Day 102, California Dreaming

Part 3, Northern California, Day 102

California Dreaming 

Miles: 31.03

Total Miles: 1691.08

Days 100-103 are up. Day 103 may be out of order. 

As I write this... I'm in Oregon!!! Here's how I spent my last day in California.

I woke up to a gorgeous sunrise at 5:30am. I planned for a big mile day today to get me to the border, which was nearly 30 miles away. I packed up and hiked up the mountain at 6:20am.

The views were so great. As I hiked, I thought about hiking across my home state of California and what a special adventure it's been. 

This is called Lily Pad Lake, and I can see why. Check out all those lily pads. 

My body was feeling well, thanks to ibprofen, but I was a bit behind on the miles this morning because of all the uphill. I passed Runaway and Homie, who also planned to cross the border.

I was getting all nostalgic today about leaving California, and I spent a lot of time reflecting. 

There were beautiful wildflowers out today:

I had no water all day to save weight, and at noon, I was so thirsty as I went to collect water from a spring listed on my map. I took a spur trail to a meadow. The trail disappeared, and the meadow was contaminated by cattle shit anyhow. 

I had to hike 6 more miles uphill in the heat to get water. 

By 2pm, I'd hiked 20 miles without even sitting down. My ankles were tender and painful, but the worst pain was on the front of my thigh, which was very tight and swollen. New day, different body ailment. 

It seemed to take forever to get those 6 miles done, but reached the spring area. I searched for awhile and found nothing. I was dejected, but I looked a bit further and finally found a small hole with a spring. 

The water was closely guarded by this fellow, who watched me with great interest:

I filtered the water because of the cow. It did the job. I sat for a bit and took some more pain relievers before hiking again at 3 pm. It's incredibly difficult to hike 30 miles in a day. I hiked for 14 hours today.

I found this toilet... I did not use it.

I was close to my destination, but I was I so much pain that I had to stop frequently. I was determined though. I moved forward as fast as I could. 

I met a hiker named Eagle Eye. He's a really cool dude and we hiked on talking for awhile.

As we were talking, I heard a horn and saw Cookie Monster up ahead. He was at the border welcoming us with a party horn. I walked up to the border and was so happy to see the sign. 

It still hasn't sunk in yet that I've hiked this far. This was a special moment and I thought of all the hard work it took to get here.

Homie, Cookie Monster, Eagle Eye and myself hung out for a bit and I signed the register. 

I moved on at 6:30, eager to find a camp spot. 

I found a spring to fetch water from. Oregon water...

Luckily, I didn't have to look far for a camp site. 

I'll finish by saying this. Walking through California was simply amazing. For 102 days, I walked through desert, forest, and mountains; through snow, rain, lightning, thunder, and hail; through extreme heat and bitter cold. I saw hundreds, maybe thousands, of lakes, rivers, all kinds of wildlife, volcanoes, wildfires, caves, and beautiful sunsets and sunrises. I visited towns both big and tiny, and all unique. I feel so incredibly lucky that I get to live in this special state. I love California with all my heart. If Oregon is even half as good as California, then I'm in for all of it.

What a crazy adventure this has been; a chance of a lifetime, and there's so much more to come. 

Goodbye California... For now.