Goodbye Oregon, Hello California! - 1690.0 mi to Campo

As I leave the lakes and deserts of Oregon behind I also leave a trail of destruction. The blood and deaths of 10,000 mosquitoes stains my soul. Yet, strangely, I feel no remorse. :) Ha ha, ok enough kidding around.

We finally got to California today! Woot! Made a big mileage day as well, logging in 26.4 mi! We celebrated our crossing into California in style - I had a Budweiser, Arij had a Snickers. Ran into another northbound thru hiker today, named "Odie." He had made it thru the Sierras!

Unfortunately, we find ourselves among cows again in California. In fact, there's a herd just ~ 200 yards away from our camp for the night. They're all armed with cowbells too - so much for a 'wilderness experience.'

Just 28 mi to our resupply!

Callahans - 1721.2 mi to Campo

Pretty crazy day yesterday. We got a semi-late start - I didn't get up until 7:15, but we cooked breakfast and broke camp in record time, hitting the trail by 8:15!

We hiked a lot on BLM & private land - jeep roads, trails with cows, etc. etc. Arij got bit by a wasp when she tried to open a gate at Hwy 66! It put a serious damper on her day. We had hoped to camp at a spring at 1728 mi, just outside Siskiyou, but had two problems arise. First, we were on private land! Second, the spring had dried up! So we pressed onward. We ditched our packs just off trail and decided to go to Callahan's for dinner.
Turns out, Callahan's also offers lodging (guide book neglects to note that!) we opted to stay there, a nice treat. Dinner was amazing. Fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, real meat, good beer... it was fantastic. I devoured just about everything in sight.

The room was great as well. Shower (not coin-op woot!), king sized bed, jacuzzi tub, robes. It was heavenly. It was amazingly restful, just lying on that bed. Breakfast was included with the room, so we stayed for that too. Fantastic. We should enter California tomorrow! Woo hoo!

Cyber Hikers and Sugar Coma - 1748.7 mi to Campo

Yesterday we met the first unpleasant people on the trail. A French (maybe Quebecois) couple were northbound on the PCT. They said they had made it through the Sierras too! But a few things didn't jive.

The girl had a huge attitude, as well as oversized Paris Hilton sunglasses. Not to mention the knee high gaiters. She also didn't know if they had a bug net with them, and threw a temper tantrum on the trail when we told them how bad the bugs were up ahead. They seemed very intent on who was where on the trail - so much so that they had stopped at an internet cafe in Ashland, some 10 miles off trail. And no, they weren't even resupplying there. Anyhow, they were insulting, "Oh, do you think you'll make it to Campo?", arrogant "Oh, North Cascades is easy in snow - just like the Sierras" and overall jerks. Total Cyber Hikers.

Anyways, enough ranting. We resupplied today at Hyatt Lake Resort. TINY store, but we got our fix. I ate 3 ice cream bars, 2 sodas and a Snickers promptly. Arij ate similarly, and we both entered a nice porch. Several hours later, we got up and gorged again - this time finding a huge, perfectly ripe avocado - it was delicious! The temp hovered around 92 degrees F in the shade all day. it was a good rest & resupply day, all in all. California, here we come!

Free at Last - 1780.6 mi Campo

Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty we're free at last of the Oregon mosquito horde. We made it to Fish Lake today, and according to all northbounders we've met, this is where they stop. So far, so good.

It's been quite some time since my last post; can't quite remember when I last wrote even! We managed to make it through our two long waterless days - we actually turned that bit into 3 days, hiking the 24 mi, then split the 26 into two 13 milers. A nice water cache at Hwy 138 sure helped!

We got to Crater Lake on the 21st. What an amazing place. Everytime I go there, my eyes have trouble believing what they are seeing. Hanging out at the lodge we met the first true northbounder, Scott. He was attempting to "yo-yo" the trail - hike it south to north, then north to south, all in one go. Crazy. He was hiking ~40 miles a day at that point. Said the Sierra's had been quite difficult. Surprisingly, his pack seemed to weigh just about as much as mine, ~25-30 pounds with 2 days food and water. He was also doing some filming of other thru hikers and we got interviewed.

We hitched from the rim down to Mazama, stopping at the PO along the way. Many thanks to the two nursing students, and to Mike! Arij and I are convinced Mike was CIA. Knew more than anyone should about the area, was ex-military etc etc.

Also ran into some other thru hikers at Mazama. The buffet at Mazama, btw, was great. First was a group of south bound Oregon section hikers - Tom, Sarah, and Dani. They were all Peace Corps buddies. Next was a group of 4 Quebecois - David and Antoine (brothers) and Gabrielle and Claudia. We camped with them at Mazama (thanks!)

Crazy story here now - David and Gabrielle had converted to the raw food diet while on the trail (northbound, they had skipped the Sierra's and North Calif.) Right before Arij and I left, we had Bill and Sarah and Anna over for dinner, Sarah told us about this family who had one day gone totally on the raw food diet, lost a ton of weight, then hiked the PCT in Tevas. Anyways, in the morning, they get a raw food delivery - from that FAMILY! Turns out they had met the family in Ashland and changed over. Crazy small world.

It's been blisteringly hot the last week or so - apparently hit 105 degrees F a couple of days ago! Yikes! Quite humid as well. Our mileage has been good though - hiked 25.3 mi yesterday, and did an easy 18.1 mi today. We're only ~ 30 mi from our next resupply at Hyatt Lake, and still have 2 days of food!

A few weeks ago Patrick inquired if I had ever really used the fork portion of my spork. After considering my answer was no. We had a bit of a laugh about how yuppie we were. We could have just carried lexan spoons. Now I know the reason I wanted to bring a spork. Patrick may soon be proliferated with spork wounds, he is really eyeballing my food and always begging. I have to fend him off with it!

I have a total of 4 toenails falling off in various stages. I think the only ones that may escape this trip are my baby toes.

Now I know the Leave No Trace motto is something like "Take memories, leave only foot prints," but I have to admit to leaving hundreds if not thousands of mosquito corpses. If I wrote a book about this section of the PCT, I would title it Bug Tales. Everything seems to be driven by the bugs. Patrick cracking his head, where, when, how we eat & sleep, go to the bathroom, EVERYTHING!

As Patrick said though we are in a no bug territory. I am not sure how to act. Today hiked 1/2 the day with my mosquito net uselessly on. I was afraid to take it off. I am taking baby steps though, I may try and hike in shorts tomorrow.

So I believe the purpose of Patrick taking me on this trip is to slowly kill me from methane poisoning. Now he has an explanation for his lethal doses. Dave, a N bounder we met, told him it is all the nuts & dried fruit fermenting to create an evil dose of butt. At the next resupply I am plotting to steal his apricots and gorp, I mean I have to survive, he is going to kill me soon. If I don't do something...

Dry Times Ahead - 1885.2 mi to Campo

Been quite some time since the last post. After the head-bonking incident our next two days were relatively low mileage - ~16 and 12. Arij left her sunglasses behind on the trail about 1 mi back from where we had camped at Stormy Lake, so I ran back and got them, making it 18 mi for me.

All the running was hard on my feet - running with some 25-30lbs is tough! I actually bot a blister under my big toe on my left foot - first I can remember in some 14 years. Luckily it was pretty much a fluke and healed up in just a couple of days.

When we got to Shelter Cove Resort on the 15th, our package was AWOL. There was a mix up and it got sent USPS instead of UPS. Finally we figured out that the owner was due to check the mail that Monday. We took a much needed rest day there at Lake Odell.

We ran into some segment hikers called Katz & Curses there. They were there with their support crew, camping and resupplying after skipping a snowy section. Katz had taken a bad fall earlier on snow and was having nothing to do with it! They were northbound and we shared our experiences of the trail ahead. Very kindly, they invited us to dinner and we were treated to a fantastic meal and plenty of beer and wine!

On Monday afternoon, we finally picked up our package and took a short hike - about 6 miles or so back onto the PCT.

Today we had some fantastic views. Thielsen, McLaughlin and Crater Lake are getting very close. Mt. Shasta continues to grow on the horizon. We also ran into a fellow southbounder. He was hiking solo and had started at Manning Park on June 20th. He ran into TONS of snow and barely make it to Rainy Pass. Like us, he had then opted ot skip ahead to oregon and had been just a day or two behind us for the last several weeks, catching us after our package delay at Lake Odell.

My new head net Rocks. I now laugh at the futile attempts the mosquitoes make. It even comes with a highly fashionable patch of camo fabric. $2.99 is a samll price to pay for sanity. We also stocked up on Oregon Holy Water at Shelter Cover (aka DEET).

We've got two long dry stretches ahead of us. Tomorrow we'll do 24 miles and only hit ZERO on trail water souces. We'll stop at Thielsen creek. Then we'll hike 26 mi the next day with ZERO on trail water shources, finishing up at Crater Lake. Ugh. Packs are gonna be heavy!

Boom! Headshot! - 1940.7 mi to Campo

Wow. Crazy day today. It started out early at Camelot Lake. We managed to hit the trail by aroiund 8:15am. We soon began our trip through the first of several large lake filled basins. The bugs were bad. No, bad isn't a strong enough word. The bugs were incessent. We could barely take breaks. They drove us to hike fairly rapidly too. By 12:45pm we pulled into Dumbell Lake. Already having craked out 11.8 mi, we took a long lunch. 2 1/2 hours long in fact.

Dumbell Lake was a bug free paradise. An oasis in a desert of bugs. I wanted to stay there all day long. We finally left the lake around 3:15pm. The bugs came back and with a vengenance.

Ballcaps are great for the most part. Today I had mine pulled down quite low over my forehead to ward off bugs. They keep the sun off great too. One bad thing is that they kill your vertical peripheral vision. So...

There we were, Arij in the lead, steaming uphill to keep ahead of the bugs. Head down to best keep the bugs from flying into my eyes/nose/mouth, I failed to see a log across the trail, suspended about 6' 2" off the ground. Unfortunately, I stand around 6' 4"... CRACK!!

Ouch that hurt. I head-butted that log at full speed. It was a draw, I'd have to say. It also opened up a good 3" long gash on my skull. So, for the next 45 minutes or so, Arij bandaged my skull. Glad we're both EMTs.

After than little episode, we continued our march into the heart of mosquito land. At one point, I took off my pack, set it down, and observed a swarm of probably 50+ mosquitoesland on my warm pack. I didn't need to snack today, enought were continually flying into my nose and mounth, I'm sure I was getting plenty of protein.

Anyhow, the bugs became so unbearable (even the DEET was barely holding them at bay) that we half walked, half ran the next 10 or so miles. Sadly, our camp here at Stormy Lake is horrifically infested.

Totally out of gas today. Gonna go sleep now. 23.5 miles - not bad, all things considered.

Rain & snow - 1964.2 mi to Campo

Second day out on the trail from BLYC and things are going quite well for the most part. First off, the scenery here in the Three Sisters Wilderness is Fantastic. I only hope our pictures capture a fraction of the beauty. We're making good time too, all things considered. Made 19.5mi on the first day, stopping about 2 hours early. Made only 17.9 mi today, but there was tons of snow - probably spent 70% of the day hiking on snow. To top it off, it rained off and on all day today. We're feeling quite soggy at the moment.

We got our first glimpse into California yesterday. From the slopes of Mt. Washington we could make out Mt. Shasta in northern California. Sure it's probably ~300 miles away, but we can at least see it!

Some fascinating volcano geology in the Three Sisters region. South Sister itself has over 24 kinds of volcanic rock. Today we saw just about the full spectrum, passing through particulary nice obsidian flows and some impressive pumice fields on the Wickup Plain. Rock Mesa looked like a gigantic tiday wave of rock, frozen in place and towering 400 ft above the trail.

Tomorrow we leave the Sisters behind us (and hopefully the snow) and drop down to several large lake filled basins. It's probably going to be very buggy there - hopefully the insect repellent will last!