At 5:15am when I tiptoed into the house to use the bathroom,  Martha was already up and the dogs gave me an ecstatic, tailwagging greeting. I guess they figure I’m “family”–that’s a very encouraging thought.  The three cats, however, merely yawned, so I’m not sure what they think!  Martha made coffee for us, and it was interesting to watch her cooking setup.  In summertime, so as not to heat up the kitchen, she uses an electric hotplate.  In winter, it’s the woodstove.  She says her daughter, who is a chef, finds this to be quite a challenge! 

Martha told us stories about the guy who built the addition to her house–how he and his horse-powered (literally!) equipment were able to do everything necessary to felling trees, moving logs, and the actual building process.  It was great to hear all that she had to say–she’s a very gracious, but down-to-earth lady who is a real Christ-follower.  We enjoyed the coffee and a breakfast of tortillas, eggs & cheese before Martha headed out to feed all the animals and then go to work (she is a veterinary’s assistant), while we headed for Ammirati’s Market to pick up our resupply boxes and have a second breakfast!

Following Martha’s directions, we walked out the back of her property, through a horse arena, and off down River Road to the lovely River Trail.  It was a beautiful morning, and walking along by the river was very enjoyable.  When we reached Ammirati’s Market, we were astounded at the number of PCT hikers!  Some of them were people we’d thought were way ahead of us (somehow we’d caught up with them–I’m not sure how) and others were hikers who decided to just skip sections N and O and go straight to Castella. (They said they were afraid they wouldn’t make it to Canada in time, otherwise.) In any case, there were hikers galore at the market and post office and  it was fun to see everybody!

We decided to give our gear a good airing in the sun on the lawn, and Bill lay down to take a nap, while I went into the closed restaurant to write up stuff for this journal.  I couldn’t sit at any of the tables outside–all of them were full of hikers!  At one point,  a sweet but timid lady customer in the market came to me and asked if I would ask the other hikers “Does anyone need a ride to Dunsmuir?” I wondered why she didn’t ask them herself, till I realized that a large group of seasoned thruhikers does look sort of, well, grubby and tough. I went to each table and said, “Hey, hikertrash!  Anybody need a ride to Dunsmuir?”  Turned out everybody was headed back to the trail, but the ride offer was much appreciated!

Hikers slowly began drifting back to the PCT, but Bill and I and several others shifted to hanging out in the shade behind the post office.  I sorted food and loaded packs, then we had lunch, which included a half gallon of ice cream.  It’s hiker etiquette to share with anyone else who’s present, so we offered ice cream to everybody.  On a hot afternoon, it tasted good!  The Israeli girls were happily going through their resupply box, which included a bag of Israeli coffee.  Noga opened it up,  handed it to me and said, “Smell that!  It’s the smell of Israel!”  She and Shani told me about how fanatic Israelis are about the “right way” to make coffee.  From their description, it sounds like they do it sort of “cowboy coffee style”, boiled in a pot. 

By 1 pm, on a hot afternoon (sigh) we put on our heavy packs (4 days of a very generous food allowance) and walked over to the Castle Crags entrance to ask the ranger lady about the best route back to the PCT.  In 2005, we tried to find it on our own, and ended up doing a lot of wandering around.  We didn’t want a repeat of that experience!  Sure enough, she told us a very simple, straightforward path back to the trail.  Part of the route involved walking along an old mining flume, on a very nice trail.  We cheered when we got back to the PCT again, and began the big climb out of Castella– first through lovely oak forest, across several very pretty creeks.  According to our guidebook, the last of the creeks was the last water for 14 miles, so we planned to get water there.  To our great dismay, the creek was dry! 

But just a short way beyond the dry creek, there was a little sign on a tree that pointed off to the right and said, “Water upstream”.  So we followed a use trail, and sure enough!   Water!   Whew!  We took plenty.  At that point, the PCT got serious about climbing UP.  The trail tread was steep and rocky, but the views of Castle Crags were awesome.  The Crags really do look like a castle with walls and turrets, some of light gray and some darker.  The PCT takes you right up to the foot of the “wall.”  We stopped for dinner at a switchback, then continued climbing. 

At 6:40, we’d reached what the guidebook called “a forested saddle”.  There were no more flat places for a long way after that, so even though it was early, we decided to stop.  Bill and I were both very tired, especially me.  I really wanted to go faster on the uphills, but I am just “losing it.”  That’s why I brought extra food, in the hopes that it would help.  When we got out our ground cloth to set up camp, I groaned. It was all wet from the night before, and we hadn’t remembered to dry it in the sun when we were hanging out at Castella.  So I hung it over a bush to dry and just lay down flat on the ground to rest for awhile. 

The “forested saddle” had several nice flat spots, and were were among huge, beautiful trees.  It was very quiet.  Once the ground cloth was dry, we set up a cowboy camp and went gratefully into our sleeping bags.  We’ll finish the climb tomorrow, and it was nice to have an extra half hour to rest!  We needed it!

Walk with Aragorn to Isengard: Still in dangerous bogs around the Entwash

God is amazing! Today was another “miracle day.” For starters, the trail was very nice all day– minimal blowdowns and bushes, and though two of the uphills were looooong–one was 6 miles–all were all easy grades. Not only that, but much of the trail today was in shady forest, which was wonderful, because it was a hot day and water sources were few & far between.  The trees were so pretty, and there were so many elevation changes that the vegetation variety was fascinating.  I really like looking at all the plants along the trail, and elevation changes make for a lot of differences.  

 Having a good trail that was mostly in the shade was wonderful, and at the end of the 6 mile “up” the views were just amazing– a panorama of Mt. Shasta, Cinder Cone, Interstate 5, and Castle Crags, all sort of lined up and saying, “Look at me!”  Wow!  The snow on Mt. Shasta is melting fast–each day there is noticeably less.  My only frustration was that for some reason I’m starting to have a bit of trouble on uphills.  I find myself getting tired easily and slowing down.  I was surprised when ‘the rest of the gang” didn’t catch up with us today.  Bill and I had the trail all to ourselves.

All day I was thinking and praying about “where shall we camp tonight?” Last time we stayed at the PCT camp in Castle Crags state park, but given the number of hikers, I figured the poor little PCT campsite would be very crowded. Not an appealing thought!  But camping somewhere else out in the woods was illegal. I kept mulling over what other options to consider.  But by afternoon, I felt that God was telling me, “Trust Me. When you get down to River Road, just ask.” So I resolved that I would do just that.

Bill and I hiked down the miles and miles of switchbacks of beautiful forest, heading down to the Sacramento River. Suddenly Bill stopped. He said he needed to “dig a hole” (hiker term for go to the bathroom) and that I should not wait, but keep going and  meet him at River Road. “Hmmm,” I thought, “this is interesting.” So I hiked on. Just as I reached the road, along came a car. I stopped and waited for it to pass, but the driver waved me across.  “Maybe I should ask HER,” I thought, so I asked the lady driver if she  knew any place  we could stay the night (it was 6:20pm) and the driver, Martha, said, “Yes– my house!”

Martha’s house was up the road a little way, so I waited till Bill showed up, and we walked till we found the right address– a real, handbuilt, 2-story log cabin (part of which was built in the 1880s!)  It turned out that Martha and family are lovely Christians, and we were so blessed to be able to stay with them.  Martha said that the “new” part of the house was built by a PCT thru-RIDER who’d stayed with them several years ago.  He does oldtime style logging with his horse, and she invited him to come back when he was done with the PCT and build an addition on to the house.  He did all the necessary logging right on the property, and used the horse to bring logs to the building site.  Martha said it was a blast to watch–the guy actually “rode” the logs as the horse brought them in.

Martha fed all her horses and animals, then she fed US a wonderful dinner, which included fresh produce from her garden.  It was so great to be able to hang out with fellow Christ-followers who love to help other people (and animals, too–Martha likes to help sick and abandoned animals).  We were blessed by their fellowship and prayers.  Martha also told us that this last winter was “pretty bad–a lot of wet, heavy snow.”  She said that many trees went down (so that’s why we’ve had to deal with so many blowdowns).  Right on her own property, she lost a number of big trees. 

Tonight, we are camped on Martha’s lawn, with beautiful flowerbeds nearby, and even some peacocks wandering around!  All I can say is “God’s guidance and timing are awesome!”   If I’d been ONE MINUTE earlier or later getting down to the road, I would have missed Martha’s car, and who knows where Bill and I would be camped tonight?

Walk with Aragorn to Isengard: Find Gandalf and enter the boggy Entwash