PCT Journal P4

Entry #8; Friday 14th August, Ashland OR.
No more No Cal...

After exactly 3 months on the trail, we have finally made it to our second state, passing out of California into Oregon on the 13th at 0900! Pretty much 1700 miles from when we left the USA/Mexican border. Obviously, other than some wooden signs, the trail was exactly the same as what we had been walking along for the past week, but it felt different to us just for the sense of accomplishment!

So after leaving Belden, having been kindly given a ride the 30 miles from Quincy by a good guy named Mike, father of PCT hiker Boo-Boo, we faced a hefty climb out of the valley. Even though it was still fairly early, only around 0900, we had our sweat-on as the sun was already beating down pretty good and there was very little tree cover for the first 5 miles due to a previous years forest fire. Luckily, this was really our only exposed climb, so once it was done and we were back under the trees, we were hiking cooler.

The pines gave us the shade, as well as the odd pause for a photo, as some were not quite what you'd call growing conventionally!

For the most part, we were doing well for water with plenty of springs and creeks running. The appropriately named "Cold Spring" was just that... It was a 2" pipe, pumping out ice cold water, running like a fire-hose. Needless to say, the Tang we mixed up tasted fantastic. Considerably better than just the other day when we had little choice but to fill up at the dubiously named "Mud Spring".

Not only should the name have give us warning, but the fact that someone had left a little trail-note with "Shitey H20" written on it should have been additional warning, but we didn't spot the note until after we'd filled up.
The water was oozing through the cow-poo covered earth, so we had to dig little pools, allow them to fill and clear, then carefully fill the bottles. Then after finding a better small trickle, Tom did a good job of using a leaf to divert the tiny stream of water into our bottles.
However, even after treating the water and filling it with Tang to near-syrup levels, it still tasted although we were sucking it through our 2 week old socks! Eugh!! What a waste of Tang... but it was about the only way we were going to choke down the much needed hydration...

We have seen more deer, chipmonks, squirrels and the odd rattlesnake, but the smaller critters have been around more too... both the sinister looking scorpions and amazingly coloured butterflies in particular.

We have made some serious miles now, and passed a few mileage signs and some significant milestones... Firstly we passed the official half-way point, complete with a simple but effective marker that wasn't made out of sticks, rocks or cow-poo!
We also arrived at a small bridge over a creek where we stopped for lunch, and that marked the "Less than 1000 miles to go" point, although there was no sign or marker there.

I did see 2 signs I really liked, the first being a bullet-riddled road-sign, the second, a trail sign saying, somewhat strangely, "No Scooters"! We've seen plenty of trail signs that show "No motorbikes", "No ATVs", "No 4x4s"... but I never expected to see a sign that said you can't ride a small Italian motorized bike along the trail!

We crossed into Oregon and were greeted by a temporary sign to mark the occaision. It seems that some idiots had vandalised the official marker, so whilst the PCTA were repairing it, there was the no-expenses-spared plywood and marker pen sign for us. Rounding the bend in the trail, we saw another older sign (pictured at the top of this post) that we assumed was the older original sign, but with the modern use of GPS, the actual border was now pin-pointed to be at the vandalised marker site... at least that was what my GPS was showing anyway.

Being out for 10 or more days, laundry still has to be done, so we have had our socks and undies out drying on our packs after being washed out in a trail-side creek or spring.

As well as the great views of Mt Shasta in glorious sunshine, we have also had some amazing views due to slightly less than glorious weather too... the wet mist and rain that soaked us as we ascended around Castle Crags also made for some impressive sights, as has some of the misty mornings with the mist and haze layering through the ranges. I could wax-lyrical all day about it, but it's probably just easier to post a bunch of pictures and let you see for yourself!

Cow-bells have been riniging out across the No Cal and Oregon hillsides lately, to begin with confusing us as to what they were... sitting taking a break, they sounded a lot like wind-chimes, so we thought there may be a house nearby... but it wasn't windy... Once we got out of the trees and into the meadow, that was when we found a dozen cows, all looking at us somewhat confused as to what we were!

Other than odd noises giving us a fun addition to the usual trail-day, we have been lucky to enjoy some more trail magic. "Mountain Stan" kept a nicely constructed tree-gazeobo just north of Old Station (another nice on-trail store and rest spot), where we took a small break. Unfortunately, the sodas were almost gone, so I had the Root Beer, and Tom passed on the Coors... but the other day, 15 miles into Oregon we found 2 coolers, bith stocked full with almost every kind of soft drink you can imagine, so it was a fine 30 minutes sitting on the hill top, the sun on our backs, sipping a cold Cherry Pepsi... and given that it was the day after Mud Spring, the sodas tasted that much better!!

We dropped down a few thousand feet to resupply in the tiny town of Etna CA, and we lucky enough to get a ride in within minutes of arriving at the trail-head, as well as get a ride back out of town almost straight away as well. The locals were very used to weary, dirty looking people putting out there thumbs, and both people that gave us our rides were really cool and knew just what we needed... The kind lady, complete with toddler and dog along for the drive, dropped us off right at the grocery store when we came in, and the 2 gold-miners that gave us a ride out knew the exact spot to drop us off at to get straight back on the trail.
The town was a great mini-break, giving us a chance to grab a good burger too.

So now we have made it to Ashland, Oregon, and are taking a much needed rest. We did some pretty good miles over the past 6 days, the result of which meant we got into town by 0930 yesterday morning, making for a good long near-o. Today, after a very solid long sleep and lay-in, it's a full zero, trying to do and move around, as little as possible!

The next update to this page/site will be right around the end of the month, and possibly the last update until we finish the trail. As always, cellular coverage depending, I will be updating from the trail to the iPhone journal, so keep checking in on that too.

I hope you like the pix, and we look forward to hearing from anyone out there.

Cheers y'all.

RWK.
OUT.