Day 105

Mooshead creek to west trough creek - 34.2 miles

Total - 1483.4 miles

Last night I heard a large animal come through camp. It sounded like a hiker but it was around 11ish so I’m going with Bigfoot instead. Probably was just a deer. I did not want to get up this morning. The original plan was 29 miles but Caleb convinced me to tak on 5 more to get into town earlier for tomorrow. I knew we could do it but initially I was not thrilled about it as I was so sleepy. Getting up is getting harder and harder. I keep having these thoughts that I just want to be done and at the border. Not that I would quit but I’m hitting a limit with california which is very normal bc we have been in this fucking state for three and a half months. I want to be able to say that we are in oregon but that’s still 200 miles away. As the crow flies it’s about 90 miles or even less. So so so frustrating. Still we push on. Got started and immediately had to pull off for a Duce. Caleb passed me and I was chasing him for awhile. We passed person after person before we hit a dirt road with a sign stating there was trail magic to the right. I pulled up seeing Caleb eating an apple near a truck with its doors open but no person in sight besides him. Very strange. The keys were still in the ignition so the car was beeping. In the back there was a Gatorade 5 gallon jug with fresh water, avocados, apples, and bread out. We were unsure what to make of the scene but we did help ourselves to some apples before sitting down waiting for the owner to show up. A brother and sister duo showed up and surveyed the scene as we told them that we haven’t seen the owner for about 15 minutes. There was a big electric cooler in the back filled with sandwich stuff. Caleb made the first move with the nod from the rest of us. Better him than me. But after I saw him lather on a full avocado onto some fresh bread, I caved as well. Avocado, turkey, and cheddar Jack with some mayo on the softest bread. Everything was cold too. We are so used to warm meat and sweaty cheese that this was best thing that could’ve landed in our laps. Levi and his sister quickly followed suit and we were happily munching on our sandwiches which Levi mentioned the cold bevs also in the cooler. A coke and sandwich later, I was in heaven. Again, no owner of the trail magic or vehicle showed up. We chit chatted with them before another hiker pulled up. Levi wrote a letter expressing our gratitude. I would’ve loved to stay longer but we still 24 miles to do that day so it was time to head out. Caleb and I left and within 5 minutes of hiking we ran into the guy who owned the truck who happened to be going for a hike himself. We talked him quickly before Levi and his sister also ran into us and the beautiful trail angel. After a lil chit chat we bolted. It was a beautiful trail, cutting into the side of the mountain. Caleb and I hiked for awhile together before he took off. The rest of the day was a blur as I was listening to my audiobook enthralled with it as I had taken a break from my book for about a month. We stopped for water right before the bottom of the 12 mile downhill before pushing the last 4 miles to the bottom. That’s where we had our second lunch around 2. I had two bagels with cheese, and sausage. So so good, along with some candy as per usual. After we got back on trail but found ourselves in a parking lot with a bathroom. I quickly went to it, opening the door to find so much mouse poop on the group and on the top of the toilet bowl. So nasty but I had already committed to it so I did my business. As I was doing it I heard some squeaking coming from one of the corners of the bathroom. Thinking it was mice, as all signs pointed to it being that, I looked around the ground and found nothing. I quickly realized it was coming from above me in the corner. When I looked, I was met with 20+ bats hanging upside down in the far corner. I was horrified. Quickly I finished, and got the hell out of there, fearing they would all start flying and surrounding me. Luckily that did not happen. I continued hiking to try and catch up to Caleb so I could tell him about my encounter. I caught up to him at the water source before the last climb of the day. As I sat and conveyed the story to him I realized how sweaty I was. It was so humid outside. I’m not used to the humidity anymore after being in utah for so long. I chugged a liter of water basically and immediately felt sick. After eating so much and then hiking combines with humidity, made my stomach churn. We still had 8 more miles to do sadly so I had to push on. 6 of those miles were uphill but at a amazing grade. It didn’t stop me from taking a fair amount of breaks to chug water as I was so thirsty and to catch my breath. I think I had about 7 liters today. For the last 6 miles I was trying to outrun the thunder and rain that seemed to have rolled in. I eventually put my 3/8th inch sit pad around my tent just in case and put a lil pep in my step to try to outrun it. It mostly just thundered the rest of the way with a lil bit of rain but nothing horrible. My feet started hurting around 4 miles out but nothing too bad. I think they are getting used to our bigger days which is amazing for oregon and Washington as we can just cruise. I finally made it to camp after grabbing water from the creek before. Book wise, I was going through an emotional rollercoaster as one of my favorite characters died and then came back to life lol. Caleb scared me with a yip as I arrived to camp right around 6pm. 34 miles by 6pm is insane. I remember my first day on trail. I did 15 miles by 5:30pm. Oh how far we have come. I did 71,000 steps today with 194 flights climbed. I don’t know how accurate the calorie count is but it says I burned 4,666 calories. Absolutely insane day. Just proud of it so I need to brag about it. We washed off in the creek, chugged a liter of water with Gatorade powder, and snacked a lil. It had been thundering for awhile so Caleb made the comment that it wouldn’t rain and within 5 minutes, fat drops started falling. We packed it up and went back to our tents, waiting out the storm. I’m not complaining though as I love a good rain in a tent. The timing was impeccable though as I had just arrived at camp maybe 30-45 minutes before the rain started. Now we are currently having dinner in our tents. Caleb is doing some pouch on pouch crimes (pouch rice with pouch meat). I’m too tired to cook so I’m just doing a wrap with just pouch meat. I’m just ready for bed. So so so tired. I was fueled by caffeine today but no ibeprofen! I took some when I got to camp to ease the potential pain.

There has been a ton of deer recently. Deer are so freaking I am now realizing. Apparently according to FarOut comments, some campsites have had deer munch on some people’s socks and try to steal them away. Caleb went bathroom today and a deer was 3 feet away from him and when he was done, the deer immediately came over and started licking up his pee. So freaky. Deer are at the campsite we are at now.

Mount shasta got a dusting from the storm yesterday which made for such a phenomenal view especially with a beautiful sunrise this morning.

Asscheek chafe was bad today. People have gotten some weird ass chafe. I won’t name names. Remember I’ve hiked with a lot men so only me and the guys will know who these are but one guy has gotten chafe on their taint, and another on the scrotum, lastly one on the balls. I will take my asscheek chafe anyday over those places.