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...