August 21

Distance: 26.4 miles | Ascent: 3670′ | Descent: 5550′

Mile marker: 957.1

Lunch: J – tomato pasta (B), A – tomato pasta (B-)

Dinner: J&A – the finest selection of protein/candy bars we had (C+)

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Only five-ish miles to California! Fortunately, the border was mostly downhill, so we had an easy morning getting there. We briefly encountered a grouse waddling along the trail.

When we got to the border, two other hikers were waiting and relaxing. We added our names to the trail register, then sat on a log to munch a celebratory bowl of cereal. We’re 2/3 done! Only one state left! As we sat and ate, others going north showed up and a whole group celebrated reaching the border.

We didn’t hang out too long since we still had a lot of miles to cover. There wasn’t a drastic change of scenery – not that we expected there to be – but we did suddenly start seeing hunters. Apparently, California has an earlier bow season than Oregon. We also began seeing giant pinecones again!

The trail was fairly exposed, and Jason revelled in his new sun umbrella. We occasionally caught glances at Mount Shasta on the horizon.

We lunched near a spring and readied for the last stretch, unaware of what was to come.

We had heard rumors of a big blowdown section, but we thought we would hit it tomorrow. Unfortunately, we hit it today, and there were a few challenging miles. Lots of blowdowns, overgrowth, trail washouts, and exposure. Our paced slowed to less than 1 mph as we navigated this difficult terrain for about 2 miles. We didn’t get any pictures of the blowdowns, too focused on our footing as the sun fell lower and lower. Once the blowdown mess was behind us, we enjoyed hiking a clear trail in the purple and orange lighting of dusk.

We used our headlamps for the last few miles of trail and arrived to camp after dark. It wasn’t how we were expecting the day to end, but we made it through. Tomorrow we reach Seiad Valley, and we’re planning to get an early start. We were warned that the diner in town closes at 2pm. All the more motivation to get moving early!