Week 13! Belden, Quincy, and huge miles. miles: 1201-1374

7/11/14

Milage: 30!!!!

Miles: 1201-1231

News: we broke our PR and hiked 30 MILES today! Such a fun day and it feels great to be back on trail. 

7/12/14

Mileage: 31

Miles: 1231-1262

              Broke records again!! Hell of a day! Very hot and very long. Got to the middle fork of the feather river and had us a swim in warm water. The temperature of the water was strange....still refreshing though. Rest of the day (11 miles) was up hill non stop! Beautiful campsite on a cliff called Lookout rock. Super Moonrise during a wonderful susnset. A local couple hiked in and joined usforthe moon show and we chatted for a long time. Thought for a minute that they were goin to stay with us for the night. I recognized the lady in a strange way and she turned out to be one of the nurses that was at the Quincy hospital in 2008.....super weird. Great day, great life!

Super moon rising

7/13/14

Milage: 27

Miles: 1262- 1289

Weather: so hot!!

Goal: get to Belden ASAP!

Waking up on Lookout Rock was amazing. The sunrise was beautiful and the heat motivated us to start hiking right away. We got to Belden and immediately went to the cafe and got cold beers, best beers we've ever had! (Because they were so cold)

7/14/14

Miles: zero.....oops

Mileage: braten trail angel 

              The hitch in the morning was a breeze. We got a ride from three you he guys going in to Quincy to visit their grandma. Nice guys. We got breakfast at the Morning Thunder Cafe, which was delicious. All these year we have been coming to Quincy and we never even new that the thunder cafe existed....good to know! 

              We went to the natural food store to pick up Glitter Bug's shoes that we sent there and they didn't have them yet! We had to do some replanning and gave the store some money to forwar them to the next town wen they showed up. We ended up paying a guy 5 dollars to give us a ride back to Belden. Normally I would just wait for a free hitch, but we were trying to get back on the trail so I thought it was worth it. We decided to lounge by the river with Gauge and Teddy Rose before we hit the trail. The conversation was wonderful and we watched a family of river otters play in the water. As we longed Glityer Bug got a call from the natural food store in Quincy and they said her shoes had just arrived!

              We decided to hitch back for the second time and take the rest of the day off so Glitter Bug would have some comfy feet. A guy named Mike gave us a ride there and back. Turns out Mile was on a joy ride for the day and wanted to drive us both way! Good guy, we invited him to stay with us any time he comes to Portland. We enjoyed lunch with Mike at the store and had great conversations with him on the rides to and from Belden. 

              When we got back to the Braten's Neon, twice, bird. T.R., Gauge, The Fox and The Hound were all hangin out on the porch. Gauge, Glitter Bug and I camped at the rest stop because the rule was that hikers can only stay one night at the Braten's. We found some safety equipment under the bench and had a safety meeting about it all. What a wonderful unintended zero!

7/15/14

Milage: 27

Miles: 1289-1316

Discomforts: My shins were on fire... New shoes?

The morning was all uphill to get out of the valley that Belden is in. We started the day with Sogo, Julia and Gauge. After we reached the top of the hill it was a nice and easy day for the most part. 

We ran into Chef and Jerrycan right before we got to camp and chatted with them for a bit. They are planning to do trail magic there for a bit. 

Robbers spring was our final destination. The sign said it was about .3 mile off trail, it was much further but it had nice camping near it. And!!! There were surprise beers in the spring... Trail magic never gets old. 

7/16/14

Mileage: 28

Miles: 1316- 1344

              Woke up down at robbers spring. Half mile climb back to the trail. Smokey morning....had catastrophic thoughts of a miraculous escape from an encroaching fire. We found out later that the fire that is producing all the smoke is over by Redding. 

              HALFWAY! It feels as if we should be further than halfway...all down hill from here though right? I had a grand idea of a non-profit....we are gonna change the world with our love! Live with integrity love and compassion....all else will manifest according to the unfixed ever changing truth of the infinite moment. 

              Trail magic at highway 36, Capri Suns and other sugary goodies. Good tunes....animal collective. We ended the day at the North fork of the feather river. Saw Mt. Lassen through the smoke for most of the day. What's up with all of the confusion around the different forks of the feather river? Word.

7/17/14

Milage: 29

Miles: 1345-1374

Highlight: Drakesbad resort visit. Cold beers and free cake!

Weather: hot. Hot. Hot!!!

Neon, Boombox and I made our way to Drakesbad which is a peculiar resort in a beautiful valley. Most of the people there were there to stay in the cabins and go on hikes in the area but there was a huge crew of stinky hikers too. The hikers were seperated from the 'other people' of course, but the people that work there are so awesome they even gave me a free piece of cake!

After that nice visit we stepped it up and had such a speedy afternoon through a super hot burn area. We made it to the creek and were so happy to cool off and go to sleep!

Week 12! High Sierra Music Festival back to the trail! Miles 1156-1201

7/4/14

At High Sierra!!!

Miles: ya right!

Mileage: nope! Celebrating!!

All warriors represent! 

Remind those who forget

The time is NOW!

To walk in humble pride

Prepare and fortify 

Resist comforts of compromise

Pray for guidance.....

Happy 4th! Let's change the world!! All it takes is love!

7/8/14

Mileage: none

Miles: nope

              Geoff hosted us in King's Beach around north Lake Tahoe area. Love the Tahoe/Truckee area so much. Geoff was a wonderful host and I love his house. The house is a geodesic dome home....funky and comfy. Geoff grilled yummy cheese stuffed burgers, we met and chatted with new friends, and watched a part of pulp fiction before crashing hard. Thank you Geoff for being a wonderful host, can't wait to see you this winter for some shred time in the snow! Love ya buddy! 

7/9/14

Milage: 23

Miles: 1156-1179

Weather: beautiful

News: We're back on trail after a long break...

Interesting place: Peter Grubb hut. A cabin that has turned into a wonderful home for hikers (for a night)

Woah, it's interesting being back on trail. As great as it feels after a long break, it also is super hard to get motivated. We've set some goals so we can meet Boombox's parents in a few weeks so that's helping us stay focused. 

We've been talking a lot about our time at High Sierra and how much we miss our friends already. It was so great to see everyone and catch up but at the same time it was so hectic because there were so many people to see and things to do so time flew by!!

7/10/14

Mileage: 22

Miles:1179-1201

              Walked very quickly to Sierra City. 18 miles before lunch? Whatever. Shitty milkshake at the general store. First hiker town in a while for is and it felt good! There were some parents of a thri-hiker at the trailhead doing trail magic. They have us pie ad soda and have us a ride into town! We were in and out of Sierra City in less than 3 hours and had a climb to end the day at a wonderful campsite with great views and a beautiful sunset. The rain came in after we went to bed an it rained on us most of the night. Great night.

 We had a huge box to pick up there and a special box from Dana with lots of goodies!! THANK YOU DANA!!!! There was trail magic right at the trail h

Best card ever, from Dana. 

Hungry hikers stoked on chocolate 

Week 15, miles: 1561-1636. Etna and hiking with Boombox's parents!!

BEAR!!

Enjoying cigars by Paradise lake

7/25

Milage: 29

Miles: 1561-1590

Only one more day to etna! 

So sore in the morning after the super fast evening into camp with neon

7/26

Miles: 1590-1606

Short day into town! We're always so excited for town days, but especially this one since we are meeting Boombox's parents. We've been pushing so hard for weeks so we could be here by today, so happy it worked out.
We got to the road and saw some people who had been kayaking on the river. They offered to give us a ride into Etna, thank goodness, because that would've been a hard hitch. Got to Etna, got settled at the Etna Motel and met Robin and Doug at the Etna Brewery. Etna is a super tiny, cute town. 

7/27

Miles: 1606-1613

Weather: hot until we were out of the car and it rained. 

News: We're finally with Boombox's parents!!

Food: breakfast at Bob's cafe in Etna

Wow!!!! Such a long shuttle

7/28

1613-1625

7/29

1625-1636

Climb out of summit lake 

Much easier day

Nice lunch in marble valley by old ranger cabin 

So many wild flowers 

Early night at paradise lake... Yucky lake 

Cocktail rock

7/31/14

Milage: Zero!! 

Ah, how nice it is to wake up in a bed!! I could get used to this...

The guys went on an early morning coffee run while Robin and I slowly got ready for the day. There aren't many restaurants to choose from in Yreka, especially for breakfast. First we tried Misty's Wet Yer Whistle Cafe and... walked out to go to the Health Food Cafe across the street, it was a good choice. We slurped our smoothies and munched our toast as the lady there told us some cool places to check out in the area. 

Yreka was a less than desirable place to hang out in so we hit the road and headed back south to Dunsmuir, about 45 minutes away. Who knew this visit was going to include so much driving?! These small towns are spread out and don't have too much to offer but luckily we were able to jump around a bit thanks to Doug and Robin!  The main attraction in Dunsmuir was the brewery, of course!!! We had some beers and a delicious lunch after walking around the old town.

Etna is home base for us right now. We're happy to be back here after our adventure, we spent hours on the patio at Etna Brewery before it was swamped with hikers. The smell of BO filled the air as hikers took over the place, shouting their beer orders and shoving their faces with pretzels and peanuts. Every one of them had a story about the fire and which road or part of the trail was closed. Boombox went to ask one of them about it and he said "oh you live in Seiad?"... We obviously didn't look like hikers because we were clean and with Mom and Dad.  

Ended the brewery visit with some glasses of wine and a brownie sundae before heading back to home sweet home, Motel Etna. We'll figure out the fire closure stuff tomorrow...