Day 97-102: miles 1196.5-1314

I'm currently in Mt Shasta, about to head back to the trail. We're skipping about 75 miles to get around the Shelly Fire, which is close to the trail, over 15,000 acres and only 20% contained. Quite a few hikers are skipping all the way up to Ashland, which is about 220 miles and includes the CA-OR border - we're trying to go a bit farther since reports say the smoke isn't too bad until Etna. But there's also the Donomore fire right at the border; it's tiny right now so fingers crossed it's either out or we can do the approved road walk when we get to it. The recent heat wave really kicked off the fire season here - there's currently 10 fire closures on trail, with a few coming soon in Oregon as well. It's a little frustrating, but is simply a part of the trail. And regardless of how much I care about this trail, these communities are having their homes and livelihoods threatened. In most of these cases, only a small part of the trail is actually closed (for the Shelly fire, only 25 miles are down), but the danger of smoke inhalation extends much farther, and hikers will start to encounter the threatened communities and fire personnel. Even if the trail is technically walkable there, it's irresponsible to encroach on those areas and be a further drain on their resources during this time. So our plan is to do as many miles as possible while still staying safe and respectful to these communities. We've got a ride set to pick us up at a trailhead on Tuesday that can get us to Etna, where we'll take the bus into Yreka, and then get another ride into Seiad Valley. It'll be a bit of an adventure but we'll make it work!

Day 97: miles 1196.5-1220.8

We left Sierra City early this morning, as we had an intense 9 mile climb out of the valley up to the Sierra Buttes. Cheers was way ahead on the climb up and saw a bear up ahead, but it had trundled into the trees by the time Shade and I caught up. We continued up, with great view of the rocky Buttes around us. Near a road at the top we encountered a welcome sight - two coolers full of treats! We enjoyed some cold grapes and applesauce before carrying on. The heat wave is definitely starting; it's very hot in the sun, especially on some of these exposed sections. We enjoyed some flat trail, then had an intense, dry and shadeless uphill before taking lunch under a tree near a creek. It's probably at least in the high 90s today - even a bit of shade makes a big difference. Shade and Cheers took a siesta after lunch but I carried on - I really like getting to camp a little earlier and going to bed early. There were some great ridge sections and good views of surrounding hills and lakes far below. Then a nice downhill into camp, where I enjoyed my dinner in my tent since the mosquitoes were quite bad. Shade and Cheers rolled in as I was finishing dinner, we said hi and then I headed to bed.

Day 98: miles 1220.8-1244

We got up pretty early to avoid some of the worst heat today. It was a good day with a short hill in the morning, then some good flat sections and little ups and downs. Very, very hot though, and this section is pretty dry, with most water sources at least 0.3 mi off trail. We took lunch in the dwindling shade of a tree - when it was gone, Shade and Cheers relocated for a midday nap and I carried on. The landscape transitioned into the scar of the Bear Fire, full of charred trees and many blowdowns over the trail. It certainly didn't help the effects of the heat - everything felt scorched, and I frantically reapplied sunscreen. The fine, sooty dust stuck to my sweaty skin, managing to weasel in even though I was wearing long pants. Today was a pretty long mileage day, and I was nice and tired by the time I got to camp around 5:30. I relaxed and moved on a rotation to try to stay in the slim shade. In this section, we have to be a lot more discerning about our campsites to be sure we're camping near live trees and not window makers. This site was in a small copse of live trees in a burnt forest. Every thirty minutes or so I could hear a distant crash as branches fell from dead trees. I ate dinner and got ready for bed - since Shade and Cheers hadn't arrived I suspected they chose an earlier campsite, and sure enough I had a satellite device message that they'd chosen the site before this one. I'd have the whole place to myself for the night :)

Day 99: miles 1244-1269

I got up early again and headed out - this section was horribly overgrown, with lots of blowdowns (the first pic is of the trail in front of me - not so easy to find it!). I attempted to stay on the trail but got too turned around, so I took a sketchy slide down to a dirt road that ran parallel, and follow that until it met back up with the PCT. Shade and Cheers caught up to me on the road and we continued on together. We had a massive hill before lunch, which was very exposed. It was horribly hot out, and I had to take copious breaks under each small spot of shade. Our lunch spot wasn't ideal, but it was in the shade and next to water, so we spread out on the trail and hoped not too many people had to pass us haha. My pants are so dirty from all the dust and soot and sweat - I could definitely do with a wash. I left Shade and Cheers to their nap and carried on, enjoying some views of the Sierra Buttes behind us, and made it to our chosen campsite before 6. By the time I set up and had dinner started, Shade and Cheers rolled in, along with another hiker named Lucky. It's so hot at night I can't bear to wear anything more than underwear, and even then I'm sweating.

Day 100: miles 1269-1288.1

Day 100! Another early morning with an immediate hill, which wasn't too bad without the sun beating down on me. We've got 19 miles into Belden today, which is a town of two buildings, and then will camp right after it. After the big hill in the morning, it was a frankly lovely section of flat, finally out of the Bear Fire with lots of live trees. Not for long though, as after just a couple miles I entered the edge of the Then there was an honestly grueling 6 miles or so of intense, exposed downhill - in the heat, even that can be hard work. But I made it down into Belden by 1! Belden is a strange, tiny town that is known for raging music festivals and raves. There had been a big festival that ended yesterday, and so there were quite a few hungover and stoned people still packing up, and the kitchen wasn't going to open for another hour or so. Luckily, there was a massive river running through the town, so I swam and washed my clothes in the river. By then the kitchen was open for lunch and Shade and Cheers had arrived, so we enjoyed some food. Then I had to walk 1.5 miles down the highway to the second building in Belden, where I had a package of food to pick up. It was a short ways, but at 105 degrees, it felt like a long haul. But I made it, got my package, and was able to get a hitch on the walk back. I organized my food and napped on the beach a bit more, before we had dinner and walked about 0.5 miles to our campsite for the night.

Day 101: miles 1288.1-1314.3

I got up extremely early this morning to try and conquer this hill without the 100+ heat. All the elevation we lost coming down into Belden has to be regained, in a 14 mile, almost 6,000 ft hill, with the first 7 miles completely exposed. So I left at 4am and headed out into the dark. The grade wasn't too horrible, but I'm very happy I left as early as I did, since I made it to the top by 10am, passing the start of the Cascade Range and the 1300 marker! Then a nice downhill - even with the horribly burned forest around me, there were so many wildflowers and butterflies too. Shade and Cheers passed me as I was taking lunch - they left an hour after me in the morning - and then I passed them again as they took their lunch at a small spring. We're doing a big mile day today, since tomorrow will take us to just before the border of Lassen National Park, where you have to have a bear can to stay overnight so we've gotta the 19 miles in one day. It'll be three long days but this way we can keep our mileage up in this section. I got a bit of trail magic at a road crossing before camp, which was lovely, and Shade and Cheers pulled up not long after. We made the 0.8 round trip to get water, then made dinner and headed to bed! There was a very curious deer nearby who poked around as we fell asleep.