Day 90 Didn’t sleep well yet again. This was in part due to the dogs at or near the RV park barking at random things, which I was thinking could be a bear and in part due to traffic at the nearby road, California 95. I was slow to get going, so I didn’t totally get the head start that I was hoping for. After a mile or so of road walking the normal trail…
Day 89 I slept terribly this night as I was thinking about fires, bears, and how much I had to do the next day and the day after that. I heard some noises on the campground. In the morning I saw a large rabbit, which might have been the source of those sounds. I got going a bit before six am and like the last couple of days I was greeted by great views in…
Day 88 Last night, just when I was about to fall asleep, I thought I heard some larger animal moving near my tent. I also heard sounds like chewing on leaves, but I wasn’t sure, so I tried to light up the surroundings and subsequently went outside to no avail. The sound stopped. Then at four am I was awoken by some commotion and heard a dog woofing at me and my tent. I grabbed…
Day 87 Again, I was of to kind of a late start with me taking the first step of the day by six am. Looking at the elevation curves it was going to be a though day with a lot if up and down. I was questioning if I would be able to make it as I hd to hike longer (or a lot shorter) today due to a stretch without camp sites. However, right…
Day 86 Have you ever heard the expression “a rolling stone doesn’t gather trail names”? Probably not because I think I just made that up. Nonetheless I think it makes sense. But before we get to that, let me just ensure that I have properly explained what a trail name is. In essence it is the name you are known by when you are hiking or interacting with other hikers. Hiker law states “We the…
Day 85 Getting up today was not easy as I got too late in bed but still wanted to beat the heat and do decent milage today, but the sleepiness gradually disappeared after sun had risen. As mentioned previously I hadn’t seen where Hardcore had camped yesterday, which made me a bit nervous as she had seemed somewhat off. Turns out that she had misunderstood what the other hiker had said to her and gone…
Day 84 First thing I did after getting awoken by my alarm was to call home. I hadn’t heard nor spoken with my family for a while and this could be the last chance for a while. I had gotten a bit late to bet yesterday so I wasn’t completely awake until a bit into the call. It was very nice to hear from then, though. I had still a lot of chores to do…
Day 83 As per usual I got off to an early start. I wanted to make it to Shasta today and also get some chores done to cut out a zero day. It was utterly dark. My headlamp started to falter as I had thought it would have plenty of juice and therefore not charged it. Instead I put my phone in a small pocket using it as as a torch like I had done…
Day 82 Got up a bit earlier today to further enjoy the coolness of the morning. Given the humidity and heat, it shouldn’t have been a surprise that a thunderstorm was raging, though I hadn’t been awoken by it. It was somewhat distant, I reckoned, as it wasn’t raining here and there was some delay between the lightning strikes were heard and the sound caught up with us. Eon, probably awoken by my commotion, got…
Day 81 Okay, so when us hikers came out of the Sierras, we had just witnessed some of the finest nature on earth, which inevitably makes the next stretch a bit bland. We may also have looked at the mileage and think: this took so much time, energy, and money and I am not even halfway yet. Then you get the Northern California blues, or “NorCal blues” and might decide to drop your hike. Anyways,…