Food!!

Day 109

15 miles

Lunch buffet at Timberline lodge

Camped at mile 2103.4

Today we ate at the legendary Timberline Lodge buffet! Before we began the trail I had heard about this buffet. It was talked about on blogs and in YouTube videos. The food was delicious. I ate five plates of food and drank three glasses of soda! Then a few hours later, still ate dinner. The buffet did not disappoint and watching Mount Hood rise up in front of us this morning and peak around corners of the trail was astounding. From our campsite we could see the setting sun’s glow on the mountain and it was beautiful!

I was happy to get to talk to mom and Allison today as well. There was surprisingly great service at the lodge and for a couple miles after so I could hike out and talk with mom. We are getting to close to Washington and to so many other neat parts of the trail that are iconic! I am excited for every step ahead of us. Except for maybe the 60 miles south after getting to the border! Since Canada isn’t open to walking traffic yet and the nearest road has had a mudslide, we have to backtrack 60 miles on the PCT to get off of it. Hopefully the mudslide will be cleaned up by the time we get there so we can just back track 30 miles instead.

Lake Odell

Day 98

25? Miles

Second day hiking around the Windigo fire

Camped at Odell Lake Resort Campground

The group decided to hike out at 6:15am this morning. It was quite chilly though maybe not as near freezing point as yesterday. We started hiking pretty fast since we all were chilly. Today we planned to hike all together again to make sure no one got lost and we could all compare maps again. Pretty soon into the morning it became quite hot. The rest of the day it felt very warm and I was very grateful to have my sun umbrella still. Today on the two track roads we saw quite a few cars and ATVs. At lunch by a creek, a couple of gentlemen who were four wheeling stopped to talk with us about the fire and how we are getting around it. They even offered us a ride to the campground we were going to for dinner. In the end we turned them down since we are walking these miles as part of our journey to Canada.

As we walked, I finished listening to “Britt-Marie was here”. Another Fredrick Backman book! It was phenomenal as always. He is such a great author because he draws a reader into the story with real descriptions of emotions and feelings while being so realistic about life.

We finally made it to the resort and campground! About half way through our day we had looked up the menu for the restaurant here. This helped us walk a bit faster and steady through the afternoon. I don’t think this place gets a lot of PCT hikers since it isn’t a common resupply spot and not quite near the trail. But they seemed to know we were hikers and not dirty people just passing through. A few of the other people at the restaurant came over and talked to us about our journey. In the end, someone paid for all seven of our checks after we had a lovely meal there. We were all so grateful and that was so unexpected!

The view from the porch of the restaurant

Our original plan for post-dinner was to get to the highway and hitch hike up to the Willamette trailhead so we would have to road walk in the dark. That is dangerous. But after a happy meal, we decided to inquire about the campsites here and save the hitch for the morning. It ended up only being a few dollars a person to stay near the beautiful Lake Odell. The campsite is on the shore and the waves will sing us to sleep. Then in the morning for Kevin’s birthday we can go get some breakfast and warm coffee! This walk around the fire closure has been an adventure of a different kind and has really been a good change of pace for a bit.

Day 94

29 miles

Almost thirty miles today! It was definitely a long day but felt good to be at the end and think about the ground we covered. We could look back on Mount McCloughlin at the end of the day and remember the morning and being on the other side of it!

I was super annoyed when I scraped my foot on a log today. It really hurt but since I wear two pairs of socks it didn’t break the skin. Just gave me a big bruise. I was probably most annoyed about missing a couple of minutes of my audio book of Harry Potter when I was distracted by trying to get up and over this log. The logs have broken off branches that poke out like sabers just waiting for you to misstep while crossing the log.

Ah well, not a bad day.

I was craving lots of foods today. Literally anything that isn’t in my pack. Perhaps some vegetables, a dinner other than refried beans, fresh watermelon! Perhaps Crater Lake NP will have some good food. I am very excited to see the lake and get food at the diner that is near the campground we will stay.

Today we decided we won’t do the walk around the Windigo fire closure. We had talked about what to do for a few days. Kevin got sick of looking at the maps and I don’t have that map app so I wasn’t much help for this one. We will have to be content not walking continuously through Oregon anyway since the Lionshead closure is still closed too.

A fun part of the day was when Kevin and I discussed our favorite and least favorite parts of the California section. It was fun to discussed and recall parts of the trail even while we are still on the trail. Both of our favorite parts are in the Sierras where the beautiful views, lakes, and surprise trail magic was lovely.

First day in Oregon

Day 92

Camped at mile 1740

Hiked 20.7 miles

This morning I had a Granita coffee drink from a coffee shop in Ashland. It was delicious! Ashland has so many coffee shops and the town food co-op is magical! We had to run to the post office this morning to get our box which included new shoes for both of us and a new sun hoodie for Kevin. It looks great on him. It also contained some Darn Tough socks for me which I’m excited about since they have their trade in program when the socks get holes. Cnoc also had a great circular consumption cycle too since they provided a new water bag but also sent me a shipping label to send the broken one back so “it doesn’t end up in the landfill”.

We arrived to the trail head by 11:30am. A man named Darryl brought us out to the trail from town and that was very nice of him. We met him our first day in town at the pizza shop and he offered a ride out so we got his number then and it worked out for today getting back to trail.

The climbs today were very gradual and surprisingly we did 20 miles fairly quickly for coming out of town late in the day. It was also nice going up in elevation 2,000 feet to the trail since it was hot in town but much nicer up on trail. It felt odd beginning to hike in Oregon without the monument of hiking to a border sign or something like that. Going from mile 1501 to mile 1719 in one day definitely messes with the head because of all the things we know we missed. We are doing our best to stay positive about the miles we still can hike and taking advantage of the good weather now. We hope to come back to the Dunsmuir to Ashland section of the trail at some point but are not sure what that will look like yet.

Lassen Volcanic National Park

Day 83

26.5 miles through Lassen Volcanic National Park

Today was a 1% day. Because we hiked 26.5 miles, it was one percent of the trail.

It rained on us for a couple of hours today. It was a full out down pour. It began as an innocent sprinkle and I thought for sure it would just pass on by. Last night it sprinkled a bit and we got up and closed the tent flaps but then it stopped. So this afternoon I fully expected it to stop too. But it just started to rain harder and harder. I am so glad that I still have my umbrella with me because it was so simple to use today! We were going to stop for a siesta break after 17 miles to hang out by a lake. But this is when it was raining, so Kevin and I stopped to get water and inhale some food. Then we kept pressing on and finished up the miles before camp pretty quickly. The rain soon cleared up and it got hot and humid again. We were glad to have some sun to dry out our coats and various items. It was also a nice way to notice what items didn’t stay dry throughout the day in our packs as well so we know how to pack differently when we have a lot of rain.

My lunch today was more items like soup and tortillas instead of granola bars so it required more stopping and rehydrating my food. This didn’t work so well during the rain because I didn’t want to stop. I was famished by the time it was dinner. But I had my favorite dinner of rice and beans so it was all good!

At some point during the day we had service and got a message from a friend ahead of us on the trail. He said there is a fire closure in Northern California on about 110 miles of the trail. We didn’t have service to get any other info so it feels frustrating to not be able to plan anything else but just walk towards town. We know the fire is not near us so we are safe, and it is so sad for all the communities affected.

I knew at some point this would happen and we would have to skip around or do an alternate. But still it is rough to process the changing face of thruhiking.

The beautiful sunset seemed like a peaceful way to end a tumultuous day.

Chester

Day 82

10 miles

Camped at mile 1340.6, North Fork of the Feather River

Resupplied in Chester, CA

Today we hiked a mile to the road and then hitched into Chester. Apparently Chester, CA is where Chuck Norris’ wife is from and they still have a house here. (According to Kevin’s dad!)

The hitch into town took a longer time but we managed to get a ride with a person who was coming up to their lake house for the weekend! Once we got into town we saw our group at the grocery store then met up at the town park after showers at the local laundry mat. We could hang out at the park all afternoon as the temperature rose higher and higher. There have been a lot of excessive heat warnings in the towns north of us and around us. It has been reminiscent of the desert heat which wasn’t my favorite but we make it through.

A local trail angel took us back to the trail after some of the heat died down. Her name is Drive Thru and she has been giving rides for about eight years. Her son hiked the PCT and since then she has been helping hikers. This is often many trail angels’ story of how they got involved with the trail.

We hiked about nine miles in to get closer to the Lassen NP border. We will have to hike all the way through it tomorrow because of the bear can requirements. I ended the day with a sandwich I packed out from the grocery store (they had gluten free bread!) and a new blister on my heel.

1300 miles

Day 80

Belden tree house to top of the climb, 1300.6ish

13.3 miles plus 1.6 off trail road walk

5,000ish feet of gain

A group of about eight of us slept in the “treehouse” structure last night. I heard their alarms go off early to get a good start up the hill before the heat. I wished we could leave with them but alas we had to go and get our boxes. Yesterday after the post office people told us we couldn’t get our box, they opened for another hiker and she got her packages and could start the climb earlier in the day. That felt frustrating that the business did that but what can ya do?

After a breakfast of oatmeal and sweet tea, we walked down the road 1.6 miles to Caribou Crossings. It was a tiny campground and even smaller store. There wasn’t really enough food in the store to even resupply with so I was glad we had boxes. After getting our boxes and packing our bags, the store owner offered to drive us back to the trail. This was super kind of them. On the drive, the campground owner told us about how the valley of Belden was settled because of its gold. The “treehouse” we had slept in was a renovated stamp mill. They would bring rocks, usually quartz, to the mill to be smashed so they could get the gold out. People still pan the river for gold.

We began the climb up the hill at 10:30. Right about when it was starting to get so hot. The whole climb was about 13 miles and 5,000 feet of gain. So long and uphill the whole way. It was also very exposed for most of the climb because of the fire damage. Thankfully, there were a lot of streams to dunk our hats and shirts in and try to stay hydrated. I was pouring sweat the whole afternoon as we were in the sun and it felt a bit humid too. There was a surviving tree about three miles up that we could sit under for a siesta. We stayed there from about 12:15 to 3:30 then continued on. I was super grateful for more forest farther up the hill too. I also started listening to a new book. “Beartown” by Fredrick Backman. This town is set in Scandinavia and they talk about winter a lot so I think that helped me stay cool too! Thinking about snow, ice, and hockey! Camp arrived at 9pm. We had to push to a certain spot to camp that didn’t have a bunch of dead trees and the sunset there was amazing!

Beldentown

Day 79

16.7 miles into Belden

Camped in Belden at the “tree house”

When I woke up this morning, there was a deer romping around our tent. It was timidly walking around, sniffing the ground, then looking up at us if we moved at all. It was neat that we almost seemed to be a part of the deers day and it was unbothered by us…until we decided to get up.

Today the air smelled different. It wasn’t smoke or the trees but almost a humid smell. Today seemed like the first day there have been clouds in the sky except for when it rained or the smoke. There were a couple of days in the desert that weren’t full sun but it has been awhile so the clouds were a huge relief.

The first few miles this morning were uphill and in some unscathed forest. The rest of the miles were through a burnt forest from the Dixie fire which I believe is the largest or most destructive fire in California history. We will be hiking through the fire damage for the next few days. It is dusty and ashy so we have been getting filthy.

The end goal of today was getting to Belden and hopefully getting our resupply boxes. When we arrived, the shop was not open and not willing to open their post office to give us our boxes even though they said yesterday they would. So we will be staying near Belden tonight and getting our stuff tomorrow then heading out.

Belden is an interesting establishment. It calls itself a resort probably because they rent out rooms and cabins and it probably had a hay day about 50 years ago. The people who live in that area have been resilient through fires, a flood scare from a dam, and the trials of living in a not easily accessible town. Which is probably precisely why many of them live there.

We haven’t been seeing as many hikers along the trail in the last few days because quite a few people have skipped this section because of the burned area. It hasn’t been as bad as the general hype made it sound. Our goal is to walk every mile we can but we understand if someone was concerned about the ash or chemicals used in firefighting and their health.

Day 62-July 9

21.6 miles

We woke up this morning to a smoky view. The sights of the mountains we could see while eating dinner last night were gone. The near hills I could just barely see the outline of. As we started hiking through a meadow, the smoke looked like heavy fog over the trees and it burned our throats and noses. We knew the fire was a long ways away. A friend had contacted her mom who said the fire was on the opposite side of the park in the Mariposa grove of sequoia trees. I was very sad to hear about these thousand year old trees going up in flames. This is why we want to thru hike things now before lands are destroyed by natural disasters or it becomes too dangerous to hike.

Soon we met two rangers coming down the trail. I thought they were there to tell us we had to leave the trail. They were just checking permits and if we had bear cans or not.

Recently, Kevin listened to a podcast by thru hikers that describes how the future of thru hiking will begin to include fire closures, road walks, and perhaps not being able to walk every mile between the southern and northern terminuses of long trails. This is disheartening as we have already seen evidence of this happening in the last few years. Understanding our earth and how to care for it is so important.

Since there was so much smoke, we tried our best to push more miles today to get away from it. The passes were so steep and coming down Benson pass was rocky and difficult to go fast over the uneven trail. We ended up camping at Benson lake which had a nice breeze to keep away the mosquitoes and a mostly blue sky since the wind had changed to keep the smoke away from us.

Siestas and rest

Day 39-June 16

Joshua Tree spring to campsite at mile 683

19 miles

Kevin hadn’t slept well last night so was loathe to get up. All our neighbors had left earlier, which I was fine with. Sometimes other hikers can give dirty looks if you come into camp late and disturb them regardless of how quiet you are trying to be. But no one likes their sleep disrupted.

At the first water source of the day, we met a bunch of hikers that we hadn’t gotten their names yet. It was fun to meet a new group of people. One of them told me about a vegan (dairy free) type of Nutella and I need to find some.

After the water, we continued up our 2000 foot climb of the morning. It was getting hot but the frequent trees made it bearable. Siesta at the top felt magical! I think we should continue with siestas even in other sections, even just short siestas. They make the miles in the day feel better since you do like 12 miles, then a long break, then 12 more. But we will see how our hiking flow changes in the Sierras!

I was thinking how earlier in the trail I had listened to this podcast about food, rest, and culture. They were discussing how many people talk about how our food as a culture has changed from being homemade to more packaged food and all that that entails. But the dietitian in the podcast also pointed out the cultural shift at the time of the food shift as well. Instead of being able to go home for dinner, workers now get praised for working through lunch and not taking one. Thus, having a very sedentary day. Generations are not living in the same household as much anymore so family meals aren’t always made and enjoyed. In many places two incomes are needed to thrive so there isn’t someone there to always make the meals. This is compared to other cultures that have a designated afternoon time where shops are closed for the workers to return home to eat and rest. All of this to say, taking a rest or break in the day sometimes feels like I should still be being productive and hiking but I am trying to push back against that cultural shift and still have that needed rest in the day and will have to figure out what that looks like back home too.