We had a nice slow morning in Etna. Bob’s Ranch House served me a pleasant breakfast of poached eggs, rye toast, cut fruit, pancakes, coffee, and of course a chocolate milkshake. Elizabeth had their cinnamon bun, which was the size of her plate, and was soft, flaky, and buttery.
After laundry and a few other tasks, we walked through town over to the hostel, to try to hitch to the trailhead.
Hitching looked easy at first. The first car that drove by stopped and apologized to us for not being able to pick us up.
But, after a few minutes of no rides, we decided to take the hostel’s $5 shuttle, and hoped aboard.
We rode with a hiker called O.G., who had thru-hiked the PCT way back in 1981. About 30 people finished that year. I asked whether getting water in the desert was harder before the PCT Water Report. He told us that getting water was actually easier, partly because the trail was not complete, so many sections were road walks in developed land, and partly because California had more water back then.
We got back to the trailhead, thanked the driver, and continued our hike. O.G. was having back problems lifting his pack out of the truck bed, but he wouldn’t have help of any kind.
Back on the trail, we entered the Marble Mountain Wilderness, and the granite started to get dramatic again.
The terrain here reminds me a bit of the Sierras, but with a bit more soil and consequently more trees. Which isn’t entirely a good thing — much of Yosemite’s drama comes from the bare granite faces. Here, trees obstruct much of the granite. Which is a different look.
We pitched our tents in sight of Mt. Shasta, and went to sleep.
