Day 52 935.4 - 952.3

To be honest, I wanted to stay in the great comfort of the Holiday Inn. There was a comfy bed, decent breakfast, and marathon of The Office on. There was no surprise that our group wasnt at the trailhead until noon.

The zeros were well spent as I didnt dislike being on trail today. The 2500 foot climb out of Callahan's went like a breeze. The bugs are gone which is the greatest change in conditions.

I'm trying to average 25 miles a day through the NorCal section without taking any zeros. Leaving more in the tank at the end of each day should make being more consistent possible.

Day 53 952.3 - 977.9

Made it into California today. Only 1700 miles left but it's easier to think of it as only one state left.

The trail is high and held some solid views today. Mt Shasta sits in the distance and should be visible for another 400 miles as the trail makes a large C shape around it.

My mood is much better than before Ashland. I switched up my resupply, too. While poptarts remain for breakfast, I grabbed so many Probar Meals for lunches and am trying the meal replacement, Soylent, for dinner. My hope is that because the Soylent is neutral it can be a staple that I won't get tired of. Time will tell.

Made it 25 miles at a leisurely pace over the day. Not feeling rushed all day is nice. Camp was in a nice open area with a view of mountains in the distance.

Day 53 977.9 - 1003.6

When I woke up in the morning the air was already warm. I took it as a bad sign for the day. A few miles in, I took the forest service road instead of the trail. The road cut off two miles and was a consistent gentle gradient all the way down into Saeid Valley. A nice benefit to the shortcut meant that I was in town by 1:15, 45 minutes before the cafe closed. I enjoyed a wrap and wonderful raspberry milkshake. When the cafe closed all of the hikers migrated to the tavern a few thousand feet down the road. It was sweltering and with the heat coming off of the asphalt I felt a little woozy.

Stayed at that tavern for hours drinking ice water. The Ice was essential because the AC in the building wasnt working. One hiker's thermometer pegged the temp at 90f. It was still better than the 106f just outside.

At 6 we slowly made our way down the road 7 miles towards the campsite just before the climb out of the valley started. The walk could have been 3 miles but the land owners don’t want hikers crossing their land so instead of fording the river we had the road walk.

Day 54 1003.6 - 1029.4

The alarms went off at 5am. The idea was to get up most of this 4000 foot climb before the heat became oppressive. It’s the first time i’ve gotten up before the sun in almost a week. I like sleeping in.

Turned out that there was no need to get up early as there were scattered thunderstorms all morning and the sun was shy. The climb itself wasnt anywhere near as bad as described on guthooks. It looked like the forest service had cleared most of the downed trees so the only nuisance was a little bushwacking.

I was at the top for lunch and even had time for a nap.

Past that, I entered the Marble Mountain Wilderness which I really enjoyed. The trail held some dramatic views and the mountains were diverse.

I stayed at the Marble Valley Tentsite which is where an old boarded up ranger station sits. I later learned that it was used by backcountry rangers in the 50s and that just up the mountain were vast natural caves.

Day 55 1029.4 - 1055

There were some nice little climbs out of camp today. The trail kept up with the views and a few miles outside of camp I looked back and understood how Marble Mountain got its name.

The air got hot today and there were a number of exposed sections where the sun beat down. Someone wrote in the trail register that more trees should be installed.

I passed the road where most hikers hitch into Etna because Archive's boyfriend is giving us a ride from the highway in a few days. In the last mile the trail entered the Russian Wilderness. I camped at a saddle overlooking Ruffey Lake and enjoyed a colorful sunset as clouds had developed in the afternoon.

Day 56 1055 - 1080.8

What a beautiful day! The trail followed steep cliffs in the morning looking down into the valley with Shasta looming in the distance.

I went at a laggard pace for the day. It wasnt that I didnt want to walk I just could summon the energy to go very fast. There were some substantial climbs and. with the heat, it took a lot out of me. Still, my mood is better than all of southern Oregon.

I called Big Agnes about a leak in my pad at one of the points that I had signal. I was just asking if there was a special way to patch a leak in the baffle. The rep on the line said I could send it in for repair but when I said I was on the trail he told me the would just send a new one up trail. That made me very pleased.

Treated to another wonderful sunset. The clouds looked as though they were painted on the sky.

Day 57 1080.8 - 1092.9

Only 12 miles into town. I was so excited for town food. I’ve been living on Soylent, Probars, and Poptarts.

The miles went so fast and we got to highway 3 a while before our ride. There were some locals camping out and we got to talking with them. They were so nice and had an extensive knowledge of the area. I wish that I knew what they did about the plants and birds I’m seeing on the trail.

Etna held some great disappointment. We rushed to the bakery to get in before they closed at 2 but when we got there they were sold out of almost everything including the sourdough bread I was excited about. Thinking that a burrito at the cafe down the street would be a good option we walked up only to see they had taken a long weekend. The motel was booked so I went to the R & R Bunkhouse. It’s a nice setup in the garage of a trail angel and the shower is nice. I got on the scale and saw that I’ve lost 30lbs.

Got a very small 1.5 day resupply at the grocery store. Ate at Bob's Ranch House for dinner. Last productive part of the day was using a bath tub to find the new hold in my pad.