Endless P Summer

Damascus, VA

Mile 469

You know what they say, “No rain, no Maine.”Actually I only heard that once but it would make sense if that was a common phrase out here. Lots of rain this last week . Not complaining or anything but it is worth mentioning.

After I left Standing Bear I spent the night up on Max Patch(formerly Mack’s Patch), cowboy camping with about twenty other people. Max Patch is a big field on top of a mountain with views of the Smoky Mountains, North Carolina and Tennessee. It was a cool clear night, great for watching the sunset, shooting stars and sunrise. Since then I think it’s rained at least a little everyday. And it’s been cold rain, and hail, and sleet and heavy winds. Real talk. More than once I found myself using most of my muscles to hold down the flap of my tent from being blown open and having all my stuff get soaked.

Amazingly I’ve still had enough strength to crank out some serious miles. Hiking in this weather can be fun, I get to stomp through big mud puddles all day and the rain itself almost counts as a shower. Almost.

Every few days the trail goes right through some cool little towns where I get to participate in my three favorite trail activities: eating cheeseburgers, eating pancakes and drinking milkshakes. I’m starting to get really hungry while I’m out here. It’s fun. I take stuffing my face pretty seriously. Just kidding, but I do have to mention it because I spend so much time thinking about food.

This last week I’ve gone through Hot Springs, NC, Erwin, TN, and now I’m in the ultimate trail town Damascus, VA. Also I stopped at this awesome place Kincora Hostel for a shower and laundry the other day. The hostel is run by trail angel Bob Peoples. Bob is incredible, a real legend out here with Chuck Norris level status. And I got to meet him.

Trail magic on the AT has been pretty legit. In case you don’t know what I’m talking about trail magic is food or any other kind of resource needed by hikers usually left unexpectedly at road crossings by people who are either former hikers, trail angels or just fans. It can be anything from a bunch of bananas or a cooler of sodas or people setting up grills serving hot food. Twice this week I got fed unexpectedly. ‘Wheaties’ and Mark had grill operations going at two different spots with all kinds of stuff for us. It was awesome!! And absolute perfect timing since I’m always wicked hungry.

I just crossed into Virginia yesterday and this is the longest state of the AT with something like 500 plus miles. Stay tuned because I have a feeling I’m about to lay the proverbial smack down on Ol’Virginny. For more pictures feel free to follow me on the gram(Instagram) @endlesspsummer

-Endless

Standing Bear Hostel, NC

Mile 240

Since this is my first post in awhile I’ll spare all my readers the details of my life the last few months. I’ll just start with what I’ve been up to lately. On April 17th I started hiking north from Georgia on the Appalachian Trail or the AT. My plan is to thru hike the 2200 miles of trail from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mt. Katahdin in Maine.

So far so good. The night before I started hiking I stayed at the Hiker Hostel in Dahlonega and I definitely recommend it to any future hikers. The place was super clean and very helpful and there was a bluegrass festival going on in town. There are two options to start the hike; one option is to start right at the southern terminus which is the peak of Springer Mountain or the other is taking the 9 mile approach trail from Amicacola Falls State Park to the summit. I’m pro waterfall so I opted for the approach trail and was up the top around lunch time with about a million other people.

Since then I’ve really just been crushing it. North Georgia was really cool. Lots of ups and downs, great views and it was about 80 and sunny the whole time I was there. The trail crosses into North Carolina about 75 miles in and once I entered the state I had a sudden urge to take my shirt off and spin round my head like a helicopter. So I did that. Another hundred miles and I got into Great Smoky Mountain National Park. I don’t know what’s so great about it, just kidding it was cool. Through the park and a little beyond it, the trail acts as the border between Tennessee and North Carolina. It’s cool, my left foot is always in TN and my right foot is always in NC, I think.

Since I’ve thru hiked before I feel like I at least have an idea of what I’m doing, not that I’m any good at it, but I do try to keep it simple. For me, the way I like to hike is to not carry much stuff and walk really far everyday. I got used to hiking big miles early on the PCT because there was so much distance between water sources in the desert and greater distances between towns so I had to carry more food and water. Out here I don’t have to carry as much food and water so I can keep my pack pretty light. A lot of hikers seem to be getting there legs and figuring out what kind of fear they can do without.

I feel like I’ve got good speed right now but don’t quite have my all day legs. The word is people start opening it up once we get into Virginia, so I’ll probably pick it up a little over the next few weeks. 4/17 was a little bit of a late start but I’m beginning to find myself in the back of the bubble(bubble is the term used for a group of thru hikers, like school of fish or gaggle of geese). There’s lots of good people here and quite a few formidable hikers.

Since I’m moving through the main bubble of hikers I’m hiking and camping with different people every day. Way more east coast people on this trail, so people don’t look at me like I’m from another planet when I start talking. I’m taking half a day off today and chilling out at this place Standing Bear Hostel right outside the Smoky Mountains and trying to resupply and organize a little bit.

I’ll try to stay on top of this blog but if you want to know what I’m up to on more of a day to day basis feel free to follow me on Instagram @endlesspsummer or on Facebook if you can figure out my other name.

-Endless

2 Comments

Posted on April 27, 2016 by endlesspsummer

Appalachian Trail, Hiking, Thru hiking

Appalachian Trail, AT, thru hike, Thru hiking, thruhike

This post has been months in the making but figured I should update my legions of fans on my adventure home and what I’ve been up to since getting off the PCT.

I left Seattle on August 26th and began to slowly make my way back home. My friend Jenn picked me up in the city and we drove to Yakima where she lives. On the way we stopped in Leavenworth, WA a Bavarian style little tourist trap of a town. Then, because I was in charge of navigation, we went the wrong way and ended up in Wenatchee. No big deal.

Yakima was enjoyable, I stayed there for a night and my short term plan was to get to Cascade Locks for PCT Days, a little festival/reunion with a bunch of hikers. I decided to hitch and after not having much luck with a ride out of Yakima I walked to the next town Union Gap. It took all day but I ended up getting 3 rides and doing a little road walking but got to Cascade Locks on the 27th.

I’m really glad I went to this little festival. I didn’t know anything about it until just a couple days before so I hadn’t planned on going at all. Lots of hikers were getting into Cascade Locks during the course of the weekend and others who were either behind or ahead found ways to get there. It was awesome to see so many people that I had met earlier in the trail that I hadn’t seen in hundreds or in some cases thousands of miles.

I spent a few days here and hemmed and hawed about trying to wait out the fires and possibly getting back on trail on the section I had to skip. In the end I decided I’m moving on. The 2015 edition of the PCT was over for me, I did what I could do when I could do it and the Northern Cascades will be there. Someday I’ll go back and walk through them. The incomplete section will gnaw at me for sure until I get back out to the NorthWest.

Without much of a plan except to eventually make my way back home, I started hitching East. Hitchhiking across the country might sound ludicrous or dangerous or just stupid to most people but I think it’s a pretty unique way to travel. I wish it was more socially acceptable. While I was on trail, hitching in and out of town is completely normal and is considered common practice among the hikers. So I had been pretty accustomed to it.

I got a ride right out of Cascade Locks and then just kept going for awhile. In 4 days I got 19 rides and made it from Cascade Locks, OR to Kansas City, MO for a total of 1750 miles. Besides just a few long waits I usually got picked up in about 10 minutes or less. And yeah I met a few crazies, that’s for sure, but I never felt like I was in any danger. Most of the time people just liked to tell me a bunch of stories, which was fine by me. I met some great people too.

Some of my better hitches included: Mike the hunter in Oregon who taught me all about elk and how to kill them. Misty the trucker who told me all about her life growing up in the bush in Alaska. She drove me from outside Boise all the way to Salt Lake. Pat the asst. principal, gave me a guided tour through beautiful Glenwood Canyon in Western Colorado. Jere, the player piano rebuilder, drove me literally from the mountains to the prairie and even brought me about 25 miles further along than he was going. Paula, a mother of 5 coming off a fresh stint working and living in Glacier NP, rerouted her trip on my request and drove me about 150 miles.

I didn’t get involved in any side adventures while I was traveling. As much as I had hoped, nobody picked me up and was like, “hey we’re going to explore some canyons in Utah or raft down the Colorado River and we need one more person.” I did however stop and visit a few friends. The Easter Eggs hosted me in Salt Lake City and it was a great stop. This was a couple I hiked with in the desert and hadn’t seen since early June. Mr. Egg cooked me arepas, and Mrs. Egg drove me to Provo, UT to help me along my way.

In Colby, KS I stopped for a quick visit to see my hiking partner Schemes before she headed West for school. After waiting for about 3 hours this guy Fred gave me a ride all the way across Kansas to Kansas City, Missouri. I was exhausted and I guess at this point I talked myself out of hitching the rest of the way. When I got to KC I spent the night in the airport and got a cheap flight to Boston the next morning.

I spent my first day home at the registry waiting about 4 hours for my number to be called. Going to the registry was a horrible decision. The following day my mother drove me out to Western Mass where we hiked Mt Greylock(Massachusetts high point for those of you keeping track) and then I headed North on the AT with my backpack and no definite plans. Hiking the AT was very different. For starters I was solo and I used much of the time In my head thinking about and reflecting on the incredible summer I just had out West.

Without really paying attention I crushed some big miles and got through Vermont in 6 days. On the Vermont New Hampshire border is the town of Hanover, NH where I caught up with my friend Queen B from the PCT. She got off trail out West and came back to the AT to finish what she started last year. It was really cool to see her and we got put up by a couple of trail angels in NH(Karen and Jon).

From Hanover I took a bus to Boston, then a train, car, and boat ride to Inner Heron Island off the Maine Coast. It was great, I spent the weekend relaxing with friends in a cabin on this tiny island. Then I went home. For the next couple weeks I enjoyed the end of a hot New England summer. I rode my bike, went swimming, surfing, running, golfing and hiking up in the Whites in NH. My very last weekend before returning to work I celebrated the Willis-Murray nuptials with family in Providence. It was so much fun.

Since then I’ve been super busy. Working a lot and also enjoying my time between adventures. The post trail adjustment wasn’t the most fun but I expected that. It really wasn’t all that bad either, I’ve got a nice little life here.

Throughout the fall I did a bunch of hiking in the White Mountains and finished NH’s 48 4000 footers. I also have been swimming and running a bunch since I’ve been home. My father was training for Ipswich’s Stonecat trail marathon in November, so I decided to run the 50 miler that day. I didn’t want to be out done by a sixty something year old man with a fake hip. Ski season is upon us here in the Northeast, and I’m wicked excited about that, but it’s off to a slow start. Maybe I’ll have to make a ski trip out West, it seems that’s where all the snow is going this winter. Oh yeah I shaved my hair, beard, and mustache in stages. I’ve gone with a lot of different looks this year and I apologize if you’ve had trouble recognizing me. Sorry, I’m not sorry.

Lots of people have asked me what I’m going to do next and as much as I appreciate the enthusiasm I always think of that line from Napoleon Dynamite when the kid says, “What are you gonna do next Napoleon?” I like to answer that question with a question, “What are you gonna do next?” For real though I don’t know,if you have any suggestions I’m all ears. Until then I guess just stay tuned. Follow me on Instagram if you want @endlesspsummer.

-Endless

Going East
The AT/LT in Vermont

Inner Heron Island, ME

Getting up onto Franconia Ridge, NH

Team Carmody Running Club

Beautiful and scenic Lynn, Massachusetts

4 Comments

Posted on December 14, 2015 by endlesspsummer

Uncategorized

Seattle, WA and Canada!

Alright I hope you’re sitting down. This is a long post and I encourage you to take 10 minutes and read it. My 2015 thru hike of the PCT is complete but my adventure continues. Of course it didn’t go as planned but I never had much of a plan in the first place. I hiked 2461 continuous miles from the Mexican border to Steven’s Pass in Washington. Northern Washington is currently plagued by wildfires and multiple trail closures forced me to forego the last 188 miles to the Canadian border. After a series of rides I got to Manning Park in BC, Canada and hiked the 15 mile round trip to the monument to officially finish my hike.

In a perfect world I would have hiked straight through to the Northern Terminus but I’m happy with the way it ended and everything worked out quite nicely for me. Not being able to finish the remaining miles is really no big deal for me, a bigger issue is these fires that have burned down people’s homes and currently took the lives of 3 firefighters. It would have been nice but I have to put it in perspective.

The final couple of weeks of my hike were some of the most enjoyable I had. Let me elaborate. On August 9th I flew back to Portland from Boston and was greeted at the airport by old friend Jeff Lyle who not only drove me to Cascade Locks but also brought me breakfast. I was back on trail at 12:30 pm and put in a strong 30 mile effort that afternoon and evening. My friend Schemes had returned to the trail a day earlier and linked up with old friend Tami and Diatom who all of us had only heard of until Washington. I figured I would catch them as soon as I could so I hiked 47 miles the following day and camped with them that night.

For the next two weeks the four of us became a pretty tight knit group and had a really nice time through Washington. We slowed down to about 25 miles a day and it was a very relaxing change of pace. I started getting on trail around 7, took more breaks, reduced my hustle and got into camp earlier every night. Washington is beautiful, but everybody knows that. The smoke from the fires gave the sky a hazy look and some days it appeared to be dusk all day long. We passed through Goat Rocks Wilderness, one of the prettiest sections of trail, and I saw at least 50 mountain goats one evening #realtalk. Equally impressive was hiking over the Knife’s Edge with an awesome view of Ranier.

After a stop in White Pass, where I resupplyed and spent the night, I was back on trail for one of the coldest and rainiest days of my trip. To top it off the hiking was tough. As uncomfortable as I was physically, I remained in a good mood and knew once I got through the day I would be inside a dry tent and my cozy sleeping bag. The following day was also super cold but we had quite a treat in store for us. Mt Ranier National Park was enjoyable even though the views were subdued because of clouds and smoke. At the end of a long cold raw day we came across Ulrich Cabin. This place was incredible! It’s primarily used as a snowmobile cabin in winter and besides the woodstove, it’s completely barebones. But it was sound and the stove kept us all warm and dry. The four of us were joined there by Playa and Patriot and we had a great night. Spirits were high and it was exactly what we all needed.

The weather turned in our favor and the sun was all business for the next two days as we hiked into Snoqualmie Pass. This was a cool little stop. We spent the night here, ate copious amounts of food and relaxed in the hot tub. We got back on trail the following day for what would be our final section. It was a good one and maybe it was because of the cumulative effort but it also seemed like one of the most difficult stretches. The ups and downs were pretty extreme, but I’m not complaining, just making an observation. The scenery was spectacular however and I had a great final 3 days.

Okay this is where things start to get complicated. Bear with me, I know this is a long post but you’ve come this far so you might as well get to the end. About 3 miles out of Steven’s Pass Schemes got a message from our friend S+M who had got back on trail and we were planning to finish up with her. Apparently the last 188 miles of trail, everything north of Steven’s Pass, was closed. We were kind of stunned and took our time getting through those last miles. Tami’s friend Martha aka Sidecar picked us up at the trailhead and drove us first to the town of Skykomish, where we reunited with S+M , and then to the Dinsmores house(trail angels who let us crash in their yard and use all their amenities).

The following morning ‘Collector’ drove me and Schemes back to Skykomish to eat tons of breakfast. After a little while Diatom, Tami, and S+M joined us and we also ate with Daybreaker and were rejoined by old friend Aloha. We all ate lots of food and unbeknownst to any of us, fellow hiker ’30 Pack’ footed the bill and took off before we could thank him. So if you read this, thanks dude, that was cool. After hours of brainstorming we came up with something of a plan to get us to Canada but we’d be relying on others and it would take a little luck. Our first step was to get to Seattle. Before we even got our thumbs out, 2011 thru hiker Honey Bee pulled over and asked us if we needed a ride. We piled into her little rental car and she brought us to Lynnwood, WA. S+M took a bus south to get back on trail elsewhere and the rest of us regrouped at a coffee shop. Sidecar drove up from Seattle to scoop up Schemes, Tami, Diatom and myself and bring us back to the city. It was great, Sidecar got us a church to sleep in for the night and we spent the evening checking out Seattle. Diatom secured us a car from a friend for the next morning and all of a sudden things were going really smoothly, too smoothly. The next day we ran a few errands, got all our chores accomplished and were super excited to be driving up to Canada.

That would be short lived, just a couple minutes on I-5 N we wrecked. Thankfully nobody was hurt but it appeared our hike once again ended too soon. We waited hours for a tow and at this point had pretty much decided to go our own ways. This is when Sidecar stepped up big time. Again. She moved her shifts around and volunteered to drive us up to Manning Park. What a sweet deal. We arrived at our site shortly before midnight and the following day hiked south to the monument. It was really cool and I’m so glad I got there.

We spent about an hour taking pictures, high fiving, eating s’mores and just chilling out. When we got back to Manning Park we played in the pool for a couple hours like little kids then Tami’s parents, who had driven up from Idaho, had a big feast for us. It was a great night. I cowboy camped and had one of my best nights of sleep in recent memory. Dennis and Susan fed us again in the morning and all of a sudden it felt like the last scene of the ‘Breakfast Club’. We said goodbye first to Tami because she stayed with her folks to continue her trip before she returns to Portland. Sidecar drove the rest of us back to Seattle and next we dropped Diatom off for a bus that would eventually get him back to Santa Cruz. The last one to see go was Schemes, my hiking partner for roughly 1700 miles. I got off at the airport with her, said our goodbyes, and she was headed home to Kansas via Colorado before starting a doctorate program in Santa Barbara this fall.

As for me I returned to Seattle and my friend Carol is putting me up for a couple nights in her beautiful house in Queen Anne. I spent today enjoying Seattle. I caught up with my buddy Malibu, who I hadn’t seen since the Sierras, when his train came in this afternoon. I got some brand new used clothes at the same thrift shop Macklemore shops at, then did the most cliche thing possible which was type my blog in a Starbucks in Seattle while wearing flannel and listening to Pearl Jam. Just kidding about the flannel.

I’ll enjoy the city for awhile and check out a Mariners game tonight. I’ve got a few things planned for the near future but I finished my hike a month ahead of schedule so I guess I’ll just slowly make my way back East and do whatever I want for awhile. If you’ve got any suggestions I’m all ears, or if you’d like to put me up I’d love to visit. I’m not quite ready to re-enter society but when I do I’ve got a nice little life to return to. I will definitely miss the trail and I’ll never forget it but more than that I’ll happily remember the time I had and the people I enjoyed it with.

I should probably do a whole post on acknowledgements but in case I don’t get to that I just want to say thank you to everybody that helped me. Hiking the trail would be impossible without all the angels in all different capacities who give up their time and money to help strangers. Thank you. And to my number one trail angel my mother who was at my beckon call the past 4 months, tracking stuff down, and sending me my resupply packages and all kinds of helpful information. Thanks Ma!

Endless P. Summer PCT 2015

L to R me, Tami, Schemes, Diatom

Diatom, Schemes, S+M, Me, Tami

Diatom, Me, Tami. Action shot

Dance party in Seattle

Diatom, Schemes and Tami eyeing the mighty Puget Sound

Reunited and it feels so good. Two idols eyeballing each other. Schemes and S+M
‘The Trail’

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6 Comments

Posted on August 26, 2015 by endlesspsummer

Hiking, Pacific Crest Trail, Thru hiking

Pacific Crest Trail, pacificcresttrail, pct, thru hike, Thru hiking, thruhike, thruhiking

Cascade Lockes, OR

In case anybody was wondering, I demolished Oregon, absolutely demolished it. I put ‘Eye of the Tiger’ on repeat, walked all day everyday and finished the state in two weeks. It was exciting, grueling, overwhelmingly beautiful, and very rewarding.

In Mazama Village I ran into my friend Tami who I hadn’t seen since the Sierras. I spent a day hiking with Tami and also Nesquick and 5 Star who I had only met briefly about 1500 miles before. Crater Lake is quite the spectacle and definitely worth checking out. After Crater Lake and north of Mt Thielsen Schemes and I hiked with Distance and Castaway for a few days until we got to Shelter Cove Resort. This place was cool, it was a little campground on a lake with a store. They had a good supply of ice cream sandwiches and also my favorite trail snack, Franz Pastries. I should say they had a good supply until I got there.

We left there just before noon and crushed major miles. The following day Poca AKA Pocahontas, another formidable friendly female hiker, joined Schemes and me and hiked with us the rest of the way through Oregon. After a few chilly nights we started getting into some pretty serious heat. Just south of Big Lake Youth Camp was one of the hottest days I had on the trail. We hiked through burn zones that provided no shade and then lava fields that I think inspired level 8 of the original Super Mario bros. I was low on water and was feeling like Clark W. Griswold in NL’s Vacation. Things worked out though, I traded a Clif Bar to a southbounder for half a liter of water, what a deal!

BLYC treated us pretty well. I picked up a resupply package, there were couches for us to chill out on, they fed us burritos, let us shower, and had a sweet beach for us to camp on. Oh yeah I should probably mention that the Oregon Cascades were wicked awesome!! The Sisters are these prominent mountains in a line that are spaced out along the trail like every 30 miles until Washington. There’s 3 sisters and then 4 other big time mountains that the trail goes right along. It’s quite a sight to see. The biggest and most northern peak is Mt Hood, where people were skiing up until August 2nd. This is where the famous Timberline Lodge from ‘The Shining’ is located. It’s not as scary in person though, and there’s no hedge maze.

I had been hearing about their incredible breakfast buffet for days if not weeks and we were originally planning to camp a few miles south so we would have just a short walk in the morning. Plans changed once we were within striking distance though, we decided to make a push for it and to make it there the night before to see if the pizza rumors were true. They weren’t, but everything worked out really nicely. There was a big wedding going on and as much as I wanted to get out on the dance floor and whip and nay nay, I smelled a little funky and didn’t want to offend anybody. The bar with the pizza was closed so Schemes, Poca and myself got a meal at the fancy restaurant that was still serving. We sat next to this really nice couple, Ron and Christel. We had a great meal, and a great time. When we got the tab we found out that Ron and Christel, who had already left, took care of the whole thing. I couldn’t believe it, it’s people like this that restore my faith in humanity. If you’re reading this, thank you so much.

We camped outside the lodge that night and then put an absolute beating on the buffet the next morning. The rest of Oregon was simply majestic. We hiked along the backside of Hood, next to Ramona Falls and along Eagle Creek. Eagle Creek was spectacular and included Tunnel Falls which I thought was just the cat’s ass, easily one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen in my life.

On August 3rd we got into Cascade Locks and finished the state with a few hours to spare. A local hiker Randy was really cool and nice enough to give us a ride all the way to Portland. If you’re reading this Randy please respond, one of us left something in your car. I took the red eye to Boston on the night of the 4th so Schemes and I spent the day exploring Portland. I’m quite fond of the PMW and this is a great city. Her friend Jen gave me a ride to the airport and I had a fantastic whirlwind 4 day intermission at home.

The reason for my trip home and the major event of the summer was my brother Jake and sister in law Jodi’s wedding. The wedding was a blast and it was quite an honor to be cast in a supporting role as the BM. We got great weather, ate good, danced for hours and were dazzled by the newlyweds’ moves on the dance floor. A bunch of us had a campfire and set up tents in Jake and Jodi’s backyard afterwards. I was used to that. Besides the wedding I had a bunch of other stuff to do so I’ll just list them; town chores and preparing for Washington, dinner to celebrate my parents 40th anniversary at my brother Mike’s, the rehearsal dinner at Chianti’s in Beverly, I ran up the woods with my father, saw the mighty Atlantic Ocean, checked in on the guys at work, and golfed before the wedding with my father, Rick Skalski, and all the groomsmen. It was a really great trip home. I had so much fun and it was so good to see everybody.

Now back to the trail. I’m flying back to Portland, have a ride lined up to Cascade Locks and then life gets really simple again. As much fun as these past few days have been, I’ve heard good things about Washington state and I’m really looking forward to catching up with my friends and hiking the rest of the trail.

Crater Lake

massive mountains
Burn area

Mt Jefferson

Me, Schemes, Poca

M
Tunnel Falls

The Bride and Groom putting on quite the performance.

The siblings Carmody. Me, Mike, Molly, Jake

Mazama Village, OR

Well I guess you could say the hike is getting pretty serious now. Not really it’s mostly just fun. I have however been paying a little more attention to logistics lately. For the bulk of the hike I had only been focusing on where the next water was, where I might camp that night, and how far until my next resupply. Since I’m getting off trail for a few days in early August I needed to start thinking a little more long range. I have to be in Portland, OR by the evening of August 4th for a top secret mission so my plan is to hike to Cascade Locks by that morning and hitch to Portland. In order to execute this plan I’ll have to crush some serious miles.

The last couple hundred miles of NorCal were some of the most impressive that section had to offer. We blasted through Castle Crags state park, and the Russian and Marble Wilderness areas. The trail travelled through some sweet mountains and I swam in some beautiful mountain lakes. After a nice long 38 mile day Schemes and I were camped up on a saddle between a couple peaks when we realized we had just a shade over 50 miles until Etna, our next town stop. We had previously talked about doing a 50 or more and figured we would wait until Oregon but the time was now and we decided to get it done the following day. I don’t choose these things, they choose me. I got up early, like I do everyday, and proceeded to click off miles. About an hour or two into my day I ran into this guy jumping up and down on the trail all red faced and excited like. “Whoa there Kemosabi!! Whoa there!!” he yelled. I didn’t know who he was talking to so I just kept walking. When he repeated himself I figured that I must be ‘Kemosabi’ so I stopped. “I JUST SAW THE BIGGEST RATTLER OF MY LIFE” he yelled a couple of times, and yeah he was talking in all caps. I wasn’t in the mood for snakes, because I’m never in the mood for snakes, so after I let him tell me about this thing for a few minutes I looked around to make sure the coast was clear and bolted down the trail. I pretty much just cruised the rest of the day. I took a short break for lunch, another one for supper and was rewarded with an incredible sunset. Just after midnight we got to the trailhead parking lot, laid out our sleeping bags and crashed out for a little bit. In the morning we hitched into Etna and made a beeline for the breakfast joint. Schemes didn’t waste any of the waitress’s time and ordered two huge breakfasts right away. I decided to dine in a more civilized manner and ordered my breakfasts back to back. After breakfast we went to the bakery for donuts and then ran errands and relaxed until we got back on trail that afternoon. We’ve pretty much just been killing it since then. I crossed into Oregon on Monday evening the 20th and so far it’s been just delightful. I’m at Mazama Village tonight and about to check out Crater Lake tomorrow. Parents of one of the hikers ‘Rattles’ brought their RV to a site here and put on a big meal for all the hikers passing through, it was really cool and the food was so good.

Oh yeah, Oregon has a couple of challenges for the hikers. One thing some people try to do is hike through the state without showering. I already failed that one but I did put on dirty clothes after my shower so maybe I’ll get an honorable mention. The real Oregon Challenge is to hike all 450 some odd miles of trail through the whole state in two weeks or less. I’m going for this one, and unless I get dysentery or all my oxen die I should do it.

50 mile sunset
Marble Wilderness

Schemes destroying breakfast
A beautiful mountain lake

My first night in Oregon

Shasta City, CA

Armed with only a pocket knife, trekking poles and my camera phone I’ve spent the last couple hundred miles hunting Bigfoot in his own backyard. Just kidding, but seriously. I’ve yet to see Bigfoot but the hiking’s been really good.

S+M, Schemes and I were looking to take a little break for the 4th and everything on trail was all booked up. We ended up hitching down to Sacramento and staying with S+M’s friends Angie and Liza. We spent 4 days there and it was really cool. We checked out the city, chilled out by a pool, and went to their annual 4th of July party. Their hospitality was above and beyond. They took in 3 stinky hikers for days, it was probably similar to taking in feral animals. Oh yeah and Angie is the bomb in the kitchen, I don’t know if people still use that expression but let’s just say she knows what she’s doing and I ate well. Liza made life really easy for us by giving up half her day off and driving us back to the trail. Thanks girls.

When I first got back on trail it was steep and hot and almost like starting over. I got over that quickly though and was crushing miles by the end of the day. I hit the midpoint of the trail on 7/7 and it was pretty much just high fives all around. Shortly after the midpoint S+M decided to take some time off from the trail and my crew is down to Schemes and myself. From time to time I still meet new faces and since we dropped back 4 days I’m running into a good amount of people I haven’t seen for awhile. So that’s cool. And We’re slaying miles, which is fun. We got poured on for about 3 days and that was a new experience. I’ve been lucky enough to have great weather for most of my trip. After cowboy camping for the majority of the hike I started setting up my tent again. The mosquitoes aren’t all that cool, and when I’m cowboy camping they start buzzing around my ears at 4 in the morning driving me bat shit crazy before I realize what’s going on.

I’ve hiked through some amazing places and stopped at some cool towns lately. Lassen National Park is underrated, I hadn’t even heard of it before I started my hike. It had a geyser and a boiling lake and the volcano is probably going to erupt any day now. We stopped at Drakesbad Resort for lunch and it was well worth it. After I polished off all their day-olds I pigged out at their delicious lunch buffet. Hat Creek Rim kinda gets a bum rap also. There’s all kinds of warnings about it being super dry and you need to carry buku water. This wasn’t the case for us. It was pouring but we hiked through the storm and were rewarded with an awesome sunset. Subway cave in Old Station was worth checking out as well as the falls at Burney Falls State Park. Around mile 1409 I came across some of the best and most unexpected trail magic of the hike. I’ll spare the details but it was legit. Nicely done Randy and Kathy.

I feel like I’m really making progress out here. Soon I’ll be out of California and I have every intention of demolishing the trail once I get into Oregon. If you like what you read here feel free to share and also if you’d like to see more pictures follow me on the gram @endlesspsummer.

Schemes, myself, and S+M

Terminal Geyser in Lassen NP

Sunset from Hat Creek Rim

Burney Falls

Mt Shasta

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Posted on July 17, 2015 by endlesspsummer

Hiking, Pacific Crest Trail, Thru hiking, Uncategorized

Pacific Crest Trail, pacificcresttrail, pct, thru hike, Thru hiking

Across the Imaginary Line into Northern California

While doing a little research before the trip I learned that of the 5 sections of the trail (the desert, the Sierras, NorCal, Oregon, and Washington) there’s not much information about Northern California. I’m not even 100 percent where the Sierras end and NorCal begins. One thing is for sure though, I’m in it now and this mysterious section is unfolding pleasantly before my eyes.

The overwhelming scenery of the Sierras is behind me now but the trail is still awesome. A lot has happened in the last week. I saw a bear. A good sized black bear from about 30-40 feet, it took one look at me and jetted into the woods. It was about ten minutes after I left camp one morning I came across this beast just chilling out in the trail eating berries or something. It happened to be the day after I sent my bear canister home.

We’ve still been putting in some big miles but also checking out some unique towns. On the summer solstice, Schemes, S+M and I hiked 44 miles and the timing was perfect. Any slower and we would have been evacuated from the trail by the ‘Washington Wildfire’. The smoke was visible the night before but luck and the wind were on our side. We got to a road crossing about 20 miles into our day and heard rumors the trail would be shut down, but some hikers coming in our direction told us it wasn’t so bad so we made a push for it. It was a good move. We hiked into the night, dealt with some big time winds along a ridge and could see heavy smoke a few miles away but lived to tell the tale. Once we got to South Lake Tahoe the following day, we heard from other hikers the trail was closed shortly after we passed through and they had to spend the day hitching around the closure.

I’ve stopped in a few interesting towns lately; South Lake Tahoe, Auburn and Sierra City. I went into SLT for a night and it had everything you needed but it was big and spread out. I won a salad bar challenge at this pizza place but only because I declared myself the winner of a contest I invented. Schemes won an unofficial breakfast contest the next morning at Ernie’s Cafe when she ordered two gigantic breakfasts back to back before I could finish my pancakes. After leaving there we hiked along Echo Lake, through Desolation Wilderness and over and along some sweet ridges. Once we got to Squaw Valley there were lots of runners on the trail getting ready for the Western States 100 mile trail race going on that weekend.

S+M had been living in Auburn before the trail and a few days after Tahoe we stopped there and stayed in the house she was living in with Bill and Debi. It was fun and relaxing, the first time I stayed inside a house in months. We checked out the town, ate massive burgers and sweet potato fries at the Club Car and the girls went to get foot massages. Since I had been whining about my feet for a few days and felt a little peer pressure I decided to get a foot massage myself. It was not an enjoyable experience, let’s just say it was the last time I pay somebody to tickle my feet for a half hour. My feet have however felt fantastic ever since. We devoured about 40 more miles of trail before coming within a mile of the tiny little town of Sierra City and I wasn’t passing up an opportunity for real food. We had a quick stop here and I ate breakfast and lunch in succession at the Red Moose Inn before getting back up into the mountains.

I’m almost halfway through this trail and things are still going really well. I feel like I’m getting the hang of it, enjoying myself, and my body is holding up well. Food has become more important to me then ever before and I often find myself pretty hungry. If my food stories bore you well I’m sorry, but I’m not sorry.