Running Towards Fire

As the heat of summer in Northern California lingered over me, the grass and trees I was hiking through dried out and the snow melt quickly disappeared into dry water sources. The excitement of crossing my first state line after 1,700 miles excited me as I continued hiking north but the early start of wild fire season gave me pause: what was the rest of my thru hike going to look like? I knew there was a fire ahead of me, already closing over 60 miles of trail. But as I picked up my daily mileage, hoping to get ahead of more fires, I didn’t know that I was actually running straight into them. 

Paws, Monochrome, and I sweaty and dirty at the end of NorCal

After arriving in the town of Shasta, Monochrome, Paws, and I, took a bus to a nearby town before getting a ride from a trail angel around the Shelly fire. This fire was in an extremely remote area of the mountains and had grown quickly in just a few days. The PCTA had asked hikers to not road walk near the area as to not put first responders as well as ourselves in danger. I felt it was the most responsible decision to skip to Seiad Valley, missing a stunning section of trail. Once I was north of the fire, I crossed the CA/OR border. 

Trail magic greeted me half a mile from the border in the form of hot dogs, soda, and chips. Once at the border, Paws, Monochrome, and I let out an ear splitting scream together. A final goodbye to NorCal. We happily crossed into Oregon, which greeted us with lush green pine forests and slightly flatter terrain. 

CA/OR border

The hike into Ashland was smooth and easy, crushing 11 miles before 9am. We got a ride from a trail angel and went into Medford in order to send resupply boxes up the trail. My goal for Oregon was to not go into town a single time, and instead pickup resupply boxes on trail along the way. I packed two weeks worth of food into four boxes and mailed them off, hoping that they would all arrive successfully. 

The start of Oregon treated me well, and I soon decided that this was my favorite section yet. I could walk through a green tunnel forever and not get bored. I feel most at home in the forests, as if it is where I truly belong. 

The stunning Oregon forest

Just before arriving at Crater Lake, Paws got a message from a hiker ahead of us with a picture of a giant smoke cloud. When he showed me the picture, my stomach dropped. Another fire. I thought we were pushing miles and hiking fast to get ahead of the fires, not run towards them. Once at Crater Lake, with little wifi and no cell service, we contemplated logistics and decided to skip to Shelter Cove in order to get around two separate fires just north of the national park. Another 60 miles of trail that I wouldn’t get to hike. 

As a trail angel drove me and 11 other hikers the hour and a half north, I stared out the window at the clouds of smoke from the fire blocking my way. Although I felt sad to be skipping another section, I knew that the fires were so far outside of my control that it wasn’t a good use my energy to stress about them. There were over 30 other hikers at Shelter Cove when I had arrived. Mostly people who had also skipped around the fires, but a few who had been just north of the fires when they started, and even a group who had been camping a mile from where the fire had started. They had woken up to the sound of the lightning striking, igniting the surrounding forest. 

View of the smoke cloud as we drove around the closed section of the PCT

The next couple of days were back to the lovely smooth Oregon trail. Although the mosquitoes started to swarm, I was able to ignore them out of excitement for the days to come. 

But soon my energy levels started to dwindle. On day 122 of my thru hike, three days after leaving Shelter Cove I first noticed the fatigue. I felt fine in the morning, but after hiking just a couple of miles I felt like I had been hiking for several hours. I took lots of breaks and slowed down, but had to call it a day after hiking only 21 miles which was much shorter then my normal close to 30 mile days. 

Trying to stay positive even on the hard days

I continued to feel slightly off for the following days, eventually realizing that it was most likely a nutrition issue. Although I was hungry, I had trouble eating any food. Everything tasted bad, even my favorite protein bars. I forced myself to eat, and continued pushing on with the encouragement of Paws and Monochrome. 

Desperate to get real food into my body, I got a hitch to Timberline Lodge instead of hiking straight to it. It is an all you can eat buffet, and satisfied my extreme hunger. Pasta salad, warm bread, sandwiches, cheese plates, cheesecake, and so much more filled me up as I shoveled so much food into my mouth. It was everything I had dreamed of and more, definitely worth the hype. 

Hitching to Timberline

Hiking out of Timberline I felt much better, and the promise of a zero day with my mom in Cascade Locks kept my mindset positive. I picked lots of blueberries before hiking into my last campsite in Oregon next to a stunning lake.

The next morning I woke up so excited for the day. Paws, Monochrome, and I hiked to Tunnel Falls, an iconic waterfall in Oregon. It is a blue blaze side trail that we had always planned on taking, but the official PCT had closed because of a fire nearby anyways. The waterfall was so much more majestic than I could have ever imagined. Flowing 160 feet from top to bottom, the trail goes right up next to it before going through a tunnel directly behind the waterfall. Standing next to the massive falls made me feel small in the best way. 

Standing next to tunnel falls

Three miles before the trailhead, I saw Paws with my mom. I ran over and gave her the biggest hug, trying to make up for all the missed hugs since I had last seen her in December. We hiked to her rental car, and she drove Paws, Monochrome, and I to Portland where we would spend a zero day. During all of the hard moments on trail, all I ever wanted was to talk to my mom. From the cold mornings in the Sierra to the scorching heat wave days in NorCal, I would always yearn for time, conversations, and hugs with my mom. Getting to introduce her to the two people who I have been hiking with since mile 70, and tell her all of the trail stories from my journey was perfect in every way. 

As I look forward into Washington, my last state on the PCT, I am forced to acknowledge the raging fires along the last 500 miles of trail. I am going to have to skip around 150 miles of trail in Washington due to fires. But if the trail has taught me one thing, it is that life is about rolling with the punches. Nothing is ever going to go as planned. You have to be flexible in order to survive. And there is no point worrying about things you can’t control. So as I leave Oregon and enter Washington, I am excited to experience whatever these last 500 miles have to offer, and roll with whatever punches they are going to throw my way.