Day 97 July 24th

Up early and caught a ride back to the trail with one of the workers at Callahan's Lodge. Hiked between 24 and 25 miles to Lake Hyatt Resort and camped there for the night with JZ, Milky and Lucky. The campground had a small restaraunt, so we ordered a pizza for dinner! Gotta love the trail in Oregon so far!! Easy walking and pizza!

Callahan's Lodge under construction to the left!

Day 96 July 23, 2008 (no hiking today)

Well, Ashland is great, we decided to take another rest day (because yesterday was anything but rest!!) I really need a new pair of trail runners, and I had to track down a pair (which was trickier than it sounds!!) So, I just ordered a pair through Zappos (their last pair in wide in my size!) And we'll be back on the trail first thing in the morning! Giving the feet a rest never hurts, both of us have had a couple blisters and rubbing spots and small cracks in our feet lately, so we're taking care of the little piggies! :) Grabbed lunch at the great food Co-op here in town yesterday and both of us bought a new pair of socks. (some of our socks have holes in them and you just keep moving the big toe hole to the other foot and rotating through!!) Time for a new pair of socks! I had to get new baskets on my trekking poles back in Shasta City (some gear is starting to wear out) But over 1,000 miles of walking does that to you (and the gear!!) So, resting today and walking tomorrow! We hope to be done with Oregon (432 more miles) in about 20 days and into Washington we go! Homeward bound in no time! Starting to miss the simple things of home (I am anyway!!) But this is a great experience and we are seeing a beautiful part of the country and loving every minute of it! :)

Day 95 July 22, 2008

Happy birthday Grampa Jim!

Up early before the workers at Callahans (the place burnt down a couple years ago and is being re-built) showed up, caught a ride into Ashland, had breakfast at the Wild Goose, booked a room for the night at Knights Inn, went to Albertson's and bought a TON of food for the rest of Oregon (basically) and mailed it ahead (because the next 4 stops are at SMALL resort type places that you can't really buy 4 days worth of food at) It was exhausting, but we did it all before noon! Caught the bus to downtown Ashland, bought an amazing lunch at the Co-op (what a great co-op) and bought a pair of socks (looking for new shoes for me now) and updated the blog! Ahhhh, how busy we are! :)

Day 94 July 21, 2008

Welcome to OREGON! Yeah! Hiked about 8 miles and hit the Oregon border! What a great feeling to have made it through California (minus the 233 miles due to fire closures)

Nearly started a stampede of cattle this morning when we left camp and the cows went running and crapping all over the place, what a smell! And the smell stuck with me beause I stepped in some of it!

The trail is georgeous, you go from fields of wildflowers (full of bees) to big shady pine trees covered in bright green moss, just beautiful walking and easy!! Hot day, quite a few springs along the trail, but one stretch was water-free and we were so thirsty and then....we came to, not 1 but 2 coolers along the trail FULL of soda and beer! Wow! We drank (cherry pepsi) and felt great and revived! Then decided to just motor the remaining miles to Callahan's Lodge! We got there around 8pm and it was 37 miles for the day (and we still felt pretty good!!) I picked up a package from Gram and papa (mints and stamps and bars....and seashells?!) Thanks!!! Then we showered, did laundry, put up the tent in the front yard and called it a night!

Day 93 July 20, 2008

Up around 5am, yogurt and powdered donuts for breakfast, then 8 miles of uphill! Lots of poison oak on the climb, but I steered clear! We can almost see blue sky again and it's great! Hiked 15.1 miles by noon (PB and Jelly on Oregon Trail bread!!) The trail is beautiful as you can see in this picture, flat, meandering, big pine trees, scenic and very "almost to Oregon" like! Camped near a spring and as we were cooking dinner, we heard something like chimes........well, it turned out to be a herd of free-range cattle and they stuck around ALL night! You could hear their bells and they got uncomfortably close once! Eeeeeeeek!

Day 92 July 19, 2008

Didn't hike at all today, it was Saturday and we had to be at the Post Office for when it opened at 12-1:30! We had packages to pick up! (we hoped) And they were there! LOTS of packages! We got our bounce box that we missed last round, homeade cookies from Grammy and papa, A package from Frodo!! A box of food and stuff from Priscilla, a letter from Grammy and Grampa Kingsbury! Wow, goodies galore! And Neighbor got his new pair of shoes, it was like Christmas! Had breakfast at the Cafe (the town of Siead Valley is basically an RV Park, a PO, a small store and a cafe....the last 3 all in the same building!!) The breakfast at the cafe was amazing, huge and cheap!! Gotta love it! We got all our packages, mailed some stuff out, relaxed and hung out with nothing else to do!!!

old fashioned soda fountain and hikers hanging out

Ooooops, NOT Seiad Valley!!

This is Etna!

(thanks Rick!!)

smoke line

Day 91 July 18th, 2008

My cousin Sarah's b-day!! Up around 5am, cheerios for breakfast, climbed up a little saddle and saw the most beautiful full moon setting with the pink/purple sunlight of the sunrise coming up! Wow, I must have taken 10 pictures of this one sight! I hope atleast one comes out decent!! Then the smoke line in the valley, amazing what a distinct line it makes, like undercast in the mountains, in a weird way, it was beautiful! Further up the trail, we had to hike over a huge patch of snow and then we saw a massive volcano in the distance and never did quite figure out what mountain that was. Down to Etna summit (a road) and we could see mounds of kids and backpacks in the parking lot! A group of 130 kids were going out backpacking at 1pm! yeah for them! Atleast 1 girl going uphill asked me..."when do we go downhill?" ha-ha! Little did they know........it wouldn't be for a loooong time for them!! Caught a ride with Sam to town (the driver of the horse trailer that brought all their gear up to the trailhead) Once in town, I picked up a letter at the PO from gram and grampa Kingsbury and a package of Lindt chocolate and some Slim-fast bars from Gram and papa!!! Then we got ourselves into the Old fashion soda fountain store and I got a rootbeer float and Neighbor got some Espresso chip ice cream! Good stuff! Then we found out that some of the same church group that was going hiking were going to be driving right through Seiad Valley in 2 hours!!! We caught a ride with them around the 55.8 miles of trail that we had to miss due to another fire and were in Seiad Valley by 6pm! Grabbed a spot in the RV park, took a shower and did some laundry! What a day!

Day 90 July 17, 2008

2 bowls of cereal for breakfast! Because we've hiked so many miles, we have lots of snacks for the next 2 days! More easy miles! Saw Billygoat today hiking southbound and he says that he's seen 38 thru-hikers heading north and out of all of them, I am the 4th female. Wow, what odds. Hiked over 2 "summits" today which were actually gaps (like in VT) and not summits at all, just highpoints in the road. Still pretty smoky out on the trail. Lots of honey bees too, I had 3 of them ON ME at once today! They are almost like flies! Chilly and breezy campspot in a saddle. Only 20 more miles to Etna (where there is an old fashion soda fountain!!)

Day 89 July 16, 2008

Skipped the cereal this morning until we reached a spring some 5 miles away. Beautiful trailside spring with cold flowing water (there have been lots of springs lately, it's great to just fill'r up right into the bottle!!)

Basically, we all have blisters on our feet now, due to the hot temps, just something else to deal with. After lunch both Neighbor and I were sleepwalking, the trail was so flat and easy and it was so warm out, we nearly fell asleep walking! Ended up hiking 31 miles by the end of the day, made it to a spring and called it quits, 5 of us camped smack on the trail! Good thing not too many people night hike around here!

nice sunset from the Trinity-Shasta divide

Day 88 July 15, 2008

Castle Crags in the picture.

Packed up and caught a bus to Dunsmuir in the morning, the bus driver dropped us off on a lonely road and said, the trail is 1 mile that way and pointed to the right.....okay. So, we start walking....and then we come to the interstate! Yep, we had to walk Southbound on the side of the interstate for 1/2 a mile! He forgot to mention that part of the deal! Anyway, we finally found the trail and headed north! Walking through a beautiful section of the PCT. Castle Crags. I saw a rattlesnake! It startled me and even rattled! Yeah! Finally! Hiked all day and called it quits around 6pm, camped on the Trinity-Shasta Divide with JZ, Thrust, Antfarm and Swiffer. Neighbor has been singing Johnny Cash for weeks now, "This ring of Fire" it's in all of our heads!!!

The rest of our Mt. Shasta City day

Well, what a suprise, after I left the internet cafe and went back to Chad's. M&M and Pootz come walking in! They happened to be driving by Shasta City when my e-mail went through and dropped in for a visit! (and they helped us resupply for the next stretch out of their bear cannister!!) Here is a picture of us with Mt. Shasta in the background (a bit smoky...but there) Then we found out that the trail from Etna to Seiad Valley was closed due to more fires. So, that is another 55.8 miles of trail that we have to skip. Yikes, we are up to 233 miles in California total. No fun. Camped in Chad and Jennifer's backyard a second night, grilled some pizza for dinner and had a great time in Shasta City.

Day 87 July 14, 2008

Slept great in the backyard, up early and went to the laudrymat. I only had my long johns to wear (everything else is dirty and has to be washed!!) So, luckily it was cool out! Then to Rite Aid where I bought some more Technu because I don't think we are out of the poison oak section quite yet! And then here to this internet cafe, where I've been for the past 1.5 hours updating this blog!!! I'll be heading back to Chad's soon and package up some stuff that I haven't been using and I'll be mailing it home! Still lightening up the pack! We'll stay in town tonight and head back out on the trail in the morning. 99 miles to Etna, so that will take us 4 days. So, we should be there by Friday evening or Sat morning! If anyone mails us any packages, can you e-mail one of us as to where you mailed it to. We have a few packages floating around in the post office world right now that we can't seem to locate! One of them has a bunch of our good dehydrated meals in it too! Ok, computer time running out, must save and log off! Less than 200 miles left in California! We can almost taste Oregon and it feels great!!!

Trail with some of us on it

Day 86 July 13, 2008

Happy birthday to Aunt Azelle! Had a nice little campspot down at the Ay-din-ah campground. Someone's car alarm went off in the middle of the night, we were thinking it might have been to scare a bear away. I was up and walking the .6 back to the trail by 0540 and I saw a small bear cross the road! Lots of uphill today, but I felt great! The miles came easy and we were walking over 3mph for most of the day! Saw another bear digging away at a tree for food, tried to take a picture, but it's pretty dark (I might attatch it here) Tons of poison oak again. Had lunch on a dirt road called Girard Ridge and then only had 10 miles to the road to town! We were not really planning on getting to town until tomorrow, but with only 10 miles........real food calls us! Supposedly the remainder of the hike was downhill to the road, but there were lots of little uphills thrown in the meandering route to the road. Sometimes I just want to go straight down the hill instead of wandering all over the place like this trail does! Ahhhhh! Super close to Mt. Shasta now, but it's so hazy out, my pictures look awful. We can see another volcanic mountain off in the distance, Black Butte if I remember correctly is the name of it. Passed by a trail crew (ha ha- they should go about 60 miles south!!) Got to the road and the crew was there too. 8 of us! Luckily Slider met a mlan named Chad on the trail and Chad offered to give us a ride to town! Not sure if he knew there would be 8 of us! But Chad showed up with his van and all 8 of us and packs and poles piled in! On the way to town, Chad offered us his backyard to camp in! Nice and the best part (besides a free place to stay and shower) is that he lives right in town! We don't have to walk far at all! We all went to the Billygoat Tavern for dinner (delicious pub food) and then to the store Ray's for some ice cream for desert, then back to Chad's to crash for the night!!

11 people in a 1 person campspot!

Day 85 July 12, 2008

Up and hiking by 0547, the sunrise was a beauty as we climbed uphill. Had to cross over some snow right on the trail at 6,000 feet today, that was a surprise! Tons of prickily bushes on the trail today, our shins are taking a beating, all scraped up from the bushes on the trail. Ate lunch at what we thought was Deer Creek, but it was actually the next creek we came to. Hiking with a LARGE group of people. Lucky, Milky, JB and Gadget all jumped around the fires and now there are a ton of us together. Started seeing tons of poison oak on the trail today. I'm carrying Technu (the poison oak wash) so I wash my arms and legs down every night with that stuff and it sets my mind at ease. Also saw some Lilies on the trail today....July 12th lillies! Both Neighbor and I have started hiking in short and t-shirt. It's just too darn hot for pants and long sleeves out here. Hiked down to Ash camp and met Dave who was kind enough to give us a soda and cold yogurt! Yummmmm, thanks Dave, that tasted great! 94 degrees and we were by a river, so we rinsed our feet, legs and shirts off. Decided to hike on a couple miles and then walked .6 down to a real campground (where we had a water spigot and picnic table for the night) So, Neighbor, Thrust and I camped there while the others either stayed at the river or pushed on a bit. We are too big of a group to camp all together.

Day 84 July 11, 2008

Hiking by 0620, ate grapes for breakfast, feeling pretty good today, must have been the food from town! Came apon a baby bird that must have fallen from it's nest today, it was a HUGE baby bird, not quite sure what kind of bird, but it wasn't looking too good......I guess that's nature for you though. Trail today was 100% overgrown with bushes and trees and we felt like we were bushwacking for part of the day, crazy! The book says this section is "crawling with poison oak" but I really haven't seen any yet....Impressive views of Mt. Shasta but it is smoky or hazy in the distance. Camped by a water source and the book mentioned a campsite.....well, maybe for 1 person! We managed to fit 11 people (9 tents) in this small area. Some were camped directly on the trail!

Day 83 July 10, 2008

Up and hiking by 0530, saw Mt. Shasta in the sunrise light in the distance, how beautiful! Came to a water pipe with a hole in it and washed up a bit in the water spurting out of the thing! Got to the road to Burney around 0830 and hitched into town. Cars were flying by, but we got a ride after about 30 min. Went to Safeway and bought a sandwich, some strawberries and we split a half gallon of Newman's lemonade! Yummm! Bought some more food for the next stretch and then caught a ride out of town. Hiked the remaining 7 miles to Burney Falls State Park and man was it HOT. Wow, this heat just zaps all the energy out of you. Went over to the State park and got an ice cream at the store and decided to camp there for the night with a bunch of other hikers. Showers were $1 for 10 minutes! Yeah did that feel GREAT! We washed our shirts in the sink with some soap and were feeling as good as new again!

barren volcano land!

coming down off Hat Creek Rim and hiking into the sunset!

Dig in!

Hi Jessie!

Day 82 July 9, 2008

This is how DUSTY it is! We were covered in this dust!!

Up early at the Heitman's, then they started cooking breakfast! Scrambled eggs, sausage, cinnamon raisin pancakes, OJ! Yummmm! Then we got a ride to the trail and started hiking at 0830. I was carrying 2.5 Liters of water because the section up ahead was going to be HOT and DRY. We hiked 7 miles by 1030 or so and came to a family with a spread of food on a picnic table! Jessie said "dig in"! We had cold grapes, steak and chips, what a great suprise! Thanks guys! Hope you had a great rest of your vacation! Continued up to Hat Creek Rim and wow was it HOT. I felt like a slug this day, a dirty smelly slug! No shade anywhere, just kept moving. There was supposedly a water cache at road 22 and by the time I got there, I was soo low on water I was sipping and saving the remaining water that I did have........thank goodness there was water there for us! What a saviour that was. We had another 12.6 miles before the next water and I would have been miserable without that cache. The whole crew drank some water and then moved on the ridge. Neighbor and I decided that we should get as far off that ridge and as close to the next water as possible because it was just soo hot, so we (and Thrust) hiked until 9:40pm (past dark) and then gave up. We tried to wash down as much as possible before getting in the tent, but we were filthy. What a day. We were dirtier and hotter than many places in the desert today, who would have known??!

The rest of our time at the Heitman's

Had an amazing dinner of chicken, broccoli, salad, rice, potatoes, corn on the cob and get this.....homemade baklava! (hope I spelled that right) Delicious! Wow! Camped out in the yard, lots of hikers here. It's now 7am and we had some Cheerios and are going back to the trail soon, the sun is up and it's going to be a hot one, word is there is a 30 mile waterless stretch coming up. But there are water caches (like back in the desert).