Day 14 – Russian Wilderness

Last night was quiet. I dreamed about the end of the world. We all gathered in stadiums to watch it happen. And when it didn’t happen, we all went home disappointed because our lives had become shabby and sordid. Alright, let’s start hiking!

The plan is to do 17 miles today. That will put me within 6 miles of the road to Etna where I will spend the night. My feet and legs are strong, but they are also taking a beating. I spent some time last night massaging them. Maybe that is what held the destruction of the world at bay.

The Wander Woman camped about half a mile ahead of me last night. They have probably already started. Equipped with torches and machetes, they are blazing their own trail to Etna. Jane will interpret for them as they encounter strange indigenous peoples. What a weird mood I am in today. Well, the birds are up and singing. Time for me to do the same.

And we’re off

The dawn found the mist rising from the valley. This is the image you see at the top of the post. Within minutes the sun was shining on the mountain peaks.

Looking across the valley all seems ready for a beautiful day of hiking.

Treading water

Since the snow has not melted completely in this area, snow melt sometimes bleeds onto the trail forcing hikers to step gingerly to the trail side. The wily Florida Trail will strategically place briars along these flooded trails to snag unsuspecting hikers. When the PCT tries to do the same thing, I am not fooled. Ha! Your tricks are lame, I proclaim, as a different branch smacks me in the forehead.

I have completely exhausted my water supply, so one of the first things to do is get water. A man this spring was injured by a bear as he was collecting water from a creek in this area. He did not notice the bear. When the man bent down, the bear swatted him, sending him tumbling unconscious into the water. The bear moved on, and did not kill the man. The man gained consciousness and managed to stumble back to his car to call for help. Nothing would have happened if the man had seen the bear. Bears perceive bending over is a sign of weakness, and unfortunately it was the worst thing the man could have done.

Here is the spring I got my water from. It takes me a while to fill my bottles because I am looking around for bears every 5 seconds.

Finding beauty

I spend a lot of time in this blog showing spectacular beauty. But for every grand vista there are a thousand views of nature working in the background. We value the grand vistas, but these other views are important to bear in mind for reasons that would take an entire book to explain. The “oo’s” and “ah’s” are not possible but for the quiet death of billions of uncelebrated creatures.

Until today, I have not seen these white beauties. They are glorious.

Not long after that, I see my first animal bone. For those of you with access to animal anatomy information, help me identify this bone. My guess is that it is the hind leg of a bear. When you find out, put the answer in the comments. I have placed my foot by the bone for scale.

Crush or be crushed

This day promises to be quite difficult. There are 5 climbs that end above 7000 feet. I am used to the altitude now, but the problem is that for every up there is a down. Going down seems harder for me. Like yesterday, i turn on my music for inspiration on the first big uphill.

Here are the top three hiking songs of the morning:

• Pretenders – Love Colors
• Sheryl Crow – Love is a Good Thing
• Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy X) – Luca

Mid-day I cross into the Russian Wilderness area, too. The rock in this area is white granite and much more angular than the rounded green and brown stone I have been walking on so far. We shall see how it goes, but right now, my feet are not impressed.

For some reason, I am terribly slow. At lunch, I calculate that I am probably three hours behind the “fantastic four”. I am in danger of being left behind. This and the trail conditions put me in a grumpy mood. Of course, I start to imagine the worst, because I am weak and my brain is corrupt. I believe there is a good chance that the four will blow past our tentative campsite and go into town (without me). I pick up the pace, but this trail fights me for every foot.

There are blowdowns everywhere. By the end of the day the rate is at least 20 per mile. (A blowdown is a tree blown down across the trail.) Some of these blowdowns require taking risky maneuvers to bypass. Much cursing ensues. This is the price I knew I would pay by starting in old Station in June. Here is how my strategic calculations went:

• Pros – cooler, fewer bugs in Northern California, less knucklehead hikers to deal with
• Cons – winter trail damage not yet removed by trail crews, fewer nice people to hike with

So I knew the blowdowns would be a problem, but I am still grumpy. A group of four young men lift my spirits. They are so unconcerned with the trail, it seem like they float above it. They are from Mt. Shasta and are out for a couple days.

Payne’s Lake at last

At 6pm I reach my destination: Payne’s Lake, with its 5 campsites. I am in the right area, but I don’t see any campsites or activities. I go off trail through the brush toward the lake. I find two campsites but no people. The ladies have indeed gone on ahead. I decide to stay anyway. I have had it for today.

I look up the campsite on the trail app and learn that in 2019, a hiker like me stumbled through the brush and found these same two campsites. However, he also noticed a mountain lion eyeballing him from 30 yards away, so he decided to move on. And with that, I have also decided to move on! I am going the last few miles over Etna Summit, even if it means I am stranded on the road to town with no options at 9pm. I get back on the trail and head for town. I am Mike Tyson coming out of the corner after round 1.

I cross a small creek and notice a side trail. Dare I hope? I follow the trail to another part of the lake and find all four women with tents set up and chatting. “I am so happy to see you,” I declare, a little too loudly. They look up unsurprised to see me.

I plop down by Christine and join the conversation about the day. The consensus is that even though we walked fewer miles, they were the hardest miles yet with the toughest trail conditions and the most severe ups and downs.

A man enters camp. He has stopped by to see who is here and to report that he had some real trouble with snow on the trail on his way over Etna Summit. (We will be walking through this area on our way to town tomorrow.) The women frown. They had sent their snow spikes home in Dunsmuir. Fortunately, I still have mine. The man’s trekking pole is broken. I have some extra duct tape that fixes the problem, and he is on his way. We ponder these developments.

We soon all head off to bed. I head back to the exact same spot where I read about the mountain lion. I am still uneasy about it even though the spot is almost perfect. It is OK now because my friends are near. Why are people like that? Or is it just me?

• June 15
• Starting mile: 1576
• Ending mile: 1593
• Daily PCT miles: 17
• Total PCT miles: 221
• Animals: 2 deer and a mysterious bone