7/11/18
1536.8 – 1566.1(Mosquito Lake Outlet). 29.3 miles
Today was uneventful really, with my resupply in the town of Etna coming tomorrow I needed to get a reasonable mileage day in so that tomorrow would be doable. In the end I would have liked to get 3-4 more miles in but my left ankle continues to bother me so the campsite at Mosquito Lake Outlet by 6pm was a welcome site. Any site with good running water is high class👌.
I did a quick wash off of today’s dirt, rinsed off my shirt, socks and hung to dry. I’ve found that when conditions are right, hanging my wet shirt on top of my tent overnight drys out well.
Klamath, this is a name I recognize (“klamath Falls”), Oregon is very close now!
7/12/18
1566.1 – 1599.7(Etna,CA) 33.6 miles
Today was a long, very hot, sun exposed and with sparse water supply. We use two sources of information regarding water sources. One is called Gut Hooks which is also a GPS navigation map and the other is the pctwater.com report. Both are updated with comments by hikers. Unfortunately, the water report hasn’t been updated for almost 3 weeks so I have to use my own judgement of those reports combined with Guthooks comments if recent.
The Russian wilderness on this part of the trail has been burnt and also has alot of exposed Rocky areas. Thus, today was mostly sun exposed.
8:20pm I arrived at the highway to Etna. It’s only 10 miles down to town which is a nice little hitch plus the highway only goes to Etna so every car is basically a sure bet, if they decide to stop. Reports are that most people will stop but there are few cars that go by. I was pleased to see 2 cars parked in this area that must be day hikers. If a ride didn’t come tonight I’d have decent luck with these hikers if they returned tomorrow morning.
I also took a moment to get my wallet out and be prepared for potentially giving a tip for a ride. My wallet was not where its supposed to be. OMG… I lost my wallet?! All I could think of was I’d left it at the Castella gas station on a shelf where I last packed things into my bag. I have no cell service here so I can’t call them. Just great, I guess tomorrow will be spent dealing with this.
A very tired me, just as soon as I sat down a dozen flies decided to as well 😑.
It was now approaching 9pm and 3 cars passed going the opposite direction and none going to Etna. I was getting ready to go find a place to set up camp when behold a Jeep was headed to Etna!! Turned out to be a local kid Brandon dropping off another hiker on his way to Etna. What luck!
We made it to Etna and the Hiker Hut at 9:30pm. The Hiker Hut is on the private residence of Dave and Vickie. More on that tomorrow. I set my tent up in their back yard and was grateful to lay down to sleep! Oh, found my wallet in the bag with my electronics stuff! Wow, what a relieving feeling that is!
Man Seeking Mountains 