August 20

Distance: 21.5 miles | Ascent: 4680′ | Descent: 2570′

Mile marker: 957.1

Lunch: J&A – rice and beans with summer sausage (A, A+)

Dinner: J&A – rice and beans with summer sausage (A-, A+)

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The lodge had a breakfast buffet! We treated ourselves to some cereal and a bagel and juice! Jason also made a waffle. Whichever company or salesman convinced every hotel in America to install a waffle iron must’ve had a banner year.

After sorting out our resupply and sending off a postcard, we hit the trail a little past 10:30 am. The hill to get back to the trail was pretty steep, but the trail itself wasn’t that much shallower. Fortunately, a nice tree canopy shaded us for most of the climb. In the sunnier sections, Jason tried out his new sun umbrella.

Near the top, we encountered a nice older man out for a day hike with his adorable puppy (perhaps an Australian shepherd mix), Luca. We spoke with him for maybe half an hour. He lived an adventurous life in Alaska before moving to Ashland. All the while, Luca  was running up and down the trail, sitting at our feet to get some pets, and chewing on an occasional grass blade. Meeting Luca was possibly the highlight of the day.

At the top of the hill, a cooler full of sodas and two beach chairs awaited us. It was labeled for PCT hikers. The people who go out of their way to bring drinks and snacks to these remote trails are amazing. We’re expecting it to die down, however, as we go further south. We’ve definitely crossed the northbound bubble, and the trail magic follows them. Hopefully, we’re proven wrong, and we continue finding these treasures.

While we drank our sodas, we spoke with two other backpackers out for the one night. This was their practice for, hopefully, doing the PCT in the future. Maybe we encouraged them to do this crazy thing.

We targeted a campsite about 10 miles out and put our legs into high gear. We got some great views overlooking the valley and the sunsetting on Mt. Shasta. We crossed two 1700-mile markers. I wonder what it feels like to make a marker like that and then find another one just 100 feet up the trail.

We got to our campsite just after sunset and ate dinner by the light of our headlamps for the first time. The temperature dropped quickly, so we wasted no time cleaning up dinner and settling into the tent.

We’re pleased with the mileage today. Even with the later start out of the lodge, we still clocked in over 20 trail miles (more if you include the side trail to the lodge). Tomorrow shouldn’t be as challenging. Maybe we’ll do another monster day as we roll into California.

Also, forgot to mention, we hit our 1/3 point mid-afternoon on August 18th before we hit the 900-mile marker. We were cruising and gave ourselves a small cheer as we kept strolling. Lotta miles left…