300 Mile Hike Day 3

Saturday, July 15 2017

The day started at 6am with an amazing view to the southeast of our campsite.  It's the sunrise photo I've tried to attach.  When we awoke,  we found a new hiker inhabiting our campsite but there wasn't time to get to know them as we were all getting ready to roll and the new hiker was headed northbound while we are going against the norm and heading southbound.

Just about the time we planned to take our first break at the border of Oregon/California, we came to a place where the Pacific Crest Trail crosses a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. Two twenty-something year old girls who had hiked the trail in previous years had set up the hiking equivalent of an ultra marathon aid  station. They'd been camped there for a couple days handing out sodas to hikers.  In the long distance hiking community,  is not called an aid station.  It's called "Trail Magic". It's VERY popular along the Appalachian Trail on the east coast. It's becoming increasingly popular here on the west coast as the number of people hiking increases.  Paul and I each had a Pepsi. CJ abstained because he's not a soda drinker. I offered money to support their effort but they refused.  We signed their guest book, thanked them, and continued on to the border.

At the border we took a long break,  signed the trail register, and took some photos.  Hopefully they attach successfully. 

A little father on,  some people were remodeling a cabin right next to the trail and they had another Trail Magic aid station set up for hikers.  We didn't need anything really but Paul got some fresh water, which meant we didn't have to spend time filtering water from a creek so that was great. 
The trail gave us heat and great views in the afternoon.

We shared our evening campsite with a lady from Alaska. She started at the border of Mexico intending to hike the entire Pacific Crest Trail and made it into the Sierra but decided the snow was too dangerous. She left the Pacific Crest Trail and went and hiked the Oregon Coast Trail for a month,  then went to Ashland after she finished the OCT and started back southbound on the Pacific Crest Trail. 

Total up: 3050'
Total down:
Total miles: 16.8

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Looking Back on Backpacking Trips CJ and I have Done: Tahoe Rim Trail Day 1

Image
The Tahoe Rim Trail is a loop around Lake Tahoe that follows the approximate mountain rim of the Tahoe basin at about 8000' elevation, plus or minus 2000' here and there. If you hike the full circle, total distance is 165 miles. Through those miles, the character of the trail changes significantly. The west side, where pacific storms deliver abundant rain and snow, is heavily forested with dense trees and many lakes and streams. The east side reminds you you're nearly in Nevada. Its like a desert at 8000' elevat ion. There are long stretches without any water sources. Less water, fewer trees, and the resulting open trail gives a feeling the sun is pounding on you.... I had hiked the trail's north/south lines on both sides of the lake earlier in life so I knew the differences but I had never hiked the sections of trail that swing east/west around the ends of the lake. In 2013, I figured out how to pull eight days together between a family trip to Oregon and
Read more

300 Mile Hike Day 9

Image
Friday, July 21 2017 After climbing over 8300' and walking nearly 32 miles in two days, I was nearly sleep walking this morning for the first few miles. Luckily, the trail was giving easy miles. I wasn't paying attention to the trail or the sights and scenes.  I was contemplating man's search for meaning.  Or almost.  I was definitely deep in thought. Contemplating my search for meaning. I've always done long distance backpacking trips in my life and found they are like a retreat. When I come home, I have purpose and plans.  Or at least that was true when I wasn't 49 years old. In 1997, I came home with a 7 year plan and it played out perfectly. It seems the sense of purpose and subsequent planning that bounced around in my head as I walked this morning were not about what I'm going to do in life.  It was more about how I will deal with things coming up in the next phase of life. The morning mileage My feet were really hurting right there. Not
Read more

300 Mile Hike Day 8

Image
View to the east Thursday, July 20 2017 I've hiked various places on the Pacific Crest Trail since I was about 13 years old.  At the end of this hike I will have laid footprints down nearly half of California. I've hiked some of the more enjoyable sections multiple times, like the 220 miles of trail between Yosemite and Truckee. But I have never felt more clearly like I was walking on the very crest of the pacific coast mountain range than I did this morning. Within a mile or so of leaving our campsite, we were looking east toward Nevada and Southern Oregon and every mountain was lower than the one we were walking on. There was an obvious inversion layer and we could see smoke in the valleys. A few miles later,  we crossed over to the west side of the ridge we were on. Looking west we could see every mountain was lower than us again and then we realized we could see the marine layer on the coast.  I was not expecting to see that on this trip.   View to the west
Read more