Don't Go Chasing Rattlesnakes

Our friends, Shannon and Beth, recently joined us for a few days from Olallie Lake to Timberline Lodge.  It was such a nice change to have them there and they promised to entertain us...boy did they ever!  They wrote this song on their road trip to and from Montana and sang (or rapped) it to us the first night.  They even did a second performance for a few of our other hiking buddies the next night.  Needless to say it was quite a success! 

With their permission of course, I got the words and they are below for your entertainment.  For those of you familiar with TLC's song, "Waterfalls," you can even get the right tune. Enjoy!


RATTLESNAKES.
(Sing to the tune of Waterfalls by TLC)

Midnight Chocolate
Crawling out of her sleeping bag
Eatin’ Hershey’s bars throughout the night.

If at anytime she’s in a jam,
Chocolate’s by her side,
But she doesn’t realize it hurts her so much.

She’s not getting all the protein she needs
Because she’s stockin’ up on sugars and fats.
So she goes out and she hikes the trail the best way she knows how,
A PCT Hiker eatin’ this and that.

CHORUS
Don’t go chasin’ rattlesnakes
Please stick to the trails and the maps that you planned on.
We know that you’re so excited Lexi and Xena are here,
But they think you’re movin’ too fast.

Cowgirl up ahead,
Clearing the trail,
Looking out for all her hiker homeys.

She’s got her best friend,
That’s important to know
But even so she still gets a bit lonely.

Every night she spends repacking her bag,
2,000 miles was a long way to go.
Another sunrise and she’s hittin’ the trail,
There could be cattle you may just never know.

{CHORUS}

Beth and Shannon
Have been waitin’ since April
For their friends to meet them on the trail.

They wake at sunrise,
Crossin’four state lines,
Pushin’ the Chevy to its’ max-mum potential.

They’re a little worried that their legs will give out,
‘cause their packing pounds of chocolate and wine.
They’ve promised that they’ll provide entertainment
In exchange for less miles/ more time.

{CHORUS}

2,000 miles down, 650 to go!

We left Elk Lake Resort with full bellies in the afternoon. The food and beer at the restaurant was fantastic! I had a wrap with a Worthy Stout from a brewery in Bend. During our time at the resort we ran back into our long lost friends, Muppet and Stilts. We first met them during our second week in Idyllwild and have met up a handful of times throughout this trip. We all hiked together out of the resort and camped that night in the same spot. It was great catching up with them and hearing the story of them getting engaged on top of Mt Whitney. They are doing some wedding planning while hiking and when Muppet's Mom asked what they wanted for their wedding food, Stilts replied with hot dogs and Muppet wanted Thanksgiving dinner...seems like they might need to think about some of their wedding plans once off the trail.

Our second night of this two night stretch we camped by Tumbleweed. He was an interesting guy to talk to...only 18, graduated high school early, was on his way to go pro in cycling but decided he was burnt out on the sport. He has a backpacking guitar and played for us while we hung out in the tent and wrote in our journals. It was a nice relaxing evening.

This stretch was very beautiful through Central Oregon. We went by the 3 Sisters, Obsidian Falls, Mt Washington and about 5 miles of lava fields. The lava was a pain to walk on and really wore on our feet. The doggies had vibram sole dog booties to help protect their pads.

The weather has been great the past few days, sunny with a light breeze. The dogs have been doing really well and are starting to get the routine down. Although their favorite time of day still seems to be bed time.

Today we crossed the 2,000 mile mark! With only 650 miles to go, it feels like we just started this trek yesterday. It is crazy to think this entire hike will be just memories and photos before we know it. Tonight we left Big Lake Youth Camp where we picked up our resupply and received another amazing care package! You guys have all been so creative, we love it. We got socks, Twinkies and "sex on the beach" shooters (see pic below). Awesome!

Two more things to note: My new favorite peanut butter is pictured below and another thing I miss are Q-Tips!

Pics from top to bottom: -Midnight Chocolate, Stilts and Muppet with South Sister in background -Obsidian Falls -Lava! -More lava fields -Tired Lexi -Organizing boxes at BLYC -My new fav peanut butter -Sex on the beach shooters!

Cowgirl, party of four

After three glorious days off, we hit the trail again. The cabin was so wonderful. To sum up the time there, it was a lot of eating, drinking, foot baths, showers, Boggle games and rest. I was able to spend some time with my parents, the 8 hikers that came throughout our time there as well as Midnight Chocolate's parents. Thank you so much Kathryn and Al for being such great trail angels!

I thought having three days off would make it hard to get back on the trail. I quickly got back in the groove of it again and have adjusted to being dirty and smelly. Now with each of us having a dog in tow for a few weeks, that means even more dirt and dog hair everywhere.

Oregon doesn't disappoint with weather as the first 4 days of our hike out of Diamond Lake were marked by thunderstorms. Most produced just a little bit of rain and we were done for the day and in our tent. However, one was a five hour event with rain and hail. Thankfully we were able to get in a drainage for the hail storm. The dogs were a little confused on what the big white balls were hitting their heads, but we managed to put a garbage bag over them and eventually all got under our Tyvek ground sheet. We attempted to keep going after the hail subsided, but when the rain didn't stop, we said screw it, and pitched the tent. We waited it out for three hours and then made our way a few more miles to where we were planning on camping for the night.

For those of you that don't know my dog, Lexi, she is terrified of thunder. Needless to say she has not just been physically exhausted, but mentally taxed as well during those storms. She really gets worked up, shaking uncontrollably and panting like crazy. When we arrived at out camp each of those stormy nights, she immediately wanted inside the tent and to be wrapped up in my puffy jacket or sleeping bag. Once inside and wrapped up, she proceeded to pass out for the night and did not come out of her "cave" until the morning. Hard to believe she likes this hiking stuff. Thank goodness dogs know how to truly live in the moment; the next morning she is excited as ever to hike again!

The stretch we just completed from Hwy 138 to Elk Lake Resort is 105 miles and took us 6.5 days. With the dogs both going from couch to trail, we figured averaging 16 miles a day would be nice to get them in hiking shape. I am not going to lie, I have enjoyed the extra time off my feet. The trail has been really nice with lots of lakes to camp or break at, although mosquitos are a problem.
Now onward to Big Lake Youth Camp for our next resupply. Then a few days later our friends Shannon and Beth meet us for a few days of backpacking from Ollalie Lake to Timberline Lodge! Oregon is flying by fast!

As I have lots of time to think and reflect, here are some of the things that I miss out here or take for granted...
-A picnic table to sit at instead of the ground
-A chair with a back
-A toilet you can/want to sit on
-Something carbonated to drink
-A garbage can to dump your trash
-Shade on a hot day
-Fresh fruits and veggies
-A plate to eat off of instead of out of a bag
-The smell and feel of fresh laundered clothes
-Wearing cotton clothing
-Shampoo AND conditioner

Trail stats after 118 days and 1959 miles:
# showers: 26
# loads of laundry: 17
# snakes: 24
# bears: 5
# days hiking in rain: 4
# pushups: 850
# nights not in a tent: 18
# chocolate milks: 14

Pics from top to bottom: -breakfast with hikers at the cabin -Mt Thielson -Lexi hiking away -tired doggies -Midnight Chocolate and Stilts at Elk Lake Resort

One tree, two tree, red tree, blue tree

We left Callahan's Lodge last Tuesday morning with our next goal being to get to Katie's parents cabin at Diamond Lake by Saturday at 5pm. We had 5 days and 125 miles to get there.

My new insoles felt better for my feet but still didn't do the trick. Thankfully since we are in volcano country, I found a pumice rock and have been using that on my calluses to help smooth them out and shave them down. That has helped a little, but is still not the magical fix I have been looking for. For now I am hoping rest and lower mileage days coming up will allow my feet to heal.

The first two days on this 5 day stretch were very smokey from the numerous fires in Southern Oregon. Even though the sun was out, the smoke was so thick you couldn't see the sun and the visibility was only about 100-200 feet at times. It was quite eerie to hike in. Thankfully it cleared up some over a few days to where we actually had views when we did get above the trees. The terrain has been more gentle than in California and we are in the trees a lot of the time. The temperatures have also cooled down considerably and it is much more comfortable to hike in this weather.

We once again caught back up with Gumby and Double-It!  Crazy to think we have known them now for over 100 days now. It is always fun hiking with them as it makes the miles go by faster. We got to catch up with stories we each have had over the weeks we have hiked apart. Of course this includes any good trail gossip out there like who has left or finished the trail, injuries, hook-ups, engagements, scary encounters, etc.. It is sort of pathetic how gossipy the trail gets and how fast news travels by foot (thanks in part to social media), but when it is all you have day after day you start to understand why.

The 3rd day we met Goose Burrito who hiked the trail back in 1977 and  again in 2003! He was car camping in the area and was at a road crossing helping out a few other hikers by giving them a ride to a resort nearby. It was fun hearing some of his stories and he gave all of us at the road each a cold frappuccino which hit the spot.

Our 4th day was fueled by thoughts of the rumored all-you-can-eat pizza at Mazama Village in Crater Lake NP. It was a mile off the PCT, but that was well worth it for "real" food in my mind.  The 4 of us got there in time for dinner only to hear from the waitress they have not had the pizza buffet in years and now only offer an all-you-can-eat soup and salad bar.  Although we were bummed about this news, we took advantage of fresh veggies, chili and cornbread and had no problems stuffing ourselves uncomfortably. We managed to waddle a couple miles back up the trail before calling it a night.

Our 5th day we got to Crater Lake and boy was it beautiful. The 2,000ft deep lake was as smooth as glass and ever so blue when we were there Saturday morning. The trail took us along the rim of the lake for a few miles, so we had great views of it all morning long. We hiked off and on with the group of people that were planning on joining us for the night at the cabin. The plan was to be at the highway by 5pm to get picked up to go to Diamond Lake, so all 7 of us ended up hiking within an hour of each other.

As we got closer to the highway, our cabin meeting place, thoughts of seeing my dog and parents as well as knowing I had 3 days of rest ahead of me helped make those last few miles fly by. The trail was flat but there were probably upwards of 100 down trees on the trail to negotiate. This made for a much slower go.

I was hoping my parents might be on the trail with my dog hiking in if they arrived early. Sure enough I spotted my Dad on the trail about a 1/2 mile from the road. My Mom and Lexi were heading back to the car, but we managed to catch up with them. I was super excited to see my dog and the reunion with her was better than I could have hoped. She remembered exactly who I was and sprinted right up to me wiggling her butt, licking my face and doing laps around me. It was quite cute...if only she knew she is about to be working her butt off hiking with me for the next couple weeks, then maybe she wouldn't have been as happy to see me!

Pics from top to bottom:
-Oregon trees and lots of them
-lava fields
-me by Devils Peak
-Crater Lake
-Lexi relaxing on the dock at Diamond Lake

Welcome to Oregon!

A lot has happened since we left Etna. Here is the quick recap:
-we saw 4 bears in 2 days in the Marble Mountains (2 cubs and 2 medium-sized guys)
-we hiked our longest day yet, 32 miles
-we hit Day 100 as we walked into Seiad Valley with the temperature reading 107
-we crossed the California/Oregon border on July 28th, Day 102
-Midnight Chocolate still has poison oak

And for other tidbits...
I am having some pretty bad foot pain where I have built up calluses on the balls of my feet. It feels like shooting pain when I hit my foot just right. This is making hiking quite painful, especially the second half of the day. I just picked up new insoles and hope they and an alternate lacing system with my shoelaces will do the trick. I have come too far to be just now feeling this kind of pain, so I am optimistic something will work.

We have been on a pretty aggressive hiking schedule since Castella with our goal being to get to Diamond Lake by the 3rd of August for some much needed R&R for 3 full days! We are both really excited for the break as our bodies are certainly tired. Here I will pick up my dog, Sexy Lexi, for a couple weeks to hike with me too.

I am really happy to be in Oregon as it feels like real progress has been made. It is crazy to think I just walked the entire state of California. What is crazier is that it took 1699 miles to get through it and if I had driven through California on I-5 Google Maps says it would have been 839 miles and taken 13hrs 17min.

I want to thank those who have sent care packages throughout this trip. The timing of the various packages has been eerily impeccable...we have received food and homemade goodies when we needed to add more food or a resupply store wasn't available. We have gotten socks when we just got holes in our other pairs, elecrolytes when we we were just talking about needing them days prior. We were sent tasty microbrews when there was no good beer options near us. Your notes, comments, emails and cards have always been great to get as an added pick me up. It almost feels like the Hunger Games where a little capsule drops from the sky when we are in need of something. The good news is no one dies in this adventure :-)

Now we are at Callahan's Lodge near Ashland. It is a very nice lodge that is hiker-friendly. We can get all our chores done here, camp in their backyard area, the first beer is free and tonight we get their bottomless pasta dinner with homemade meat sauce, bread and salad. Not sure what more I could possibly ask for!

Now onwards to Crater Lake and our 3 days of rest! Some pics are below and here are the updated trail stats for day 103, mile 1627:
# snakes: 24
# bears: 5
# days rain: 3
# nights indoor: 14
# showers: 22
# loads of laundry: 16
# pushups: 740

To Etna and beyond!

After a restful night at the Castle Crags SP, we walked back to the market/gas station to wait for Midnight Chocolate's parents to pick Xena up. While we were there we ran into some familiar faces! We hung out with Stilts, Muppet, Baxter and Wildcat who we last saw 800 miles ago. Samba and Tallywa showed up as well. 

After Xena left, we hung around a little longer as it is hard to leave the comfort of friends and a convenience store within a 50 step walk. However, we knew it would be best mentally to hit the trail again even though the heat of the day was upon us. That afternoon we hiked 12 miles and got our big climb out of the way which took us around, up and eventually behind the Castle Crags. 

The next morning Midnight Chocolate discovered she had a good bout of poison oak. Turns out she is highly allergic to it. It looked pretty nasty, so I included a pic of it below. :)  As for the hiking, we were above treeline for most of the day and it was beautiful. We hiked along the crest and over numerous saddles looking down upon many lakes. We ran into a nice day hiker on a break. She asked us if we were hiking the whole trail. After we said yes she said, "I brought you a piece of fruit, but you will have to share," and pulled out a white peach. It was delicious. We sat on the trail eating it while talking to her about our hike. Later we had a siesta at an ice cold spring that was coming out right under the trail! Here we met Forest who was hiking southbound as he is flip-flopping the PCT to hopefully connect all the miles together to complete his hike this fall. It was fun talking to him about who he had seen in front of us in the previous days, yet a little bit of a bummer to hear how far away some of our friends were from us.

Our third day out we did our first 30 mile day! It was a flatter stretch of trail so we figured it would be a good time to try it. It wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting. Many of the water  sources showing on our map were actually dry and one stream that did have water flowing smelled horrible as we came upon it. When we got to it, there was a hand-written note from a fellow hiker not to get water here (see pic below). Nice to know the hikers ahead are looking out for us!

Thankfully the next day was not as hot as we had cloud cover.  It was nice to not feel restricted to hiking in the morning and evening avoiding the heat of the day. We hiked 25 miles and got to camp at 6pm which is unusually early for PCT standards.

These longer days helped set us up for a short hike today to get us to Etna Summit. When we got to the road, Emporer had been waiting there for 40 minutes without a single car coming by. Sure enough, we were there about 2 minutes when a pick-up truck came by and took all three of us straight to Motel Etna!

Ahhh, I do love town days! Even though we are only here for the night, it still feels like a rest day. We were majorly in need of laundry as it had been 11 days since the last wash. After showers and laundry, the next logical thing to do was to hit the Etna Brewery!  Now it is well past hiker midnight (9pm) and I am ready for a good night sleep in a bed. Tomorrow we hit the trail and work our way towards Seiad Valley and soon after will enter Oregon!

Trail stats after 98 days and 1606 miles:
# snakes: 23
# bears: 1
# pushups: 710
# nights indoor: 14
# showers: 20
# loads laundry: 15
# days of rain: 3

Pics from top to bottom:
- Castle Crags in back
- 7 days of food for us
- Hiking above treeline
- Midnight Chocolate's poison oak
- Dead cow water sign
- Hitching into Etna
- Cool rocks in the Russian Wilderness

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