Tracker Photos (You can add yourself to the Google Photos album to get notified when the blog updates.)
Next stop for packages is still Ashland, definitely on 8/2:
Hold for PCT hiker ETA 8/2
Matt Wismer
c/o General Delivery
Ashland, OR 97520
It's been a beautiful couple of days. Leaving Shasta was one more smoky day, and then finally I got to see blue skies! I even got rained on, but it was a very California rain storm.
I got a bit vortexed in Shasta, and only left town after 6 pm. My original intent was to hike another 10-15 miles, but when I saw Rudolf camping only 3 miles out, I stopped for the day. (That made a total of 5 miles on the day.) I hadn't seen Rudolf since Big Bear (mile 260), so we had a few months of hiking to catch up on. Apparently the Dixie Fire is continuing to get worse, and I am very happy to be north of it.
The other side of Shasta is also on fire, which gave me some smoke to deal with on Sunday. There was also a hard climb in the morning, but not Sierras hard. It's been fun hiking near Rudolf, since he has such a unique hiking style. He goes hard and takes breaks. I've been going probably 20% further than him most days, but he's been hiking almost 50% faster than me when he's hiking. Most PCTers settle somewhat close to the same pace, but he's almost running when he's moving. I've been passed going uphill more in the past few days than in the month prior.
I ended up on the phone more than was strictly optimal on Sunday, so I missed my opportunity to go kayaking on Porcupine Lake. I probably still could have still gone for a swim at 7:30, but I'm a little baby around cold water unless it's hot out. Or trusted the kayak to prevent me from falling in, but I'm not that dumb. It was a free kayak left on a backcountry lake.
The highlight of Monday was a clean pit toilet. I wish I was joking. Everyone was talking about it all day. Clear blue skies and a 33 mile day were nice, but the pit toilet was nicer. It's rare to find one that doesn't smell like, well, a toilet. I theoretically could have hitched into Etna from Highway 3 here, but it would have completely messed up my resupply plans.
I hiked with Train Wreck and Third Wind off and on through the afternoon, and it was nice to have some conversation partners to work through some stuff with. (Most of the time I've been hiking within a few miles of them, but walking by myself.) That night we got rained on as we set up camp. I had brief hope for California, but instead it was just a few light drizzles over the course of a half hour. Maybe next time.
Tuesday felt much harder than the elevation profile looked. I had to earn that 29 mile day. My phone consistently claimed to have service while not actually having service, which made for some frustrating phone calls. "Huh, what? Oh, now I can hear you. Wait, what was that?" Apologies to my Jimmy and Lauren for having to deal with that.
I did just under 6 miles by 8 am today, and got my resupply done fast after breakfast. The day has been spent lounging around our nice Airbnb, and on phone calls with family. Train Wreck has hyped up Lost and Found's cooking skills, so dinner should be something good pretty soon. Then we'll watch the 2016 Ghostbusters movie, and probably call it an early night.
- Happy Meal, 1052
No comments:
Post a Comment