7.24.2014

Week 14, miles 1374-1561. Old Station- Shasta/Castella



Huge Burn area
In Subway Cave

Always follow the PCT Blaze



Subway Cave beers. Nice, cool spot for a hot day!

Smokey View

CANADA is on the sign!!! ONLY 1233 miles


Burney Falls crew, getting ready for the dance party

"friends forever"

Burney Falls


Ants, hard at work eating our tent

Holes....

Mt Shasta!

WE HAVE WALKED 1500 MILES!!!!

Sweetest note from our good friend Kelsy








7/18/14


              Old Station....shitty little place with shitty food. Friendly service though. Bought a six pack and met Neon at the Subway lava cave 3 miles past Old Station. Cool place, got safe and a little buzzed. The cave was 50 degrees, dark, and had all sorts of lava formations in it. We basically broke every rule except bringing a pet down there....oops. We didn't really see the rules until we had already broken them. 
              The walk out to lunch was too hot. Called Mom and solidified plans for our meet up in Etna....it's on! Gotta get a move on. We have to do consistent 27 mile days to make it in time....no problem! Magic sodas from our friend Happy Nomad after a great long set of String Cheese trail dancin. Late night....good walk. 



7/19

milage: 24
miles: 1400-1424

Hot
Rattle snake
Trail magic. Wild bird cache
Burney falls dance party

7/20/13

Mileage : 28


              Rough day after celebrating at Burney Falls with The Fox and The Hound, Phil, and Neon. Tired all day. Nice breakfast at rock creek. Walked with Neon after lunch. Magic soda again from Happy Nomad! We worked out a shuttle with Happy Nomad in Etna! Passed a trail crew, which reminded me of my time on a trail crew in the City of Rocks.....seems like forever ago now. Thank you for all your hard work trail crews! The day felt long and camp was a wonderful thing to reach. Lots of peeps at camp tonight.



7/21/14

Milage: 30
Miles: 1452-1482


7/22/14

milage: 24

Who knows the mileage or where we are anymore? And who cares? We are here and it is now! 

              I woke up around 4 am this morning and thought I heard mist falling on the tent. Given that there was talk of it potentially raining last night, I thought this was a reasonable thing to hear. Just before falling back to sleep I felt a tickle on my forehead. I swiped the tickle away only to realize I had just killed an ant that was crawling across my head. I was surprised that an ant was crawling around the tent, but my surprise turned to shock and panic when I turned my headlamp on and saw hundreds upon hundreds of ants scurrying about INSIDE the tent!!! I woke Mighty Mouse up with a start and frantically told her there were ants everywhere. In a sleepy haze Mighty Mouse responded with very little concern that we should go back to sleep and deal with it in a few hours. 
              I thought my life was over! This was truly a nightmare in waking life! The ants were crawling all over the inside of my sleeping bag and outside and on the walls and EVERYWHERE! I couldn't see where they were getting in from. All the zippers were closed and secure. I was baffled and confused. With a few more failed attempts to rouse Might Mouse into a panic with me, I eventually surrendered to the tickle and crawl of the ants all around me. I fell asleep with thoughts of ants crawling in my ears and up my ass.....awful! 
              A couple hours later the sun was up and I opened my eyes begrudgingly to the mess of ants that didn't disappear with the night as I had hoped they would. The sight I saw was horrifying! The ants had chewed hundreds of tiny holes all over our tent! They ruined it! 
              Life goes on. No one else we were camping next to had the ant problem. I'm amazed at the experience and blown away that ants can even do that. We walked......hard. Down down UP down down down down down to Interstate 5, which we could hear for most of the day. Interstates are extremely noisy and ugly things. 
              We hitched into Shasta City with Rex (who I named Numbers) and did our shopping at the outfitter for new pole tips and fuel. Numbers joined Mighty Mouse and I for some pizza and beer then we hit the road. We hitched on the 5 in the direction of Castle Crags State park where we planned on staying for the night. A highway patrolman stopped and told us we aren't allowed to hitch past the 'no pedestrians' sign and let us go without a ticket because we are hikers! Yay! 10 minutes later, the same cop came back and gave us a ride to the campground and was a friendly guy. Showered and did a little sink laundry. Nice night under the stars. Tired, but loving life!



7/23/14 

Milage: 25
Miles: 1506-1532

Breakfast burritos and coffee at Ammaritis market in Castella.
Trail friends: Penguine. Double tap. Ruthy. Raspberry
Beautiful weather
Castle crags were stunning!!
Exhausted leaving town, of course. 

7/24/14

Hell of a day! Really good rhythm, lots of folks on the trail. Met Forest who had great things to say about Etna...stoked! Reunited with Neon. Dinner before our last push to camp with Phish bringing us home. Lots of people at camp. Beautiful night.

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