August 13th
10.5 miles
PCT mile 1672.5
The four of us (Guy On A Buffalo, Adam, Hornsby and myself) that were cowboy camping in Ed's fluffy green grass, had a rude awakening at 4:30am. Rain! As we were half asleep scrambling to keep our down bags dry and rummage through our packs for our shelters. Ed, the saint that he is, came out to make sure we were awake and aware that it was raining and helped us get out of the rain. He opened up his large work shed for us that had ample floor space to accommodate us.
With the morning rain we had a nice lazy morning, we really didn't get up till close to 9am. We joined Ed in his trailer for coffee and headed off to breakfast around 10:30am. Rumors were flying around the VERY small town that the Beaver Fire burning southwest of the trail had expanded and a section of the PCT was now closed. Buffalo had bought a road atlas back in Redding during our first fire closure drama, for exactly this reason. We sat down at breakfast and made an alternative route plan via backcountry dirt roads that would bring us north of the fire closure and drop us back down onto the PCT before it crossed the Oregon border. The four of us felt very strongly about crossing the California/Oregon border by foot via the PCT.
As we were getting ready to head out, Gypsy, another thru-hiker came by to let us know that she just had gotten off the phone with Yreka fire officials and as of right now the trail is not closed. We were all happy and a bit relieved to hear this news, but knew this could change at any point.
We had a brutal 10 mile 5000ft climb out of town, and of course we left during the heat of the afternoon in what seemed to be 100% humidity. We were all just dripping sweat down our faces and our clothes were soaked. But by the time we got to camp the temperature dropped what seemed like 30 degrees and the wind picked up making all of us a bit chilly...the sky was dark and we were anticipating another possible night of rain ahead of us. Unlike last night, we all set up our tents and rainflys hoping to stay dry and warm. We're hoping for a smooth day tomorrow, 26.5 miles to the border. If the PCT remains open we will be having quite the celebration this time tonight at the border.
Hornsby, Buffalo, and Ed, outside Seiad Valley Store
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