PCT 2007 Day 103 – Cold Springs – Chester, CA

PCT 2007 Day 103

Day 103 / 7-6-07 Motel
Cold Springs – Chester
27.2 (.6) miles; 1335.8 (55.1) total miles; 3196.2 trip miles
90’s, partly cloudy, very little wind

Deer count is 63
Marmot count is 51
Bear count is 5
Pika count is 2

I slept well despite the loudness from the spring next to me. It came out of the ground via a pipe and splashed down into a tub. Then it exited the tub and came out of another pipe on the ground and that made bubbling noises.

I met the person I saw while writing in my journal last night. It was a father named Slow Walker, who was with his two kids and wife. I ran into the wife up the trail. She said she was slow so she always leaves ahead of the others.

Early in the hike I was cruising along and something caught my eye. It was a young blonde bear. It was the size of a 40-50 pound dog. He looked up and saw me and was off like lightning. I froze and thought, “where’s mom?” I looked but
could not find her.

I climbed, circled and skirted lava mountain tops on my way to Carter Meadow Trail Junction. I keep forgetting to mention I have been seeing Mt. Lassen since the day going into Sierra City. By now it was looming large to my left most of the day.

At Carter Meadow Trail I descended 3 tenths of a mile to one of the coldest springs yet. I only got 1 liter which turned out to be too little. I moved on and climbed almost 4 miles to the Junction to Butt Mountain summit, where I had lunch. The ants were, once again, driving me crazy. I had to force down another peanut butter bagel. I’m so sick of Peanut Butter. The issue lately is I never have enough water to wash it down with. I finished my 1 liter of Lemon Lime favored Nuun and enjoyed every last drop. I only had a 1 liter or so left in my bladder to do the next 7 miles. Luckily for me it was downhill. When I did get to the water source, it was nice and cold. I doused my head and took more water than I needed this time. I had to climb a little, then I descended through some lumber company land where they had clear cut. I finally made it to a large meadow the book called a grassy trough. There was a nice boardwalk through the center. At this point I was crossing from private land to National Forest land every few tenths. After crossing a road, I had a wicked climb to reach Highway 36. Once there, I attempted to hitch but was getting nowhere fast. At one point I pulled out my food to see if I could just skip Chester; but, I didn’t have enough breakfast or lunch.
There was a truck in the parking lot there and I thought, “wouldn’t it be great if the owner showed up and gave me a ride!” Well a guy did show up from the south like me, not sure how I passed him without seeing him, but he walked past the truck. It was odd because he didn’t have but a day pack on. As luck would have it, he came back and it was his truck. Now all I needed was for him to be going to Chester. He was and pulled over to give me a ride. His name was Jim and he was from the Bay Area. He does the PCT in sections.

Jim dropped me off right at the Best Western, where I found out they were full. They were also running the Chester Manor, which was right next door. It turned out the lady who runs it was out of town. I got a room, showered, and went for pizza. I had a whole, medium, 3 topping pizza and 3 cokes. I watched the US beat Brazil in a soccer match.

On the way back to the hotel, I stopped at the grocery store where I got the needed supplies. Once to my room, I felt the full weight of the fact it was still 91 degrees at 7:45 PM. My room was 81 inside. I settled in and made some calls and watched a movie. It was almost 11 before I knew it. I tried to sleep but the heat was unbearable. It was by far one of the worst nights sleep so far this trip.

Scatman 2011- When I woke up this morning I didn’t even know I was going to be hitting the half way point of my trip.  When I got to the post in the ground I was like “What is this thing?” and then I read the words engraved in it.  I was a bit taken back that’s for sure.  On one hand I couldn’t believe it was half over and on the other I couldn’t believe I was going to be hiking another 1300+ miles and without a hiking partner.

I was in a grove now and it didn’t matter if I had someone to hike with.  My days went from one to the next.  The scenery changed but was similar from day to day.  All that was different was there were less miles to go each day.  Each step was one closer to Canada and that is the goal.  It made no difference if it was in tandem with someone else of by itself.  I was loving trail life and enjoyed my time.