Tahoe to Old Station
Trip Start
May 15, 2005
1
8
13
Trip End
Oct 2005
Old Station,
California,
United States
Friday, August 19, 2005
My last written update was from Tahoe, where I wasn't able to upload pictures to this site. You should now see pics way back from leaving Bishop up until today. I'm sure they're out of order and I'm misnaming people and mountains, but at least I tried.
My first stop was in historic Truckee. Just before I arrived there I ran into a nice couple on the trail. One of them thought I was jogging, so I guess my hiking pace has increased. Later, as I was walking through Truckee (that's historic Truckee, better for tourism) they spotted me from their SUV. I was then taken to a wonderful natural foods store where they bought me delicious plums. Then I was taken to an authentic Mexican restaurant where I had a perfect margarita and other Mexican delicacies. Then I was driven back to the trailhead at Donner Pass. Good thing I had just eaten, as you never know what the vending machines there may contain.
The next day I came across three cool girls section-hiking the PCT; Tracy, Linda, and Jeanne. We all camped together that night after some interesting conversation. Just a tip I learned from one of them: Learn what poison oak looks like before you go to the bathroom in the forest. Thanks to all three of you for the food.
My next resupply stop was Sierra City which has an overestimated population of 225. There were three bars nonetheless. I stayed with Bob Frost, the forest ranger not the poet, and his good friend Doug.
100 - Me again
Even made a few extra dollars. First I helped build a dam to raise the water level in a local river. This allowed water to flow through a 12-inch PVC pipe that feeds the fire hydrants for a portion of Sierra City. I then gave tours of my exciting project. "Welcome to the dam tour. I'm your dam guide."My next project involved moving and stacking 4 chords of wood. I have nothing funny to say about that. I did have help from another thru-hiker named Chris, whose name I later learned is Bugaboo. I have a trail name too but we'll get to that later.
The day I left Sierra City I camped high on a ridge in position to view the Perseid Meteor shower, which reached its highest count at 4:00AM the following morning. This was definitely in my top ten best nights on the trail, although getting up at 3:30AM made the next day one of my more tiring.
I decided next to hitch into Quincy, as I was feeling a little down and unmotivated. After 4 hours waiting for someone to stop (my longest yet)I decided to start the 20-mile hike. Within 5 minutes a big black pickup stopped, the guy pointed to the truck bed and I jumped in. 20 miles later he stopped, pointed outside the truck bed and I jumped out. No words were ever exchanged but the bone-jarring drive at what must have been 60mph through tight curves made forget about my bad attitude.
Right away in Quincy I met a wonderful Dutch couple that lives in Bellingham, Washington, where I lived for two years. They bought me lunch and drove miles out of their way to get me where I needed to go.
70 - Rocky Lake
They were on their way to Lassen Volcanic National Park, which I just hiked through a couple days ago. I'd love to stop by and take them out for dinner when I'm in Bellingham again.I'm now hiking with a crazy new group: BadMoon and Happy, Phantom and Whoop-Ass, and Rabbit. Rabbit and I have made plans to partner up for a good portion of the remaining trail. The six of us stopped for resupply in Chester, a nice little town that is sometimes home to Chuck Norris, the martial artist and actor. BadMoon and Happy ran into him at the local supermarket. No punches were thrown.
As I'm nearly broke, I looked for a free place to stay. I ended up at Bodfish Bicycles, a great bikeshop in old Chester (better than new Chester). Chuck, the owner (not Chuck Norris) let me camp in his yard. His son, Colby let me use his awesome cruiser bike for the whole day and night. It's nice to know there are still selfless people out there that can trust a complete stranger. Chuck's wife, Lisa even cooked me breakfast in the morning then gave me a Bodfish Bicycles T-shirt, which I've worn every day since. I was a little sad to leave them. If you're ever looking for a bike, call them.
As a short sidetrip, Rabbit and I hiked to Terminal Geyser which is really a fumarole. Steam shot out everywhere and water boiled all around us. Sounds scary doesn't it? It wasn't really. A few miles later we passed Boiling Lake. There were a few deer walking on a ridge above the lake but none fell in so we hiked on to DrakesBad Guest Ranch where we got to swim in a pool-sized hot spring. I highly recommend it.
That brings me to the present, at 1371 miles along the PCT. We're all staying at the house of Georgi and Dennis Heitman, wonderful trail angels.
The most important thing that's happened lately is I now have a trailname: "Wifeless". BadMoon came up with this and it seems to have stuck. My mother told me to find a nice girl on the trail. Maybe this will help. "Hi, I'm Wifeless." This should scare away the non-commital girls.
As usual, I'd like to thank all the great people I've met for being so helpful and kind. I literally would not be this far without you all. Oregon here I come!
- Drew a.k.a. "Wifeless"
