Tag: PCT2014

Day 116: July 27th
Mile 1626.8 to Mile 1647.8

The days are similar on the trail: get up at 5 am, hiking by 6, short meal breaks usually where we find water, in camp by 6 (on good days), dinner, blogging, quick cleanups, then sleep by 7:30 (on good days).

The hours of sunlight are lessening now, so the urge to hike even more daily miles is increasingly on everyone’s minds. Yet, it is still tough to do more – the trail is not as well graded as in Southern CA and doing multiple steep climbs every day takes its toll. Lon is doing great on the trail; Deb, not as much.

Mileage: 21

Day 115: July 26th
Mile 1606.5 to Mile 1626.8

Today we entered the Marble Mountain Wilderness. The mountains and climbing continued unabated. Actually the scenery became even more shades of green as the trees and shrubs competed for attention against the gray and red rock faces of the mountains.

The trail also surprised us today with a switcheroo: it climbed over a mountain, went through a small rock channel in the mountain face, then went down about 200 feet, and then switchbacked UP the same mountain from the other side and climbed ever higher along the mountainside. What’s with that?

Mileage: 20.3

Day 113-114: July 24-25th
Mile 1600.6 to Mile 1606.5 (Etna)

Yesterday we hiked the final 5.9 miles from Paynes Lake, our campsite, to Etna Summit. Our hiking companions, Princess and Mr. Sandals, had arranged a ride at 9 am and we were fortunate to tag along for the ride down to Etna. No hitching required!

In town we quickly got bunks in the Hiker Hut at Alderbrook, cleaned up, and headed for the famous Dotty’s for milkshakes and delicious burgers. Yummmm.

Today, we are staying a second night (a zero day) because we haven’t had a good rest since South Lake Tahoe. We are resupplying and sending some food boxes up the trail. We also are eating mucho and hikers are gathering for dinner at the Etna Brewery tonight.

The plan is for a 6 am ride back to the trail in the morning.

Mileage: 5.9 and a zero.

Day 112: July 23rd
Mile 1578.4 to Mile 1600.6

We woke to a Sierra morning: cold! Lon wishes he kept his down pants for sleeping instead of sending them home. We knew this would be a tough 22-mile day and the trail lived up to our expectations. Up and down about 8 times. But the scenery delivered the goods. We transitioned into the Russian Wilderness and it was like being transported back into the Sierra but without the snow. Rocky ridge lines, sandy trails, cool winds, hiking high above the densely forested trees and lakes below – simply stunning vistas. Definitely this is one beautiful section not to be missed. Deb’s regret is that there just isn’t time in the thru-hiker schedule to sit and enjoy the views for hours.

We reached the 1,600 mile mark today.

Mileage: 22.2

Day 111: July 22nd
Mile 1556.4 to Mile 1578.4

This morning was clear and sunny but cool. We haven’t had such a cool night in a long time.

The trail went downhill all morning to highway three and then began the inevitable climb back up. We are in the Klamath National Forest and passed into the very beautiful Trinity Alps Wilderness. Once again the views are spectacular – we hope a picture can do justice to what we are seeing in person.

We were hoping to do more than 22 miles today but just like yesterday thunderstorms rolled overhead in the late afternoon. We hurried up the ridge to find a small stream for our camp water and then stopped shortly afterwards just below the ridge. Deb worries about lightening because the GPS device on Lon’s backpack is extended like a lightening rod!

Mileage: 22

Day 110: July 21st
Mile 1534.7 to Mile 1556.4

We woke to a beautiful view of Mount Shasta from our campsite. The hiking was much easier today after yesterday’s climbing. The trail was mostly level all day and the weather was much cooler, to all the hikers’ delight. We met happy hikers all day long at the water sources. The views continued to be expansive and colorful, views of the Shasta- Trinity Wilderness.

The nice day continued until late afternoon thunderstorms appeared and we had to hurry to find a campsite and set up our tent. We haven’t been clipping the vestibule doors shut for so long we almost forgot how they work. We just beat the rain by a minute! It rained all evening and put us to sleep.

Mileage: 21.7