Week 13.5

I wasn't able to update last week because I had the blessing and inconvenience of having no internet.  I spent a wonderful seven days up in Hat Creek, CA, with a friend at her off-the-grid cabin while waiting to pick Darrell up in Old Station.  More about that later.

Short recap:  On May 16, I picked Darrell up in Independence, CA.  He had run into high snow accumulation conditions that were making it very difficult to hike enough miles to get to his next resupply before running out of food.  He skipped ahead to Old Station, which is a little north of Lassen Volcanic  National Park in hopes of dodging snow on the trail.  He was able to make it 128 miles to Castle Craggs before he met a hiker coming south who warned him of more snow accumulation ahead. He jumped on a train to Sacramento and was then driven to Sierra City (north of Tahoe) and dropped off so he could hike the 135 miles back up to Old Station where he started.  That's where this picks up.

This picture is a repeat of when he was being dropped off in Sierra City on June 4.  After the last blog where I speculated about the reason for the bandage across the nose, my friend Nancy messaged me with the true story.  So grateful to know someone reads my blogs!  When Darrell was traveling by train to Sacramento, he opened the overhead bin, which happened to be overpacked, and some luggage came down and hit him in the face.  Of course, he felt it but hurriedly stepped off the train not knowing that he had blood dripping down his face.  He's fine, so it's okay to chuckle about it.  You can't be too careful on the trail and on public transportation as well.

He had to hike through some burn areas.  Burnt out trees on the trail can fall over without warning.  These are called "widowmakers".  Hikers must choose their tent sites carefully to avoid being in the path of trees that might go down especially if the ground is wet; dead trees become uprooted by the wind.

Darrell had the privilege of meeting up with this group of young people who were volunteering their time to clean up the burned areas to make it safer for hikers.  This wasn't a one-day project as you can tell by their bear canisters for storing their food in overnight.  A big thank you to all of them!

This is Jacob from Denmark that Darrell met way back at mile 200 in Big Bear.  He caught up with Darrell even with his  400-mile jump through the snowy section.  He is making great mileage.  He continued on, pressing ahead at a young person's pace, leaving Darrell in his wake.

Running water is so beautiful, especially to those of us in the drought-stricken Central Coast.  The sound of flowing and rushing water is music to our ears.

I believe this is the Middle Fork of the Feather River, part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.

Grateful for bridges that cross the rivers; it will not always be so.

Water in abundance.  Some of the creeks he sees will dry up as summer progresses, and hikers coming behind him will not have the same access to water.  

This placard gives an excerpt from someone's journal as they traveled Beckwourth Trail over Bucks Summit, part of the historic California Trail.  I hope you can tap on it and zoom in to read about the struggle of getting their wagons over these mountains for their dreams of settling in the West.

Darrell was picked up in Belden by David Ferreira, friend and family member.  He spent two nights at his home in Red Bluff and was able to meet up with our great nephews Travis, Hunter, and Lance, as well.  Wonderful young men, I might add.  David took him back to the trail on June 9 to continue his northern trek.

Darrell, ever the fashion plate.

Darrell encountered wet weather along the trail.  On two separate occasions he spent the day in his tent while it rained outside.  I think these were very boring days for him, and I know he was itching to get back on the trail.  

He was camping near a young woman he had leapfrogged on the trail several times that day.  They both just sat in their own tents waiting for it to stop.

When it stopped raining around 5:00 pm, he packed up his wet tent and took off hiking through the night trying to make up for lost time.  His new trail friend was initially going to hike with him, but she thought better of it. The full moon made it easier going.  He hiked 30 miles through the night and into the next day until he finally he stopped at 4:00 in the afternoon.

A couple of lake views:

A well-camouflaged "friend".  I hope you were able to see the video on Facebook.  It was rattling furiously as Darrell passed by.  He heard that they wait on the tree for squirrels to scurry up near them.

The sun setting on his little home.

He is hiking at such a perfect time for wildflowers.  They are beautiful and abundant and diverse.

I love pictures of the trail, especially when they are lined with wildflowers.

A wild rose.

God does beautiful landscaping.  He places the rocks and flowers so perfectly!

He arrived in Old Station on June 15 where my teacher friends, Kristen Lohr and Jessica Rivera, and I picked him up.  We stayed in Kristen's cabin and RV on her property in Hat Creek.  He was able to shower and do laundry at Kari's house (Kristen's twin sister) and Kristen took us on expeditions to lakes, falls, fish hatcheries, and a high school ag department (goats being milked and chickens laying eggs); she even hosted a little get together so Darrell could tell about his journey and his goal for raising $100,000 for clean water through World Vision.  She also kept us deliciously well fed.  

Interesting note about Jessica.  A few years ago she followed the Pacific Crest Trail on Google Earth from Mexico to Canada.  It took her about four weeks to make the virtual journey.  Sounds like something I might like to try.

Taking a walk at the fish hatchery.

Using his evenings in the cabin to map out his next steps.

Unfortunately, Darrell's permit to go back down to Independence didn't start until June 20, so he had a few days off the trail that he really would have liked to have been hiking.  We took two days to get down to Independence from Hat Creek.  We stayed in Reno and caught the Jurassic Park movie and then headed down to Bishop where we spent the night before dropping him off at the Kearsarge Pass trailhead outside of Independence.  He had to hike 7.5 miles over the pass just to get back on the PCT.  He was glad to have had fresh legs for that part of the trail.  He packed nine days of food which he hopes will get him to Vermilion Valley Ranch at Lake Edison where he will resupply.  He has to take a ferry to get to the store and back.  He plans to spend one night there and then head on to his next pit stop which will be Tuolomne Meadows in Yosemite National Park.

Donations for funding clean water can be made to World Vision using Darrell's Team World Vision web page:  https://www.teamworldvision.org/participant/pctwaterboy

Week 11.5

 I was able to go camping with my son and his family and so was off grid for a few days.  When I came back to civilization, Darrell had messaged me that he once again had to pull off trail and revise his route.  He had hiked from Old Station (mile 1371), and he had not seen any PCT through hikers who had made it that far north yet.  However, he did meet someone coming southbound who warned him about unsafe snow conditions a few miles ahead.  He continued on until he reached where the trail intersects with I5 near Dunsmuir (mile 1499).  He was met there by Laura Healy, a friend of a former coworker who enthusiastically volunteered to pick him up and help him out.  Once again, Darrell has been on the receiving end of the helpful and encouraging kindness of a stranger.  After considering the snowy conditions ahead, he decided to take a train to Sacramento where he was picked up by Nancy Turner, one of my college roommates.  She and her husband Shawn housed Darrell as he loaded up the food resupply I had sent him up in Yreka.  On Saturday, June 4, Nancy took him back to the trailhead in Sierra City (mile 1194), which is just a little north of Lake Tahoe.  He will hike from there back up to Old Station (mile 1371), where I had dropped him off on May 24.  I will be picking him up there and taking him back to Independence on June 20 where he left the trail in the high Sierras because of snow.  I know it all sounds confusing, but he is determined to hike every part of the Pacific Crest Trail, even if it's not in the right order.

This image of my giant wall map helped me understand a little better what he is planning to do.  The red dot on the photo shows where he was dropped off on June 4.  He'll be  hiking up to where the blue line starts.  The red post-it arrow shows the mid-point of the entire PCT trail.  It is not his midpoint though, because he skipped several hundred miles and will be hiking them starting June 20.

This is my wonderful roommate Nancy dropping him off in Sierra City.  She has tended to our family on more than one occasion when we've been in need in the Sacramento area. XOXOXOX!

Again, here he is with that smile on his face that leads me to believe no matter how hard this is for him, he is living his best life right now!  I think he must have lost the little plastic thing on his glasses that keeps them resting on his nose comfortably.  Otherwise, I can't explain what the band-aid across his nose is all about.

A peak outside Darrell's tent in the morning showing the frost on the ground that appeared overnight.  Makes it hard to get up and get started on the day.

After being dropped off back down in Sierra City, he came across a young woman hiker who he had met at mile 200 way back in the beginning.  He must be back in the hiker bubble he started with.  Which means he'll probably be passed by many of the same people who have been passing him from the start!  I know he will be excited to see familiar faces.

Spectacular and majestically beautiful scenery!  He has really loved this part of the hike.  He told me he wants to come back and hike it next year with me.  I think I would be up for that!

This is Castle Craggs.  As you can tell, if you really want to see this view, you can drive up I-5, no need to hike 1400 miles to see it.

Water is beautiful and abundant.

Lava lines the path and lays strewn about in the fields.

During his overnight at Burney Falls he was able to sit in on a ranger program about Bats in the Bathroom.   I think that's what he told me; I do better when he texts me the information because I don't always remember what he tells me on the phone.   Although it is not quite like  Carlsbad Caverns, the bat population is abundant in that area. This is a picture of the actual bats in the bathroom--it's a real thing!

He hasn't seen a bear in this area yet, but he did see evidence of a recent bear crossing.  Which also definitively proves the  answer to the age old rhetorical question, does a bear #&$@ in the woods?

Evidence of carpenter ants, termites, or possibly woodpeckers?

Flora 

Fauna

Thank you for checking up and reading this blog.  I know some of you check it every day!  Please remember the reason for his hike:  he is raising money for clean water for children all over the world through World Vision.  He's close to reaching 50% of his goal.  You can donate to this cause on his page using the following link:

https://www.teamworldvision.org/participant/pctwaterboy