Hannah the hiker

On day 55 I headed back to the trail. Before leaving town I had breakfast with Juicy and we arranged a ride with a trail angel back to trail. Daryl, the trail angel, picked us up at 10. He was nice and interested in where we were from. Apparently he hitchhiked from northern New York to Miami when he was in his 20s. That was fun to hear about. He dropped us off at the trail around 10:30 and we started walking at 10:45. Juicy and I said goodbye too since he hikes more miles a day than I do, so I probably won’t see him again. It was fun hanging out in town and getting to know other SOBOS, but it was a little sad knowing I might not get to hangout with many of them again since we all have different paces.

I aimed to hike at least 20 miles on this day so I tried to keep a quick pace. The first 12 miles were entirely uphill. I went from 4,800 feet to 7,000 feet in elevation. It was long but felt good to work hard. Around like 6 I heard something running through the woods next to the trail. I couldn’t see much except brown fur. Then all of a sudden I saw a bear climbing up a tree. It was crazy, I’ve never seen that before so I stood and watched. The bear got pretty high up and stared at me too. I think we were both scared eachother. I stood and looked at it for a while since that’s the clearest look I’ve had at a bear. It was real neat.

I kept walking after a little while. I ran into two hikers I met the day before and hiked with them for a bit. We ran into some perfectly timed trail magic when we got to the top of the 12 mile uphill. There were two coolers filled with sodas! I had a grape soda and it felt great after working so hard for a couple hours.

At this point it was around 3 so I just wanted to keep hiking and get the 20 miles in. I put earbuds in and kept a steady pace going downhill. I filtered some water to carry to camp since there wouldn’t be any there. I had to go 1,300 more feet uphill for 3 miles before descending a little bit into camp. It was pretty to see the sunset while I was hiking. The sun became this giant red ball just before it ducked behind the mountains. The sky was smoky from other wildfires in Oregon and I could barely see the nearby mountains. Despite this it was still a great sunset.

I set up camp near a dirt road around 7:45. I had a nice rice burrito dinner with some Reese’s peanut butter cups for dessert. I was able to get 20 miles in before the sun set!

On day 56 I left camp by 6:45. I had some Starbucks instant iced coffee that morning instead of my usual Nescafé instant coffee. It was a nice change, I even added some powdered milk to it too!

I walked about 6 miles until I reached the California and Oregon border! It was a neat little sign in the woods with a trail register next to it. I took a couple pictures, signed my name, and felt proud of myself. I’ve made it through 2 of the 3 states on the trail. California is definitely the longest stretch but making it to the border made me feel like the trail is almost over for some reason.

I continued on to the Donomore Cabin to filter some water and take a quick break. The cabin is being refurbished by volunteers. It had some cots inside for people to stay on. There was a picnic table and outhouse outside as well as a stream behind the cabin. It was a nice little place to relax before heading on.

I walked some more uphill and met lots of deer on the trail. I think I counted about 5 on this morning. I walked until about 1:30 and then got to my lunch spot at a spring. The spring was off the trail a little bit down this steep trail. I collected some water and then had a nice lunch break. I took my shoes off and read my book for about an hour. It just feels so good to take my shoes off during the day so I’m always looking forward to my lunch breaks when I can do this.

I left around 2:30 and continued on. I wasn’t sure if I was going to do 7 more miles or 12.5 more miles for the day at this point. I had already done 15 by lunch time so I wasn’t sure how tired I would be in the afternoon. The miles after lunch were relatively flat and easy. There were also a lot of cool rocks on the trail and near it to look at. I wish I knew more about geology so I could actually understand what I was looking at. It’s been interesting seeing the types of rocks on the trail change since the beginning. The rocks on this day were shiny and flat and were all over the fields of wildflowers.

When I walked 7 miles I decided I’d keep pushing and go 5 more. It was all downhill, I lost close to 1,400 feet in elevation in that short amount of miles. It was tough on my feet but I made it to my campsite around 7:50! That meant I had walked 27.5 miles on this day, my biggest mile day by .5 miles. I was really happy with myself and my progress. I set up camp quickly and ate my dinner before it got dark out. It was an early night for me.

On day 57 I only had 15 miles to walk into town. I left camp by 7 and went uphill for a couple miles to about 5,800 feet in elevation. It was a nice and exposed section, mostly because of past fires that have burnt the trees down. I saw a trail crew working on cutting brush that was overgrown. I thanked them for their hard work. It was getting close to 100 degrees Fahrenheit so I can’t imagine that job was fun in the heat. There was a lot of brush on the trail that I just walked straight through and got my legs pretty scratched up. There wasn’t much I could do about it though because the only other pants I have to wear are rain pants and I didn’t want to rip those up. Going into town I went downhill about 4,000 feet. It was just switchback after switchback for a while. Going downhill is nice and fun sometimes but this much elevation loss in around 9 miles is just brutal on my feet. I listened to some podcasts to distract myself a bit. I got into town around 1:30 and picked up my resupply boxes from the post office. Then I went and bought an apple and some carrots from the general store to snack on. I messaged a trail angel in the area who had yurts that hikers could stay in. He picked me up within 10 minutes and drove me to his house! I was so excited to get out of the heat and to take a shower. It had only been a couple days since my last shower but I got so dirty in that last section. I had a severe dirt line from where my socks end on my legs. I took a shower and washed my clothes while I unpacked my resupply. My mom sent me some of my favorite treats like dark chocolate almonds, pistachios, and tea. She also gathered some letters her coworkers wrote to me and send those. I felt fortunate reading them, it was very nice to read words of encouragement and support. I know that I talk about getting rid of things to lessen the load on my pack, but I still carry every note or letter I’ve been given since starting the trail. It’s just nice to read back through them.

The trail angel “Spirit” and I talked for a while in the cold air conditioning. We talked about different people we’ve met, some politics, and possible detours around the McKinney and Yeti fire closure. I didn’t originally plan on taking a Nero but it was just too hot out to keep going for the day, plus I needed to figure out my next move.

I had homemade tacos for dinner which was real tasty. I stayed up late talking but it felt nice to just sit and have a conversation with someone and not worry about hiking to camp or anything like that. Spirits house is right on the river too and where the river curves he calls it “Spirit Bend.” It was a great little place.

The yurt was cool and I had it all to myself! I slept in this queen sized bed that had a memory foam mattress and pillow, it was easily the best night of sleep I’ve gotten so far on trail.

On day 58 I got up early and had some coffee before getting a ride back to the trail. Spirit drove me to the trailhead and dropped me off at 8 am. He let me know I’m welcome at “Spirit Bend” whenever and he’d take me rafting, that would be cool!

I walked about 17 miles uphill and gained 5,000 feet in elevation. It was brutal. Luckily I was in the shade for a majority of it but I was still sweating buckets. It felt like I was never going to reach the top of the climb, but eventually I did. I took a break at the top and had a snack and chugged some water before continuing on. Right after my break I saw another bear. I was staring at the ground and heard a noise and looked up. I could see the bears back legs as it ran away and off the trail. It kicked a bunch of dust up as it ran off. That’s three bears I’ve seen now!

When I finally got to 6,800 feet there were amazing views. The sky was still a little bit smoky but I could still see the surrounding peaks fairly well.

There was a bit of up and down but nothing too terrible. I only saw two northbound hikers the whole day which was surprising. I hiked til about 8:30 since I had walked 24 miles at this point. It was already dark out so I tried to set up camp quickly and have dinner. I was so tired from being in the heat all day, it was easy to fall asleep.

Day 59 was a long one for me. I woke up and had breakfast before packing up camp. One of my toes had been bothering me the day before so I checked it out before putting my shoes on. Turns out the mail was becoming ingrown so I had to do a mini surgery before hiking for the day. I’ve had problems with my feet from hiking since last summer so I wasn’t surprised when that happened. I left camp around 7. The first couple miles were downhill and passed a stream. I filtered some water and kept on going. There was a bit of up and down throughout the day but it wasn’t anything compared to the day before.

It was beautiful hiking along the mountains. I had nice views with the morning sun. It wasn’t too hot out yet either so I just took my time walking. A lot of the trail was just underneath or along a ridge so there were views all day.

I took a break around 9:30 and had a snack. I don’t know why but after this quick break I started to become really anxious about the trail. A lot of people have been asking me when I plan to start the Sierra section of the PCT. There is an estimated timeline for when you can hike the sierras without encountering snow storms. Most people say to get through the section by mid October. My plan was to start near the end of September, and I thought that would give me enough time. But lately I’ve been hearing that people are skipping portions of the trail to get there sooner than the end of September. It has me worried that maybe I’m not going fast enough or maybe I need to start skipping ahead. I didn’t want to get wrapped up in the whole fear mongering thing again but I did. I kept thinking about my pace and just everything else that could go wrong as I was hiking. I decided to take an early lunch break at 12 and sit down and try to clear my head. I ate, read my book, messaged my friends at home, and drank some water. It helped a little bit to just sit and relax.

I kept walking a little after 1 and ran into a southbounder i met earlier on the trail. It was funny because I saw him the day before in Seiad Valley looking for a ride around the “closed” section of trail. But the “closed” section opened up an hour or so after he hitched around it. So he just went from Etna north to Seiad to hike that portion. We talked for a bit and then continued in opposite directions.

I met a couple more northbounders as the day went on. One woman had touched the northern terminus a couple days before but was now going back and hiking the miles she missed when there were wildfires. She told me that there might be more closures up ahead for me since there was a new fire near Etna. So I had that to worry about on top of the Sierra stuff.

I had planned to hike 26 miles on this day and make it to the trailhead, but I cut the miles short. I only hiked 22.1 miles. I was so tired from the day before and just overall not feeling that great so I figured it would be better to get some real rest than make myself miserable and hike in the dark. I set up camp, had dinner, watched the sunset, and fell asleep as soon as it was dark out.

Day 60 is a stressful one for me. I woke up and enjoyed the sunrise and had my morning coffee. I was thinking I had an easy 3.8 miles to the trailhead and then a quick ride to Etna. I saw a bear off the trail a little ways which was cool. But I waited 2 hours at the trailhead until I got a ride. Molly, the best trail angel ever, was dropping off two northbound hikers. They all warned me about continuing south because of new wildfires near the trail. This began my confusion about what to do next. Molly drove the road to Etna like a total race car driver and I loved it, she is so freaking cool. I noticed she had some figure skating stickers and asked her if she use to compete, and she did! We talked about our times competing in figure skating. Molly gave me a tour of Etna, and when I asked where I could get some breakfast she asked me what I had in mind. I said just some scrambled eggs and she brought me to her house to make a homemade breakfast! I had eggs, apple pie, and some fresh apples. She let me take a shower and offered to drive me around to Castella so I wouldn’t have to go near wildfires. I was so thankful for her helping me out. Now I’m getting back on trail at Castella and have about 4 more days until my next town.