This morning was cold and dark. The shelter of the trees surrounding our campsite made it seem like much earlier than it really was.
The way to Seiad Valley had several river crossings. There was only one problem.
The detour also had no bridge
The Happy Camp Complex Fire had destroyed many of the bridges.
The supports for many of the bridges were made of wood, which is not renowned for it's fire resistanceWe found ways around, thoughThe trail down to Seiad Valley was moist and shady, like what I'm expecting Oregon to be likeLook carefully for dueling graffiti
Approaching town, we had several miles of road walking to reach a bridge over the Klamath River.
Klamath River in the background, road walk in the foreground
Seiad Valley is in the heart of the “Jefferson State” area, which is a section of California that wants to secede and become it’s own state. There were “double x” flags and murals all over town. And then there was this:
We did laundry in the broken-down laundromat at the RV park, showered in the moldy shower, and had lunch at the town’s restaurant. Surprisingly, Wi-Fi was really good out here, and I was able to post blog updates.
As we ate, we read a pamphlet about Jefferson State. Though we seen no Jefferson State signs near Tahoe, it had a map showing is that the new state will extend from the Oregon border to Tahoe on the east, and Mendocino on the west. It wasn’t very clear about what the new state was for, though.
After lunch, with a 2.5 star milkshake (real ice cream, but the flavors were just Torqni syrup), we resupplied, and set off.
The remainder of the day, we had to head up a steep uphill.
There was poison oak all over this stretchSeiad Valley from aboveAs the sun sunk low, the Klamath shinedCollecting water is more scenic than ever hereWe ate dinner atop a rock outcropping on a ridge
We camped on a ridge about 7 miles north of the city.
Note: Sorry, I posted this one out of order by accident.
Today was another long day. My longest yet, in fact — about 32 miles. It wasn’t supposed to be, but I’ll explain later.
The day started like any other. I packed up, had breakfast, set out, etc. It was a bit of a dry section of the trail, so I picked up water at the McCloud River, and again at Trough Creek. I ran into Luke there, a hiker I hadn’t seen since Tehachapi, about 800 miles ago. He had been hiking with Poppy, and he let me know that Poppy had taken some time off, and had returned to the trail. Poppy had skipped the section from Tahoe to Burney Falls, so he was now a couple days ahead of us. We might meet him soon.
Crossing the McCloud RiverMcCloud River in the other direction
After Trough Creek, I made my way downhill to Squaw Creek, the last water before a dry stretch, and a good spot for lunch. I finished my trail mix, tortillas, and a mixed fruit bag in the creek’s rocky gulley. This wasn’t a very coherent lunch, but it let me leave my peanut butter jar completely sealed — a badge of pride to someone sick of peanut butter.
Today's trail
A trailside rabbitI ate lunch under this bridgeMt. Shasta was clearly visible today
There was other scenery, too
A clearcut spot at the base of the hill
The rest of the day was all about covering miles. I plowed ahead, through the Northern California woods, in the Northern California heat, dodging the Northern California poison oak. Late in the day, I crossed directly past a recently-clearcut portion of the forest. Heat rose from the clearcut section with shocking strength.
It was hard to get the width of the cut area in a photo from close up. Or, for that matter, the hot wind, or smell of sawdust.Interesting machines at the bottom of the cutEven the PCT sign is cut down
My plan was to stop at the last campsite in the Halfmile’s maps before I-5. I saw it, decided it wasn’t big enough for Halfmile to call it a campsite, so I walked on by. With no phone, I couldn’t check whether I was at that campsite’s GPS coordinates, so I just guessed it wasn’t the right one. Eventually, I found myself at the I-5 intersection, where Elizabeth was waiting for a ride that wouldn’t come.
After giving up on the ride, we started walking to the Castella drive-in campgrounds, which would be a 2 mile side trail to end a 30 mile day.
But, a driver was kind enough to pick is up and take us there. She was spending 10 days camping there, while she thought about taking a new job.
She drove us not just to the campground, but to Ammirati’s Market, where she waited for us to buy dinner and dessert, and then drove us all the way through the large campground to our campsite.
So, we managed to finish the day eating Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, and drinking Ammirati’s Castle Crags Ale.
We packed up and continued our uphill hike. The terrain was difficult and slow-going, but Shasta seemed to be keeping an eye on us.
The early morning fog made Shasta look like it was hovering
Steep trails make for good scenery, though, so there were several picturesque areas.
Marble Mountain, center, was the namesake of the wilderness areaShasta was still watching us near midday through this burn zoneSome wildflower-drenched meadows and row after row of distant mountains livened up the trail
The PCT takes a long detour west in Northern California, and turns north again near Marble Mountain, which we passed late this morning.
It looks more like "Concrete Mountain" to meI inspected the alleged "marble" of the allegedly "Marble" "Mountain"
The trail showed us Marble Mountain from two sides
There were also miscellaneous other sights along the trail.
Like this cabin, abandoned, with a stove and refrigerator from the 60s insideThis poodle (and her owners)The poodle's shoes were in much better shape than mineWe mistakenly thought these were wild blueberries. They taste like unripe blueberries, but have different leavesBig panoramasTrails drowning in purple flowersAnd trails curing through mountainside meadows
After all that, it was time to set up camp and sleep.
