail apologized to us for all the smoke. And then when we got the the place where we were picking up some packages from, we were offered a free beer for being PCT hikers! And then when we got on the road to hitch into Ashland, the first car that drove by us picked us up!!! Oh my gosh! What nice people!!
So we love it here. We are going to hit the trail tomorrow after taking two zeros here. We are both very excited for Crater Lake and the rest of Oregon! Hopefully we will be able to update the blog more often in Oregon.
Friday, August 9, 2013
Friday, August 2, 2013
Pictures from the last couple hundred miles
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