Better Together

Mile 1420.5

I’m camped with Zip and Noodz just outside Burney Falls State Park. We had a great nearo-nearo coming through the town of Burney, and I think it was one of my top trail towns so far.

I had a really great conversation with Zip during the second half of the hike today. We both are feeling homesick, feeling like we are missing out on things back home, and also are getting fatigued at having been on trail now for 2.5 months. We both know that this experience is something we’ve wanted for so long, and it’s been worth it so many times, but then you have the times where it just feels hard and even sometimes pointless. You start to forget why you’re even doing this and what your motivations are. It would be reductive to say “remember your why” because we both know our why’s, we know why we chose to do this. The problem becomes figuring out why you should continue to choose this for another 1900 miles.

I’ve also been saying, now that I’m here in NorCal, one of my resolutions has been to do whatever it is I want to do. Whatever I feel like doing that day, that’s what I want to do. However, I’ve realized this week that I can’t give myself too much freedom, because sometimes what I want to do is lay in my tent all day and think about going home.

Something incredible that happened today was finally seeing Burney Falls. I got emotional and teared up when we saw it for the first time from the overlook. It’s been a landmark that I’ve been looking forward to seeing for years, and I was finally here. I’ve seen it so many times in videos and pictures from other people online, and I finally got to be there myself and experience it.

It’s extremely beautiful, with cascading branches of lacy water seeping through cracks in the rock. So many tiny waterfalls all help make up the falls, with moss and lichen growing in between. A glimmering pool of silver blue water collects at the bottom before continuing downriver.

We took pictures and watched the falls as the sun descended behind the trees. I felt so at peace and so lucky to be there with my friends.

Mile 1435.7

Had a great day today. Hiked all day with Zip and Noodz, but mostly with Zip. I woke up late but we all ended up leaving camp together which was nice. It was a climb all day but the grade was really nice and having conversation with Zip the whole way up made the miles go by fast and easy, even when it was tiring. I’ve missed walking and talking to somebody so much.

We also took two long breaks today, one around 10:30am at a gorgeous stream. The water was so clear, you could see straight to the bottom. We stayed there for over an hour before continuing another 4 miles and then having a late lunch. We sat on the trail and just goofed around while we ate, it was so fun.

The next 6 miles after that things got interesting. The weather started to turn and eventually during the last 3 or so miles it started lightly sprinkling, and then hailed for my 4th hail storm of the PCT.

When we finally got to our planned campsite, it was on an exposed ridge and the wind was whipping. Noodz had gotten there before us and was trying to set up his tent but the ground was terrible for staking and the wind was making his shelter look like a play toy. It looked like his tent might blow away. We decided to see if we could scope out a better spot in the trees, and found about 5 other hikers whose tents were tucked away in a small clearing. We walked around the area and were able to all find little spots under some trees, well protected from the wind. As we were setting up our tents, the rain let up, and the all of a sudden it started to snow. I know I’m up in the mountains, but damn! It’s June!

I got all set up and luckily everything is relatively dry, apart from my pack, shoes, and rain jacket. I’ve made dinner (mashed potatoes with mayonnaise and a chicken salad packet) and I’m tucked in my sleeping bag with all of my layers on. I was just contemplating sending my gloves and sleeping bag liner home when I was in Burney. Really happy I didn’t now.

Even with the unexpected turn of weather it was a really nice day. We have a sketchy snow section coming up, but there’s also an option to walk a dirt road (that we’ve heard still has snow and is overgrown). Not sure what we’ll do, but it sounds like the others are wanting to sleep in at the very least. I’m hopeful that I’ll get some good sleep tonight, hoping I won’t be too cold. Going to lay down and warm up as best I can after finishing my meal.

Recently I’ve been having a tough time mentally, and I’m hopeful that I’m coming out of it. I had a really nice day today, and I’m so grateful for Zip and Noodz. What good people. You know when you have someone by your side who is just a good person? I feel really lucky today.

Mile 1448.4

Since it snowed last night and was really chilly this morning, we all slept in. It was so nice to stay snuggled in my sleeping bag cocoon as the sun came out and warmed us. We all had cell service too, so we were able to text our family members and also each other, since our tents were a ways apart.

We decided to leave around 10am. Noodz and I left camp together and walked the first five miles before taking a break. The miles flew by, it was awesome. We had a good discussion and opened up to one another about things we’ve gone through in the past, and how we can use those lessons to better ourselves now and in the future. The PCT feels like one big event on the path to betterment.

Zip caught up to us at our break spot, and we continued on for a few more miles. The views were great today when we got them, but mostly we weaved through tall pines and healthy, overgrown shrub brush. Everything is so green right now, it really feels like it’s thriving. The trail was also so soft today, cushioned by a bed of pine needles and fine dirt. Sometimes the trail can be really rough on the feet, but this stretch has been lovely in terms of the trail itself. The last mile to camp we ran into some of what we’ll be dealing with tomorrow - snow and overgrown trail. It’s kind of a mess. There’s a boot track to follow from people who have come before us, so I’m hopeful we’ll be able to at least navigate alright. There’s also a dirt road we can jump on if the trail gets too sketchy or unmanageable.

Lovely day with Zip and Noodz, I’m really enjoying getting to walk and talk again. I haven’t done that in forever, and it truly makes the day just fly by in the most enjoyable way. Breaks are fun, the hiking is fun, camp is fun. It’s been a good few days.

Mile 1458.4

Woke up early this morning to get a move on since we knew snow was coming. The first part of the day was really enjoyable, and we even left the PCT to do some trail blazing of our own at one point. We set out to go up and over a ridge (the PCT went around) and at the top we got the most magnificent view of Mt. Shasta! It was incredible. I had 3 bars of service which is pretty much unheard of, so I group FaceTimed my family and they answered! It was so nice to see all of their faces and share the moment with them.

We kept hiking the ridge for a ways until we decided to descend to the PCT, thinking it would be better than bushwhacking through the overgrown dirt road. It wasn’t too bad at first, but eventually became completely snow covered and was really slow going. Finally after several hours we decided to try and regain elevation to join the ridge and try the dirt road. That was a cool part of the day but it was also scary, because we had to ascend a steep, snowy slope, and if you fell it would be a long way down... we all made it to the top, however, and after joining the road things got better in terms of walking. After about 10-15 minutes, we weren’t sure where the road was because it was buried under snow. We could see on our GPS map it was about 100 feet to our right, so we decided to descend and try to bushwhack through thick manzanita bushes. Imagine a thicket of tangled branches 6 feet high on a 45 degree angle - that’s what we had to push our way through. We finally made it down to the road, luckily without any injuries, and it greeted us with dirt for the first time in 6 hours.

We walked the road until we were able to safely rejoin the PCT, but even though the snow was gone it didn’t mean it would be easy. This section of trail has been so covered in snow that there’s been absolutely no trail maintenance. It seems like it’s been several years, because the trail was incredibly overgrown for miles. Not just bushes growing over the trail, but full on trees. At certain times it didn’t even feel like we were on a trail anymore, it just felt like we were bushwhacking through the forest.

We were all exhausted, and we hadn’t even gone that far for the day. At one point we realized we’d only done 6.8 trail miles by 4:30pm, and we all laughed with how ridiculous it was, goofy exhaustion settling in. We did take a 2-hour break at the lookout point, but still, it was a pathetic showing for how exhausted and drained we were. We decided to do another mile or so to get to a campsite and water source, but when we got there the campsite was taken and the water source didn’t look easily accessible through the snow. We pushed on another 2 miles to a dirt road and seasonal stream to camp, and ended our day at 10.03 miles completed.

After setting up camp and getting some food in our bellies, we all started to feel a lot better. Things felt simple again, and the peace of the evening and the warmth of the company was all we needed. Ziploc turned on some music, and it was the perfect end to a great day that had turned sour, but then became sweet again.

Mile 1478.5

Did 20 miles today with Zip and Noodz, after our sad 10 miles yesterday that was totally exhausting. Today was also exhausting and draining, but I’m glad I got to do a big day while actually hiking with someone else for a change. 20 miles together is way better than 20 miles alone.

We saw so many beautiful things today. Lots of different plants and also lots of wildlife! We had a deer encounter this morning at our snack break, she walked right up to us to pass by! A similar thing happened later on with another deer. We were watching the deer walking near the trail, and then suddenly we heard a man down the trail calling out “hey bear!”. We yelled back “it’s a deer!” And he yelled back “hey bear” again. We looked at one another confused, and again yelled back “it’s a deer!” The guy came around the corner and said, “NO, there was a bear!”

Apparently while we were having a deer encounter he had just seen a black bear! I still have yet to see one and I’m not really looking forward to whenever that occurs.

We also ran into a guy named “OK” earlier. We stayed in the same area as he did at the church in Burney, so it was great to see him again! I expect we may see him again in Dunsmuir.

Mile 1490.6

Really lovely day today. We originally set out to do 19 miles, but only ended up with 12. The miles didn’t matter today, it ended up being so much fun.

In camp this morning we decided to sleep an extra hour after we’d been woken up around 3:30am by a bear walking around nearby. We scared it away with our voices and it never came back, but it was hard to get sleep after that.

We got all packed up and then ended up making a funny video all together before leaving. While we were being silly and filming, our friend OK walked up! It was great to see him again.

Zip, Noodz, and I all left camp around 8:30am, and walked the 7 miles to the last water source for the day. On the way there we played “20 Questions”, but with no limit to the amount of questions. We just had fun trying to guess what the other person was thinking of, and it ended up causing a lot of laughter.

One thing I want to remember is this exchange:

Me: Is it the main character or the villain?

Noodz: You have to ask in a different way.

Me: Is it the protagonist or the antagonist?

Noodz: No, you have to rephrase the question.

Me: I don’t know how else to ask what I’m asking... what isn’t clear?

Zip: IT HAS TO BE A YES OR NO QUESTION!! 😂😂😂

Lmaooooo it was so funny, we laughed so hard😂😂

At the water source we had lunch there and a bunch of hikers, including OK, ended up joining us at our break spot which was a lot of fun. We stopped right on the trail and created a little colony of hikers. After we’d been there for 30-40 minutes, a guy came by and said there was trail magic at a campsite nearby, so we all went over there to check it out. They had soda, beer, sandwiches, chips, and a charging station. It was such a nice surprise, my first trail magic in NorCal! After spending an hour or two there, we felt like we needed to move on. We still planned on doing about 12 more miles for the day, and we had a 5 mile climb to start it off.

Zip left first while me, Noodz, and OK followed about 30 minutes behind. It was great to walk and talk, and really nice to have OK along and get to know him a bit better. He’s from Ohio so we share some midwest similarities, and he did the Appalachian Trail a few years back so has some good stories and perspectives on thru-hiking.

Once we got to the top of the climb, we could either stay at this campsite or continue another 7 miles. There was nowhere to camp between here and the next site, and it was already 6pm. After scoping out the campsite, it had a good amount of dead trees, but we didn’t have a lot of options. We found an area that wasn’t too bad and decided to stay. It’s been a really fun evening. We all had dinner together, and it’s great for us to finally camp with OK after meeting him in Burney last weekend.

7am departure time for tomorrow, we have 11 miles to get us to town for lunch time. Even though this stretch has had tiring times, it’s been so enjoyable, and I’m really happy to be doing whatever feels right in the moment, and to have people to share it with.

Zero in Dunsmuir, Recap:

The next morning we hiked about 10 miles to get us to the road to town. On the descent to town, we had cell service and booked an Airbnb to stay in together, along with OK. After descending to the Sacramento River, we took a side trail that meandered along the river bank. OK lit up with excitement - he and Noodz tend to jump into as many water sources as possible. We found a beautiful little spot with a calm pooling of water and all ended up jumping in. I chickened out at first, since I’m not usually a water person, but with encouragement from the group I went in again and dunked. The water was freezing but felt amazing, and I was glad in the end that I went for it.

We got a ride from a trail angel who took us north to the town of Shasta. It sits right near the base of the giant Mt. Shasta, and was a cool little town to explore. We didn’t stay long, just grabbed lunch, did laundry, and ran some small errands, but it was nice to get to experience an iconic stop on the PCT.

After chores were done, we got a hitch back south toward the PCT, and stayed in a small town called Dunsmuir. It was quieter than Shasta which is just what I needed, and our Airbnb was great.

Over the course of the two nights we spent there, we watched about 7 movies, did all of our laundry, washed our stuff out, resupplied our food, and really all bonded even more than before.

The next stretch coming up will take us through the Castle Crags Wilderness and the Trinity Alps, and I’m really looking forward to some beautiful views. How lucky I am to be surrounded by nature and good people. Soaking it in while it lasts.

Miles completed: 873.8

Blue line indicates hiked portion of trail