Making my way DowntownToday I don’t have to make too many miles, which is great as my assumption the mosquitoes would not be as bad at night next to the road was wrong. I feel tired, but it’s all downhill, literally, from here on down to I-5. I got a surprise a few days ago that prompted me to move a bit faster, completing about 28 miles the day before. The Kababik Family would be here a day before I thought they would be getting to Mount Shasta. Meeting with the Hickeys was a moving target, but I had this date with the Kababiks for a while now, which really was perfect, I could use all the comforts in NorCal. Who are the Kababiks? Garrett, Kaia, and the three rascals. I had lived on their property, Ahu Lani, on Hawaii Island, for years. We had developed a close relationship, and it was a relationship I made sure to keep after leaving Hawaii, they’re family. So, Garrett, the kids, and one of Garrett’s close friends whom I had met before, Tamlorn, picked me up off of I-5. We immediately went to pick blackberries and put our feet in the Sacramento River. They got a cabin just outside of Weed with a beautiful view of Mount Shasta. After dropping my stuff off, we grabbed Kaia from Tamlorn’s mom’s place who lives nearby, and got lunch at Yak’s. It was one of the most impressionable burgers I’ve had on trail. Quality, quantity, monstrosity. Perfection. After that the ciders started flowing, we were all so excited to be with each other. I hadn’t hung out with Tamlorn too much, but we also quickly got along really well. We partied, but more importantly, we reconnected. They’ve always been hugely supportive of me, and that night, between them and the Hickey’s, I felt pretty lucky.
Kicking it with the Kababiks
I woke at 4:50, went to the bathroom, then back to bed. No matter how hard I party, I will always wake early, so I was happy to fall back asleep. We take a late start and make our way to Lake Siskoyou. We go to a couple spots while we nurse our collective hangover. We look across the lake to see the SplashZone, a water obstacle course. Kaia convinced me to go out with her two oldest, so I did, and I had a blast. Who knew that chasing kids and playing around on the equivalent of a bouncy castle on the water would bust a hangover. We then headed to Castle Lake to catch some fish, no luck, so we headed back to make some lasagna and call it a night.
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| Torin and I |
I realize having the nickname chef almost didn’t make sense since 90% of the time I’ve cooked for folks I make chilaquiles. That’s what I made for breakfast this next morning. We were headed back to the lake as Garrett had rented a boat. The manly urge to catch a fish on a boat couldn’t be stopped, so we had to try. We make our way around the lake to scope out spots but decide we got to make a pit stop. We saw a footbridge that went over a portion of the lake, just about 30 feet or so. So what do a bunch of guys who are really boys do when they see such a thing? They decide to launch themselves off of it. So we did. Nowadays the primary hesitancy I have around cliff or bridge jumping is the potential headache from the pressure change. That feels like age talking. We get no fish that day, but we did start in the middle of the day, which we assess was not the right time to catch fish. We round out the boating experience with more time at the splash zone. I genuinely enjoy it, the movements and swimming are foreign to my body, working it out in ways it hasn’t had to in months. I head out with Tam to grab ingredients for dinner and we head to his mom’s place to make it. The kids are exhausted and I am a bit too. Still, I relish in the feeling of being spoiled by the company within the past two weeks.
Restored Legs
We round up the munchkins and load up the van, rather successfully. They have to drive back to Santa Barbara, which is over 10 hours. I hope they have a plan with a car of 3 boys, sounds like a handful. We stop to grab breakfast in Dunsmuir, a small town just south of Mount Shasta that gets overshadowed. I have some breakfast tacos and enough cold brew coffee to see sounds. I’m ready to hike. They drive me to the trailhead and we say our goodbyes. The trail immediately begins in the trees which I’m so thankful on this day. However, there’s a small dry patch that I spot a young rattler sunbathing in. He’s not happy to see me, but I run over to check it out. In the beginning of the trail I was extremely cautious of these creatures, can’t say the same now. The caffeine is flowing through me as I charge up the hill passing through the Castle Crag Wilderness with rock spires looking like ominous towers.
I don’t intend the day to be a heavy one, so I afford myself some time to call friends to catch up. The day goes on and up, and I keep hiking into the night. I had gotten used to staying up late, so I figure why not just go with the flow. My shadow in the moonlight gets more and more clear as the daylight fades further. I finally come upon a spot, however my tent won’t fit. Garrett had brought some spare trekking poles so I could my tent again, but tonight I’ll have to wait and sleep under the moon once again.
I didn’t sleep great as the night wind kept finding its way into my sleeping bag. Things quickly turn around as within the first few hours of hiking there’s an amazing spread of trail magic. Some of the folks I was hiking near had family in the area so they met them at this location to serve up some magic. I still have a lot of food, but there’s fresh cut watermelon that I could never say no to. I’m determined to push through the remainder of NorCal. I guess my initial goal is to catch up with Joe, but also to keep myself in good distance to try to walk into Trail Days in the middle of August.
While I sit down for a break, a trio of chipmunks tries to test their limits in how close they can get to me. It always seems to be trios, remind me of Alvin and the Chipmunks. I get up and get moving, the chipmunks are left with a few crumbs. I go faster and longer each day, I don’t want to linger on the trail. Not just for each day, but in the grand scheme. I don’t want to be just laying around on the trail, I feel the pull to push miles. Plus, I’m trying to out walk the durability of my gear, which my pack especially is showing serious wear. As night falls I set up my tent, the first time in weeks, and I sleep amazing.
I feel spry today with the good sleep. The day looks to be similar to the day before. Lots of elevation gain and loss, in and out of burn scars. The deer out here are becoming more prolific and bold. I see does and their fawns every other hour. I stop for a moment, I turn as I think I hear a hiker behind me, so I get ready to step off trail. It’s a young buck, still with velvet on its antlers. His head cocked in curiosity he watches me from about 5 yards away.
What is he thinking about? I’ve come to learn these deer have learned that hiker urine means rich salt and minerals. They are piss deer, to be blunt. Bold enough to follow me until I need to relieve myself.
Later in the day I come upon Grizzly Gramp passed out on a cot in the shade at a trailhead turnout. We chat about the Gumboat Lake kidnapping. Two forest rangers were kidnapped and held hostage by this father and son duo. Whole big deal, I barely missed it though, as it happened a few days prior and Gumboat Lake was behind me. His dog, Nevada, had grown quite a bit since the last time I saw her. I later think about this whole blogging experience. I really have enjoyed to write non-professionally. I see I had a lot more fun and voice in the earlier part of the trail, but I’m hoping to find more time to do more detailed writing. The water sources are getting a bit more bleak, but it’s getting late so I think I’ll be able to take my time to bathe myself in a small stream. It’d mean being naked for a while as I wait for my water bag to fill up as I dump that over myself. Just as I’m clearing the grass around the creek, a woman walks by and lets me know there’s going to be quite a few teens coming down the trail so don’t mind them. It’s past 8pm, I thought I was good to go, now my bath time has been interrupted by hiking teens. Guess it’ll just be clean feet tonight.
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| View towards Callahan |
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