C. Dow LaFevers

C. Dow LaFevers

First Year Mathematics PhD Student at Rice University

Day 83

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We slept in big time, not hitting the trail until 7:15. We only had nine miles to the Etna Summit trailhead, where Buff Baby’s parents would pick us up, bring us into the town of Etna, and shuttle us up to Seiad Valley and thus around the closure for the Summit fire.

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The morning walk through the smoky, charred, and beautiful Russian Wilderness was smooth sailing aside from a stretch of exposed snow two fifths of a mile long, the first snow I walked on since just south of Donner Pass.

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Buff Baby’s parents feted us with fresh fruit, homemade chocolate chip cookies, and muffins before driving us into the cute town of Etna. We went directly to the Farmhouse Bakery, where I had one of the best breakfast sandwiches of my life: a veggie and sausage stuffed frittata with pickled red onions on a huge slab of fresh-baked focaccia brushed with their special house sauce. Heaven. And only nine dollars! I washed it down with a huge brioche vanilla cream thing. Yum.

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After getting new gaiters at the gear shop (mine were totally shredded), we zonked out in the bakery for an hour, hiding from the heat and catching up on the latest news about the fires that are now surrounding the trail in Southern Oregon. Eek. We soon hit the road, an hour and a half down a curvy mountain road in truly blistering ninety four degree heat. It was no cooler in Seiad Valley, and combined with the heat, we contemplated skipping ahead to Ashland (where Buff Baby’s parents were headed) and taking a few days off before Roadrunner’s parents come down for our very exciting weekend zero day. We decided to hike on just after 6:00, ultimately cranking out almost seven miles of the notoriously steep and exposed climb. I ended up really enjoying the climb, with lots of beautiful views and great music. We camped at Mile 1664.1 and enjoyed big deli sandwiches packed out from Etna. For dessert I had Nutella on some fresh baguette from the bakery!

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Day 117

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Day 116

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It’s difficult to write about today because it was a very emotional one. I’ll try to just describe what happened. We navigated the several passes between us and the border with ease and excitement, leaving an eight mile downhill to the border. Since this would also be an eight mile uphill, we decided to drop most of our stuff at Hopkins Lake and travel with just water and some snacks to make the hike back a bit easier. While we were off trail setting our shelters up, we missed Free Bird, a realization I would have a bit later which made me sad, as I thought I wouldn’t get to say goodbye. The hike down was so fast, so when I turned the corner and saw the border monument, I almost didn’t believe it was over. After taking some photos, we climbed back up to the lake with no problems and went to bed.

Day 115

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The heat, though not as oppressive as yesterday, made today much harder than it otherwise would have been. We hiked with Free Bird for awhile, ran into a guy very casually running a fifty mile out and back from Rainy Pass, encountered my first mountain goats as I walked a ridge towards Hart’s Pass, and passed a crew filming a dramatic scene of a priest walking through a talus field. Getting to Hart’s Pass, where all northbound hikers must return after touching the border, felt pretty weird, as it was a physical signal that we were sixty miles from the end. Brushing this off, we walked three more miles and made camp. Tomorrow, I finish the PCT.

Day 114

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After the hottest night I have had on trail—I slept naked on top of a picnic table for maximum airflow—we boarded the bus to leave wonderful Stehekin. On the way, Steve regaled us with more stories, anecdotes, and apocrypha; some highlights: “the national park service didn’t plant those irises, Mary did,” “that’s the only gumball machine within seventy miles!”, “I always like to tell people about this creek.* It’s called Boulder Creek. So now when you’re down valley and someone starts a story with ‘so I was up at Boulder Creek…’ you can say ‘’go on I know where that is.’ A good thing to keep in your back pocket,” “now I already told you about Ed Courtney, that’s the older Courtney…,” “I always say ‘people who want to grow a garden want to grow one like Carl’s,’” “I challenge you to find a single tree in that stand without a dapple of sunlight on its trunk.” I love Steve, he really tickled me. He’s a man who truly loves his town’s history and people as well as its natural beauty. Anyways, we stopped on the way at the legendary Stehekin Bakery, where I bought three massive cinnamon rolls (my breakfast for the next three days), a slice of lemon cheesecake (also breakfast), a peanut butter cookie (also breakfast), and a carrot cake muffin (supposed to be breakfast, but somehow made it to lunch).