Days 106
Start: Seiad Valley, CA
Finish: Alex Hole
Daily Mileage: 26.9
PCT Mile: 1684.4
Honeybun and I hit the trail at 5am. We were at 1600 feet, and we immediately had a 4500 foot climb. It was supposed to be another scorcher today, so we wanted to get the miles in we could before it got too hot at the lower elevations. This did mean skipping the traditional pancake challenge in town where if you eat 5 pounds of pancakes you get the order for free. Such a loss.
The trail headed straight up right away and we gained elevation quickly, shooting above the Klamath River valley and quickly leaving it behind. There was a strong haze of smoke in the air, but we couldn’t smell it. Good enough I guess?
Up, up, up until we gained a ridge. It had started heating up, but on the ridge there was a light cross breeze which was a welcome friend. We wove around the mountain on exposed burned terrain until we gained the crest. We took our first break after we had put the first ascent behind us, in the last bit of shade we would see for a while without tree cover.
I’ve been having issues with my new pair of shoes. It was the same model and size, except it was normal instead of wide. There were no wide shoes available anywhere I could find on the internet. I ended up chatting with Brooks and they said that even though they released these shoes last fall, they were already refreshing them and new shoes wouldn’t be available for a month. They said they like to keep their shoes updated. Apparently they would also like to drive people to other brands if they don’t keep shoes on the shelf because they are discontinuing and refreshing them all the time. This is one thing that drives me crazy with shoe companies since most of them do the same thing. I bought these shoes last fall because they just came out at the time and I figured they would be available for the duration of my hike. Apparently Brooks thinks it’s a better idea to have their shoes unavailable in the middle of the summer hiking and running season.
In any case, my regular shoes were pinching my toes and I decided to do some shoe surgery. I cut a big slit in the shoe to allow more room in the toes, and it appeared to be a 90% fix for me. It should be good enough for me to wear them until they are worn out in another 3 weeks. Taking care of your feet is a primary focus on a hike like this, so this was a huge disruption for me.
The trail passed through a lot of burn area today, which was hot and exposed. It was supposed to be another 110F day in the lowlands, though it’s cooler at elevation. We thankfully were able to hit springs every 3-5 miles, but the day was wearing on us.
We passed through some bad blowdown areas that were overgrown and more herd path than actual trail. Tons of blowdowns too. And hot still. And we were climbing as well.
We thankfully escaped the burn and got into forest which gave us some shade, thankfully. There were some great meadows in the forest section which were carpeted in the same brown flowers which provided quite a contrast with the green forest. Just when you thought it was all the same, the trail changed again for us.
As the day wore on, our energy levels tanked. Not sure if it was the heat, miles, or elevation, but we were more trudging on than breezing down the trail. We decided to stop short of our original goal of 28 miles at only just over a marathon length of 26.9 miles.
We were glad to be done and in camp, and not really sure why we were so tired. I looked at my trail app, and it said we had done 8,400 feet of elevation gain today. Bingo! That is a lot of gain! And it was hot again. Wow, and we still managed a marathon. We deserve to be tired.
We ate dinner as a herd of cows rolled through with plenty of cowbell before retiring to hopefully get some rest. It seems to be cooling down, so it should be a better night for sleep.
