Rockin’ Through the Trinity Alps Wilderness – PCT 2017: A Hiking Story [36]

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Part 35 ‘Castle Crags and Finding the Long Lost Dinosaur’ 

Day 108 (27/07) – Attack of the Mice!

Rex and I arose for our synchronised ‘coffee in bed’ – just like old times, except she was not used to getting up so early. We left our camp at 6am, passing Ricky Bobby, who camped alone in a mice-infested area, having one bite through the mesh in her tarp tent, which really sucked! This is the good thing about being a light sleeper – the mice would totally wake me, and I’d scare them off in time.

Trinity Alps Wilderness was such a stunning area. We hiked through beautiful rocky outcrops of metamorphosed Serpentine mineral, interlaced with veins of quartz that had been squeezed and twisted through heat, pressure, and time. It was super cool, being the rock enthusiast I am!

I met a hiker that Rex had previously met called Fancy Feet (who we renamed to Bubbles due to her ongoing burping from weird stomach reactions). She was a northbound hiker to Canada too, but only had started from Burney Falls. We ended up bumping into each other for the rest of the day’s hike.

The three of us camped at a nice little spot by a stream. Rex’s tent pole broke sadly, and she had to sleep in her tent inner like a bivvy – luckily, we were only a day from town. Later that evening, another random French girl joined our campsite.

As soon as the sun set, and sleep was meant to be… I heard the scampering sounds of little mouse feet. ‘The bastards found us!’ I thought, as they raided our campsite. I had left my ziplock rubbish bag outside the tent, and they found it. ‘Ugh, just have at it’ I thought. Better that than allowing them to tear up our tents. Sadly, it kept me awake the whole night. Worst night of sleeping on the PCT thus far!

Distance hiked: 22 miles

Total PCT hiked: 1588 miles

Day 109 (28/07) – Etna

After a measly hour or so of sleep, I was glad to get up and hike. Mice were on my most-wanted animal list, along with the blasted sock-eating marmots!

The hike was spectacular all the way to the Etna turn-off. Beautiful rock formations the entire way, just like the previous day.

We hiked the final 9 miles until reaching the road to hitch into Etna. It was there that I saw Megaman and Dasani just returning to the trail after a town day. We got a hitch with a guy looking for his lost dog. I rode in the rear cabin of his covered pick-up truck, whilst the girls and another random hiker rode in the cab.

We were dropped off at Dotty’s (a restaurant), and got some burgers and milkshakes. Then, we headed to Hiker Hut – a small offshoot of a bed and breakfast lodge that has 4 bunks in a small room with a bathroom, seating area and kitchen. You could also camp outside on the lawn. We took the beds as it was only $7 more.

That evening, we visited a bar and had dinner, where a DJ was doing terrible karaoke. However, a young local girl came on intermittently playing indie-style folk with a guitar and was excellent.

Distance hiked: 9 miles

Total PCT hiked: 1597 miles

Day 110 (29/08) – A Lot of Food

What a sleep it was! It was much better than listening to a plague of mice swarming my tent. Rex, Bubbles and I left for the coffee shop via loaner bikes to blog. Bubbles hadn’t blogged before, and wanted to also get into it – being new to the trail.

We visited the supermarket to get some forgotten items and grab some things for lunch – chicken, avocado, and salad with ranch dressing…. yummo! Next, some logistics. We received and sent packages at the post office. It was here, I thought I had my new shoes. It turns out the package was a food resupply I had sent in the Sierra Mountains ages ago that I had rerouted to here (the one that was sent to VVR after Muir Pass). I made the mistake of already resupplying, so I had to make a new resupply box and would send it ahead on trail.

We organised to leave at 5pm via the volunteer there to return to the trail. During the time at the Hiker Hut, several other hikers came in to stay that night, most of them I met during the Burney Lodge to Dunsmuir section.

The three of us (including Rex and Bubbles) were dropped off, and we farewelled Blossom (another ex-hiker) for the lift and gave her some money before setting off. 7 miles was our goal today, to the nearest water source and campsite. On the way, we witnessed another beautiful sunset behind the mountains.

We arrived just before the last light, and set up just our tent inners. Cowboy camping is hard now due to the number of mosquitoes. I grabbed the girls’ water bottles and hiked down to the spring with my headlamp, instantly regretting the decision of wearing sandals as I schlopped through the mud to get to the spring. ‘I hope the girls were thankful for their water’ >:(

Distance hiked: 7.5 miles

Total PCT hiked: 1604.5 miles

Next Post:

Part 37 ‘Sky High Lakes & Grider Creek’ 

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