Mile 1726.6 – “Mama- ¿Dónde está su coche?”

August 7, 2010

Mile 1726.6 – Ashland, OREGON!!!

Ahh… I am sitting at a desk with a laptop in front of me and a cup of delicious coffee (with milk and chocolate syrup in it of course). Time to catch everyone up with pictures, videos, stories, and more. Feels good to give the feet a day off.

We are proud to announce that it is official. We hiked the entire state of California – 1698.8 miles! We practically skipped the last 30 miles to Ashland, OR where we were picked up by our dear friends Bill, Alex, and their wonderful dog Maggie and commenced our three days of resupply organization and relaxation. It feels like the end of the trail is sneaking up quick as only 950 miles remain. Ha, I must be a thruhiker – I put an “only” in front of 950 miles. But tis true – we now average around 30 miles a day and move at a much faster pace. The state of Oregon should take us 16-17 days to hike.

Today we purchased, sorted, packaged, and mailed our food resupply for the upcoming 450 miles that remain before we cross another stateline.  We mailed a combined total of 47 pounds of food for 14 days (3 separate packages), in addition to 12lbs for the first 4 days- we eat a lot.

So now to begin a recap of the beauty behind us since our last post. Make sure to scroll down to also hear about our insights on the trail and MUST SEE VIDEOS!

CLICK HERE FOR ALBUM FROM LAKE TAHOE TO ASHLAND, OR

~Buckeye

Our latest travels – Dunsmuir (I-5) to Ashland, Oregon

We set out on the climb up and around the steep Castle Craggs on Wednesday after a zero day on Tuesday with Uncle Carl, Aunt Rosanna, and little cousin Gus at Burney Falls. To our suprise, we came upon a great conversationist, Gourmet who was hiking with his daughter. We had just told stories about Gourmet to our family the day prior!  We first met Gourmet at Lake Morena, mile 22.1, where he cooked burgers for us fresh hikers. A few miles later, we spent more one-on-one time with him at another trail angels house in the desert.  Gourmet, a Sacramento resident, has a strong connection to the trail and we were happy to listen to his sweet words of wisdom as we enjoyed our typical mac n cheese with tuna evening meal near an ice-cold, fresh spring.

We hiked on for four days before crossing Etna Summit, where we managed to get a lift down the hill into the quaint, little town and enjoy burgers at the Trailhead Resturant.  The streets were quiet on a Saturday and we decided to return to the trail and save the cost of a hotel room.  A local resident, Allen, went out of his way to give us a ride up to the summit after a quick stop to feed his horses.  He spoke about the remoteness of Northern California, and the happy people who call it home.  We sat at the summit together enjoying the sun set into the remote wilderness as Allen told us about a semester program his children attended in High School – outdoor education for a semester of high school! Click here to learn about Eagle’s Nest Outdoor Academy. When all was said and done, he had planted a seed and tried to convince us of the need to move up to Siskiyou County and start an outdoor school – a tempting idea indeed.  No more than 2 minutes of walking up the trail after watching the sunset with Allen, we were excited to spot a black bear, scampering quickly across the trail about 50 yards ahead.

The next two days we made our way through the Marble Mountains and down to Seiad Valley, a very small, smaller than Etna small, town, in the state of Jefferson, along the Klamath River.  Here we raided the general store, buying out the large homemade goodie selection.  Four gigantic brownies – check, 3 huge chocolate chip cookies – check, loaf of zucchini bread – check, as well as top ramen and frittos, our meal plan for the upcoming 65 miles to Ashland.  Cheap – indeed, satisfying – let’s just say ramen loses any appeal it might have after eating it for three meals in a row.

Our highlight in Seiad Valley came as I opened the PCT register book located in the general store and began to sign it. I noticed our friends names, Darko and Passant, had recently signed! You may remember these two as buddies we hiked with in the desert. They left Kennedy Meadows (mile 792) on June 5, a day before us, and we had not seen them since.  We had expected to hopefully see them in Ashland, but to our suprise they had signed just a two lines up in the register on the same date – August 2nd!  In telling Melissa, she jumped with joy, and said “Are they here, are they HERE?”  She went running out of the store, and in the spirit of the PCT, they were to the side of the building, with their packs on ready to depart for the trail.  We hugged and sat down for an hour of catching up, eating, laughing, eating, and enjoying some ice cream.  So instead of staying at the RV park, the only camp in town, we decided to proceed a mile or so up the trail with Darko and Passant and get some rest after our last town stop in the great sunshine state.

The miles passed quickly as we chatted away about the past 900 or so miles.  We climbed up the trail as we caught up on our trail stories. We both have had similar but very different experiences and laughs about fascinating people we have met along the way.  Our spirits are all high as we celebrated at the California and Oregon border by enjoyng a piece of the rich chocolate brownies from the Seiad Valley store.  After crossing into Oregon, we immediatly noticed better signage of the trail, in part because of the trail access by the increased number of logging roads from the Oregon Department of Forestry.  The trail paralleled a south facing ridgeline that provided glimpses of the snow covered North face of Mt Shasta that dominates the southern skyline. We are excited to for smooth sailing in Oregon with less intense elevation changes daily.

A small trail angel’s cache of soda placed at a gap beneath Mt Ashland, came as a surprise, and a pick-me-up as we saw I-5 in the distance.  We knew we would be visiting our friends Bill and Alex soon, where we would be eating home cooked meals (Alex – your enchiladas are magical), relaxing, and playing with the sweetest, smiling black lab, Maggie.  In March we lived up here helping out Bill with the Klamath Outdoor Science School, and it is so nice to return to a familiar setting in the beautiful Rogue Valley.  Looking forward to the rest of Oregon, and no sales tax!

~ Swift

How the Trail has Changed Us

Bill and Alex open their homes to friends and family from all over the world. Anyone who has ever spent time with these two know they are very special, warm-hearted souls. We have been fortunate enough to share in their weekend festivities as they invited many friends from Puebla, Mexico to enjoy terrific food and conversation. I am now motivated to learn Spanish as most of my stories from the trails were told through hand motions and acting out scenes with my body. I plan to head down to Puebla to my new friends home some time after this trip to immerse myself and learn this beautiful language. We all had a good laugh when one of the children asked “¿Dónde está su coche?” (Where is their car?) in reference to how we arrived at the party.

What I found hard was attempting to answer the question “¿por qué?”/”Why?”  They could not fathom what we are doing nor could these families understand why we would hike. “Very Scary?” one mother asks. I shook my head no and smiled with excitement. But I could not answer the question of why. I was warned by Alumni thruhikers that no one, unless they have experienced the trail themselves, will fully understand the impact it has on you and your life. As hard as we try to write detailed stories and upload pictures – the experience is, of course, exponentially more.

The families spent the night at Bill and Alex’s with us and in the morning took pictures next us and even donated to our cause. We had all become family overnight and they were so proud of what we were doing (Alex helped translate about InspireOut for us). I felt like someone famous as people took turns to stand next to me for a photo. One dad commented that I had strong ” fútbol” (soccer) legs and was so excited to take a photo with me and his daughters. After the photo, he turned to me and said, “We think what you are doing is very special and I’m happy my girls met you.” Such touching moments. Like so many we have been blessed with on this trail.

So back to the why question.

A few days after departing from Castle Crags, we crossed paths with two Outdoor Recreation Professors, one from Cal Poly and the other from the University of Southern Utah. They asked if we would be willing to do a 10 minute survey with them which we were glad to be a part of. They were researching PCT thruhikers – asking how the trail has impacted your life. They are researching how hiking affects people. I found it interesting that Bridget from Utah said she had already interviewed six hikers (friends ahead of us on the trail) and that they were the six happiest people she had ever met. I am so glad they are performing this research, because I think what this quantified evidence will show is the answer to the “why” question. Happiness. Freedom. Simplicity. The sense of really “living.” These are all reasons why we hike. Meeting new friends with similar interests. Disconnecting from the harsh beliefs society place on us – for example, understanding that you don’t have to wear make-up and be skinny to be beautiful.

As we hiked one day, our friend Passant told us that the weirdest response he ever got when telling someone about hiking the trail and averaging about 20 to 25 miles a day was from a women working in a grocery store who sincerely replied, “I’m so sorry. I feel so bad for you guys!” Passant told us, “I was shocked!! I could not believe it! My jaw fell to the floor and I just walked away without saying a word.” Often times people think this sounds like such a foreign concept. But to us, it is the most purest form of living on this Earth. I have never felt so open to new ideas, so excited to take on challenges, and so curious about what is around me. Everyday we find ourselves in a new place, figuring out where to fill our water bottles, where to sleep, or where to get the best burger in town.

We hope our stories, pictures, and videos are not a replacement for exploring outside, but rather they provide motivation and inspiration to go out and create your own stories outside.

~ Buckeye

Must See Videos!

As always, check out all our videos on our youtube channel!