Days 70 - 78 - so many zeros - PCT 2024
Trail miles hiked: 0
Ascent: 0
Descent: 0
July 4
It’s hot AF outside. I don’t do well in the heat and never really have. It’s certainly gotten better as I’ve aged and started working outside full time but it’s never “fun” for me. I decided to hop off trail for a day or two and let the extreme heat calm down.
Krista, Tina and Wade all agreed. We decided to stay at Klum campground to celebrate the Fourth of July! It was pretty low key. Not many campers around, just a slightly rowdy group two sites over. The lake is peaceful and hearing the frogs is lovely. We got to watch a few fireworks from across the lake.
We stumbled upon an injured hiker named Morgan. She started back at mile 1719 like we did and made it as far as Klum before deciding she needed to rest her foot. She has arthritis in her big toe joint like I do so I can relate! Before I was able to properly manage it with foot exercises, custom insoles and wider toe box shoes, there’s no chance I would have been able to hike all day. Poor girl. She had a video call with Dr. Morgan from Blaze Physio and she’s trying to determine if she should continue or not. We invited her to stay at our site and she took us up on that offer.
I heard from work today. There’s a 5 week contract starting in Calgary at the end of July. They know I’m looking to move back to Calgary… and I did all of the hard legwork to get this client for them. I’m happy they offered it to me, but it’s the wrong time. The thing is, I can’t just send anyone out there. We have a young staff and a slightly inexperienced staff with no Calgary consortium experience. Sending a rookie to downtown Calgary might backfire. Not trying to be selfish here, just realistic.
I was conflicted. I AM conflicted. Do I carry on hiking the PCT for a couple more weeks and head home to work? Or do I say no? Is this giving up everything I have worked for? My dream is to lead an office. I try to be a good leader. I give up a lot for my team, I am in the trenches with them, I try to train when I can and offer assistance when I can and I LOVE project managing but tough because you have no life. I’m great at it though. Clients like me and request me but ultimately the goal is to make a move into management and to lead an office. I don’t know if there’s room for me back in BC. But that’s another story.
Also, Morgan made a solid point, how is my IT band going to hold up? So far so good but I haven’t hiked a lot since being back. 40 miles? 50 miles? What happens if it acts up and I need to go home anyway? It’s a tough decision but I’m enjoying my time away from home and away from work. Thankfully I have a trick up my sleeve that might just work out.
Happy Independence Day, my American friends!
July 5
Woke up early to see Tina and Wade off. They’re leaving trail for a few days for a celebration of life and won’t be back until Sunday.
Morgan wanted to slack pack a couple miles to see if her foot would act up so Krista and I picked her up at Keno Road where the trail crosses. Unfortunately her foot is still bothering her and she’s conflicted on what to do.
The three of us decided to beat some of the heat in the air conditioned car and dropped down to Medford to do some chores. It’s 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43 degrees Celsius) and the heat is getting to me. I wanted to find shorts to hike in because my pants are too hot and I scooped up some items for my resupply box. We happily ate Chick-fil-A and grabbed milkshakes at Hyatt on the way back to the campsite.
As we were driving back, the road was impacted due to a grass fire along the highway. Crews had extinguished it but the ground is dry and it’s heating up. Forest fires are inevitable.
I threw out a suggestion to Krista about jumping back to California to hike the Sierra instead of continuing in Oregon. She was first excited, which turned to nerves and had a few tears of confusion before calling her parents to discuss the plan later in the evening. Morgan thought the plan was solid which was nice to hear. I certainly don’t want to pressure Krista and I told her it’s okay if she wasn’t comfortable with that plan. But ultimately central Oregon is still under snow and I’m scared of post holing and getting injured again. I’d rather go to an area without snow, and an area that I’ve always dreamt of hiking in. I’ll see what she says in the morning.
July 6
Krista was unsure of the Sierra plan this morning but later changed her mind to wanting to go. I hope I didn’t pressure her but right now is the perfect time with the snow melted up there, lower water levels for crossings, and cooler weather at such a high elevation. I decided I’d stay in Oregon with Krista if she really didn’t feel comfortable but once she thought about the plan and Morgan gently explained why she thought it was a good plan, Krista agreed.
We booked Amtrack train tickets for tomorrow night leaving from Klamath Falls to Bakersfield where we’d take a bus to Onyx, California and get a trail angel named Larry to give us a ride the rest of the way up to Kennedy Meadows South.
Morgan wanted to go over to Fish Lake Resort to wait out the heat and potentially start hiking from there tomorrow.
Krista and I dropped Morgan off before dropping back down to Medford for the evening. Nothing too exciting today. We got a hotel in town and the heat is still extreme.
Krista texted Tina about going to the Sierra and Tina nervously said yes! They suggested us cancel our train tickets and offered us to ride out there with them since they swapped vehicles with Wade’s brother in law and has a truck now with more space. We agreed.
July 7
Tina and Wade are returning from their travels today. We decided to switch hotels and get a suite so all of us could fit and we could save money by splitting four ways. They drove six hours today so they wanted to stay in Medford before traveling to California.
We had to return our rental car at 4pm and Wade ran over to pick us up at the rental return and then we went out for pizza! Pretty delicious gluten free pizza!
We noticed a cloud of smoke arising over the mountains. A forest fire. Close to the PCT. The heat, dryness and hot wind spells disaster in a place like Oregon. We watched the news and learned of what they’re calling the Salt Creek fire, and it’s only 12 miles away from Fish Creek and the PCT. Containment is an issue right now but crews are on scene.
July 8
The wildfire smoke is in the air and the air quality is terrible. I coughed all morning and there’s a smoke haze.
The heat wave continues with the temperature being above 100 (38 Celsius) and I can’t handle it. Our group decided to go check out Reno since it’s fairly close and quite cheap to stay at.
Reno here we come! First time in the state of Nevada!
The drive to Reno was fun but smoky. We didn’t get to see a good view of Mount Shasta as we drove by because of the haze. But we stopped at Burney Falls and the volcanic Subway Cave in Lassen along the way! So cool!
Even Reno had poor air quality when we arrived but better than Medford.
Reno is so fun! We’re staying at J Resort and Casino and the vibe is fun. Tina wasn’t feeling great so she went to bed early while Krista, Wade and I went to the Afterglow Lounge to drink and play Jacks Or Better on the machines (I credit Patrick for teaching me this game while back in Cabazon waiting out the storm before entering Mission Creek). Wade got a little handsy with me and the bartenders girlfriend which was awkward and I had to tell him to go upstairs to his wife but I’ll try to let that go. Free booze! How do you say no to that? Spent $20 for an entire night of entertainment. Good bang for your buck, especially when a fancy hotel room with a mountain view cost us $90.
July 9
Stayed in Reno again tonight. Got a free buffet dinner as a comp. I even found some gluten free items! Hiding from the heat inside the casino but we ran some errands around town earlier. It’s a cute city! I’ll definitely return one day and go exploring. Hopefully when it’s not as hot.
I got my bear canister from REI! It’s so big at a whopping 2.5 lbs! But I was able to fit it vertically inside of my pack. I was worried it wouldn’t fit. I had to take my quilt out of its dry pod and stash my quilt at the bottom of my pack with everything else on top but it works well! With 5 days worth of food, it’s quite heavy but I’m ready to rock and roll! You require a bear canister in the Sierra Nevada mountains and Rangers are known to do permit and bear can checks throughout the area. I’ve started putting stickers on it to make it my own. I bought a cool Reno sticker and I’ll add more along my journey.
July 10-11
We drove to Bishop, California and decided to stay the night to break up the drive. I sort of wanted to stay in Reno for a bit longer but the group didn’t. Understandable. As fun as exploring off trail is, we’re meant to be exploring the PCT. I guess I’m just feeling a little stressed; it’s still incredibly hot outside and I’m worried about hiking in the heat. We got a large hotel suite so we could all share again but I really need my own space.
July 12
Well, the heat wave is never ending so it’s either hike or quit. Hoo boy. We are staging today. Wish me luck tomorrow. I’m going to need it.
We have arrived in Kennedy Meadows South! We saw the infamous General Store and grabbed lunch there. They have gluten free buns for their burgers! It was delicious! I’d definitely eat there again despite it being expensive. Not many hikers around but we did meet John and Wei (trail name Subway). They arrived yesterday but have to wait until Monday for her bear can to arrive before hiking into the Sierra. Hoping to meet others on trail!
We drove to the campground which is right on trail at PCT mile 705.8. We’re going to spend the night before tackling the beginning of the Sierra bright and early tomorrow morning. Our goal is to beat the heat! We’ll see. Set up our tents before driving over to Grumpy Bears for dinner and boy does it live up to its name. The staff were grumpy and the food was mediocre. I could only eat a salad because the rest of the menu was gluten-filled. It was lacklustre (mostly a bowl of iceberg lettuce with a tiny amount of onion and tomato as garnish) and I’d prefer the General Store any day. Not the meal I wanted before climbing into the mountains but it’ll have to do! The next 5ish days are dehydrated meals and snacks.
We got a photo in front of Triple Crown Outfitters PCT hiker sign. Her shop was closed by the time we arrived which we were okay with. We’ve all heard she’s quite gruff.
I got back to my campsite to find my tent collapsed. I didn’t use rocks to hold the stakes down and the wind pulled them out. Rookie mistake.
I’m without cell reception for the next while so I’m going to use this time to get lost in nature and find my love for the trail again. So happy to be back, yet again.
