Day 98: Seiad Valley — Less than 1,000 Left on the PCT!

Miles hiked: 26.1

Mile marker: 1662.1

Total ascent: 3500 ft

Total descent: 6100 ft

The deer were here last night.

“They were gnawing on my hip belt!” Rafiki says as we begin the hike in a double sky — cotton candy on the west and sherbet in the east.

It’s a lot of downhill and a lot of trees to climb over. This is a burn area, so there are lots of dead trees around.

I occasionally hear what I named the Lily Bird — named after my lovely cat who squeaks dramatically when I poke her.

We climb up, over, around, and under fallen logs. Sea Gypsy, a trail angel we met a few days ago, had come out to carve foot and hand holds into the logs. These have been helpful!

We go down a very steep path that had us shuffling our feet and creating dust clouds bigger than normal.

When we reach the bottom of the treacherous, rocky, and very steep path, we keep moving.

The hike wraps around and around the woods. Rafiki isn’t feeling well. He’s nauseas and he woke up with a headache this morning.

“I learned in my first aid class that electrolytes that are too concentrated can cause nausea,” Voyager says as we walk.

Maybe that’s it.

Oh, a side note. Apparently Spotify limits your audiobook hours, so I can’t listen to my book at all! I’m so sad about it!

We finally arrive at a road walk. It’s gravel that turns into pavement. The sun is so hot now that it’s bouncing off of the ground and onto us. I feel like I’m being roasted in an oven with a pan of water underneath me.

My feet hurt. My hips hurt. Voyager and Rafiki are hurting too. I just float along and tell myself it will all be over soon.

We finally cross a bridge, then make it to the cafe! The only reason we walked so fast to get here was because Voyager wanted a milkshake and the cafe closes at 2:00 pm! I wanted one too, of course.

We pile into the cafe. We’re seated next to another hiker, who gets up and leaves. I’m in a daze as my order is taken.

My burger is tasty! The milkshake has pineapple and coconut in it, but I can’t taste it much. We’re all out of it, nauseous and tired. We hiked 21 miles without much stopping to get here!

It’s a hundred degrees by these windows. I end up moving to sit with some hiker friends in a cooler area. I wish I’d known about this earlier!

I pick up a package from the post office. Thanks Hamburger Helper for the book of quotes! I send off some trail finds for the Bruce and nephew, including bird feathers, acorns, rocks, and some fern leaves.