Got a late start this morning. Packed up and walking around 7:30. I saw Gnocci and Lucas head out ahead of me where full mosquito body armor. Gnocci has a long string of curses he uses to describe how miserable the bugs are out here.

I ran into them again at Charlton Lake (1925) as they were finishing up water filtering. They took off and I spent a half hour making breakfast (Biscuits and Gravy, yum) while slapping mosquitoes.

Today is green tunnel / burned forest kind of day. There are a ton of blowdowns on this section. I was stepping, hopping, climbing over trees most of the day. I’ve heard this is only a taste of what is to come. Folks are telling me that this is the status-quo for the next 50 miles after which there is a little break in the lava fields which is probably going to suck even worse.

The grade was mostly small climbs and descents today. With my newly re-energized Spotify, I’m now listening to some righteous tunes and picking up my pace. I aimed for a place called Island lake which will give me a 25 mile day.

Reached the lake at 7 and setup with my mosquito friends. This lake is more of a bog with some high ground in the middle. I believe the Mosquito queen lives there. Had to spend an extra 5 minutes of bug slapping after I zipped up. The skeeters are now stuck outside….waiting.

Well this morning I lounged on the front deck of the cabin for most of the morning. I’m packed and ready to go, but Gordon seems to have other problems. The new owners took over the place last week and they don’t seem to be too interested in serving hikers. Gordon told me the owner does not want him to drop/pickup hikers due to concerns about liability (whatever that means). Anyway, I have to cool my heels until the owner dude leaves at 12 o’clock.

Wasn’t all bad. The chairs on the deck are super comfortable and there’s plenty of shade. I took a long nap until Riley, Gordon’s dog, came by to wake me up and get going. Gordon ran me back to Shelter Cove where I left my battery charging. Got that packed, then he dropped me at the trail while picking up another set of hikers. I gave him a $50 for the troubles and wished him luck with the new owners. From the sound of it he’ll need it.

Back on the trail and feeling good. Today’s activities involves a couple of nice climbs from 5k to eventually 6500. Encountered a couple of older guys hauling gargatuan packs on the first climb. We chatted for a bit. They asked me how far I go in a day. I told them 20 to 25 miles. They laughed and said they planed to 30 their whole 5 day trip. Heh. Bet those packs had a couple of liters of burbon.

I was passing lake after lake on the first climb. Around 1910 is a lake called Lower Rosary which was beutiful. The trail runs right along the shore line so I stopped, had a snack and snapped a couple photos.

A couple PCT kids passed me throughout the day. We just chatted for a couple minutes and they continued bounding up the hill. Probably going to be a common feature of my hike. Most of the folks I’ve met through-hiking started in late March and now have their eyes firmly on the prize. They want to knock out the miles.

My target for today was a campsite at the peak of the second climb (mile 1921). When I got there around 7, I found Gnocchi and his kid Lucas in a tent all ready to turn in. I’d met them earlier at Shelter Cove. Gnocchi is a genetists who lives in San Bernadino county. He is an Italian from Argentina and quite the character. He did the California section of the PCT in ’18 and is trying to finish the Oregon section this year with his son. His kid says he is there to monitor his dad, then head to graduate school in the fall.

Anyway, the campsite is on the edge of a big hill. Lots of flat spots for tents surrounded by trees. Not a bad spot, just lacking in significant views. Mosquitoes are pretty bad here. I suppose tomorrow will be more of the same. I started with 4 liters today and still have 1 left after dinner. I’m still amazed at my lower water consumption. This pack makes such a huge difference. I plan to keep dialing my carries down. Saving 4 or 5 pounds of weight is worth it.

Showered twice, eating everything I can get my hands on. I backflushed my filter and fixed the Salty hat ! Writing away on the blog and itching all my bug bites. I am definitely feeling like a human again. I found some deet at the store, so that is packed away.

I’ve been chatting with the Family and Stormtrooper. Storm will hit Ashland at mile 1717 in a few days. He really wants to catch me. I guess I’m now his motivation to go faster. Pretty sure he’ll do it at some point in Washington.

Will be hitting the trail tomorrow afternoon. Gordon has really shown me the love.

Last night I went to bed to the sound of buzzing. Later at night I had to scare some animals away from my camp. They were nosing around my tent. Maybe they want shelter from the skeeters too. I woke at first light and heard the buzzing start up. They are waiting for me. I did a little experiment with my shitty botanical insect repellent. I sprayed a spot on my tent and sure enough the skeeters moved away…for like 15 minutes. Then they came back. This stuff sucks.

So today my plan is to go covered. I zipped on my leggings (thank goodness I brought them) added my long sleeve shirt and headnet. I always leave my socks outside the tent with my shoes to air out. Well I can only find one. As I’m looking around, I notice my hat which I also leave outside has a big chew hole in it. Some critter last night munched on my hat and ran off with my sock. Going to have to sleep with this stuff from now on.

Anyway, I got out with a mixed sock combo and in full mosquito battle armor. Dropped the tent, packed and started hiking. No breakfast today. I’ve got to cover some serious mileage which fortunately is mostly downhill. I’m passing a bunch of nice lakes surrounded by ponds and bogs. My insect friends are trying to get in anyway they can, but my armor holds. At any one time, a dozen skeeters are stuck to my headnet. F you, bitches ! I constantly spray my hands with the not-repellent, but those get plenty of bites. I….will…buy…deet at the next stop.

My pace was pretty good. I tried to keep it just slow enough to not sweat alot. No breaks for 4 hours, just hiking slow and steady. Eventually I made it to the bug free zone of Mountain Creek (1896) where I stopped and had some lunch. Ran in a section hiker called Scorch who just wanted to talk and talk. Seems to be a trend. Folks must be lonely out here. Anyway, Scorch’s hiking pace is anything but and I left him behind.

A little later I rounded a corner and this little dog comes running up to me all barking. Behind the dog is a lady who is section with the dog. We have a nice chat then I notice she has a revolver in a shoulder harness laying on the rock. I’m like, “hey that’s kind of heavy” to which she replies that it helps her feel safe. She had some incidents on the trail. What incident? Well she says that while hiking around Ashland, she walked between two Bigfoots on the trail. Huh. At this point, the dog is still barking at me, the gal has a gun, and she believes in Bigfoot. Definitely time to leave!

After travelling through more of the bug menance I started getting pretty hot. I could not keep this pace and not sweat. Enter my salvation in the form of little snow blobs in the shadows of the trail. Every mile or so, I would scoop up a big snowball and carry it, switching from hand to hand dumping my excess heat into a melting snowball. When one was done, I’d find another. I actually started getting chills ! Going to file that technique away for the future.

Eventually the skeeters took a siesta and I unzipped all my armor and practically ran to Shelter Cove. Got there about 4:30. The folks there have totally rolled out the welcome mat for PCTers there are showers, laundry, a cool awning with picnic tables reserved for PCT hikers. The hiker box is full of stuff and my resupply was there. I sat down at the picnic table and some fellow hikers give me a plate of ribs that someone donated to the group. Man, heaven.

So, at this point I figured it is Friday, I’ll just sleep at the campsite and get picked up on Saturday. I’m sitting there eating a burger and this dude Gordon walks up asking for John Baum. He is from the resort that has my cabin that Alice booked for me. I tell him yeah, I’ll see you on Saturday. He says ok, walks away, then realizes that I don’t know what day it is. IT IS Saturday. Well after that is cleared up, I grab my pack and literally run to his truck. The place he puts me in is incredible. Huge living room, 2 bedrooms, kitche, etc. I’m sitting there right now, drinking a beer and writing this blog.

It was a good day (said with a Canadian accent).

Last night was really cold. I was zipped up in my bag with a buff wrapped around my head and still shivering. I eventually got warm enough to sleep, I just needed to stay very still :). Must have been around 30. Morning was cold as well so I stayed zipped up till 7 then jumped out and got moving. Dark Horse was still in her tent when I left.

Today I need to bust out some miles. I’ve 46 to go to get to Shelter Cove and a pickup! I’ve left burnville behind and now walking through some beautiful old growth forest. The beauty comes with a price….skeeters. They go from bothersome, to thick, to outrageous. Near the end of the climb, there is no stopping them. I’m spraying this crappy repellent called Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus which the eco friendly gal at REI convinced me to buy instead of Deet and it does not work worth a damn.

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So I’m walking, slapping off skeeters, spraying, and generally miserable. Then it gets even worse. I’m talking clouds of mosquitoes. They are going up my nose, mouth, eyes. I inhaled several, ate even more. Goddamn. Finally I stopped and unloaded my bag to find my headnet. That improved things a bit and I made camp at the first spot available at the top of the hill. I jammed into my tent and sat there eating trail mix for dinner. There is no way I’m unzipping this tent !

Thank God this day is over.