Uphillhike

Category: Pacific Crest Trail

  • Day 64 – The Packer

    Day 64 – The Packer

    At mile 1599.7. Hiked 8.9 miles today. 

    Dan, the Packer, gave me a ride down the summit into Etna.This means that he leads his pack mules up the PCT to supply trail maintainers. He has also used his mules to support last year’s fire fighting effort for the Island Fire in Klamath National Forest.

    Horses and a mule where Dan was headed when he dropped me off.

    One time long ago, Dan was leading his mules down trail when a cougar appeared next to the trail. The cougar quickly crouched down behind a fallen tree. Dan had noticed the cougar because the mules suddenly made some sounds that indicated something was up. Here is Dan in his pickup, saddles and my pack in the back and two very friendly dogs in the front.

    Thanks to Dan for everything he does. He picks up hikers and helps pack it into the PCT wherever it is needed. He’s like the UPS of the PCT and is a true westerner, one Louis L’amour could have used as one of his characters.

     I did hike some today. Here is Smith Lake and Etna mountain.

    Here is the trail with Etna Mountain, which isn’t particularly high at something over 7000 feet.

    Here is the daily Mt Shasta photo.

    Here are flowers that I am going to name Candy Stripe. I don’t know their real name.

    There was some snow on the trail. I’ve heard a lot about this tricky spot, but most snow was melted before I arrived. A few weeks earlier it would have been a concern. Look closely at photo below for the snow on the trail. 

    Retired my Salomon X-Ultra hiking shoes today with 1157 PCT miles on them plus 30 miles hiking in GA and easily more than 13 miles trail town and side trail miles. These shoes had more than 1200 miles. The last gaitor for these shoes fell apart yesterday. I’ve been hiking with one gaitor the last couple hundred miles. Now I’ll be hiking in Altra Olympus shoes and Dirty Girl Gaitors.

    Here are my old shoes. Still wearable.

    I hitchhiked into Etna, getting picked up my 2nd vehicle. Only 25 minute wait on this remote less traveled road. Others have waited as long as 2 hours.

    Here I am hitchhiking. Beautiful spot  with views to make time spent more enjoyable. I also listened to tunes and danced to Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and The Waves while waiting in a car, any car. 

    Here is the Hiker Hut in Etna where I am staying. I love this hostel and this little rural town that must have the highest number of breweries per capita.

    People: 

    Ouch a section hiker carrying heavy backpack to prepare for Kilimanjaro. At Hiker Hut with sisters Dirty and Rye. They are NOBO to Canada, then flipping SOBO to Mexico. 

  • Day 63 – Wide Open Spaces

    Day 63 – Wide Open Spaces

    At mile 1590.8. Hiked 24.7 miles today.  Vertical Feet Ascent was 4500.

    The last 3 days have had beautiful vistas of mountains, meadows, and rock formations. Each day better than the last with today being the best. Photos don’t translate, but I’m sharing a lot of photos today.

    Here is what I thought were cool rocks. I see a lot of rock fields and I don’t know what it was about this one that stood out for me. 

    Flowers with mountain background in morning light.

    Trail with Russian Mountain in background. Entering Russian Mountain Wilderness.

    Giant rocks fell on the trail. I moved a little faster here and didn’t stop to check whether a thru-hiker was pinned under this rock.

    Here are more photos of some of the wide open spaces of the day.

    Here is a calm trail.

    And here is the trail in the distance as it cuts up a very open steep slope.

    Here is the daily Mt Shasta photo.

    The moon means this day may soon be over. I had already cooked lasagna for supper on the trail and was hiking the last 2.5 miles to camp, much of it an ascent.

    See my note below about Mantis and Pickup. The PCT permit system limits start dates to 50 people per day. This has the desired effect of spreading people out, but has the side effect of having many people start way to early. Even taking zeros many people reach the Sierras weeks too early for safe and comfortable travel. I’m talking about the typical person. These early arrivals have a few choices. 1. Full steam ahead into the Sierras. They risk getting in trouble and at a minimum suffer hardship and regret the decision. 2. Skip to another part of the trail that isn’t snowbound to give Sierras more time. 3. Take time off trail. I did a combination of 2 and 3. Mantis and Pickup did number 2, but found that part of the section they skipped to had too much snow. I’ve spoken to a lot of people that used option 1 and I heard harrowing stories and tales of misery. In many cases these people bailed out of the Sierras at some point and went to option 2. Interestingly, some people hiked most of the Sierras before switching to option 2. They had proven they could do Sierras early, but they were so completely sick of walking in snow that they moved to option 2 so they could feel ground under their feet.

    This was not a problem before the PCT became popular and the current permit system came about. In those days nearly everyone started around the optimum start date.

    People: 

    Strange Day. 

    Mantis and Pickup has skipped most of Sierras, gone to Ashland to hike south, skipped section from Etna to Mt Shasta due to too much snow. I met them going SOBO to complete section to Mt Shasta. They will hop again to do the Sierras and hop a final time to go north from Ashland. Complicated? 

  • Day 62 – Spam Head

    Day 62 – Spam Head

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  • Day 61 – Deadfall Lakes

    Day 61 – Deadfall Lakes

    At mile 1544.3. Hiked 23.2 miles today.

    The trail was a series of ups and downs in the morning which did its damage early causing my legs to be sore later in the day on much easier trail.

    The morning is of soft light.

    I came to White Ridge Spring. No treatment of water here. (Anyway, I have all of the drugs needed to treat many waterborne illnesses and it’s symptoms.) It was coming straight out of the ground; cool and refreshing.

    Here is the trail. Can you find the little patch of snow farther up the mountain? First nearby snow in a long time.

    Here is Mt Eddy, elevation 9025 feet.

    I stopped at Deadfall lake for lunch and a quick dunk in the lake. Some day hikers were hiking a few miles in from a parking lot at Parks Creek trailhead to visit this beautiful spot.

    Here is another lake with Mt Shasta in the background.

    Another view of this lake.

    The nearly ever-present Mt Shasta.

    A cool dead tree. Don’t know why I like dead trees. I just do. It is driftwood that doesn’t drift, only stretching its lonely arms to the bleaching sun.

    Here is the approach to my tent site for tonight.

    Lake below my tent site and bluff next to my tent site.

    My tent.

     View of bluff from my tent

    People:

    Met Rifle (NOBO) from Monterrey, Mexico.Rifle has a Zpack Nero and travels ultralight. He does not carry a stove. He soaks his oatmeal and Ramen noodles and he eats pop tarts and energy bars.

  • Day 60 – Heat

    Day 60 – Heat

    At mile 1521.1. Hiked 17.9 miles today.

    With a heavy pack loaded with a 5 day resupply and a long climb in the heat, I decided to cut the day short and stop hiking at 4:30 PM. I also took several cooling off breaks to prevent the heat from causing problems. The steepest part of the climb over, I finally reached a small creek where I filled my water bottles and took a long recovery lunch.

    The day was spent climbing up and around Castle Crag. Here are some photos of Castle Crag. 

    People:

    Gazelle walking southbound. Last saw her climbing the San Felipe Range past Scissors crossing when she told me about the Peak Finder app.

  • Day 59 – Mt Shasta

    Day 59 – Mt Shasta

    At mile 1503.2. Hiked 4.9 miles today.

    I crossed the Sacramento River shortly before reaching Interstate-5 where I hitched a ride to Mt Shasta.  The river just springs from the rocks not far upstream. Rivers here have a tendency of springing from rocks.

    Here is a trail register I signed with my Uphillhikes logo.

    I walked all over town shopping for resupply and feeding myself. I tried for a barber, but as I learned Bret the town barber had flexible hours. In other words if he wanted to fish or go snowboarding, he would lock up the shop. So I still wander the Northern California wilderness with shaggy hair and beard.

    I ran into Ridge Route and Shortcut at Rite-Aid. They offered me the use of the shower in their room at the Shasta Inn. After we were all cleaned up, Ridge Route, Shortcut, and I  met trail angel, Tony and his wife Michelle at Tony’s favorite local bar, Handsome John’s Speakeasy. We sat outside enjoying several beers while telling stories. Tony, recently retired from California Highway Patrol told a story about how as a trail angel he picked up some hikers in his patrol car. The hikers had been smoking weed as they were waiting on Tony to arrive. When they saw Tony with his patrol car were nearly panicked about getting busted. Tony told them, “You can calm down. It’s legal here, I’m not going to arrest you”.

    Here is inside of  Handsome John’s Speakeasy. We sat outside. Tony also told me that John wasn’t handsome.

    I loved the daily happy hour with $3 draft that included IPA’s. 

    Next, Michelle dropped the three of us off at Big Bear Restaurant. I had the fried chicken dinner and actually received a double order because someone had dropped a drumstick on the floor. Guess they didn’t realize that a thru-hiker would have eaten it right off the floor. This thru-hiker destroyed the double order of chicken on his plate. 

    After dinner, Tony was right there to take me back to the trail. Thanks Tony! You are making Mt Shasta a great stop for hikers.

    I hiked a couple of miles and hurriedly pitched my tent in a cloud of mosquitoes.