Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot!

Anish from Bellingham, WA is going for the FKT (fastest known time) on the PCT South to North. The current record going North to South was set in 2009 by Scott Williamson at 65 days 9 hours and 58 minutes. He set this record hiking the entire trail unsupported which means no slack packing and not even accepting rides into town to resupply. Anish started June 8th and is currently on pace to break the record. To do this she needs to average more than 41.5 miles per day! She just passed us last Thursday the 11th and we barely were even able to say hello as she flew by us. You can follow her progress on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/AnishHikes

We are starting to see more and more of "the pack" passing us. These are the people that started after the PCT "kick-off" which was about 10 days after we started the trail. It is cool seeing new faces, but for some reason it is a little hard seeing more and more people passing us. As they say though, hike your own hike.

It has been fun having Katie's dog with us; something else to look at and talk about. Xena is slowly getting her trail legs but has been dictating the day's schedule. This means getting up at 4:30am to have the most time out of the heat and overall longer but lazier days with lots of breaks. You can tell when she is getting hot and/or tired as she will jog through the sun section and when she hits shade she will almost immediately lie down to let you know she needs a rest.

The trail from Burney Falls SP to Castella has been in forested areas with lots of logging roads. However we get some great vistas now and then and views of Mt Shasta. There are a lot of overgrown sections with manzanita and spurts of poison oak to carefully avoid too. We have seen two different trail maintenance crews out here making the trail very nice in some shorter 5 mile sections. The temps are in the 90's now and as we get closer to Seied Valley a week away, they will creep up to the 100's! We are working on staying cool and keeping hydrated. So far our decision to ditch the stove for a few weeks has been a good one as we are enjoying not having to cook in this heat.

We made it to Castella and are trying to all stay cool in the shade at Castle Crags SP. After much debate, Katie has made the decision to have Xena picked up. Unfortunately, the heat is too much for a dog, so we are going to say good-bye to Xena Katie will try hiking with her again when we are in Oregon...hopefully with cooler temps. The temps are now in the 100's and climbing higher for the next week at least. Nobody wants to hike in this heat, so why put a dog through that if you don't have to.

Trail stats after 93 days and 1506 miles:
# snakes: 22
# bears: 1
# pushups: 650
# days rain: 3
# nights indoor: 13
# showers: 19
# loads laundry: 14

Pictures from top to bottom:
- Break time with Xena!
- Katie & Xena w/ Shasta in background
- Nasty socks!
- Overgown trail section
- Mt Shasta
- PCT sign at Castle Crags SP
- Another beautiful view of N. CA