Sat. Sept. 17        Miles today: 22.9          Total so far: 2,233.3 miles    No. CA Section N

It was not too cold last night, and the rain stopped, too, so this morning was only partly cloudy.  We got up at 5:45, but it was awfuly dark–we may need to switch to 6:00!  Wow–back at the beginning of our hike we were getting up sometimes at 4:30! 

We continued the big climb up out of Belden.  Bill had to go very slowly–he still feels weak and tired, and still doesn’t feel like eating.  But he did manage a few mouthfuls of granola and some Emer-gen-C for breakfast.  We did not have mochas today–we don’t have enough fuel. 

One nice thing was that we got OUT of the fire zone!  The forest was beautiful–very green, with shining leaves.  But the TRAIL was hard.  First, it was mostly up, sometimes steeply, which was very hard on poor sick Bill.  Second, several places were totally washed out, so that we had to scramble down into a rough gully, then scrabble up out of it.  Third, there were many springs running down the trail, and many creeks to cross, a couple of them a bit of a challenge, with roaring crek and slippery rocks.  Bill normally just zips right across such things, but now he’s as teetery as I am.

At 10:00 am we stopped for a rest and a candy bar; or I should say, I ate a candy bar.  Bill could not face eating anything, not even a bite from my Snickers.  But shortly after that, our climbing PCT came to a lovely meadow with a wonderful little sign that siad, “Welcome to the Cascade Range.”  What an encouragement!  It really cheered us up big time!  On we went, and reached Poison Spring (actually, it has EXCELLENT water!) only to find several trucks and lots of people–hunters!  Turned out that today was opening day of DEER SEASON.  Oh boy.  From that point on it was hunters and more hunters.  We met a couple of local ranchers out hunting on horseback, and saw lots of guys who just drive their pickups along the logging roads, looking for a deer to shoot.  We met one hunter on foot, and he was quick to give his opinion on the subject.  “Road hunters!” he said in disgust.  “That’s NOT hunting.”  He wished us well on our PCT trek, and we wished him a big fat buck.  “Oh, it’s all right if I don’t get one,” he told us.  “What I’m doing now is just getting myself in shape for the REAL thing– ELK hunting.  Now THAT’S hunting!”

AT lunchtime, I cooked over a tiny twig fire, to save on fuel.  Bill was able to eat a little, plus he drank some lemonade.  He says he is slowly feeling better.  Not long after that, we reached the top of our climb–hurray!  Most of our afternoon walking was through forest, some of which was being selectively harvested, which we think is a great idea.  The trees have different colored bands and spots marked on them.  We reached Cold Spring and took on enough water to last 24 miles!  Hunters were driving by as we collected the water.  We haven’t been hearing gunshots much.  I guess the deer all went into hiding.

After Cold Spring, we were into “volcanic country”, with many lava formations.  Eagle Rock was a large one, but all along the trail there were interesting smaller ones with rock plants growing on them.  At Humboldt Summit, there was a large hunter camp with big oldfashioned canvas tent, cookstove, and a lot of frustrated hunters who’d been out all day and not even SEEN a deer.  We talked to them a bit, and  one guy kept asking, “Where’d you park your car?”  No matter how much we tried to explain to him that our car was at home, and we’d walked up from Mexico, he just didn’t get it.

From there, the PCT comfortably cruised along the crest, and when the sun was almost down we stopped to camp in a “research area.”  We stopped there because it was obvious that researchers camped in that spot, so it was a KNOWN campsite where Bill and I were (hopefully) less likely to be mistaken for deer!  It was a cold, gray, overcast evening, so we put up the tarp.  I was very grateful that we didn’t have to stop early, and that Bill was able to hike all day, even though he did hike very slowly.

Fri. Sept. 16       Miles today: 7.1          Total so far: 2,210.4      No. CA Section N

Bill and I both had a very comfortable night in the tepee at Belden Resort.  The roar of the river close by plus the occasional rumbling and squeaking of a passing freight train were for me very soothing.  If you like trains, you will love Belden!  At 8:00, Bill and I were ready for breakfast at the main resort building which is a combo restaurant, saloon with pool hall, office, and store.  Bill was feeling better and was thinking of maybe toast for breakfast, with a soda to wash it down.  I was thinking pancakes!  The nice folks at the resort let me get a can of peaches from the store to dump over my pancakes in addition to syrup and butter.  Bill changed his mind and had pancakes, too–and was able to eat them.  Then he went back and lay down in the tepee to rest some more while I headed for the post office.

The walk to the post office was a bit scary in places with narrow road shoulders and big trucks whizzing by.  Yikes!  But the PO itself was a kick–it’s in one of three ramshackle houses that look like they were built out of stuff that came floating down the river, plus they have junk lying everywhere and a lot of dogs that set up a huge ruckus when I came walking up the driveway.  The “PO Boxes” are on the house porch, and the post office itself is a tiny room inisde.  Our box was waiting, and the PO lady told me that there ARE trail angels in Belden who help hikers, but only in summer, since they are school teachers and have closed up their cabin now and returned to town.  Oh well.  I carried our box back along the river to the resort, sorted out all the food, went “shopping” at the store, finished my writing, loaded packs, then Bill and I had one last big juicy hamburger each before heading out.  Bill did finish his burger, but said he could just barely manage the last several bites.  He also said he would have to hike very slowly, and still felt tired and weak, but was determined to try, even though the first thing we have to face is 13 miles of uphill with a total of over 4,000 feet elevation gain.

So we crossed the highway and headed up the PCT on a sunny, windy afternoon, with large gray and white clouds blowing in fast.  The wind kept us cool as we slowly began the climb, AND it blew away all the annoying little flies.  We were hiking through what USED TO be a shady greeen forest, but is now blackened tree trunks and post-fire weeds.    For some time, the trail contoured above the river, and there were some beautiful views.  Bill was taking it very slow and easy, stopping to rest every time he started to feel tired.  (However, every time he said, “I need to stop and rest”, I didn’t let him sit down till I had scanned the ground for poison oak–it was everywhere!) 

Getting through that forest fire area was, quite frankly, awful.  The brush had grown in with a vengeance, and we found ourselves pushing through tangles of bushes taller than we were, that had completely overgrown the trail, plus having to climb over fallen, burned trees.  This section REALLY needs a trail crew!  At 5:30, we had reached Myrtle Flat, and stopped for supper, but Bill again said he could not eat.  All he did was drink some lemonade, while I ate a couple of cheese sandwiches.  Just as we were finishing up and getting ready to head on, it began to rain!  Bill said, “I am so tired.  I don’t want to hike in rain.  Let’s just camp here.”  So up went the tarp, and soon we had a dry, cozy VERY EARLY camp underneath it.  The rain was very pleasant, not a heavy downpour, and I hoped it would be done by morning.

Bill went right to bed in his sleeping bag and fell asleep almost right away.  But he was looking better–the color was back in his face, instead of white and pale as he looked yesterday.  I could only trust God that he would be OK and that we would make it to Old Station, now only 81 miles away.