Day 93, 3 Month TrailVersary

Part 3, Northern California, Day 93

3 Month TrailVersary

Miles: 25.5

Total Miles: 1496.10

I woke up from an awful sleep at 1am last night drenched in sweat. I had no idea where I was. I stumbled out of my suffocating tent into the insanely hot night  and I was still clueless. I was off trail somewhere, in an incredibly thick and dark forest. My head was throbbing and I felt like shit. Must've been that vodka last night at the trail magic party. A little too much magic. I set up my tent on a small pile of rocks. I was extremely uncomfortable but somehow managed to sleep for another hour. I packed up and found the trail by 6. 

My goal was to get as close to I 5 as I could so I could hitch to town early tomorrow. I'm not looking forward to hitching on interstate 5, but tough shit, right? Today was incredibly dull and work like. I barely saw anyone and the trail was mostly uphill and covered by trees. It was close to 95 degrees all day. 

The trail was bad today. Tons of poison oak and sometimes I couldn't even see the trail.

I hiked 15 by noon, as this has become a daily goal for me. I stopped at Squaw Creek for water.

The uphill was long and brutal in the heat, but uphill is so much easier on my body than straight or downhill trail. I've also stated before that I'll take sunny and hot over cold and rainy while hiking any day. 

Today is my 3 month TrailVersary. It came and went with little celebration and no fanfare. My feet were in an ibprofen induced coma, but a new ailment emerged; my right knee was throbbing with pain. I finished the uphill and braced myself for the downhill, knowing my feet would hurt.

I can never get enough of Shasta. This is a special mountain. 

There was another mini mountain near Shasta, but I don't know what it's called:

I saw the crags from Castle Crags State Park, which I'll enter tomorrow.

I was really thirsty. There was no water for the last 10 miles and the heat was getting to me. Luckily, I found this ice cold spring water. 

Here's me being an idiot and sitting in the heat.

I had cell service and called the inn in the town of Etna to confirm the delivery of my new solar panel. The lady at the inn lashed out at me and said she'd had it with hikers. Unfortunately, hikers are treated this way all the time in trail towns, mainly because of a few bad apples. The lady refused to even look for my package, so we'll see how this goes when I get there. I was polite and thanked her for her time, regardless. It's all about being a good trail ambassador. 

I found this massive beetle type bug. It was dead, but still in tact. This thing was huge.

I took 4 liters of water from a spring and set out to dry camp. I needed to go 3.5 miles to a saddle. The only problem was that my knee and feet weren't cooperating. I was done. I walked oh so slowly for 2 miles when I heard a hiker talking on his phone up the ridge. I couldn't let this guy take the only tent spot before the highway, so I walked fast. It took everything I had not to pass out from pain, but I finally made it the spot, which is crappy at best, and fell to the ground in triumph. I laid in the dirt for an hour before setting up camp. 

It's so damn hot, but I'm happy to be off my feet. I have to resupply tomorrow and a zero day might be good for me, but we'll see. I may just nearo in and nearo out. I'm really tired. I need some air conditioning! Later gators.