Wednesday, July 04, 2018 - 6.10 miles I woke up in the middle of the night to something climbing on my tent. A small shape slid down the fabric. A few minutes later I heard something on the tent near my head, and shook the fabric. Something else slid down. Mouse? Damn you, established tentsite! …
Continue reading Pacific Crest Trail (2018) 37: Grider Canyon Is the Whipping Boy
Tuesday, July 03, 2018 - 10.50 miles Hey, Oregon! You know it's July, don't you? I think not, judging by the frigid temperature when I woke up. I pulled an AZT and lingered in my warm sleeping bag. https://flic.kr/p/2ioUPpA The question today was water. Brown Mountain Shelter used to have well water, but the pump …
Continue reading Pacific Crest Trail (2018) 36: Squirrel Fiver
Monday, July 02, 2018 - 13.50 miles Considering that I had town food yesterday evening, I woke up surprisingly hungry. I had more water than I needed to reach my next source, so I cooked potatoes and ate them with muesli for breakfast. https://www.flickr.com/photos/186593395@N08/49486023622/in/datetaken/ Today's walking was humdrum. Cut down trees, roads. A stretch of …
Sunday, July 01, 2018 - 12.60 miles Early this morning I reached the Mardon skipper preservation area. At the entrance were three women with backpacks, one of whom offered me a Clif bar. I declined, thinking that she was just a PCT hiker trying to get rid of unwanted food. I do still eat Clif …
Saturday, June 30, 2018 - 1.90 miles I only had to wait a minute or two before catching a ride out of Ashland this morning. The driver told me that he was heading out to the PCT for a run SOBO, and informed me that he's a long-distance runner who does 100-mile marathons. Wow! I …
Continue reading Pacific Crest Trail (2018) 33: Gone for Good
Friday, June 29, 2018 - 0.50 miles I was throwing myself a shameful pity party this morning about having to return to Ashland. One of the great things about long-distance hiking is seeing new trail every day, and I was wasting summer, returning to a place I had seen enough of, and so on. During …
Continue reading Pacific Crest Trail (2018) 32: End of the Spiral
Thursday, June 28, 2018 - 8.90 miles I left Ashland today (HA). Half a block from the hotel, a man called out from a passing car and asked me whether I was headed to the PCT. I said yes and he offered me a ride. That was especially generous since he was going out of …
Continue reading Pacific Crest Trail (2018) 31: Middle of the Spiral (2)
Wednesday, June 27, 2018 Ashland is a nice city, clean and pretty in the way of small cities. The walk signals talk at you and the transfer scanner on the buses shows you an image of your transfer as you scan. I had five resupplies to plan, so mostly saw the grocery stores. The Shop …
Continue reading Pacific Crest Trail (2018) 30: Middle of the Spiral (1)
Sunday, June 24, 2018 - 8.80 miles https://www.flickr.com/photos/186593395@N08/49485307713/in/datetaken/ I got an early start this morning. I was planning to visit Mt. Ashland Campground to use the privy, which involves a short road walk. When I reached the road, I saw a tent pitched on the roadside up ahead beside a van with two bikes on …
Continue reading Pacific Crest Trail (2018) 29: Beginning of the Spiral
Saturday, June 23, 2018 - 13.80 miles Since I didn't cook last night, I decided to cook this morning. I made a whole pot (mug) of the dead weight (steel cut oats). I feel antsy taking the time to cook in the morning - it's like taking a rest without having done anything. Pleasant walking …
Continue reading Pacific Crest Trail (2018) 28: Suspicious Hammock Users
Friday, June 22, 2018 - 16.90 miles I reached Oregon today! During elementary school I liked playing the game 'Oregon Trail' on the classroom computer, but my character always died... It was a day of meadows, some more interesting than others. Many to most were expanses of dry earth with one or two varieties of …
Continue reading Pacific Crest Trail (2018) 27: Hello Oregon
Thursday, June 21, 2018 - 12.20 miles Today's walk featured multiple burn areas and not much to see, or maybe I just wasn't appreciating what was there. For the first time on the PCT, I popped in my headphones and listened to an audiobook while walking. Unfortunately I wasn't able to renew East of Eden …
Wednesday, June 20, 2018 - 11.70 miles The climb out of Seiad Valley is notorious for being hot, exposed and prolonged. I walked to Bee Camp Spring and the total elevation gain was 5685 feet (1733 metres) while elevation loss was only 736 feet (224 metres). It helped that I had gotten an early start …
Rest day in Seiad Valley! Earwigs were crawling everywhere in the cool morning air. Gross. I may have made a small commotion about those I found on my tent. https://www.flickr.com/photos/186593395@N08/49484943458/in/datetaken/ Earwig Chew and Swallow decided to leave for scheduling reasons, but Sid and Alex and I were joined in the morning by Straw Man, 007 …
Continue reading Pacific Crest Trail (2018) 24: Solo Hiker Socializing
Monday, June 18, 2018 - 14.10 miles I was buying nothing the trail was selling today. Lars had warned me about the overgrowth and ticks, so I was over the walking before even leaving camp, and the experience was exactly as expected throughout most of the canyon. The most annoying part was that poison oak …
Continue reading Pacific Crest Trail (2018) 23: Welcome to the State of Jefferson
Sunday, June 17, 2018 - 12.80 miles I mentioned several entries ago that I was switching up my food selections to hopefully reduce the force-feeding nature of my meals. Here's the consensus: Hard chocolate = improvement Different nuts = improvement Almond butter = pretty much the same Dehydrated potatoes = I like them, though I …
Continue reading Pacific Crest Trail (2018) 22: Camp Coordinator
Saturday, June 16, 2018 - 13.60 miles I got a late-ish start because of the death trail. While retrieving my Ursack, I met a hiker who was surprised that I was hanging my food and told me he sleeps with his. When I asked whether he's had any trouble with bears, he said that he's …
Friday, June 15, 2018 - 7.40 miles https://www.flickr.com/photos/186593395@N08/49485617402/in/datetaken/ Visitor in the morning Today was Man Eaten Lake day! I was excited to see Man Eaten Lake due to its beauty and cool name (the latter being most important, of course). eTrails has it listed as 'Man-Eaten Lake' and I had initially read that as 'lake …
Thursday, June 14, 2018 - 8.80 miles Mailing resupply packages and mucking around delayed me this morning. On the road out of town, I was joined by a lovely couple hiking the Bigfoot Trail, which shares some trail with the PCT. They wheedled a ride for us in the back of a truck whose driver …
Continue reading Pacific Crest Trail (2018) 19: In Some Form
Wednesday, June 13, 2018 I hung out in Etna today. It's a nice little town with old architecture and plenty of character. I mentioned that to a young local and she said something like 'They won't let McDonalds or chains in. They don't like them. They don't like anything.' Anything... https://www.flickr.com/photos/186593395@N08/49485436051/in/datetaken/ At the Ray's Food …
Continue reading Pacific Crest Trail (2018) 18: Not Anything
BANE OF THE TRAIL 