OREGON!!! We made it! Done with California!
We started hiking around 5:15am. The climb out of Seiad was insane! Super steep 7 miles with 4500ft of elevation gain. There was also a fire near by and the smoke was really covering the area. It made it hard to breathe at times.
After the climb, the trail was still up and down all day and very hot. The trail stayed up on a ridge and we stayed out of the smoke for the most part.
Nothing exciting happened all day. We were mostly focused on possibly getting to the border tonight. It wasn't the main goal for the day, but we knew if we kept moving, it was a possibility.
At one point in the trail, we took a short side trail down a dirt road to get to a spring for water. When I usually go off the PCT like this, I like to leave my hiking poles on the trail so people know where I got off at...just in case for some reason I do not return to the trail...
We went and got water, when we got back to trail my poles were gone! We looked everywhere and noticed some fresh tire tracks in the road. Then a few seconds later an off road car comes flying by on an adjacent road. We yell, they look at us and keep on driving. Since we are in the middle of nowhere, we assume they took my poles.
They drive off down the mountain and come to realize that I will not be getting my poles back....I am sad.
We continue hiking and I feel awkward. I don't know what to do with my hands and I miss that extra boost in my step. I also use my poles for my shelter, so I was also bummed that I would most definitely have to buy a new pair in Ashland. Poles are not cheap!
About 2 miles down the trail we cross a few other dirt roads and come across a camp with a few cars, including the one we saw drive by earlier!! Minor and I talked for a minute and decided to go over and ask "if they've seen" my hiking poles.
There were 3 of them, all rednecks in camo. They said they found some poles and that "if it is on the ground, we pick it up." I explained why I left them there, and they didn't understand. But luckily they gave them back. I was no longer sad.
We continued hiking and the sun was setting, we had 2 miles to go to the border. We were determined at this point to make it. We were at mile 35 for the day and we were hiking faster than at any other mile in the day. Minor played "The final countdown" on his phone speakers when we were about a quarter of a mile away which picked up our pace even more.
We got to the border and went crazy! We ran around and yelled for a while. We are finally in Oregon! California is over!
It was dark so we found a spot about 200 yards up trail. We want to take some pictures in the daylight, so we will walk back to the border in the morning.
We checked the gps on Minor's phone, we had hiked 37 miles with 10,000ft of total gain. That's insane.
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