Woods and Snow!

My trail family and I seem to have come to the conclusion and general agreement, that there is really no reason to rush at the moment. The slower we hike, the more time does the snow have to melt.

So we currently take kind of a vacation from the PCT, while we actually still hike the PCT.

We get up at 7 am or even 8 am, take our time and ramble along the path. We admire butterflies, flowers, trees, and clouds.

We stop for caterpillars, squirrels, and lizards to have a close look at them, and also obviously stop and have a good look at snakes.

… Oh yes, there are still snakes out here, even though we are out of the desert….

We can also do this as there is enough water here and as it is not desert-y hot anymore. In the desert you must get up early to hike when it is still cool and be sure to make it to the next water source more or less alive.

Here up north though, rambling is possible!

At the time being, we do now only somewhat 15 miles per day, and it feels so easy and relaxed, I am not even exhausted in the evening. (Also emphasized perhaps by the fact that the PCT is pretty flat at the moment!)

Tonight we are going to sleep in a cabin in the Burney Falls State Park. Felix treats us to this experience!

The guys really introduce me to the American culture!! There are lots of American families around us in the other cabins. Each family makes their own little fire around their own little cabin, and they all have their huge cars parked right in front of their cabins.

We have a look at the Burney Falls. It’s great to do this sans pack. Going to check out a sight without a heavy pack on my back! Oh men it feels great, as if I were a normal tourist on a normal vacation!

We all sleep well, have lots of coffee from the little park shop in the morning and ramble on through the most beautiful forest.

OK, guess the rambling is over, it gets quite a bit harder again. Uphill, downhill, and it gets rather warm and humid.

Felix teaches me the word “muggy”.

“Yes, it is indeed bloody muggy today!”

I sweat so much going up hill in the woods! I sweat SO much. It is a totally different heat than what we had in the desert. This is humid stuff which I think is much worse!

We have not seen many hikers since we picked up the path again at Chester. There were days where we have not seen anyone!

So weird.

It’s is of course nice to see other thru and section hikers and have a little chat with them on the way, but as for camping, I love it the most when we camp somewhere where nobody else is. I just love to set up camp, (wash my body in a stream if we are really lucky) and FINALLY get to eat dinner and have a chat.

We don’t talk much while hiking, as for one thing we obviously “walk in a line” so it is difficult to talk, and also I think we all enjoy it greatly to just walk within our own clouds of thoughts.

My favourite hiking is around the first three hours in the morning. We leave camp and just silently start hiking.

Super awesome!

We all have our own space, even if we hike together. We always kind of know where everybody is and make sure to wait for each other if the spaces between us get too big.

The one who happens to be in front waits for everybody to catch up, we have a little swig of water together and have a little chat, and we all silently hike on again, everybody in his own space. 

I really just find this kind of hiking super awesome.

This is so so much my thing.

Look what adorable little creation we just found along the path…

I think I mentioned before that I do not want to hike with someone who has the urge to talk all the time. Nope! Definitely not.

What is new now though since we are further north, is, that we occasionally bump into Southbounders. (Hiker slang for people hiking the PCT from North to South – obviously – sorry if this explanation is totally unnecessary).

Anyway, these hikers are a great source for information about how the trail (snow!) conditions are, as they have just hiked where we are going.
So we get to hear all these stories…. Tomorrow, we will apparently encounter some more snow on steep terrain. Some Southbounder say it will not be a huge problem, some Northbounder say they have tried it and it was not doable so they have turned around and hike backwards.

Guess we have to see for ourselves how good or bad it is going to be tomorrow.

We also meet hikers who had tried to push into the Sierras, despite the snow and river crossings! They all have good horror stories to tell about what they had experienced.

They talk about their “near death experiences”…

Right….

They all gave up eventually and skipped the rest of the Sierras too, so they are out here further north as well.

One of them is a guy with the trailname “Professor Oak”. He got his trailname as he apparently touched some delicate parts of his body with the dreaded poison oak plant which gives you a super bad rash. (I always look out for poison oak when we are near a water source, so that I can avoid touching it).

To me he is one of these typical PCT hikers as you see them out here. Big long beard, trashy appearance, huge appetite, somewhat a little rough manners, always chatty when you meet him and he always has a good story to tell. Fun guy!

Well anyway…

we arrive pretty knackered at Mooshead Creek. 

Andy and I find a natural river pool! I go over there to have a quick bath-sort-of-thing. 

I strip naked and am ready to go in.

“Oh holy crap, there is a snake by the pool!”

Ah well, I just wait till the guy is gone and jump in anyway.

(Had anybody told me a few months ago that I don’t mind “swimming with snakes” on the PCT, I would certainly not have believed it!)

Bath is taken, I am sort of clean-ish, now I am ready for dinner!

It’s already hiker midnight again, and the bugs are starting to get totally on my nerves, so off I go into my wonderful Big Agnes tent with no rain fly so that I can see the stars!

Alright, it’s early morning, we are tackling the snow today. How will it go?

We hike up and are soon in the snow, as predicted. The snow has about the same height like what we encountered in the Lassen Volcanic National Park, but here the terrain is steep!

“Oh dear, that does not look easy… “

We put on our Microspikes again and head up and navigate through the snow again.

Well, to be precise, Felix navigates and Andy and I just try to follow him and keep up with him.

For Felix this is a playground and probably lots of fun. For Andy and me it is a struggle. We sweat and swear and slip and slide again. The snow is slushy and it is difficult to cut steps.

“Ah if it only would not be so steep!”

Some sections are scary and icy too.
If I slip, I will slide down the mountain. I know it is not exactly lethal if I would loose my grip, but I could easily slide down 60 to 100 meter and crash into a tree and break a leg or other things.

‘Oh my, it is steep!’

“Shudder!”

I have my Whippet in one hand and try to make stable footprints. The Whippet should allow me to self arrest should I slip and slid down the mountain.

“Oh holy fuuuuck”, what is happening?!”

I am sliding down the bloody slope with my pack strapped to my back, trying to arrest myself with this bloody Whippet thing. It slows me down a bit but I can’t arrest myself… It all happens so fast…

I will not go into more details as I know my mum is readying my blog;

“Mum, I am fine, I did not get hurt. Just a few bruises on my arm and a heart attack. I tell you more about this when I am back home.”

It is quite a memorable event for me though and my heart is pounding. Andy who is behind me watches me sliding down, and Felix and a Taiwanese guy watch me from the other end of the steep bit. It must have been scary for them too! I eventually crawl back up to them, very carefully and very slowly.

Felix gives me a hug and the Taiwanese guy offers me one of his Snickers. Both help to calm me down.

I cry a little, but I feel soon fine again and we can hike on, where the next steep snowfield awaits us around the corner.

“Oh dammit, this is hard!”

I don’t mind the snow if I can tackle it horizontally, but on steep slopes it is really scary and not my thing.

We finally make it out of the snow again as we hike over the ridge to the south facing side of the mountain. We get to see an amazing view and all is good again. The PCT is completely snow free again and we can happily hike on.

“Holy shit! What a view! What a day!”

What did a guy write on a blaze the other day:

PCT: Persistance Creates Toughness

“Yup!”

Apparently, the PCT in Oregon and Washington is still covered in snow, just like the Sierras. There are only a few hikeable bits in between where the PCT is in lower terrain. And I have read that many trees have fallen onto the path further north in the winter and that the Rangers have not yet even been able to access the PCT up there yet….

All seems to be rather out of control!

But we are going through a heatwave at the moment (100 Fahrenheit!) so hopefully that will be the end of the snow for the next few 100 miles! I really really really want to hike on! 

Luckily we come upon many little streams now where we can jump in right with our cloths. They are dry within 20 minutes again..

I do not want to stop hiking! Not only do I absolutely love it here to hike in this beauty with my trail family, my feet and legs have also become much stronger. I can hike up the mountains almost like a spring chicken it seems. 

I have no foot problems anymore and my legs are strong.

I really hope we can hike on just a little bit longer and suck it all in just a little bit longer. I am not ready yet to leave the PCT and my trail family! I really love these guys.

But it does not look promising. I must not be foolish and ignorant. The snow chart shows an insane amount of snow still. (A shit-ton of snow Andy would say).

Also, Andy has a lot of pain and thinks about going home to Seattle to see his friends and wait there for the snow to melt.

I am soooo sad to hear this, but I do fully understand. I can see daily that he is in pain. Andy is an amazing guy, he always keeps up his cheerful attitude, even if he feels tired, miserable and is hurting.

“Andy, you have my fullest respect!”.

I myself have a totally miserable day. I want to walk in the back so that I can peacefully sob a bit. I don’t want this all to end! I want to just continue and change nothing, as it is perfect how it is.

But I eventually have to accept that nature is the master. And one says “The PCT always wins”.

We are now in Mt Shasta to take a few zeros and try to figure the next step.

I am still rather not a Happy Heidi at the moment.

We are washing our stinky cloths and have dinner in the Hariom Shri Ram Restaurant. The food is so fresh and delicious and it turns out to be such a fun evening. We laugh a lot.

Does me the world of good! I feel much better again.

I SMS with Steffi whom I hiked with in the beginning of the trail. She also tries to figure out what to do next.

Felix studies the maps and snow charts and Facebook posts from fellow hikers and thinks it should be possible to hike on a few more miles!

Yes! I am in! A few more days on the PCT!

I also suggest to Steffi that we could rent a car, drive up the Oregon coast, check out the Redwoods, do awesome day hikes, and then drive up to the Olympics NP in Washington and hang out there in the Rainforest until somewhat middle of July and then try to hike Oregon a month later?

Felix mentioned that it is gorgeous up there!

Perhaps Felix would like to join in! I know he is also not ready to go home yet and I enjoy his company so very much! How about this for spending a month while waiting for the snow to melt? 

Perhaps also Andy will be ready to hit the trail again in a few weeks and we can all continue further north?

Well! We will see!

I keep you guys posted!