Northern California Blues_This is an old posting I should have uploaded a while ago

This pretty much describes my hike: A day hiker drops the M&M, the weekend warrior steps over it, the thru-hiker picks it up and eats it!

 

I would like to start this next blog with my PCT Hiker Trash Confessions:

1. I ate two foot long Subway sandwhiches in one day back to back. After consuming a giant breakfast burrito with everything but the kitchen sink inside.

2. I hiked for over 300 miles with giant holes in both butt cheeks and the inner crouch area on my spandex hiking shorts. Even the heart shaped strawberry print patch that a nice older women sewed on fell off.

3. I pooped in front of a random thru-hiker. It was a horrifically mosquito infested section of trail and there was limited opportunities to go to the bathroom. I picked single handedly the worst place to go right next to the trail and Veggie (who I did not know at the time) hiked right passed my exposed little bum. I apologized to him as we were filtering water together and now we are friends. Thank god thru-hikers are friendly and a minor poop incident doesn't stop people from being friends out here. 

4. I eat beef jerky starting at 8am on average every day. 

5. I have definetly been known to pick up random food droppings on trail. Ate a super sticky Swedish Fish candy the other day. Found a peanut M&M on the trail the other and was stoked! Dirt particles add extra flava flav.

6. One day for dinner on the trail I rehydrated a large bowl of what I thought was dehyrdated chili. Turned out to be JUST taco beef. Dinner that night was straight protein and beef. Thats what you get for grabby unlabeled dehydrated goodies in gnarly zip lock bags from the free hiker boxes in town.

7. One of the grossest but most delicious things i ever ate: White hot dog bun loaded with half a stick of butter, honey, apple jam, and peanut butter. thousand plus calorie treat for my birthday!

 

I have reached a point in my journey where all I do is just walk. Walked, Walking, Will Walk. Everyday all day, I move my two feet back and forth, over fallen trees, dodging poison oak plants, through muddy streams. The trail has really taken me for a crazy journey so far. I am a week away from the Oregon border and have been praying to wake up in another state for weeks now. If I could see through all the smoke that is pouring into the Shasta area right now, I would be pretty much be able to see into Oregon. Shasta mountain and the Trinity mountain range is just a hazing outline right now and if the timing was right, the powerful summit of Shasta would be calling my name again. Since my last post I have seen some serious ups and downs. From swarms of mosquitos, music festivals, emotional traumas, stretches of hot dry northen california desert, lightning and thunder storms, and crystal clear blue lakes. The novelty of the Southern California desert in the beginning of the trail and the epic views of the High Sierras have worn off now, and I definetly have entered into the Northern California Blues. I do not want to romanticize the trail and pretend that it is all fun and games out here. I am hiking alone now, in the inner seems of groups of people and feeling the routine set in. My mind swirls in and out of thoughts, often times making me just want to grab my brain and throw it off the cliff so I don't have to be bothered with thoughts. Instead, I am stuck with it. I am learning how to control this powerful muscle in my body to let my thoughts just come and go with grace. I am learning to just take what the trail offers and roll with it, unsure of the outcomes around the next corner, unsure of where this journey is taking me. To enjoy being in the presence of myself.

 

One of the best sections of trail I have walked through was the section from Sonora Pass to South Lake Tahoe. It was loaded with beautiful wild flowers on rolling hills and made me literally sing at the top of my lungs tunes from the Sound of Music. It also was right after a really challenging section. Getting back on trail after 5 days off getting to see my sister and my boyfriend was really hard. i had been pampered all too much at camp and my feet did not want to hike again and there were more mosquitos in a one foot section of air than I have ever seen in my whole entire life. Claiming to be one of those natural hippies swearing to only use eucalyptus and garlic to counter the skeeters I did not come prepared with repellent. After day one out there in the war zone, I became an firm believer in 99.9% deet. I spent the majority of those days swinging my hiking poles in absolute rage or hanging out in my tent probably inhaling carbon monoxide from using my stove. I came out of that section with the back of my legs looking like a 3D topographic map and blood occasionally pooling in my camp shoes from itching the hell out of the bites. Finally out of that section I was gifted a giant bag of home made chocolate chips cookies from day hikers (my favorite thing EVER!). With that, and some fresh fruit from rangers in the area, my spirits were high again.

 

Off to the High Sierra Festival I then went. My parents picked me up in South Lake Tahoe after a horrid night spent sleeping in random places in the Nevada casinos, tucked away in dark corners using table cloths as pillows, loud casino music blasting in my ears, then somehow to a patch of grass for another few hours of shut eye near a high use trail for 4th of July recreators. Besides the $12.99 all you can eat buffet, casinos are gross and filled with too many fake boobs. Thank god for amazing parents who rescued me from all of this and drove me off in their new fancy RV chariot to Quincy, California. I love camping in an RV! So cush. Wish someone had filmed me and my parents trying to set up the awning on the RV. Even if we had paused to read the manual, it would have been almost impossible to follow. Took almost as long to take the awning down too. At first the music festival was a little overwhelming with the crazy number of people, but once we figured out the lay of the land I had an amazing time. Ran into lots of other PCT hikers I hadnt seen in a while, saw good friends from college, and people from Camp Tawonga. It felt so wonderful to be able to move my body in a different way to live music than the monotonous left right left right walking I do every day out here. Stayed up one night till sunrise dancing to awesome bluegrass by the Infamous Stringdusters and to Silent Frisco (a late night dance party where everyone has their own set of wireless headphones tuned into the same DJ beats). Got to celebrate my birthday too with my parents. You know you are a PCT hiker when your parents give you blocks of goat cheese and a thing of salami for your birthday.

 

Back to the trail I went. Actually, back to South Lake Tahoe, where I treated myself to a large popcorn and watched the Superman movie in the theaters. Then, back to trail. This next section my friend Steve-o, or as we now call him on trail, Captain Bush Truck, came out to hike with me. Hailing all the way from Northern Canada, Bush Truck has a classic Canadian accent, is always down for new crazy adventures, and is just as crazy to even contemplate possibly doing a thru-hike someday. I had not seen him since meeting him on a trek in Colombia to the Lost City 2 years ago, so it was really nice to catch up and show him what this trail is all about. Bush Truck is an ultra-maraton runner and he is in training for the Death Race in Canada (one can only imagine what this race is like just by the name of it). Not only was it super nice to take it a little slower during this section and enjoy the glorious lakes in the Desolation Wilderness and the high passes in Granite Chief Wilderness, he boosted my confidence on the trail as he was not able to keep up with my pace. Put in perspective that I really have become an animal out here and 25-30 mile days are just average now. Bush Truck also super inspired me to try out longer races, and I am going to capitalize on my fitness at the end of this trail and run my first marathon! Figured if I walk a marathon every day out here, why not just take off my pack and run one. All in all, it was really great being able to show someone off trail what this is all about. It is really hard to explain what goes on out here and to have a friend come in and experience it was super awesome. He got to see a little bit of everythign too. Even was there for the day I got the most trail magic ever in one day! We just hiked slightly tipsy all day going from one cooler cache of coors light to the next.

 

I had my birthday on the trail, which I thought might be grand, but instead was one of the more depressing days out here. Really wanted to share it with people I love and care about, but was hiking alone at the time. Missed some trail magic by minutes as they were just wrapping up (boo) and so decided to hitch into North Kennedy Meadows for a burger. Ate a lonely meal as I paid way too much for access to internet (I was mad that they charged me $5 for internet when we are in the 21st century and that should just be free now). Things did really perk up though when a 68 year old mountaineer named Bobo picked me up and offered to take me out to dinner. We went right back to the same restaurant I had just ate my burger at (seeing as though it was the only one there), and he treated me to a steak and baked potato. Unexpected  trail magic is really the best. Later, back at the trail head a nice hiker loaned me her phone and I was able to talk to Zach for a while, which was a great birthday gift as well. This trail is full of ups and downs. A day can go from being really loney and shitty, to really great...just as long as you are able to see the beauty in between all the rough times.

 

Went to this awesome town called Sierra City a few weeks ago, which was one of my favorite places along the trail. Super small (not sure why it is called a "City"), with a general store serving giant burgers and amazing milkshakes, awesome swimming holes along the river,  and a hiker friendly inn (Red Moose Inn) where we could sleep for free out back and shower in one of the rooms. The older couple that owns the place prepares home made ribs for dinner and, although very slow service, quite delicious breakfast. Quirky, free, friendly hiker hang out-nothing beats a place like this to hunker down for a few days and rejuvinate from the hot sun.

 

Pushing 30 miles a day, I raged on! Tired, sore, hot and sweaty, this next section forced me back into the northern california desert. The talked about Hat Creek Rim section of 30 miles of no water was hyped up so much. Could have been horrible, but I hit it perfectly and hiked it at night during a full moon. Mid-way through there was a cache of tons of water and coolers filled with cold Sierra Nevada brews, chips, and cookies. Aloha, the husband of a fellow hiker, Toots Magoots (named for her excessive gas on the trail), has been following her up the trail in his car and resupplying her. He does awesome trail magic too and stocked the coolers at this cache a few hours before I got there. This was the first time I was the first person to get to a newly stocked cache, so it really felt like an honor. The next day too I came across another amazing cache (maybe my favorite on the trail thus far). It was literally on the trail far off the road with a wooden table and chairs to sit at that you could write on with sharpie, cooler full of amazing soda and candy, and lounge chairs. Oh, and right before that too there was another cache from Pipers Mom (great trail name), with fresh fruit and drinks! People really do love to help and support people in this world.

 

I reached the halfway point! Of course had a snickers bar to celebrate! Hikers always celebrate with food.

 

There are all sorts of people out here that I am meeting. There are the guys like Toyo, a 71 Japanese man that is so persperverant and never stops hiking he somehow is always in front of me. and then there is Rodney Danger Trail, who loves talking about how slow he is, but once again, never stops hiking. Then there are the people like Band Leader, who go 10 by 10, 20 by 2 (meaning 10 miles by 10am and 20 miles by 2pm). Never will catch them. And then there are those like Story Time, who is part of the Stoned Boner group, smoking themselves all the way to Canada. Couples are out here too: Frosty and Goldy Locks, who are awesome people moving to SF soon. And Uni Croc and Scat Scouter-big packs always smiling. And then people like Chosen One, cool calm and collected recovering drug addict making a documentary about his journey. Everyone has a different story. There are all walks of life out here, all out on the same trail but hiking a completely different hike.

 

I write this blog in the Shasta Library sneaking bites of chocolate chip cookie when the librarian is not watching. I have just come off some of the most emotionally challenging section of trail for me. I have recently found out that a good friend from college passed away in an avalanche on K2 with his dad. Denali was such an inspiration, one of the kindest and smily people I have ever known. Some of my greatest memories were spent dancing with Denali at Strawberry Music Festival. This month has taken me for quite a ride. Trying to cope with the trauma that occured at my summer camp with an Oak tree killing a beautiful young women there and now this. The trail is really testing me right now, and although I have thoughts more than ever now of giving up and going home to share in the losses with people I love, there is no way that I am not making it to Canada. it is crazy how mother nature has taken away the lives of people that this world needs most. I am left feeling more inspired by those who are now gone. I imagine if I could ask them how to be now that they are gone, they would say to keep hiking, keep climbing mountains, keep on living large. I am not going to let the tears, pain, and emotional pain bring me down. But instead, stay strong and push up North. Oregon, here I come!