Category: On the Trail

Day 102 – The Climb (Seiad Valley edition)

7/25/18 Miles: 1655.9 to 1679.3 Trail Miles: 23.4 I did not sleep well last night at the RV campground. I cowboy camped because it was so warm – too warm for the tent – but that left me exposed to the mosquitoes. The RV Park is next to a road, and trucks drove by periodically

Day 101 – Seiad Valley, CA & the State of Jefferson

7/24 Miles: 1634.5 to 1655.9 Trail Miles: 21.4 The 3 deer that had been circling the campsite were gone when I woke up. They’d made for a restless night, but the lack of sleep was countered by the anticipation of reaching Seiad Valley this afternoon. There was a shower, laundry and restaurant food in my

Day 100 – Siskiyou Mountain Club

7/23 Miles: 1610.4 to 1634.5 Trail Miles: 24.1 The PCT north of Etna Summit is one of the best built and maintained sections of the trail. I was thinking about this when I ran into a crew doing trail maintenance. I have to commend the Siskiyou Mountain Club ( #SiskiyouMountainClub ) and their trail crews.

Day 99 – Near-o leaving Etna

7/22/18 Miles: 1599.7 to 1610.4 Trail Miles: 10.7 Miles Walked: 12.7 It was a warm night but I’d slept well camped on the lawn at the Hiker Hut. The Hut is actually part of a B&B with a bunkhouse for hikers. The bunkhouse has a bathroom with shower, 4 bunks, a kitchenette, library, DVDs and

Day 98 – Zero in Etna

Mile Marker: 1599.7 Trail Miles: 0 Miles Walked: 2 Etna is a hiker-friendly Town. They allow camping at the city park ($5). An additional $5 gets you a shower with a towel (not always a given on the trail). The park also has lockers you can rent to store your pack/gear in – nice when

Day 97 – Etna Summit

Miles: 1580.0 to 1599.7 Trail Miles: 19.7 Miles Walked: 21.7 (2miles around Etna) There was a climb straight out of camp this morning. I started eating breakfasts 1 through 3* as soon as I could, but was still running low on energy. I had to stop after an hour to eat some Fritos and drink

Day 96 – 2nd 30-Miler

7/19 Miles: 1549.6 to 1580.0 Trail Miles: 30.4 I woke up just before 5am but dozed on and off for 15 more minutes. There are several good reasons to cowboy camp. One of them is how quickly you can be packed up. I was hiking by 5:45. The bad thing about cowboy camping is you

Day 95 – Sprechen Sie…..North Cackalacky?

7/18/18 Miles: 1521.1 to 1549.6 Trail Miles: 28.6 Miles Hiked: 29.0 I was on the trail by 6am. There were stunning views of Mt Shasta bathed in the morning light. The trail was mostly exposed to the sun again, but the elevation was between six and seven thousand feet so the temps were moderated. This

Day 94 – Hot Climb through Castle Crags S.P.

7/17 Miles: 1501.7 to 1521.1 Trail Miles: 19.4 Miles Hiked: 21.4 I woke up around 5am and worked a little on the blog. I didn’t start packing up until about 0535. I could have been on the trail by early but delayed to charge my phone and get one more blog post done – I’m

Day 93 -Castella, CA

Miles: 1489.4 to 1501.7 Trail Miles: 12.3 Miles Hiked: 15.3 Last night I camped with 5 other hikers I didn’t know that well. At some point I heard footsteps during the night but couldn’t tell whether it was animal or human. It was also 70 deg inside my tent at 5 AM. My 20 deg