Day 106

West trough creek to mount shasta - 16ish miles?

Total - 1502.7 miles

Slept horribly. All night it rained and it was hot despite the garmin telling us that it would stop around 10pm. That’s not the problem though as it had seeped into my tent under my pad so everything was slightly damp or soaked. Made for getting started very hard. Packing up everything soaking wet is also so incredibly brutal. If I wasn’t going into town today I would’ve been in a foul mood. I got out of camp before Caleb and cruised until the big uphill of the day. It was foggy and all the plants were still dripping from last nights rain so I felt incredibly at home. The climb was brutal because it was long but the grade was great so it made for some easy climbing. I didn’t want to do it but there was town food waiting for me at the end. I didn’t see Caleb until right before girard junction which I planned to take to skip out on some miles and get into town sooner. Caleb caught up with me looking absolutely soaking wet and miserable. He couldn’t use his phone as no part of his body was dry to wipe away the water off the screen in order for it to work. There was a road a couple miles back which was confusing to find the trail again, he had to grab toilet paper to wipe the screen so he could use it. He was baffled and rightfully so. His garmin was also freaking out so when I texted him I was taking the shortcut he never got it. Luckily he caught up by the time we hit it. It was nice to walk the last bit together down to the road where we met a trail angel named doc who gave us a ride into town. He gave a lil tour before dropping the bomb that there was a rave tonight at the top of mount shasta road and if he could find us a second sober driver we could come. We opted in of course. It’s the summer of doing things outside of my comfort zone and despite not getting much sleep the night before, nothing a celcius packet can’t fix. He dropped us off at drizzle and we got our food. The restaurant didn’t give out numbers but names to call out, obviously I got “big dog” while Caleb got “man of my dreams.” The food was delicious and rocklicker met us there before heading to the cold creek inn where we got a three bed room with a pct hiker discount totaling $50 per person which is phenomenal. A good ass bed too. We got cleaned up before heading to a bar and getting some beers. We played card game after card game and I’m starting to realize that I don’t know that many card games. Caleb taught me a lot which I will have to remember for the future. There was a bar cat which we got to give treats to and we chit chatted with the owner of said cat for awhile before heading to go get dinner at a recommended spot doc mentioned. I personally cannot eat a burger cleanly anymore. I look like a sticky baby with sauce all over its face and hands but goddamit it still tastes good. At one point the table next to us finished and the waitress asked if they wanted a box which they declined. Caleb swung in and asked the waitress if she could box it up for us which she happily said yes. We are just the great citizens of earth. Leave no waste. The other table stacked the plates and wouldn’t leave so the waitress took the box she brought our table, grabbed their plates, packed it up for us, and dropped it off at our table. I tipped so well. It was so much salad and our bodies needed it. We then headed back to the motel after grabbing beers of course and waited for doc to show up. When he did he had a loaded up truck and two other hikers. We made our way up the mountain which was gorgeous obviously. Definitely want to come back and climb Shasta as it is so pretty. We parked, set up, and got to observing the people around us. Total hippy vibe. We were the only ones drinking and I’m pretty sure everyone else was on some sort of drugs. Caleb got offered shrooms but I declined as I knew I would freak the fuck out especially with all these people around. Instead I leeches off some random guys spliff which caused me to have to talk to him for a lil longer than I would want but he was nice. He had the best saying which I’m planning on stealing “poles are for strippers”. Caleb added to his arsenal with a dab. I was already getting a headache and sobering up which was brutal. The DJ sets were great but progressively got worse each new person. The first girl had the best jacket on and had the best beats which I complimented her when I ran into her later in the night. I can’t get down dancing without lyrics so I was doing a half dance but I’ll break out the moves for Vegas for sure. Caleb was breaking it down as he should. The man needed to be muzzled though. That’s all the context I will give. It was a mostly just us moving back from the chairs to standing to chit chatting. Caleb and I had a conversation at one point where we were doubled over laughing our asses off but the minute we stopped talking we completely forgot about what we were talking about so then we spent the next 20 minutes trying to remember. Rocklicker was also hilarious as he got so intoxicated that he was being entranced by all the crystals and the moon, stating to Caleb at one point “can you believe we put men on the moon.” Another quote from him “There are gold in these hills I’m ready to Pillage.” The other hikers also were fried. One guy started smoking a cigarette when the other hiker asked for a drag but he then said no bc he had to go sacrifice the other half to the gods. That’s the vibe the night gave and it was glorious. Around 12 is when I hit my max. We mentioned this to doc and he snapped into a weird mood and immediately started taking down everything. Apparently he was tweaking according to the guys but I didn’t pick up on it. Probably not the safest to get into the car with him but he said he was sober. Turns out that meant California sober. We got back safely and immediately went to bed after mucking the salad that we stole from another table, and I made myself a bagel wirh cheese and salami. Downed some water as well.

I had been talking shit all night that I was the only one that hadn’t thrown up on trail yet. Rocklicker has a good number on him while Caleb has one. I ate my motherfucking words around 4am. I woke up so incredibly uncomfortable. I had won every other war up until now but every soldier falls at some point. I ended up throwing up twice over the course of an hour. I will pride myself on being so incredibly quiet as I did NOT want the guys to hear me in my state. I would be so embarrassed if they did. I felt better after the second and made my way back into bed to sleep 4 more hours.

Forgot to mention that I felt amazing hiking those miles after a 35 mile day. No pain. I wasn’t even stiff when I started walking in the morning like I normally am. I think the ibeprofen helped a ton.