Frank, J-PRO, and I woke up at 4 am and were on the trail just after 5 am with a goal of getting to Interstate 5 (or "The 5" as they apparently say here in Cali... I've been corrected multiple times now) by 7 am in order to catch the morning bus into the town of Mt. Shasta.
We rocked and rolled down the mountain by the light of my headlamp. Frank's headlamp was buried in her bag and J-PRO's died after a few minutes, so I was today's guiding light (at least until the sun rose). After about 45 minutes, it was light enough to see without the headlamp, even under the dense pine canopy that covers us. We passed eBay and a couple other hikers as we hiked along. Shortly before the road, we passed another set of numbers along the trail: 1500. We've now walked 1500 miles of the PCT.
We celebrated briefly and then spent the next half mile trying to adopt The Proclaimers "500 Miles" to talk about the 1500 that we've now walked. We reached the road about 6:40 am and found a small contingent of hikers already there including Boujee, Vagabond, Rambler, and First Class (who I hadn't seen since the first few days on the trail). Photo: Frank, Boujee, and Vagabond at the bus stop.
The bus showed up right on time and we all boarded. It was a very smooth and comfortable ride up to the town of Mt. Shasta and the bus dropped us off at the supermarket; however, this wasn't our first priority. We walked to Rite Aid to find a scale to use and weigh ourselves, but their machine was broken. We then went to breakfast at Yacks Shack and got some food. One ham breakfast sandwich and a vegetarian breakfast burrito later and I was feeling full.
We all then went to the town outfitter and they gave us a place to store our packs and charge our devices. We did a little shopping and hung out for a bit before Frank and J-PRO went to resupply and I went to get my hair cut and beard trimmed. Nancy, the lady who cut my hair was really friendly and we had a good chat about the area and the PCT. Freshly shorn, I walked to the grocery and met Mama and AB who had just gotten into town. Today is Mama's last day ferrying people around as it's back to the real world for him. I got my resupply at the grocery and then sat outside with Frank and J-PRO as we sorted and rebagged our food. Big thanks to my friend Bonnie Mahl who covered my breakfast and resupply today!
Today marks 3 months on trail for J-PRO and he decided to celebrate by eating 3 burgers, 3 fries, and 3 milkshakes. Frank and I wouldn't be around to witness this incredible gastronomic feat as we were taking the bus back to the trail at 12:30. I got a sandwich at Subway to pack out and eat on the trail. The two of us walked to the bus stop and sat down waiting when a guy pulled up, asked if we were hikers and offered us a ride to the trail. His name was Ben and he was really nice. He saved us from having to take a 40-minute bus ride and we got to the trail within 15 minutes. Frank and I went over and sat in the shade. She's feeling awful and we're not entirely sure why, but believe it could be lack of sleep. Ben, our trail angel,is a doctor at a local hospital and he felt that was the reason too. She's been getting extremely tired, especially after eating which has made hiking in the afternoon problematic. After about 45 minutes of sitting, we got moving and headed up the trail.
Before we got too far, we ran into Jukebox who we met briefly the other night at camp. We chatted for a while and then Frank and I hiked up the extremely steep trail. After half a mile, it leveled out and was much more manageable, especially for her and how she feels. I got water at Fern Spring and we hiked another mile and a half (under an orange sun as the smoke from a fire blew in) until we got to a stream with a campsite. It would have been great to do more miles, but Frank really feels awful and there's no need to push too many miles today.
We set up camp and relaxed and played "Go Fish" with my new deck of cards. After a while, J-PRO pulled in to camp and we chatted for a bit. Frank then went to sleep about 7 pm and I filtered some water and just relaxed.
We've got a big climb to tackle tomorrow and less than 200 more miles to go in California.
Pointing out that your dates aren’t accurate-Friday was July 23...just for future reference. 😁. I wonder if Frank is anemic; it’s hard to eat what you need on the trail I would imagine. Great to have helpful trail angels!
ReplyDeleteCali-speak - for sure ;-) The 5, The 405, The 110 seems everything has its own language.
ReplyDeleteHooray for 1500 miles! I do hope that Frank feels better though - lack of sleep would make anyone feel terrible.
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