Hannah the hiker

Molly brought me to the trailhead near Castella on day 60. We had beyond burgers from Carls Jr. ( my first time there) and mochas for lunch. It reminded me of going out and getting lunch with some of my girlfriends. It just felt like a “regular” thing to do really. We talked about the trail a little bit but most of the conversation was about politics, figure skating, and our own adventures. I was only off the trail for a couple hours but those couple hours just hanging out with good company were very rejuvenating. It was so fun talking about figure skating again. I skated for 12 years starting at the age of 2, I forgot how big of an impact it had on my life!

I said goodbye to Molly around 2:30 and headed back on the trail. I felt a little overwhelmed with how quickly the day went and how I had to make quick decisions about the nearby fires. I called my mom and talked with her for a while about how stressed I was. It gets overwhelming having to plan for things I can’t really control. I felt better as soon as I started hiking though.

I decided to only hike about 7 miles to a campsite because it was getting late and it was super hot out. I saw a couple squirrels crossing the trail and I swear they are the biggest squirrels I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen the squirrels at St. Lawrence University that live off of college students food scraps. These squirrels are light gray with huge bushy tails. And they must be very strong because they all run uphill when they see me walking by. I saw one squirrel run in a couple circles before sprawling out on the trail in front of me. Their arms and legs were flat on the ground, I think they do that when they’re warm. I don’t know if the ground was that much cooler for them, they ended up running off.

I got to camp around 7 and had a small dinner of Miso Soup. I read some of my book and went to sleep by 8.

On day 61 I woke up at 5:30 and left my campsite by 5:50. I wanted to start getting in the routine of waking up earlier to beat the heat. I walked about 2 miles and stopped to have some breakfast. I was able to see the sunrise over Mount Shasta which was gorgeous. There was still some smoke in the air but I had nice views. I’m bummed that I missed a scenic portion of trail around Shasta and Castle Crags but I just have to come back one day I guess.

I continued hiking on and went about 6 more miles before I could filter some water. There was a great little creek where I filled up my water bottles and washed my feet off. My feet are still giving me some problems, I think I just need another pair of “toe socks.” I never knew my toes could freaking blister!

I had to go uphill a couple miles before my lunch spot. It was probably close to 1,400 feet in elevation gain. I stopped and had lunch on a dirt road which was not all that scenic but was shaded. It was so hot out, my thermometer was resting at 90 degrees Fahrenheit. I took an hour long break and then got back up to keep going. I walked to the next water source 6 miles downhill. At this point I was in a lot of pain because my feet. I was just overall uncomfortable because of my feet and how hot it was. I tried to distract myself by looking at the trees and all but that didn’t do much. I was also starting to feel a little bit sorry for myself. I felt like I was going too slow to get to the Sierras and that everyone was going faster than me. I had been feeling homesick for the past couple days so that just added to the overall misery. I cried for a bit which I’m sure was a sight to see. Some girl hiking alone crying while she’s hiking uphill, definitely a star moment.

I decided to take a long break at the creek. I washed my face, drank a lot of cold water, and sat in the shade. This helped me cool down and collect myself a bit. It’s easy to just start feeling sorry for myself, so I worked on thinking about more positive things. Like how I’m almost to the halfway point, I’ve got supportive friends and family, and even though my feet hurt at least I still have two feet to walk on! I read some of my favorite poems I have saved on my phone and started to feel better. I’m the only one out here to help myself feel better, so I think when I have some tough days or moments like that it just makes me a bit more stronger.

I kept on hiking and decided to go 2 more miles to the next water and campsite at McCloud River. I got there around 6:30 and had the place to myself. There were some annoying bugs but other than that it was a great spot. I was able to wash off in the water and read my book for a while before it got dark out. I hiked 22.7 miles on this day. I also realized after looking over some plans I made before the trail, that I am exactly where I planned to be at this point in the hike. I calculated my daily mileage and all months before I started hiking and I’m surprised I was so accurate. I don’t need to sprint to the Sierras like I thought I did. I just need to keep my steady pace and I’ll be okay.

On day 62 my alarm went off at 5:30. I hit snooze for just ten more minutes. But, after 5 minutes went by I heard something messing with my trekking poles next to me. I opened my eyes and was face to face with a skunk! I wasn’t sure what to do so I just shined my headlamp at it. The skunk looked at me and ran off. I thought for sure that I was going to be sprayed. But the skunk just ran around and finally went in the direction of the creek. I’ve never seen a skunk that close before and definitely don’t want to again, I feel like I might not be so lucky next time. The good thing was that it woke me right up. I left camp by 6 and walked about 3 miles before stopping to have breakfast. These 3 miles were uphill and the next 7 were too. I went from 2300 feet to 5500 feet in elevation in those 7 miles. It was pretty gradual though so it didn’t feel too difficult. I got to the top of that climb around 11 and took a break. I decided to just go another 2.5 miles to the next water source. At this point I finally had nice views! The day before was mostly walking through woods so this was a nice change. It was sunny and the skies were blue for once too. I haven’t seen consistent blue skies in a while because of all the smoke. I got to the creek around 1 and washed my socks and face. I tried to find some shade but there wasn’t much. I had a nice lunch and relaxed a bit trying to just cool off. Before I left I rinsed my shirt out and put that on while it was still wet to try and keep cool while I hiked. It was about 93 degrees Fahrenheit when I got back on the trail at 2. It was so hot, and I felt like I was hardly ever in the shade in this part of trail. There was beautiful scenery but I was too uncomfortable to really enjoy it. Thankfully there wasn’t much uphill through there. I saw a buck walking past the trail at one point which was pretty neat. I’ve only seen does so far on the trail.

I walked about 5 miles and took a break in the shade around 4. It felt great to drink some water and sit and stretch. After lunch my next water source was at camp, 10 miles away. So I tried not to drink all of my water since I still had 5 more miles to go. I wish there had been more water sources nearby or I carried more water with me because there were some amazing campsites. A lot of them were off of dirt roads with views of Mt. Shasta! I just soaked up the views as much as I could and carried on.

About 3 miles from camp I saw a bear!

It was right on the trail and neither one of us heard eachother. I’m surprised I saw it when I did too, it was so quiet. I watched it for a bit from a distance and then decided I should probably make some noise so I don’t frighten it. I just hit my trekking poles together, it looked right at me, and then took off downhill. That was another neat experience. I can’t believe how lucky I’ve been to see so many bears.

I kept walking to camp which was mostly downhill. When I got there I saw three deer walking around. I filtered water, made dinner, and set up camp. Being out under the hot sun all day really makes me tired so I was excited to lay down and rest.

On day 63 I woke up to either my own snoring or a growling of some sort. Either way I got up around 6 and took my time packing up and getting ready for the day. I was really tired so I didn’t end up leaving camp until about 7:30.

I didn’t mind running “late” though it meant I got to rest more.

I walked about 7 miles a little bit up and down to the next water source for the day. Here I filtered water, chugged a bunch of water, and washed my feet off. It’s been nice taking these breaks when there is water on trail, it makes me feel refreshed. I also saw what I think was a beaver at this source. It popped up under all the branches and sticks that were next to/over the water. It had leaves in its mouth and it looked like it was washing them off before it saw me and hid. I waited to see if it would come back out but it didn’t while I was there.

It was only 10 so I kept going about 4 more miles to the next water source and took my lunch break there. It was this tiny little creek on the side of a dirt road. There was water slowly flowing out of the pipe under the road and then a small pool of water at the base. There was some sandy flat sitting spots too so I hung out down there in the shade. I washed myself up and filtered water and had a nice lunch. One other person stopped to get water during the hour I was there. That was also the first person I saw in over 24 hours! I left around 1:30 and hiked on. There was a little bit of uphill and then a whole lot of downhill for the rest of the day. I met another southbound hiker too! Her name was Ashley and I think she’s hiking on her own too. We leapfrogged each other a bit for the rest of the day which was fun. I walked about 4 miles after lunch to the next water source. It’s nice that the water is so frequent, it means I don’t have to carry a bunch at once. This water source was a small pond next to a dirt road. It was stagnant and pretty brown, but tasted fine when I filtered it.

I stretched a bit here and got ready to walk the last 4 ish miles to camp. My foot hurt a little bit going downhill because I wasn’t paying much attention to my posture and all that so I was just slamming it on the ground. I corrected it though once it started to hurt.

I listened to some podcasts to pass the time which helped. I need to find something new to listen to though, I love hearing about outdoor adventures and all that but I think I could be making better use of my time by maybe learning something new. I’ll have to search and download new podcasts once I get to Burney.

I got to Rock creek around 7. That made 22.9 miles for the day, not bad. The creek was great, flowing strong and the perfect temperature to bathe my feet. I washed all the new dirt off that accumulated since lunch time and set up camp. There was a great “secret” spot up the stream and right next to the water. I felt lucky to have it all to myself. I had some instant mashed potatoes for dinner and read more of my book. It was dark by 8 pm, I can’t believe how quickly hours of daylight have changed since I started. This day was the 2 month mark, on July 7 it didn’t get dark until about 9:30! I went to sleep shortly after it was dark.

On day 64 I left camp around 7 and headed for Burney. I had about 13.5 miles to town. It wasn’t too bad of terrain, just a little bit of up and down. I stopped at Burney Falls state park which was really pretty. The last couple miles were pretty exposed and very hot. I drank a lot of water and talked with my dad until I got to the highway to hitchike into town. Within 10 minutes a guy in a convertible pulled over and gave me a ride! It was the best hitchike I’ve had so far since it was so hot out and the wind felt great on my face. I was able to call the Word of the Life Church and ask if I could stay there, and they said yes! I got a tour of the place and met another hiker who is headed south, she’s doing a yo-yo hike. That means she’s already hiked from Mexico to Canada and is now coming back from Canada to Mexico. We talked for a while about the trail and how we were feeling. She wasn’t feeling great about continuing on so I tried to give her some advice and support. She told me “pain is real but suffering is a mindset.” I think that’s real wise. She ended up leaving the church and I think she’s headed home. I hope she’s doing alright.

I bought some food for my next stretch of trail to Belden. I’ll be at the halfway point by then! Just 6ish more days.