Retrospect

8/2: (10 miles) Hiked to Burney today. Easy 3.5 miles to the road, then got a ride into town at about 11am. I stayed at the McDonald's on the WiFi till about 6pm (it wasn't very fast WiFi so things took a while). Got another ride back out and convinced them to drop me off at the Burney Falls State Park (where my box was and also about 8 miles farther down the trail). I picked up my box, sorted through food, then I was back on the trail again (aiming to go another 5 miles or so to the next campsite). Got there late and everything was uneven (not nice camping). But I made it work.

8/3: (16.2 miles) Have you ever woken up in the morning and been frustrated that the dream you just had isn't what your life is like? That was this morning. So the rest of the day I kinda just lazily hiked, taking breaks whenever I felt like it. Lots of reading. I camped about 7 miles earlier than I would've on a better day (7 miles being the next water source). But on the up-side I got to camp early (before 8) and took my time making dinner and such. On an interesting side-note: I camped next to another random hiker, but that hiker was the first human I had seen in 24 hours (which may be the longest in my life).

8/4: (17.9 miles) Another semi-lazy day. Today I mostly just got bored. There was a lot of "ridge walking" later in the day and as beautiful as the scenery is, it gets a little tiresome. Not much else to say about today. Just another PCT day.

8/5: (23.5 miles) Alright, time to make up for that laziness. I got up "early" (early for me) at 7 and got going by 8:30. Just a little bit of walking put me on the downhill for most of the day. This downhill was in the thick of a forest with lots of undergrowth and lots of forest! It was a nice, cool, fast-paced hike down the hill to lunch. I stopped and had lunch at Ash Camp next to the McCloud River, then booked it up the steep climb out of here. Made it up the hill and to camp just before 8! Boom. [Also, today was the day that I really started noticing smoke from the wildfires. It's everywhere. I first thought it was fog or that I was hiking through a cloud but it was too thin to be either of that. You'll see this in some of my most recent pictures]

8/6: (19.8 miles) Got up early again to tackle the day. Last night some hikers got in late to my campsite (~11pm) and were talking loudly most of the night, then left early (and loudly) at ~5am so my sleep didn't go as well as planned. A bit of downhill today to water (last water for the next 10 miles) then lots of uphill. Last big uphill before Castella! Hiked up the uphill as quickly as possible and made it about 1/3 down the other side by 1:30pm (when I usually have lunch). Instead of having lunch, I decided to wolf down the rest of my snacks and try to bust it to Castella for a good meal (I was 7 miles away). I made it to the road to Castella at 4:15pm and got a ride in 45 minutes later. Unfortunately "Castella" turned out to not be much more than a gas station and convenience store. So I bought some snacks and a deli sandwich before camping at the Castle Crags campground nearby.

8/7: (ZERO) Today I'll be taking a zero. I would prefer not taking an entire day off, but another hiker offered to split a hotel room with me (and he's a little bit slower) so that's what we're doing tonight. Plus I usually stay overnight anytime I stop at town to get a box, but I haven't stopped overnight in a town (or showered, slept in a bed, or done laundry) since Chester (9 days ago). So that's what I'll be doing today.