Day 73 : mile 1626, Paradise Lake

Mr astrada gave us a ride out the etna summit at 7 this morning. The clouds stayed away for most of the day.

I ate my first hucklberries of the trip!

Day 72 : mile 1597, Etna

Howdy and I woke up early this morning so we could make it to etna before evening. We are staying at the hiker hut which is awesome, and went to the etna brewery for dinner. 

Day 71 : mile 1570

Howdy and I spent most of the day walking through the inside of a ping pong ball. The clouds finally lofted a bit this afternoon. We are practicing for Washington.

Day 70 : mile 1534, deadfall lake

I woke to a steady rain this morning, whih made the long climb out of the sacramento river valley bearable. In fact most of the day was more like washington than CA: the was a mist on the firs and it spit rain a few times.

As such, not a lot of good scenery shots today, but a lot of interesting plants, including what I think is a carnivorous plant and maybe beargrass.

I ran into Howdy, who I hadn't seen since idylwild. It's nice to hike with someone again.

Day 69 : mile 1498, castle crags state park

Andrea and I camped at the McCloud river last night. This morning she drove away and I started hiking again. It was a physically easy day, but a mentally and emptionally tough one. Saying goodbye is hard, and now I am hiking solo, which is tough too.

Fortunately the scenery is amazing.

Days 63 - 68 : cabin zeros

We had a good group up for the 4th of July: Andrea, Stephanie, Jenny, Fernando, Alex, Rose, and Matt.

After the 4th, we took a quick trip down to Carmel to pick up my car.

Day 62 : mile 1469, mccloud river

We got up and walked 21 miles to the McCloud river, arriving around 1pm. It was cool by the river, and I did a little fishing. andrea, stephanie and jenny came and picked me up around 5.