The Adventures of...: Days 108, 109

Day 108, 25 miles, endpoint PCT mile 1695

First thing this morning we finished the last seven miles uphill along the forest service road to rejoin the PCT. From there the climbing wasn't over: We went up another 1,000 feet, deep into the Siskiyou Mountains. We probably would have had great views if not for the same persistent haze of smoke that has filled the sky for the past several days.

During the climb we had yet another rattlesnake encounter. The other times we have startled these guys on the trail, the snakes have rattled but they all always retreated into the bushes and let us pass. They seem to prefer the run and hide strategy rather than the attack strategy. The snake today must have been having a bad day. As soon as we got close and realized it was there, the snake sat upright (can snakes sit?) and flexed his head as if he were about to strike. He rattled at us, as well, just to make sure we knew he was serious. We backed away and waited for him to move. Several minutes passed and we were still looking at one angry snake who was refusing to move and was completely in our way. We threw a couple of rocks in his direction just to try to scare it away off the trail, but it didn't even flinch. I thought we were going to be waiting all day. Finally, we won the staring contest, and the snake very, very slowly moved off to the side, giving us enough room to safely get around it. I really, truly hope that will be our last encounter with a rattlesnake this trip.

Besides the rattlesnake, we came face to face with another danger today: forest fire. The fire we are near to now is different than the fire outside of Etna that closed the PCT. This fire is large and has threatened evacuation of a nearby town. We reached our high point of 7,100 feet and could see the smoke rising up like an industrial factory over the adjacent ridge. It looked quite a bit closer than I was expecting.

It wasn't all doom and gloom, however. We are very excited because tomorrow morning we will cross the state line and enter Oregon! Today was our last full day in California; what a long, strange trip it's been. California has been great, but it was long, long, long, and we are happily moving on.

Trail views

Fire!

Day 109, 23 miles, endpoint PCT mile 1718

Today was a glorious, wonderful, amazing, beautiful day. Today we left California and walked across the border into Oregon. Home, sweet home! It felt good to leave California after having been there so long. I am excited to see what Oregon has in store for us during the next stage of this adventure.

Almost as soon as we entered Oregon, we began seeing familiar areas. Both Josh and I have done trail races in the Southern Oregon area for many years, and we hiked along the same spots the race course runs in many places.

We made our way towards Mt. Ashland and enjoyed cliffside views of distant hills and green valleys. To the south, smoke clouded the air, but we could see blue skies ahead.

We hiked into the night and were able to see the nearby Grouse Fire exploding in bright orange and red colors just beyond a ridge. It was amazing to actually see the fire breathing and moving, when all we have been able to see up to this point has been smoke.

Tomorrow we will have an easy nine mile downhill hike to our hitching point into Ashland, one of our favorite towns in Oregon. We are planning on staying three nights and getting all of our resupply boxes made up for the rest of Oregon and Washington. We also plan on drinking some good beer, sleeping in, and relaxing! Should be fun.