August 08 – August 20, 2024
Day 96 | Mile 1620.1 – 1640.4
Today was our first encounter with the crazy, urine obsessed deer that hovered just off the trail. We had heard about the deer from a group of Southbound hikers but didn’t understand how persistent they were. The first encounter happened around one of our water refills at a small spring. As we sat and snacked, the deer would come right up to us without fear and be waiting to lick the grass where you had just relieved yourself.
Thankfully, the winds were in our favour and there was minimal smoke.
This stretch of trail from Etna, California to Ashland, Oregon was very dry and dusty due to the high summer temps, little precipitation, and wildfires. These few days were some of the dirtiest I had felt on the entire trial.
In the latter half of the day, we began our long, 6700 ft. (~2042m) descent into Seiad Valley. Finding a safe spot to pitch our tents was difficult with the amount of dead, burnt out trees surrounding the trail. We ended up pushing a bit further on the trail than expected and found a number of flat spots with least amount of dead trees surrounding out sites.
Day 97 | Mile 1640.4 – 1664.4
We awoke to the sounds of footsteps moving around all of our tents. I opened my front door and was greeted by eight deer scattered around the clearing. Nibbling on leaves and salty areas where we had done our business throughout the evening and night.
We continued our descent into Seiad Valley which is known as one of the most difficult parts of the Northern California due to its sharp ascent on the north side of the valley. As we approached the valley bottom, we found ourselves walking along a stream where we took a much needed dip and scrubbed some of the dust off. The trail joined up with a paved road to bring us all the way into the small town of Seiad Valley. On the shoulders of the road were blackberry bushes that we helped ourselves to. They were so good!
The road walk into town was exposed and the pavement was unforgiving on our feet. We put our thumbs up to the only passing vehicle which stopped to give us a ride.
The truck brought us to the general store where we restocked our food. I must say, the Seiad Valley General Store had the widest variety of ramen flavours I saw on the whole trail. I think it is safe to say that most of the store’s grocery inventory is geared towards hikers. We spent the next few hours lying in the shade in the parking lot of the store before walking a half mile or so to the RV park. The RV park hosts a BBQ every evening for hikers during the peak season offering hot dogs and hamburgers, grass to relax on, and places to charge devices. All key!
Over the afternoon, we had discussed that we’d leave the RV park after dinner to tackle the Seiad Valley ascent in cool of the night. It was extremely difficult to leave the comfort of the RV park to begin hiking uphill for the next few hours. It was a long and steep climb. We were navigating the trail by headlamp on the side of the hills. I don’t know whether it was comforting or not to not be able to see the drop around us. But there were a couple of locations where we had to scramble across washed out areas or bushes on the trail. Was it sketchy? I’m not sure.
We completed about 90% of the ascent amounting to 4000 ft. (~1250m) before deciding to stop for the night. I pitched only the inner of my tent to stay cool and look at the stars as I fell asleep.
Day 98 | Mile 1664.4 – 1681.7
Landen had traveled to Ashland, Oregon and hiked South to meet up with us on the trail. We met up just after completing the ascent and it was great to see his face coming towards us on the trail. Unfortunately for him, we turned him around to continue hiking North to Ashland.
The smoke had started to return in the evening. We decided to camp at the intersection with a dirt road that was clearly a cow pasture due to the number of cow patty landmines all over the place. The clan was whole again.
Day 99 | Mile 1681.7 – 1703.5 | Goodbye, California
Today was going to be a big day… After 99 days in California, traversing the Southern California deserts, climbing the Sierra Nevada’s in awe, grinding through the burnt beauty of Northern California, we’d be leaving. For lunch, we stopped at a restored ranching cabin called Donomore Cabin to reflect on California before crossing the border into Oregon. As a final sendoff from California, we had to climb up into Oregon and crossed the California-Oregon border just before 2pm.
Later in the day we hit the 1700 miles (2736 km) marker.
Day 100 | Mile 1703.5 – 1719.2 | Ashland, Oregon
Our goal for today was to reach Ashland and as it turns out, it would be an easy day. The trail gods were looking favourably upon us. The day started with an easy climb out of camp. At the top, there were two coolers stocked with cold pop waiting for us which was a fantastic birthday treat. The rest of the day was a descent down into town. What a dream!
Mt. Shasta was still by our side as we had done a large loop around it, however, it was now to our South. A small reminder of the distance we covered since leaving the town of Mt. Shasta. We had a blue sky day to end this stretch of trail and bring us to town.
Our first stop in town was, of course, food.. Wendy’s!
Giggles had gone off and, unknowingly to me, was picking up decorations for my big day. She returned to Wendy’s and put me in full regalia.
We checked in to a hostel in Ashland and I treated myself to a private room with a double bed for the night. Seriously, what luxury. Assessing the grime level, I’m surprised we were allowed through the front doors.
After cleaning ourselves up, the four of us went out for a delicious Italian dinner. The night continued after dinner with karaoke and pool. What a blast.
Day 101 – 102 | Zeroes
We spent the next two days relaxing in Ashland at the hostel. We went to a small spa that had a pool and sauna one day, played lots of cards, went to REI (American MEC) for some gear and supplies, and most importantly, ate lots of food.
Day 103 | Mile 1719.7 – 1729.1
After we bid farewell to our humble hostel abode, we were back on trail. Coincidentally, right in sync with the French cohort again. Feeling fresh and rested, we were aiming for some high mileage days coming up. The next four days were all at least 22 miles and thanks to the terrain of Oregon, were fairly manageable. In the hiking community, Oregon is talked about as being “flat”. I can assure you, it is not flat. There are still hills, still climbs, still descents. Granted, relative to the other sections of trail, I’d consider them gentle and rolling but don’t be fooled.
We parted ways with Giggles here as she decided to go to the annual PCT Trail Days event in Cascade Locks. She caught a ride with some other hikers and spent a few days there. Trail Days is a big event at the Oregon-Washington border where hundreds of hikers, alumni, and vendors meet to socialize and sell gear. Most hikers attend as a chance to meet up with people encountered along the trail.
Day 104 | Mile 1729.1 – 1751.4
I took a single photo this day…
We leapfrogged the Frenchies all day and camped with them. The trail passed through a lot of agricultural fields and was fairly pleasant with some easy climbs. We stayed at a closed campground on Howard Prairie Lake for the night.
Day 105 | Mile 1751.4 – 1774.4
I would mark this as our first real day into what Oregon had to offer. Beautiful forests and some wetter weather.
Excellent timing when a storm rolled in on us. It was just about lunch time and we were nearing one of the few cabins that speckle the entire trail. Just as we pulled into the cabin for lunch, the rains started to open up. It wasn’t a big cabin but we piled in our three and the French four into the cabin to eat and wait out the storm.
Back on trail, we were greeted with views of Mt. McLoughlin.
Our camp was unfortunately next to a highway that night in a fairly wet and low-lying area. I dug a trench around my tent to keep the runoff away from me and divert the water from my fly away.
Day 106 | Mile 1774.4 – 1797.0
We encountered some serious trail obstacles throughout the day. Many downed trees and burn scars.
Eventually, we ended our day at Snow Lakes. Lake is a generous term for these small, muddy ponds.
We were exhausted.
Day 107 | Mile 1797.0 – 1821.9
Today’s hike was just over 1000 m of elevation of the course of the day, nothing crazy. Much of the day was spent walking through a burn scar with little shade and water. I stopped for lunch at one of the only water sources. It was this little pond in the middle of a burn scar. The water was fairly skanky but I was out of water and it was good enough to be filtered.
We pushed about 25 miles today and ended at Crater Lake National Park. We met up with Giggles at the Park’s canteen and ate dinner.
Day 108 | Zero | Crater Lake
We took a day off to go up to the rim of Crater Lake. The trail to the North of the lake was closed due to wildfire so we’d be catching a ride around to the re-opened portion North of us. We did about 10 km of the rim trail. Had a picnic, played cards, and ate ice cream. It was a lovely day at the rim.
For dinner, the camp host made a massive spaghetti dinner. I ate so much but never felt full. We met a few other hikers and spent the evening chatting. The next day, we’d be catching a ride around the closure.