September 28 Distance: 23.9 miles | Ascent: 3920′ | Descent: 4980′ Mile marker: 1742.6 Lunch: J – green bean orzo (A), A – mac n cheese (B+) Dinner: J – sweet pork (A-), A – taco (B-) It’s Jason’s birthday today! He thought it would be a strange birthday what with no cake or party…

September 27 Distance: 26.1 miles | Ascent: 3730′ | Descent: 3300 Mile marker: 1718.7 Lunch: J – Korean beef (A), A – taco (B+) Dinner: J&A – chicken parm (A, A) We’re not trying to do this. This is the fourth time. It seems highly improbable. The “distance” we assign to each day is based…

September 26 Distance: 23.4 miles | Ascent: 6190′ | Descent: 6100′ Mile marker: 1692.5 Lunch: J – black rice surprise (C+), A – Korean beef (B) Dinner: J – green bean orzo (A), A – black rice surprise (B) We climbed over so many steep mountains today! We started our day with a gentle 500′…

September 25 Distance: 23.3 miles | Ascent: 1940′ | Descent: 4070′ Lunch: J – Indian curry (B-), A – mac n cheese (B+) Dinner: J – mac n cheese (A) and chili with rice (C-), A – chili with rice (A-) We had camped on an exposed ridge above 10,000 ft elevation. Fortunately, the wind…

September 24 Distance: 17.4 miles | Ascent: 4630′ | Descent: 2260′ Mile marker: 1645.9 Lunch: J – potato chips, ice cream, Alex’s leftovers (A), A – Indian curry (B) and French fries (A+) Dinner: J&A – Mountain House beef stroganof (A, A+) We split up! Yesterday, we had a great idea. To get to our…

September 23 Distance: 27.1 miles | Ascent: 5240′ | Descent: 5600′ Mile marker: 1628.5 Lunch: J&A – mac n cheese (A-, A-) Dinner: J&A – dahl (C+, B), J – spaghetti mac (B+), J&A – peach cobbler (A-, A+) We wish we knew more about geology. There are a lot of cool rocks. Some rocks…

September 22 Distance: 26.2 miles | Ascent: 4880′ | Descent: 4780′ Mile marker: 1601.4 Lunch: J&A – rice and beans with summer sausage (A-, B+) Dinner: J – rice and beans with summer sausage (B-), A – poptart (A) It was freaking cold when we woke up! And we have to hike in this?!?!? Maybe…

September 21 Distance: 12.9 | Ascent: 2930′ | Descent: 1950′ Mile marker: 1575.3 Lunch: J – chili and rice (B+), A – green bean orzo (A) Dinner: J – Thanksgiving (B-), A – spaghetti mac (B) Today was the solar equinox, right? It falls on either September 20th or 21st based on how the Earth’s…

September 20 Distance: 0 miles Lunch: J&A – pretzel and ice cream (A+) Dinner: J&A pizza, salad, and meatballs (A+) We did a lot of chores today. Laundry, gear repairs, gear replacement shopping, groceries, travel arrangements, phone calls, and more! It was very productive. We feel rested and rejuvenated. Alex got new pants, as the…

September 19 Distance: 11.0 miles | Ascent: 1160′ | Descent: 2030′ Mile marker: 1562.4 Lunch: J – large Big Mac meal (A-), A – Dinner: J&A – large roma pizza (A+) It rained last night. And, this morning. Our weather report said the rain was ending, or pausing, at 7 am. So, we slept in.…

September 18 Distance: 26.4 miles | Ascent: 4160′ | Descent: 4240′ Lunch: J&A – mac n cheese with spam (A-, B+) Dinner: J – green bean orzo (A), A – chili and rice (A-) Today was fairly easy, and super scenic. The most challenging part was the rocky trail. Jason’s shoes had carried him from…

September 17 Distance: 26.1 miles | Ascent: 5470′ | Descent: 4210′ Mile marker: 1525 Lunch; J&A – chicken salad (A, ?) Dinner: J&A – jambalaya (A-, ?) Starting at sunrise is pleasant. The cool air feels crisp. Or maybe that’s just an ominous sign of the impending autumn season. We hit 1500 miles early in…

September 13 Distance: 25.4 miles | Ascent: 5230′ | Descent: 3630′ Mile marker: 1438.1 Lunch: J&A – tuna salad (A-,B-) Dinner: J&A – chicken chili (B,B+) We started having good views again! We learned that many northbound hikers will get off trail at a road we passed in mid-morning and skip the section we had…

September 11 Distance: 23.2 miles | Ascent: 5980′ | Descent: 2770′ Mile marker: 1390.3 Lunch: J – chicken taco (B+), A – tomato orzo (C+) Dinner: J – chicken parm (A+), A – chicken taco (A+) Jason slept really well in the treehouse last night. His watch gave him a 97/100 sleep score! Alex didn’t…

September 16 Distance: 26.1 miles | Ascent: 4500′ | Descent: 4110′ Mile marker: 1498.9 Lunch: J – chili mac (C+), A – taco with tortilla (A) Dinner: J – Thai peanut noodles (B+), A – Thanksgiving (A) We were on a pretty ridge for most of the day. Or many ridges. Or one ridge that…

September 15 Distance: 13.5 miles | Ascent: 3430′ | Descent: 1230′ Mile marker: 1472.8 Brunch: J&A – tortilla chips and salsa (A-), peanut butter tortilla wraps (B-) Dinner: J – Thai peanut noodles (A), A – chili mac (Alex has fallen asleep already, but she said chili was one of her favorite meals. I’ll guess…

September 14 Distance: 17.8+1.5 | Ascent: 1750′ | Descent: 4250′ Mile marker: 1459.3 Lunch: J – tomato orzo (B+), A – cilantro pesto pasta (B+) Dinner: J&A – cheeseburger (A++), hot dog (A+), canned peaches and fruit medley and canned yams (A), canned tuna (B), miscellaneous bars and trailmix leftover from our food supply (C)…

September 12 Distance: 22.4 miles | Ascent: 4450′ | Descent: 4450′ Lunch: J – cilantro pesto pasta (B-), A – bacon mac (B+) Dinner: J – chili and rice (B+), A – chicken parm (B+) It rained last night. We woke up a little soggy. We had little motivation to hike. Jason dilly-dallied a bit,…

September 10 Distance: 23.5 miles | Ascent: 2380′ | Descent: 6890′ Mile marker: 1367.0 Lunch: J – taco (B+), A – chili and rice (B+) Dinner: J – cheeseburger and fries (A), A – mushroom and swiss burger with onion rings (A+) It didn’t rain last night, and it wasn’t as cold as we were…

September 9 Distance: 19.4 | Ascent: 4290′ | Descent: 2430′ Mile marker: 1343.5 Lunch: J – mac n cheese (B+), A – chicken parm (A+) Dinner: J – chicken parm (A+), A – mac n cheese (B-) Woah! We’re halfway there! We reached our halfway point! It’s now shorter to walk to Mexico than to…

September 7 Distance: 28.3 miles | Ascent: 4060′ | Descent: 2640′ Mile marker: 1309.4 Lunch: J – chili and rice (B), A – adobo penne (C-) Dinner: J&A – eggs and hash browns (B+, B+) The temperature was in the 40s when we woke up next to our camp by a nondescript dirt road. This…

September 8 Distance: 14.6 miles | Ascent: 1700′ | Descent: 2840′ Mile marker: 1324.1 Lunch: J&A – cereal and milk (A, A) Dinner: J&A – junk food (B+) We had a really cool campsite. It overlooked Terminal Geyser and have us great views of the full moonrise last night and a colorful sunrise this morning.…

September 4 Distance: 27.1 miles | Ascent: 2290′ | Descent: 4300′ Mile marker: 1244.5 Lunch: J&A – cereal (A+) Dinner: J – spaghetti (B), A – mac n cheese () We woke before dawn and smelled a whiff of smoke in the air. There were thunderstorms last night a bit north of us. We hurriedly…

September 6 Distance: 22.3 | Ascent: 2150′ | Descent: 1700′ Mile marker: 1281.1 Lunch: J&A – rice and beans with summer sausage (A, A) Dinner: J&A – rice and beans with summer sausage (A-, A) A water cache was located about three miles down trail from where we camped last night. If we left the…

September 5 Distance: 14.3 miles | Ascent: 1680′ | Descent: 820′ Mile marker: 1258.9 Lunch: J&A – canned tamales and chili found in hiker box (B) Dinner: J&A – spaghetti (A-, A) Checkout time at the ranch was 11am and we enjoyed every second we had. We slept in (relatively), lounged in the bed, got…

September 3 Distance: 21.3 miles | Ascent: 3180′ | Descent: 3170′ Mile marker: 1217.4 Lunch: J – spaghetti mac (B-), A – chicken soup (A+) Dinner: J – coconut almond oatmeal (C+), A – garlic mushroom orzo (B+) We meant to go farther today. We planned for closer to 27 miles, which would make tomorrow…

September 2 Distance: 26.6 miles | Ascent: 6220′ | Descent: 3471′ Mile marker: 1196.1 Lunch: J&A – Mountain House biscuits and gravy (A, A) Dinner: J – mac n cheese (A-), A – chili and rice (B+) Today was a mundane day. It feels a bit wrong to write that because this is supposed to…

September 1 Distance: 18ish | Ascent: 2990′ | Descent: 2340′ Mile marker: 1169.6 Lunch: J – sausage stuffing (A), A – tomato cheese shells (B+) Dinner: J – chicken soup (A), A – sausage stuffing (A) Even though we like hiking, we don’t always wake up excited to hike. Today was one of those days.…

August 31 Distance: 18.7 miles | Ascent: 1530′ | Descent: 5360′ Mile marker: 1151.1 Lunch: J – beef stew (A+), A – Dinner: J – garlic mushroom orzo (B+), A – cheesy orzo Our camp had a great view of the sunrise on Mount Shasta with the sun lighting up the mountain and the fog…