Well here I am in Etna about 100 miles away from the California/Oregon border. I guess I wont have to many posts tagged with "Northern California." I said I would post a long blog so here I go.
Well it all started when I was a poor black child...
Northern Cali has been wonderful. Not as buggy as the Sierras and more trees then the desert. After leaving Sierra City I finally started to find other hikers. The weird hiker bubble I was in must have been due to the fourth of July holiday because all these people started to appear on trail after it. Coming out of Sierra City I did spend some time alone, but this was due to my difficulty in finding hikers hiking at my own pace. Many of these groups ahead like to hike around 20 miles a day and I have been averaging closer to 25. At first when leaving town I continued my pace and more then once attempted to hike a 40 mile day for no other reason than to say I did. Though each time I began these days I was inspired by my beautiful cup of french press coffee and each time around mile 33-35 I realized I am tired and hiking further was dumb. Not to mention that this pace counteracted my intent of slowing down for old friends to catch up with me. Finally after a 3,000 foot climb out of middle fork river I came across a trail angel sign. This was for Honker Pass by Buck's Lake.
These trail angels (Nancy and Terry) had put a sign on trail. They are not listed in the guide books because though they love to host hikers, they want the freedom to come and go as they please. When I first came across their sign it said to call them at a spot called "lookout rock" a few hundred feet up trail. My first thought was "I can't do that, it would mean I only did a 15 mile day" and then I thought "who cares it's trail magic." So I went to the rock and turned on my phone, no reception. Well I guess fate is telling me to hike on. I figured that if an opportunity arose I would take advantage otherwise I would move on. As it happened when I came to the road in question for the pick up there was a SUV sitting on the side of the road. As I approached the vehicle a lady comes out and says, "Hey I am Nancy the trail angel. would you like to come over?" I believe my response was something along the lines of "hell yes!" As it turns out two hikers who were ahead of me (Copernicus and his brother Straps) did get reception and made the call and I just had impeccable timing. Nancy took us to her cabin where we had a wonderful afternoon, evening, and morning involving food, fire, and conversation. This was the first of four 15 mile days to come.
The following day when we were dropped off back at the trail head I had to choose between two hiking strategies. I could A) hike 25ish miles into the "town" of Beldon (I use the term town loosely for this "town" is merely a resort that has raves almost every weekend) or I could hike another 15 mile day and camp at Three Lakes where I could go for a swim. Guess which one I chose. The swimming was some of the best on trail for the water was warm and the bugs few. I also was lucky enough to bump into a trail crew finishing their day and who were camping near the lakes as well. Chatting them up I found out what their program was about (apparently it was a youth program that takes kids into the woods and works on a trail for a month). At on point they offered me the left overs of their dinner...score! Thus that night I feasted on steamed broccoli, chicken, and bread. It's a tough life.
The next morning, after coffee and chicken (for there was more chicken then I could eat the night before), I walked down to Beldon. It was about 9-10am when I got there and the forecast was to be in the high 90's. Well considering that getting out of Beldon involves a climb of 5,000 ft I had little and no incentive to keep hiking until the temperature dropped. And with a restaurant/convenience store so close by I stayed fat and happy all day...and spent way to much money. Other hikers rolled into the resort as the day progressed and I was finally able to catch up on where people were at behind me. Finally around 7pm the temperature finally cooled enough to move out without getting heatstroke. Copernicus and I (for his brother was only hiking for two weeks with him) packed up and moved out trying to get as far on trail before it was completely dark. Normally with a 5,000 ft climb I would have just pushed up in the night...but this section of the PCT is infested with poison oak. We didn't make it far, only about five-six miles, and decided that we would wake up early for the rest of the climb. Thus ending nero number three.
One thing I have not mentioned yet is how much I freaking love hiking with my french press. It really makes the world a better place to hike with coffee. The morning after Beldon I was the last one to leave camp because I take time to brew my cup of joe. But I also passed about a dozen hikers as I screamed up 4,000ish feet in 10-12 miles for I was jacked up on so much caffeine. The one down side to this strategy is I always crash in the afternoon due to the coffee and heat. Still worth it though. Nothing of note happened that day, just your average hiking 25 miles, walking through burn sections, seeing amazing views and avoiding poison oak. But the next day was one for celebration.
Chester is the closest town on the PCT to the half way point on trail. Hikers either celebrate here or 20 miles north in Drakesbad Guest Ranch in the Mount Lassin National Park. I chose to do both...Originally my plan was to hike the 15 miles into town, shop, eat a real lunch, and pull another 10 miles on trail. However shopping ended up taking longer than expected and I knew my hiking day was done when I visited a couple of hikers (Sesame and Beaver Cheeks) and I was given a beer from Beaver Cheeks. Luckily my mental inertia that kept me in Chester didn't cost me much for the motel room was paid for by Sesame's dad and was thus free. This evening of relaxation that involved doing things like eating pizza and watching Twister did make me hike another (and my final) nero day of 15 miles.
Coming into Drakesbad was another fun experience for I don't think I have ever been that high off of coffee. I had five-eight cups of very strong coffee that morning between the motel and breakfast. But it did make the morning go by quickly and I was hiking close to four miles a hour. Drakesbad itself is a cool place for a half way celebration for they let you have free showers, they clean your laundry, and provide cheep food. All of which I took advantage of. Durning dinner while conversing with other hikers a couple of girls rolled into the ranch and low and behold it's no other than the Rough Riders. Apparently Cornut and Sniper took about a week off trail around the time I went into Mammoth. When I finally discovered this back in Sierra City I figured that I would never see them on trail. What I didn't account for at the time was me taking four neros in a row and them averaging 30 miles a day since South Lake Tahoe with little town stops in between. Apparently they are planing on getting off trail by September 11th, an interest that I do not share.
It was, however, nice to see the girls and to hike with them for a few days. The stretch out of Drakesbad led to a 30 mile dry stretch known as Hat Creek Rim and to do anything less than two 30's in a row just didn't make sense. While chatting with the girls I found out that there are near 30 hikers behind me and as much as I would like to see old friends, I like getting into town and having food available for me. So my days of low miles are over and I have been hiking between 25 and 30 continuously ever since. I also finally found a couple of hikers who hike my pace. Macho Taco and Fairway are a couple of hikers I met back at Crabtree Meadows the day I summited Mt. Whitney. I had not seen them since, nor did I expect to see them again. But they started hiking big miles and I did enough slow ones that we met at Drakesbad.
Together we have been kicking ass and taking names in Northern California as we hike in the Trinity Alps (which are beautiful by the way), beat up cows (who are everywhere around here), and do fun things like hike south for ten miles, or hike 13 mile dry stretches even though there are lakes 200 feet below all because the trail makers really wanted to keep the trail on the crest. So here I am in Etna 400 miles since Sierra City ridiculously close to Oregon, but it will take close to a 100 miles because we hike east instead of north...
See you in Ashland!
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