Day 94; Sun July 29 2007

(Stud) It was an interesing party someone was having at Paynes Lake last night. Since I heard the name "Karen" shouted over and over again, I'm thinking the party was for someone named Karen. There was a lot of singing that included the theme songs from several 1960's TV shows including Giligans Island, Green Acres and Beverly Hillbillies. There was also a rousing rendition of Friera Jacque. (Forgive me Father for not knowing how to spell this.) I think they may have been changing some of the words to suit the occasion since the songs were getting a big laugh--but we couldn't hear that clearly from the other side of the lake. Dwight was sure they were going to party all night long, but the revalry stopped around 10pm-and Dwight was already asleep by then.

We were on the trail by 6:15, and met Troll and Oblivious packing up about a mile down the trail. They were camped just past what the guilde referre to as the "glatial bowl". I was expecting a really cool granite formation of some sort, but it only seemed to be a big bend in the trail.

The morning sky was particularly beautiful and I took many pics to capture the moment. There semed to be a heavy haze layer and the smell of smoke which we learned later was due to a fire that has been burning for over a month in the town of Happy Camp. It's apparently under control and won't have any impact on our hike.

Dwight, Troll, Oblivious and I hiked together for the 5 miles to the road crossing where we hitched to Enta. Enroute we heard a lot of cowbells in the distance, that coincindentally were attached to a big herd of cows grazing trailside. They took off running as we approached and we continued to hear the sound of cowbells for the next 15 minutes as they fled the area.

The hitch into Etna was 15 mlies, and just before the road crossing someone had left a cooler of soda's, beer and fresh fruit. This has been a good section for trail magic.

We waited about 30 minutes to get a ride--and it was the second car by on a very lightly traveled road that picked us up. It was two guys who had been car camping and they had nearly the entire vehicle--a short bed pick up with extended cab--filled up with car camping equipment. Dwight bungied the packs to the luggage rack--one of those safari looking things--and the guys crammed into the pickup bed and I got into the cab where the driver had carved out a spot for me. The driver was playing a CD of hari chishna (sp?} music--the same song played the entire 15 mile commute..."hari chrishna, hari, hari chrishna; hari chrishna, hari, hari chrishna" was sung over and over again. The driver, a tennis pro named Don, was really getting into it--to the point he was continuously turning it up and by the time we got to Etna was clapping his hands along with the music. Hands are optional when drivng, right?

In Etna, a quaint town a few blocks long, we checked into the Hotel Etna (small, nice, family run place), ate a late breakfast, Dwight did laundry, ate some snacks, ate an early dinner, did our resupply at the grocery store, ate some icecream, brownies and fruit we bought at the grocery store and now are headed to bed...

Day 93; Sat July 28 2007

(Dr Bug) It is 8:45pm and we are camped by a beautiful Paynes lake. It is surrounded on three sides by granite rock walls. Trout are slapping at the water surface. And if I could think of a way to get those day hikers camped on the other side of the lake to shut up, this would be heaven.

This was a day of climbing; I would estimate that 80% of the day was spent walking uphill, in the dustiest trail in memory. The good part was the views were spectacular. White granite with spare coverings of fur trees. Black volcanic mountains, red ultramafic mountains, and we climbed to many crests to get a look at them all. We walked out of the Trinity Wilderness and the Trinity Alps into the Russian Wilderness.

The Troll and his famous son Oblivious caught up with us at dinner time; Clair and Patrick joined later. We enjoyed their company; Troll always makes me laugh.

Water was not a problem today, there were plenty of springs and creeks, although they were not well documented in the guide book.
We hiked 25 miles today and have only 5 miles tomorrow into the town of Etna. This is exciting; I'm looking forward to this town stop.

Day 92; Fri July 27 2007

(Stud) When I woke up this am, the shins felt considerly better. I don't know whether to attribute it to the ibuprofin I took after dinner or that they are just healing. I hope the latter because I'm getting kind of tired of this ailment and am just about out of ibuprofin.

We camped less than a tenth a mile away from the creek we were trying to get to last night. This morning, while Dwight pumped, I stretched out my calves. We expected to pass Troll and Oblivious still sleeping but they must have gotten up early and down the trail in front of us.

We hiked until 1 pm with only 1 short break to get water. At one point the trail markers, which have been consistant in this section dissappeared and we thought we were off trail. We dedided to wait 15 minutes before backtracking and luckily saw a trail marker with 4 minutes to spare. Maybe we're finallly getting the hang of this trail.

After lunch we had a 1500 ft climb. At one point we heard some clicking to the left of us. I thought it was one of the many yellow and black grass hoppers the have been buzzing around us like helicopters the last few days. But Dwight jumped back a few feet nearly knocking me over like a bowling pin and said, "it's a rattler". A big, mad one too. It moved into the bushes but didn't stop rattling so we moved along quickly getting as far to the oppisite side of the trail as possible.
WeKd been seeing a lot of cow patties and finally the cows that went with them. As soon as they saw us, they took off running the opposite direction. (Apparently, they could smell us.) Curious thing: we have passed through dozens of stock gates on this hike, but none in this section. There is no fencing here whatsoever. What keeps these cows together?

Around 4 we stopped at a creek that had several nice pools. As we were washing up, another couple came along--Clare and Patrick. We'd seen them earlier, just as they were getting up for the day. They are also thru-hiking. Patrick just founf out he has "the G", or so he was told at the local hospital. It sounded like more of a guess on the doctors part who told him the Flagela (sp?) wouldn't hurt him if it really wasn't Giardia. They also told us Troll and Oblivious were actually behind us, but they caught up to us at dinner and we ate together.

We are camped at the side of a pasture where "eau d'cow pattie" wafts in the air. Dwight actually had to remove a few to make room for our ground cloth. I draw the line at picking up cow dung!

Troll and Oblivious are camped nearby. We hiked 26 miles again today and my shins feel much improved.

Day 91; Thur July 26 2007

(Dr Bug) Rolling on the trail by 6am. Susan leaves Troll a danish and a note by his sleeping bag wishing him a happy birthday.

Susan was walking better today. It seemed the vitamin I before bed helped.

We stopped around 9:30 to get water in a wonderful mountainside creek that had created a field of wild flowers: Canada Thistle, a blue flower (Hare Bell?) and many Pitcher plants.

It was day of climbing up to the point where the long rocky uphill trail was reminicint of a High Sierra mountain pass. There were many mountain side springs and creeks. We didn't stop hiking till 8pm. Got in 26 miles; not bad for a girl with bad ankles. Susan also found a great campsight where it was flat and the soft duff was thick.

Day 90; Wed July 25 2007

(Stud) I'd write that I woke up on the wrong side of the sleeping bag this morning, but the would imply I actually slept last night. The only people that should spend the night at Castle Crag State Park are the stone deaf or folks that own a sound proof camper. The interstate and a heavily used rail line are so close, it sounds like they're going right though your camp site. And it sounds that way all night long. Also, at the camp site next to ours, a family came in at 11PM, set up a supersized tent that had 200 ft of metal tent poles with shock cord that needed to be clicked together, then blew up their air mattresses with what sounded like a vacuum cleaner. The dad immediately went to sleep and started snoring--so I guess this place is ok for the "dead tired" as well. Oh, and the ground was like concrete (which I guess is expected in this setting). To add to that, this morning we learned that while the food lockers did protect our food from the bears, we weren't so lucky!
with the mice. Both my pack and Dwight's food bag had holes chewed in them and the mice got to my tortillas and pita bread and D's ramen. I guess we were lucky; the damage could have been much worse. So, before setting off, we hiked back down to the grocery store and replaced the food we had to throw out.

Once back from the store, we headed back to the trail using directions from our guide book. We got to he first trail intersection OK, but from there couldn't make heads or tails out of the instructions, even after we both read them about 4X apiece. Finally Dwight figured it out by studying the microscopic sized map for a while. In retrospect, the instructions, which covered several paragraphs of information, were as simple as: "Take trail A to trail B. This will dump you back on the PCT". What ever happened to the KISS approach? My two big beefs about the guide books: 1) maps too small, 2) words too many.

My right shin still feels like crap so we weren't moving too fast today. After last night and this morning's mouse fiasco, my attitude wasnKt the best, so it was nice to run into Troll and Oblivious who were taking a break in the middle of the trail. "I don't think I'm going to get in too many miles today...I just don't feel like hiking", Troll told us. They had gone into Shasta City last night; Troll's dad had met them there. So the 4 of us lumbered on together and eeked about about 20 miles.

Day 89; Tue July 24 2007

(Dr Bug) A great start at 6am today. The sloped crevice where we camped last night was not the best so both were up and ready to go. It was however, the first time I slept on top of the sleeping bag without bug netting in shorts and T shirt. It was hot and no skeetters!

We climbed and climbed, then climbed some more today. The incline was managable, the trail was mostly pine straw and not rocky. Thank God it was mostly shaded by the large pines.

We stopped and washed at Squaw Valley creek around 10, lunch at 12 and a short break around 3. We got some great vistas of Shasta. This mountain is above 14,000 ft and is a 'cloud catcher', like Mt. Washington in the east. Weather seems to fly over the other lesser mountains, but hangs on Shasta and creates more clouds. It looks like it would be a technical mt. to climb.

Our decent to Interstate 5 and the Castella PO seemed like an eternity. High up, we could hear the traffic for hrs. before we got there, about 4 hrs. of walking.

We arrived at the interstate entrance ramp at 4pm. The PO closes at 4:30, and as luck would have it, the first car that comes by gives as a ride. We make it to the PO 15 minutes before closing. There we pick up two envelopes from Tim forwarded from Belden containing the maps and data book, plus extra food we mailed to ourselves from the extra big food drop (overflow) from Susan's parents and our friend Cindy Tufford. They also gave us a note on a yellow stickie from Charlotte and shirley, who had apparently driven through the area, to look for another note at the gas station/grocery next door.

So next it's over to the food market. The note from Charlotte and Shirley...had been thrown away. "We can't keep these [messages for hikers] forever", the manager said. Thanks, buddy.

We did, however, buy burritos and additional supplies for the next 99 mile leg. We were sitting on a picnic table eating, when a young guy joins us with his own burrito. Turns our he works for Clif Bar (we eat them on the trail all the time). Mike gives us 7 bars from his car! ahe especially like the story we told him about the John Muir Trail hiker we met near Mt Whitney that did the entire trail (JMT) on 4 Clif bars a day.

We ended the day with a shower in Castle Crag State Park 1 mile up the road and are camped at the site they set aside for PCT hikers. This was a pretty good day. We hiked about 20 miles to get to Castella. Susan is being a real trooper with the shin splits. I don't think it would possible without "vitamin I".

Day 88; Mon July 23 2007

(Stud) Today was all ridge walking--and thankfully, with exception of the beginning of the day--under at least partial shade.

The left shin is much better, but the right one is still swollen and painful. Toward the end of the day, when all the benefits of the ibuprofin had worn off, I was back to hobbling down the trail at snails pace. We were in a downhill stretch then and even though the grade was minor and the terrain good, I resorted to walking downhill backward to get relief from the pain.

It was hot, hot, hot today. Even the breeze blew hot air. We did pass a fair amount of water today, and I twice soaked my shins in ice cold water. That was nice.

I passed up the last opportunity of the day to get water and that was stupid. Didn't feel like carrying it up hill, and for that I got a dry dinner and left both Dwight (since he shared what he had left) and I thirsty at days end.

Day 87; Sun July 22 2007

(Dr Bug) On the trail by 6:20am. After about 2 miles we reach Peavine Creek, we tank up. This will be our last water source for the next ten miles. Susan's shin continues to be painful. She now using "vitamin I" to max recommended doses (Ibpropin).

The terrain is very interesting, rolling hills which don't seem to roll in any one direction, like you would expect. The trees are white pines and douglas fur. (The Native American guy we met yesterday referred to the as "the dougs".) The understory is covered with brush and it is lush green. This all seems to indicate that this part of the state gets more rain than any we have traveled thus far.

We see Mt. Shasta at at every turn where there is a vista. It is a snow covered granite monolith towering over the rolling pine covered mountains.

The afternoon sun is now very hot but thankfully there is plenty of shade and up hill walking is not that difficult.

I saw a same bear in the afternoon. He must have just been kicked out by mother this year. He seemed somewhat confused. He first started to climb a tree. Then surveyed the situation and slowly backed down the tree, and finally ran like hell.

Later in the evening, as we were walking the trail I noticed a blast of cold air and mentioned this to Susan. she said, 'Yea, I think we have been passing water we can't see all day'. She was reading my mind. To me, that cold blast ment a spring was below the trail in the dense brush... I guess we both have been out here a long time.

We hiked 22 miles today and I know it was painful for Susan. One ankle is getting better, the other is not. We stopped walking abouut 8pm.

Day 86; Sat July 21 2007

(Stud) We hitched out of Burney around 9:00 this morning. It took us longer hitching out than coming in, but still not more than 20 minutes. Just after we started to hitch we met an interesting fellow--probably in his 60's. I believe he said his name was Thomas George. He started talking to us because we were hitching. "My Toyota p/u broke down several years ago and I get away the same way you do". He told us he'd only ever had 2 problems [hitching]: once a truck swerved off the road and tried to hit him and once a truck ran over his bag that was sitting on the side of the road. "Probably because of my color", he said. I asked him what nationality he was--his skin was light brown and he did not have an accent I was familiar with. "I'm from right here" he said and he gave 4 geographic points that were the boundary for his people--the Pit River Indians. "I'm a man of many
colors", he said. "I've been lower than the lowest rung on the ladder and was the town drunk for 14 years." More recently he'd represented the Pit River Nation in congretional hearings where several different native american tribes were going up against commercial interests to fight geothermal development at Medicine Lake. I recalled later that he never used the term "Native American" during any part of our discussion which was much more lenghty than what I have witten here. You meet some interesting people on the trail.

The ~7 mile hike to Burney Falls State Park was nearly flat. I took 3 ibuprofin (600mg) just before we left, and the shins didn't feel too bad--certainly better than coming into Burney a day and 1/2 ago.

At the State Park we had lunch at a picnic table next to the new general store--a nice log structure. The park was busy with weekend tourists. Dwight got a couple of hotdogs at the store (since we planned to have lunch there--but I had plenty in my food bag so I just ate out of it). We both got supersized soft drinks and icecream since we just can't seem to get enough of this stuff on the trail.

After lunch the terrain was more rolling. I took another 3 ibuprofin (the pharmacist advised me not to take over 2400mg per day). Once we got to the dam at Britton Lake we reached the section of the trail where we have no maps or data page. Are only reference is Yogi's pages which just briefly mention water sources along the way. But this section is well marked with triangular metal blazes, so we have not had problems with route finding.

I'd guess we hiked about 20 miles today.

Day 85; Fri July 20 2007

(Dr Bug) We didn't hike a single mile today. Thru-hikers call that a 'zero day'. This will be our 7th zero day on the PCT.

Because of Susan's shin splits we are going to take the day off and stay at the Green Gables Motel in Burney one more day.

The day started with a trip to the barber shop for a trim of the beard. Then a trip to the Safeway for food for the up coming 90 walk to Castella. Then back to the motel to get Susan and lunch at the pizza place. Then shopping at Rite - Aid for last minute items. A call to sister Sharyn for medical advice about Shin splits and a call to brother to ask for the data book to be mailed to Castella. After all this we when for a swim in the pool and then to the BBQ place for dinner. I didn't get much rest but Susan stayed off her feet most of the day. This is a typical 'day off' the trail.

Day 84; Thur July 19 2007

(Stud) We took the chance of not putting up the tarp last night in spite of the remaining clouds--and luckily no rain. Its been cooler the last few nights and I'm hoping my decision to send my warmer sleeping bag to Tim wasn't a poor one.

Tried stretching out my shins and took 2 ibuprofin before getting out of my sleeping bag this morning. As I headed down the trail working on my power breakfast of a Lucky Charms & Honey Nut Cheerios, I could tell the shin situation was only getting worse. I hobbled along slowly with Dwight patiently behind or in front. It's no fun dinking along at a slow pace when you feel great, but Dwight has been a real sport about it. Over the past few days we've taken several breaks and he's massaged the lower part of my legs--concentrating on the calves as Anneki (Heidi's sister) suggested. Anneki played college basketball so I figured she knew what she was talking about. Massage doesn't seem to relieve much pain, but it feels good while in progress.

We ran into Hell on Wheels (Helen) and Stormin' Norman mid morning when they were taking a break. They slept at the water cache (Cache 22) last night and Norman said he woke up with a dead mouse under his sleeping bag. First I've ever heard of that happening. Since both Norman and Helen have battled shin splints, they gave me some tips for how to deal with mine: 1) take ibuprofin (check) 2) take small steps downhill (helped Helen, but didn't help Norman 3) get Super Feet inserts for shoes (helped them both) 4) wrap shin in ace bandage (helped Helen but Norman said it made it more painful. Mine already has the sensation of wearing boots that are too tight around the ankle, so I think I'll skip that.) 5) Massage (check) 6) taking a day off 7) shorter hiking days and 8) Once it starts getting better, taking breaks as soon as the pain starts to return.

It was nice hiking today; not too hot, mostly level trail through oaks and pines. The trail was still a bit wet from the previous days' rain and it really helped keep the dust down. For the past 2 days we had our first reprieve from "the pigpen effect"--no dust cloud following us down the trail. Had it not been for the shin situation it would have been an enjoyable day.

After 14+ miles of hiking, at highway 299 we started to hitch into Burney--what some described as the hardest hitch on the trail. But a woman turning onto 299 from a nearby crossroad spotted us--and give us a quick ride in. She even gave me an ice pack for my shins in spite of me trying to tell her it wasn't necessary.

We checked into a local motel--the Green Gables--where the manager gave us an on-the-fly hiker discount. We were able to do a lot of our food resupply at the nearby Rite Aid and ate dinner right across the street at the recommended Outpost Restaurant where they had a filling prime rib special.

Just before dinner we called my sister-in-law Sharyn--a physical therapist--for advise on the shins. She suggested RICE (rest, ice, compression and elevation) as well as stretching. She thought the change in shoes may have been the cause since I described the arch as more pronouced than the running shoes I'd been using which have nuetral arch support. I had been icing and elevating since we'd arrived in Burney--so I also did the stretching Sharyn described before heading off to dinner.

Tomorrow we'll take a zero here. I know the recovery won't be immediate, but maybe I'll get lucky and will push through it in a week to 10 days. It sure makes me more sympathetic toward other hikers with the problem and also wonder how folks live with constant pain.

Day 83; Wed July 18 2007

(Dr Bug) Happy 20th anniversary to us!...Married 20 years. Time flys...

So, Susan had a great idea yesterday: use one of the guest tents at the Heitmans. We did, it rained all night, our tarp didn't get wet (a plus), the old tent we chose leaked like seive and much of our gear got wet (a minus).

It was still raining when we got up. I was antzy and did not want to wait for breakfast from the host. There were 12 hikers there and things seemed very disorganized.
After saying goodbyes and a worthless lecture from Georgi about thunderstorms (it was a gentle 'lady rain'), we left. Got coffee and a pastry at the general store, talked to Heidi, Troll and Oblivious who were both just arriving as we were headed out. Good to see them all, we were wondering about how they were doing.

At 9:30 we started hiking in hard rain. By the time we reached Hat Creek Rim, the rain was slowing. It rained on and off until lunch at about 1pm. This is normally a very hot and dry hike, but the cloud cover made it easier. The cloud cover was very dramatic and we had a great view of it from the rim.

We needed to walk about 18 miles to the water cache. This took all day and we arrived at about 6pm. Susan's shins were hurting bad and the walking was painfully slow. Stopped a few times during the day to massage her legs; don't know if it helped.

After dinner the trail dropped down to flat valley and we found a great camp site in a grove of pines. Despite bad shins we managed to hobble 24 miles today. When we get to Burney, Susan will need to rest.

Day 82; Tues July 17 2007

(Stud) We had 12-14 miles into Old Station today on one of the flattest terrains to date. Given that town food was calling I'd normally be flying down the trail, but it seems I have shin splints. It started a few days ago in my left leg, and today I started having problems with my right leg as well. For now, I'm walking a bit slower and taking ibuprofin and hoping it will just magically dissappear.

We arrived in Old Station around noon and had lunch at the deli/small grocery next to the tiny PO. A retired couple, Georgi and Dennis Heitman, live here and open up the home to hikers. We happened to be at the deli when Dennis stopped by to pick up some other hikers--Rest Stop, Hell on Wheels and Stormin Noreman--so we went along as well. Dwight would have preferred to stay in the small hotel there, but I'd read and heard so much about the Heitmans, I wanted to come here. They have a log home that Dennis built, along with several other outbuildings including a very cool tree house which has cots for hikers. They also have some tents set up in their back yard that hikers can use. We were able to shower, do laundry, and use the internet. They have a refigerator full of free soft drinks and they fed us a dinner of chili, salad, rice and corn. I soaked my feet and ankles in the ice cold creek running through their back yard for as long as I could stand it. All of the He!
itman's services are free but tips are accepted. It continues to amaze and puzzle me that folks do this for hikers.

Besides the hikers mentioned above, the 4 Bears, a family from Alaska section hiking, are also here, as well as a thru-hiker named Chigger who is trying to recover from bronchitis and strept throat. (Chigger is friends with folks we hiked with on the AT: Shera and Just Another Joe. Amazing how small the long-distance hiking community is.) Riley also arrived later in the day. Georgi Heitman takes pictures and keeps an index card of info on all hikers that stop by--and they've had around 45 thru-hikers so far.

Day 81; Mon July 16 2007

(Dr Bug) Very tired today. Stayed awake a good bit last night because of movement around the camp after dark. Ultimately, I decided it must have been a park deer looking for a place to bed down for the night. So this will be a short entry.

Walked about 25 miles including most of Lassen National Park. Took a side trail to Terminal Geyser, ate our dinner by a beautiful lake in the company of a new and very young park ranger. Walked through some very unspectacular forest. Missed an all you can eat lunch at the Drakesbad (Dude) Ranch, and treked over some of the dustiest trail you could ever imagine. Washed myself twice today (rivers and lakes) and still I am covered with multiple layers of dust.

Day 80; Sun July 15 2007

(Stud) We reached the official halfway point of the trail today without fanfare. I do believe that had Dwight not stopped at the post marking the 1,325 mile point, I would have walked right by it as I was in my normal daydream mode. There was a journal in a metal box there and I looked through to see the names of folks we have met along the way--many several days or more in front of us now: Second Hand (Mike), Tattoo Joe, Thirsty Boots, No Car, Chris (now Snowman), Cyote, Galahad, Voyager, Riley, Speedstick, Yetti, Hell on Wheels and Stormin Norman. But surprisingly, names of folks we assumed were in front of us were missing--like Lucky Joe, Troll and Oblivious. We also noted that, in general, there were a lot less through hikers in front of us than we'd been led to believe. Not that everyone would stop to sign the register--but we felt most would--and although I didn't count the names, I'd estimate there were less than 30 thru-hikers that had signed in before us.

To celebrate reaching the halfway point, we hitched 8 miles into Chester to eat dinner. We got picked up by a local couple that first drove by, then turned around and came cack and got us. They dropped us off at a local burger joint and we got a burger, fries and soft serve dip cones. We first tried to order an 8 piece bucket of chicken (I had talked Dwight down from 12 pieces) but they said it would take 1/2 hr to make. Then Dwight ordered a jumbo burger, and that was going to take 20 minutes, so we settled for the regular size burger just to get the food faster.
Riley came in while we were there and sat down and ate with us.

The hitch out took longer, but just at dusk a young mother in a compact car, with her 6 or 7 yr old daughter in back, gave us a lift. She said she picked up hikers last week hitching into Chester after dark. "If I didn't pick them up, who would have?" What a trusting person.

About halfway back to the trailhead, the little girl pinched her nose, and with a wrinkled up face said: "Mommy, something stinks in here". She got no reaction from her mom who was engaged in conversation with Dwight in the front seat. As kids tend to do, she repeated herself, and I said: "Sorry, that's probably me". But she repeated herself again a few more times getting louder and whinier, at which point her mom finally glanced in the rearview mirror and calmly said: "Honey, they're hikers". This answer apparently satisfied the child, and she went back to watching a movie on her portable DVD player without another word.

Back at the trail head, we hiked on a few miles until we reached Clear Springs. We washed up a bit, found a flat spot a few 10ths of a mile down the trail and called it a day. The new Smartwool socks my mom sent in the Beldon mail drop, which I've only worn for 2 days, are already full of dirt. And my feet are filthy black. Unavoidable on this trail. Somehow you hope the new socks will act like a talisman--keeping away all the dust and dirt the trail coughs up. Dare to dream.

I think we hiked around 26 miles today.

Day 79; Sat July 14 2007

(Dr Bug) 9 am and we are on the trail: washed, resupplied, fed but minus our maps.

There was a great breakfast at the Braatens. Susan cleaned the hiker kitchen and Brenda Braaten shuttled us to the post office. We had a great food resupply from Mr & Mrs T. A supprise package of goodies from Cindy and Dan Tufford and Susan got a new hiking skirt from her always resourceful sister Cathie. What was lost in the mail was the maps for northern Calif. from my brother Tim. He sent it on 6/28 but the package is AWOL.

The Belden Postmaster was nice enough to come to the PO on her day off, Saturday, to double check! The PO was a tiny little red stain washed wooden building, with the charm of an old timey general store. I don't think the Post Master would mind if I described her as a northern California hippy. She even had an accostic guitar behind the counter - I guess things could get pretty slow there. The maps were not located, I filled out a forwarding request. This was the smallest of towns (pop. 14); the people were wonderful.

The trail followed a fast running stream called Chips Creek for miles. At one point Susan was sure we were lost and worried about it for the next two hours. We walked for about 7 miles before seeing a trail marker and that drove her nuts. Meanwhile the creek was feed with many streams and springs. We enjoyed them all, dipping our bandanas in the cold water, then securing them around our necks to keep cool. We took an early lunch by one stream. The trail is now extremely dusty and we wash our legs whenever possible. Although the afternoon was warm, we stayed relatively cool as the trail wound though spruce, ponderosa and lodge pole pines. In the morning there were some black oaks but they faded away as we gained elevation. We crossed Milkhouse flats - an upland meadow, and filled our water bottles in the fridged Frog Springs. Around 5:30 we stopped at Cold Springs for dinner. This area had a brand new corral, hitching posts and water trough for the equestrians.

We hiked an additional 3 miles before making camp short of Humbolt Peak around 7:45 pm. We hiked 22 miles today.

Day 78; Mon July 13 2007

(Stud) We hiked until nearly dark last night--and took the first flat spot we could find. There was bear scat in the area, but the desire to stop for the night outweighed the possibility that we might get a bear visit--and luckily we had a "bear-free" night.

It was an uneventful day, and another day where we had no human contact until we got near Beldon, where we ran into a section hiker from Las Vegas named Death Valley Bob. He's been biting off small sections of the PCT for 10 years and said he'll probably still be working at completing it for the next 10 years to come.

We went through an interesting mix of environs today--kind of like yesterday, but in reverse. Pine and cedar woods gave way to an open area of mostly low manzanita and other dense shrubbery with sweeping view of the next section we'll be hiking in. In many places the shrubbery was so thick it had grown together to totally obscure the trail. This worked out pretty well for me because my mosquito bite covered legs got a free scratching.

Beyond the manzanita was more pine and cedar, then the addition of hardwoods (live oak, black oak, dogwood, big leaf maple) as we descended on 36 switchbacks to Beldon and the Little Feather River. Poison oak as well. I may be just one big scratching machine.

The 15 mile stretch we were doing today ended at a railroad track with a stopped train blocking our route into Beldon. Our guide book said to either go over the stopped trains or wait for them to move--so we quickly went up and over the connection between two cars--which was a little unnerving to me.

We reached Beldon around 1pm--and the entire town seems to be in one building--which looks like it was part of the set of a old west movie. Nothing (saloon and restaurant) was open and apparently there is no fixed schedule there.

Some very nice trail angels that live nearby and open up their home to hikers--Brenda and Laurie Braaten--came and picked us up at the trailhead. (We called them from a pay phone as instructed in Yogi's book). They had also picked up our mail at the post office: a food drop from my mom, a new hiking skirt from my sister Cathie to replace my favorite Kelty skirt that shreaded back in the desert section (even though Cathie had done a great repair job on the old skirt, she found a new one on EBay), and a very generous "goodie box" from our friends Cindy and Dan Tufford. Between the box sent from my mom and Cindy, we were able to combine the next two legs (so we won't be getting off the trail at Chester) PLUS we will be sending enough food on to resupply a future leg. Thanks so much to all!!

Our maps for the next section didn't arrive, but the post lady is going to make a special trip into the PO in the AM to open up for hikers--so we hope to find that the package was possibly missplaced and wil be found in the morning.

Day 77; Thur July 12 2007

(Dr Bug) 4:12 am: There is a crack and thud in the direction where our food bag was hung last night. "Was that our food?". "No", Susan replys, "branches have been falling all night, go back to sleep". I couldn't sleep, a bear could be gobbling up my trail mix! Besides, I have been winning, a bear can't get the best of me, and take MY food! I jumped out the sleeping bag, put on a head lamp, and grabbed a weapon, my trusty hiking pole. Bravely I stumbled, tripped and gropped my way to the food hang.

This forest looks alot different at night; low intensity lighting, shadows. I had a hard time finding the hang. Then I realized - forgot my glasses. No wonder I was having vision issues. Besides, I wanted to see the fear in that bears eyes when I appeared wealding this telescoping, ultralight, hiking pole\weapon. After all it has a titanium tip!

Back to the sleeping bag I went. It was harder to return than I expected! But eye wear was retreived. Now that I could actually see, I'd be at the scene of the crime in no time. Well, not really. Things still look different in the dark, even with corrective lens. ...one big tree, turn left, another big tree...(gee, all these trees look big - should I be going north or east?). Oh! There's the bag, right where I hung it. Susan was right, must have been a tree branch. Oh well, back to sleep. Let's see, go south, big tree, more big trees, unfamiliar dead tree, a bunch of little trees, never before seen, hummm, "WHERE AM I?"...."Susan, where are you?". "I'm over here honey", she replys in a normal tone of voice that implies 30 feet distance. (Good, now I can protect her now that I know where she is...)
With my berrings corrected, I return to a warm sleeping bag after placing my trusty titanium tipped hiking pole at my side. Food safe.

We started hiking about 7 today. Wandering around in the dark stole some of my beauty sleep. After about 4 miles we reached Feather River, a good size rocky river in a deep gorge. Susan and I climbed down, took off most of our clothes and Susan went swimming. I washed myself and some clothes. The 10am sun was warm and it felt great to be clean. We ate a second beakfast, then started the uphill hike out of the gorge.

The ground was covered in oak leaves for the first time I could recall. Susan said they were live oak. There was also copious amounts of poision oak and after yet another lesson in identification, I decided the best thing for me to do was avoid all contact with plant life for the entire day. Poision oak is the "shape shifter" of plants. A little while later Susan spotted a dead bear. It looked young, maybe a year or two, it was sad.

After up over and down, we crossed Bear Creek. This started a seven mile up hill stretch. It sounds worse than it was; the forest was shaded, oaks, pole pines and later white pines.

There was an upcoming section of 12 miles with no water. I was constantly referring to the maps, making sure we were to fill up before that stretch.

At the end of the day we climbed Buck Summit. The view of the surrounding forest was comprehensive. Mansenita, white pine, spruce. The vegetation was very thick. We camped on the top of the ridge and hiked about 25 miles today.

Day 76; Wed, July 11 2007

(Stud) Not much happened on the trail today. There was no rain last night-probably because we put up the tarp-but we did wake up to a cooler and overcast day. Other than the smell of smoke during the night last night, there were no other repercussions (for us) from the fires we saw yesterday. The trail did bring us a bit closer to the last fire we saw yesterday. It seemed no bigger or smaller, but apppeared not that large or out of control.

It tried to rain several times in the AM, managing to spill a few drops here and there. Finally around noon, it lightly rained for about 15 minutes. Because it was so overcast, it was the first time, since the beginning of the hike, that I hiked without a hat on. Then it cleared up, the sun came out, it heated up again and the hat went back on.

The route today was mostly through pine forest and much of it appeared to have been selectively logged in the last few years. Lots of slash on the ground. The grade was pretty easy, which accounts for us hiking about 30 miles today

Some flora and fauna notes: yesterday I saw some white lilies on the trail--one with an albino spider on it. Is there a California day lily? Also, we saw some magnificent ground cover late in the day today. Gave some thought to sleeping on it. Thick, green (no flowers) and very low to the ground; leaves 1/2" X 1/4" and shaped like holly at the end. In some places it completely covered the trail.

We didn't see another person all day today. I believe that's only the second time thats happened since we've been on the trail.

Day 75; Tue July 10 2007

(Dr Bug) Had a great nights sleep in the bungalow. Finished the journal entries before 8am, had breakfast at the local dinner (Red Moose) and was on the trail by 11am. Sierra City was a restful stop. There was a three mile climb up from rt 49 to Sierra Butte. We did it in an hour. I was so jacked-up on the 7 cups of coffee and post breakfast pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream, I ran up that mountain. When we got to the first saddle there a beautiful view of the town below and the surrounding area. When we got to the next saddle we saw the smoke. I had been watching a thunderstorm approaching from the south and passing on the east. We only felt a few drops of rain, but lighting was enough to discourage us from taking side trail to and all steel fire tower for a nice view.

There was plume of smoke in the distant north - guessing it was lighting at this point.

The trail was spruce, pole pines and white pines; the flowers were still colorful but parched and dusty. The mountains and soil mostly volcanic. Some of the taller volcanic buttes still had some snow on them. They looked wonderful, the white soft snow contrasting with the jagged black rock.

We started to hear and see prop planes in the sky. At first I thought it many, then decided it was only two that were circling. The plume of smoke grew only so slightly. We comtinued to walk toward the smoke on the mountain side. Then we saw the helicopter. It circled, dove and tightly circled the smokey area. We hoped out loud that this was not a fire started by a careless hiker.

We skipped lunch - the Ben and Jerry's for breakfast factor. It rained ever so slightly. The trail carried us closer to the fire. At the closest point we could see two planes circling, copter moving in low, about 20 vehicles on a dirt road about a mile from the blaze. I had wondered out loud if there was proactive procedures for fires this small. This was my answer.

Later in the late afternoon as we hiked over more ridges we saw three more lighting fires. Two smaller fires that were yet to be attended to, and a third which may be about 5 miles northwest of our camp site. The copter worked until dark, then silence in the air. Maybe here in the west, after a very dry spring, lighting storms are very dangerous things.

We hiked about 19-20 miles today. It was good walking; we were energized by the town stop and the excitment in the air.

Day 66; Sun July 1 2007

(Dr Bug) We camped last night at a wooded plateau just south of a spur trail to Raymond Lake. Yesterday was a 25 mile day and I was pooped. This may have been one of the most beautiful camp sites yet. Although we camped in the protection of tall mature pines, only 40 ft away, was the granite rock cliff edge where there was seriously 100 mile visibility to the south-east. This is a vista we had not experienced since Baden-Powell Mountain.

I retreived the food sack from the hanging spot in a large sequia tree approximately 80 steps north of or camp. I try to note land marks and count steps when hanging food. Embarassingly, I have wandered the woods in the past, attempting to retrace the path to our well concealed food.

I used the light cotton cord to hang the food. It's longer than the poly yellow rope. I was happy it did the job.

The morning walk was alternating forest and traversing steep open canyons. The mountain side was step, loose volcanic gravel. The path was narrow but not truely dangerous.

As the day progressed we dropped into more dense conifer forest with an occassional accent of a volcanic ridge. This became a busy area with clean smelling day hikers as we approached Carson Pass: a trailhead with a thru-paved road and a visitor center. Enroute we saw a group of rock climbers on a mountain called Elephants Back.

There were picnic tables and a group of thru-hikers at the visitor center. The center didn't have any food, only water, maps and guidence for tourists. This was the 15 mile mark. We ate dinner at picnic tables, a real treat to be able to sit and eat.

The 5 mile hike after dinner was not difficult - only one hard uphill climb at the end. The mosquitos were bad as it was mostly pleasant meadow walking. We met some trout fisherman along the way.

We camped with a big pod of hikers: Helen Wheels, her husban Norman, Riley, Billy Goat and late arriving Heidi and her dogs. They had a camp fire and that was nice.

Day 67; Mon July 01 2007

(Dr Bug) It was a very quiet and restful night. I continue to be impressed by Heidis dogs and how well behaved they are on the trail. This was one of the more crowded camp sites we have slept at since Rodriguez Road crossing at the start of the Anza Borrego Desert. When you camp with a group of folks over 50, you can generally expect two things: a little snoring, and some very early risers. As expected, Billy Goat started russling around at about 3am. He was on the trail by 5 am. Which means he gets 6 or 7 hrs of sleep a night. Most hikers get 8 or more.

We were on the trail by 5:40. This was due to our anticipation of the coming day. Today we were going to meet friends in Echo Lake. Shirley and Charlotte are long time friends of Susan's family. Chalotte and Mrs T have known each other since they were 15 yrs old. Along with my brother in Hemet CA, they have been supporting us from the Sacramento area.

The trail around Showers Lake showed that we were already in a higher use area. There were many well established camp sites along the lake and lots or side trails.

I think, as a couple, we are now offically 'spooked' about getting lost on a side trail. We now pause at even well marked junctions, consulting the map, and consider the possibility that even the the most unlikely spur trail could be the PCT. If you can imagine a well rehursed comedy team, debating over unlikely logic, with incorrect results, you've got the picture. But somehow, we progress foreward.

The ten miles we covered today were completely under the canopy of large moss covered pines. We had some rocky scrambles, but generally, this is the most top soil I can remember seeing on this trail. The flowers are still in bloom, however they are less dramatic dotting the forest understory rather than the covered volcanic hillsides of the Sonora and Carson-Iceberg Wilderness.

We ambled in to the Echo Lake Resort area. Two familiar faces sat at the picnic table outside the general store: Helen Wheels and Storm'in Norman. Two of the nicest people we have met on the trail. They call northern England their home. I love their accents and would be pleased just to listen to them read a phone book. But they are wonderful folks to talk to and I'm glad they are having a great trail experience. Just before we arrived a gentleman drove by and offered our british couple the night in his cabin complete with food and beer. It seems his son thru-hiked in a past year and this was his way of giving back. This thoughtful piece of trail magic could not have happened to a nicer couple.

Our personal trail magic was just starting. Shirley and Charlotte arrived in their camping van loaded with big hugs and more fresh fruit than two people could eat in a week.

Our drive, talk and eat-a-thon was followed by lunch at a restaurant Placerville. Five trips to the all-U-can-eat soup and salad bar, and we were back on the road to Sacramento. For some reason hikers have a reputation for an unsatiable hunger and the ladies continued their hospitality by preparing a wonderful home cooked meal. Steak, green beans, sauteed onions, mushrooms and a green salad. Top this off with apple pie al-a-mode and you have two bloated but happy hikers. Add warm showers, fresh clean cotton Hawaiian shirts and real cotton sheets and the day was a thru-hikers dream.

Day 64; Fri June 29 2007

(Dr Bug) Had a great sleep and breakfast at Kennedy Meadows Resort. Got a ride back to the trail by an old 'hand' named No Sweat. He actually used the word "shucks"--and had a lot of great stories.

It turns out KMR is like a little village. Cabins, dinning hall, generate their own electicity, fire engine, saloon, barns and 150 head of horses and mules. The cabins are booked 1 and one half years in advance, sending horses out almost every two hours, a farrier and about 70 employees. We really enjoyed our stay there.

Well, I made a bonehead move right at the trailhead. There were two trails and I impatiently choose the wrong one. Not the PCT, but a trail that when straight up the mountain to a peak on the PCT. It was very steep. I climbed to the top, but Susan turned back. It was not an easy hike down for her; she spent some time on her butt. I took the PCT back down and we eventually rejoined back at the trailhead 2 hours later--about noon.

Interestingly we found a container of camp stove fuel at the trailhead. We left it there.

After hiking 2 hrs. we got back to the spot in PCT we had tried to short cut to. There was a hiker named Riley. He had lost his fuel bottle. We knew where it was. Susan offered him our fuel. He followed us like a puppy dog the remainder of the day.

The trail was relatively easy and Susan and Riley talked for hours while I hiked alone. Later in the evening at Boulder Creek we all had dinner. Susan and I hiked on for another mile.

Despite getting off track we hiked about 16s mile on the PCT and ended our day around 8:30 pm.

Day 52--Sand in my shoes; Sun June 17 2007

(Dr Bug) I envision the PCT as a desert; 90 percent sand. It is a desert which is 2,665 miles long and 12 inches wide. Little rain, little top soil, mostly sand and dust. This is kind to your feet because it is soft and relatively level walking. But sand and dust are quiet demons as it gets between your skin and sox and wears at your skin like sand paper. This has consistantly been the most problematic aspect of this hike. Two or three times a day take your shoes and sox off and try to clean everything of sand and dust. Use new clean sox every day, or every other day. North of the high Sierras the sand is, at times, being replaced by lava dust. The dust is not as destructive, but more persistant. At times open abrasions appear at the bottoms of my toes, in the heel, and at the top of the feet where dust and sweat come to rest. I'm also impressed how quickly my feet heal.

These days I'm a man who walkes 10 to 12 hrs a day. I guess this is part of the job.

Day 63; Thur June 28 2007

(Stud) It just occurred to me that yesterday we passed the 1000 mile point-only 1600 miles and a few more pairs of shoes to go.

Today was a special day--interesting trail and an abundance of trail magic. Yesterday as hiked into and camped in alpine area unlike any other we have seen to this point. It has that "Sound of Music" feel. There are even tufts of small white flowers--could they be Edleweiss (sp)? The vegatation here gives the mountains a velvety look in the distance with granite outcroppings that ring the mountain summits like the hairline of a monk. Our campsite was was near the top of treeline where the substrate had chaged to volcanic gravel.

We had a fairly short distance to go today--8 or 9 miles--to get to Sonora Pass. The trail across the pass was mostly above treeline and consisted of a footbed volcanic or granite gravel. At one point it had the appearance of walking a rime trail in a big gravel bowl. In a normal snow year, this is apparently one of the hairier passes that many have to take an alternate trail around, but (of the snow remaining), we only had one difficult snow field which I rock scrambled around and Dwight glissaded down.

On the way off the pass we met a buff looking 21 year old guy named Frank that was a couple of days away from entering the San Jose Police Academy. He was having problems with the elevation and was moving a bit slowly and was ending his weekend hike earlier than planned. Besides elevation sickness, his sleeping bag wouldn't zip and animals had gotten into his food bag--so it just wasn't his weekend. We hiked for a while together and told him about our thru hike. Although he took an altenate trail down to the highway crossing, he waited for us at the road side then gave us a ride to Kennedy Meadows Resort and Pack Station where we had a planned resupply (trail magic #1).

This was the second "Kennedy Meadows" of the trail--the other being at the south end of the high Sierras. This place is a pack station (similar to Red Meadows). They have a number of charming cabins built in the 30's or 40's, a restaurant/office/grocery store, saloon and the neatest horse facilites I've ever seen. Although no cabins were available, they rented us a room over the store for $35. The second floor of the restaurant/office/grocery store is like an old boarding house with small rooms and shared bathrooms. It is generally used for seasonal employees, but they will rent out extra rooms from time to time. It was actually very quiet and we seemed to have most of the floor to ourselves. Also, the showers had great preassure and they let us use their laundry facility for $1.

We ate lunch just after we got there. Later in the day we went to the grocery to resupply and after getting all our groceries, the clerk asked if we had looked in the hiker box. Turns out a guy who'd abandoned his hike due to the fire in S Lake Tahoe (which did not impact the PCT), left all his food for other hikers. We were able to to put back 95% of the food from the store and resupply out of his box. (Trail magic #2) Also, a young fellow named Flow Easy who thru-hiked in 2006 came by with stove fuel, duck tape and fresh fruit. (Trail magic #3)

We also had dinner in the restaurant and have found out about an employee there who might be able to give us a ride back to the trail in the a.m. So has been a good day.

Day 65; Sat June 30 2007

(Stud) We continue to enjoy the eruption of new plant life that has brought along with it many wildflowers we have not seen before. My brother_in_law, Tim sent us additional camera memory to Kennedy Meadows Resort so I am now able to take pictures again. The memory ran out over a week agoso we have several days where opur own memory will need to suffice for what we saw along the trail.

Today was an odd mix of meadows, pine forest and areas of intesrting volcanic rock formations that seemed to erupt from the earth. We hiked along with Riley much of the day, at 27 yr old CTo for a small firewall co in Vancouver, BC. We also saw Sun Walker who is sufferung from shin splints but still probably managed to get several miles on us, and Lthe other Bily Goat--a fellow in his 60's from near Eugene, OR. He wears a shirt with Meals on Wheels logo to promote the organization and carries informational cards for anyone interested in helping our. He said the organization has lost a lotof government support--money that has been diverted to the war in Iraq. when at home, he dlivers meals to 25 needy folks a day.

Wev also saw many ay hikers the day; many be most we have seen on any. It loks like we may have come close to our goal of 25 miles today. We are camped on a very windy ridge in a grove of pine trees. Dwight was just comenting hoe he eil miss cowboy amping whe we get to WA and it will likely be more rainy-but then again, we seem to bring droght wheree er we backpack..so time will tell.