Pacific Crest Trail: Miles 1300-1400

Day 83: July 7; 25.3 miles

It was a freezing cold night. I wasn’t expecting to wake to a 38 degree morning, especially when it was such a hot day and gearing up for the same today. After we got up and moving, though, the heat came out with a vengeance. It was hot, almost unbearably so. Being fully exposed in a burn section when going over blowdowns really didn’t help the matter.

The only thing worth taking a picture of today was hitting the midway point of the PCT!! I was pretty awesome seeing the plaque in person, knowing that I had walked 1325 miles to get there, and only had 1325 miles left. While I don’t feel like the miles flew by, I do have a feeling that this second half is going to go by in the blink of an eye, especially with increased daily mileage.

The excitement of reaching this literal milestone was slightly offset by how thirsty we were. We made a critical error of not thoroughly checking water sources and were stuck with a 10 mile water carry, each of us only carrying 3/4 liter of water. Rationing that little of water all those miles during a really hot day is kind of torturous. While we were never in any kind of mortal danger (a Sherpa literally just survived 6 days on Everest with one chocolate bar and snow), it was super uncomfortable. For once my mind wasn’t perseverating on food. All I could think about was water.

And of course those 10 miles were dusty and overgrown, making for slow traveling. But eventually we made it to a creek and just about drowned ourselves with water. I don’t think we’ll be making that mistake again.

Got to a mosquito free camp fully intending on cowboy camping. But as soon as the sun started to set, the blood suckers came out in a fury. Just as furious, we quickly set up our tents, cursing those darn bugs the whole time.

I made myself a delightful egg burrito for dinner, complete with refried beans, cheese, and bacon bits. I’m trying to eat a little more throughout the day, and powdered eggs really help with calories and protein, though they are a bit high maintenance. We’ll see how long my patience lasts with them.

Day 84: July 8; 26.7 Miles

It was another cold morning, which made for slow camp breakdown. Or maybe because I was distracted with good phone service. The jury is still out on that one. I was just happy I could wish my brother a happy birthday.

We got out of camp and in less than a mile hit trail magic! Only we got there just as they were setting up, so we missed all the “good stuff”. Danny and Kim became enamored with the PCT after randomly deciding to pick up a hiker hitching one day when heading to Chester. They live 3 hours away but decided that today they wanted to do trail magic for the whole day. And they were doing it right. Pancakes, sausage, hot dogs, and hamburgers were all on the menu. I was extremely happy with the coffee, fruit, soda, and candy we got. We spent a while there talking with them. They’re a great couple and with 14 grandkids they knew about all the goodies we hikers might like. After all, our eating habits very much mimic that of a toddler.

After departing, we had an amazing stretch of trail. Not a burnt tree or blowdown in sight. It was a taste of what this forest must have been like before the 2021 Dixie fire. Unfortunately that didn’t last long. We arrived into Lassen National Park and soon the destruction returned. Rumor has it Lassen is the worst of the burn zone. Which isn’t as daunting as it may sound, it’s only a 19 mile stretch. You can do anything for 19 miles!

I’ve never been to Lassen National Park, so it was great getting to explore a little. We had lunch off trail at the Boiling Lake, which is a very accurate name. It has boiling mud pits and smelled just like Yellowstone. Some might find the smell of sulfur a bit potent and unpleasant, but I love it. It brings back instant memories of exploring Yellowstone with my family as a young child. At lunch I feverishly drank the Dr. Pepper I packed out from trail magic. I never drink soda in my normal life, but out here I crave it. Sometimes it’s all I can think about! Especially orange soda, which I have become a bit of a snob about. I have tried just about every brand and will only drink Fanta. I wish I could find a grape soda somewhere, they’re so hard to come by!

It was a late lunch and we were back to walking at 3pm, with 8.5 miles still to go that I was dreading. We broke up the walk by rinsing some dirt off with a spigot and cooling off. After that was a modest climb that did provide some entertainment. As we were climbing we kept an eye on a person walking the road. They were easy to spot because they had a huge sun umbrella. I noticed that this person kept turning around… back and forth back and forth. Thinking they were confused, I realized the source of the problem – there was a bear frolicking in the middle of the road! It was actually pretty entertaining to watch… from 300’ up. This person was never in any immediate danger, the bear wasn’t paying any attention to them, but you could see this tortured soul trying to figure out how to get around the little guy. They ended up taking the creek the whole way back to their cabin, making it safe and sound.

After conquering the climb the rest of the walk was slow moving. It was nothing but overgrown brambles, scratching and cutting up my already raw legs. It was torture. We made it to camp, Lower Twin Lake, at 8pm with just enough sun to clean up the dust from our legs and set up camp. It’s a beautiful camp full of some very brazen deer. I had one sneak up scarily close to me when peeing, barely allowing me to stop before going hog wild to drink it. Let’s just hope they don’t steal my socks, which they are apt to do!

Day 85: July 9; 27.1 miles

Despite a 2am deer seance, I slept really well. Whether they were praying to the moon or foraging for more pee, I only woke enough to notice they were doing something weird that didn’t involve my sock so I went right back to sleep. The temperature was perfect for sleeping and made for a quick camp breakdown.

We only had 12 more miles until we were out of Lassen and presumably out of the Blowdown City Blues. And like magic, we were! We were transported from dusty exposed trail full of widow makers and blowdowns to a beautiful forest that felt like home. In fact, if I had to guess where I was, I would’ve said confidently “Batona!”, the trail I did a shakeout on before coming out there. The pines and sand were so comforting, and the flat terrain made it easy to cruise. It’s ironic that it feels like Batona because I just so happen to be chasing down someone with that as a trail name! Hailing from NJ, I have seen this mystery person for the last several weeks on trail registers. We’ve been steadily gaining on them, to the point where they’re only a few miles ahead. I know I will soon have the opportunity to talk to them about Batona!

With 11 miles left we did a quick detour to get ice cream at Hat Creek Resort, which proved worth the additional half mile. We were greeted with generous scoops of divine ice cream that were extremely cheap. On a hot day it was very welcome. We even got talking with the two ladies running the shop. They hail from a tiny town in Arizona that I actually spent a night in during my Southern Tier bike tour. The trips I’ve done that go to tiny little towns across the country are amazing for reasons like this. Every so often I see these small towns on the news and think, oh I’ve been there! Or I run into people from there, like these two ladies, which creates an instant connection.

To break up the rest of the miles we took another detour to a lava tube. It was huge and rivaled the one I saw in Hawaii so many years ago. It went on for 1000’, which I was explicitly clear I cared not one bit to explore (I have a fear of caves) and it stays a cool 46 degrees year round. It was refreshing to get out of the sun and heat for a bit, but we had more miles to get done and I didn’t want to stick around for whatever might crawl out of that tube.

And just like that we were transported back to the desert. Only I don’t remember the desert being this hot or dry. We had a 20 mile water carry plus a dry camp. My pack weighed so much and is wreaking havoc on my body. My back, hips, and shoulders are raw and bruised from my pack. I know I’ve lost weight and my bony areas are bearing the brunt of it. There is no second of the day when I’m wearing my pack that I’m comfortable. I think it’s time to start looking for a new one, officially.

We hobbled into camp around 7pm, greeted by a secret water cache. Which was fortunate because at the rate I’m drinking water I wouldn’t have made the 20 miles without running out quickly. We desperately need a rest day. After these long mileage days that were made even more taxing by terrain and heat, our bodies (really feet) need a break. I’m still battling whatever I did to my foot 3 weeks ago and David seems to be having some overuse issues pop up. We’re thinking of either taking it easy tomorrow and neroing into town Saturday or making it all the way to town tomorrow. It’ll be based on how we feel tomorrow I guess!

Day 86: July 10; 26.7 miles

It was such a warm night. I had every intention of getting up early in attempt to beat the heat, but slept right in till 5:30am, clearly exhausted. Even so I was able to get myself together and leave at normal time. With easy elevation, the goal was to attempt to get into town today.

It was a decent day, with views of Shasta guiding us to Burney. The thought of an off day being motivation to maintain a high MPH speed. My appetite is either suppressed by the heat or my morning bean burrito (refried beans, BBQ beef, bacon bits, and cheese) is doing a bang up job of keeping me full. I think it’s the burrito. I am not bonking like I was and feel pretty strong. I just feel bad for anyone upwind of me.

With only 8 miles left at 2:30pm, we were bound and determined to make it to town. We passed by Crystal Lake, which was absolutely stunning and full of bird activity including actively hunting osprey. It was nice to break up the heat and dryness with a lake full of life. We even saw a black bear there! Minding his own business he was just chilling on trail until we spooked him and he darted, leaving a huge trail of dust behind him, never to be seen again.

We made it to the road in record time at 4:58pm. It took longer than expected to get a ride, maybe because I looked so raggedy, but Jaden pulled over happy to give us a lift. He grew up in the same town as David and they reminisced the whole drive to town. Jaden’s birthday is tomorrow and he’s celebrating by going up to Shasta with his family. He even invited us to join, but it’s a far drive and we need a day of doing nothing. It’s so hard to say no to offers like this, but our bodies need a decent rest.

The motel we’re staying at is attached to a steakhouse. So after catching up with some familiar faces (including Code!) we got cleaned up and had an amazing dinner to refuel. It was one of the best meals in town yet.

I’m so excited to have a zero tomorrow. My body, though it feels strong, is tired. If I keep pushing this hard without rest I know I’ll end up either sick or injured. With Canada becoming such an achievable goal, I don’t want to risk either of those things happening and potentially derailing this trip.