Mile 2155.2- Cascade Locks, Or

I made it from Ashland to Cascade Locks(most of Oregon) in 13 days. I did my first(and probably last) 40-plus mile days as well- 4 in all. The scenery was beautiful, but fall is most definitely on the horizon. I also got to see many people that I got ahead of and meet new people who have been behind me the whole time- Fuzzy Monkey, Train, Bear, Sparkles, Pony, Nonstop, Maybelline, Barrak, Noga, Green Mile, Cloudbuster, The older Kiwis, Guthook, Tangent... I have about 500 miles to go to finish this trail, and figure I can do it in about 3 weeks- which is good, because with colder weather approaching, I'm not sure I'd like to be out longer than that. Still enjoying every minute!
Walking across lava fields= not very fun Crater Lake! Bear, Cloudbuster and Green Mile making dinner with Mt. Thielson in the background- before the clouds rolled in and obscured the view. The Oregon/Washington High Point on the Trail- a whopping 7,000-something ft. Beautiful lake we took a swim break at north of Willamette Pass- it was COLD! Me as close to the 2,000 mile mark as I could figure a beautiful morning shot north of 3-Finger Jack in the 3 Sisters Wilderness Mount Jefferson and I There was a Fire Closure they were shuttling us around- 15 miles Notice the horse poo on that trail- that's nothing new... Crater Lake
Walking through 3 Sisters Wilderness

Red's Meadow south to Kiersarge Pass- aka making up the section I skipped

One of the beautiful Lakes On top of Selden Pass 1/2 Ounce crossing Evolution Creek Another Beautiful Lake The switchbacks going up Mather Pass 1/2 Ounce standing to the side of the trail to let a pack train go past ANOTHER beautiful lake! I took a bus with Half Ounce back down to finish the section we both missed. The Sierra Nevada Mountains were beautiful, a little buggy, and SUPER populated! We saw so many people hiking the John Muir Trail, but passed them quickly because we were doing high 20 mile days as opposed to mid- to low-teens. Enjoy the pictures and videos!
Top of Silver Pass
Top of Selden Pass
Top of Muir Pass
Top of Pinchot Pass
Top of Glen Pass

Mile 1730ish- Ashland, Oregon!

First town in Oregon, and I'm loving it! Ashland is a wonderful town, with a little downtown area that has a lot of different restaurants and a Shakespeare Festival. The hike from Etna has been nice as well, without too many ups and downs, and with wonderful people:) We got into Seiad Valley(which is apparently the heart of the state of Jefferson- if you don't know, look it up), and the cafe was closed, so we didn't do the 5 pound pancake challenge. I also happened to pick up some poison oak along the way, but it's not too itchy, so I haven't been too bothered by it.

Marble Mountains!

The berries are starting to ripen, I got about half a gatorade bottle full- SO tasty!

New shoes in Seiad Valley after wearing the ones in the middle for about 900 miles- they had NO tread left

It was hot in Seiad Valley- The Graduate and Max Chill hanging out at the RV Park

Thru- hiker Non-Essentials

Made it to Oregon! August 6 at about 930am

Thru-hiker Essentials?

You can still see Mt.Shasta coming out of the mist!

Mile 1610- Etna, Ca

Yes, I'm still in California! Almost to the border of Oregon, though- only 90 more miles! Here are some pictures from the beauty of northern California, I don't understand at all how people get bored through this area. Also, thank you to Max Chill's parents as well as the Muppets who thru-hiked last year, and their lovely Owl researching friends for the trail magic!

We've had good views of Mt. Shasta for a good week, it's been lovely to see it from every angle at different times of the day

Max Chill going down into Subway Cave, near Old Station

Hikers don't listen very well....especially when the construction workers aren't around...

Mt Shasta! behind some other mountains...

Sunrise at Bull Lake

Little Engine and Plain Slice hiking down the trail in the Trinity Alps

View down toward one of the lakes we walked around- this is right near Etna Summit

Max Chill walking over snow on August 1!

Mile 1382ish- Old Station, Ca

We've reached the end of the land of the Trail Angels here at Old Station. I'll give you the rundown of angels I've enjoyed over the past couple weeks: In Truckee, there's Pooh Corner, 2 days later you get to Sierra City and have the Red Moose, 2 and a hlaf days later, you've got the Williams' at Bucks Lake, another day and you've got the Braatens at Belden, another day and a half gets you to Piper's mom in Chester right after passing the half way point on the trail, another day of hiking gets you to Drakesbad guest ranch(you have to pay for the food, but not the hot springs!), and finally another day gets you here to the Heitmans! It's been a wonderful couple weeks, but I think it'll be nice to start getting bigger miles in- maybe I'll do my first 35 miler in the next week! If it's not too hot, that is. Yes, this is how a true thru-hiker cooks dinner. Notice how Hasty is straddling his stove while eating a pre-dinner snack. Also notice how- even though the flames are about to get her- Motor only leans back, instead of getting up. Little Engine, Shroomer, Mrs. Williams, Max Chill and Smiles hanging out on the Williams' AMAZING deck at Buck's Lake First view of Mt. Lassen in the distance. Don't worry, it hasn't erupted for about 100 years.
Apparently the moss on these trees starts at snowline.
another helpful sign... Yes, this is one of the credible water sources on the PCT Half way! and I still have almost all my toenails.... Bear butt! I watched this bear tear apart a couple of logs for about ten minutes, it was amazing to see him grab the bugs inside First Volcanic 'lake' in Lassen National Park Smiles and Shroomer riding the 'pony' at Drakesbad

Hasty playing his harmonica as we're passing under I-80 at Donner Pass

Mile ?- Donner Pass/ Truckee, Ca

I made it back to Mammoth after my family reunion and decided to go north from there, then come back to the high Sierrra in early August- when the streams aren't running fast and high. There have been a few interesting stream crossings and the mosquitos have begun to hatch, but as of right now, I've made it to the wonderful hospitality of Poohbear(AT '96) and his wife who share their home and food with hikers!

Boston, Half Ounce and Cubby looking out from the last 'big' pass- Donahue

Oh, Yosemite....

Thankfully, there was a bridge over this stream/river

The mosquitos have officially hatched- 1/2 Ounce during a break

1/2 Ounce fording one of the slower moving streams

The stream crossing where I lost a trekking pole- it was about waist deep

A snowfield going up the last 10,000ft peak before Sanora Pass

One of the beautiful lakes we passed around Lake
TahoeAn afternoon storm rolling in right before I got to Carson Pass

Me with Lake Tahoe in the background

Attempt to hike north from Sanora Pass- miles 1020ish to 1053ish

Before heading to my family reunion in Colorado, I jumped a bit north on the trail to attempt to make mileage before getting off-trail for 5 days. I wound up being the first through that area by myself. After 3 days of making first tracks through the massive amounts of snow using my map and compass, having to refind the few pieces of un-snow-covered trail every morning (and whenever I lost it throughout the day), I made it 33 miles from Sanora Pass to Ebbit's Pass, where I luckily ran into a couple wonderful backcountry skiers/snowboarders. Chance and Dave-O gave me a ride into Tahoe, made me some dinner, let me use their shower, AND crash on their couch for the night. Such needed trail magic! I then proceeded to call a friend of a friend in Reno- Jeremy- and he let me crash at his place until my flight left 2 days later. I definitely owe some people after this week!

I came down this right after Sanora Pass

One of the few trail markers I was estatic to find after a couple hours of being lost

One of the few sections of trail I came across

Following Dave-O's tele tracks to Ebbit's Pass