High-ho, high-ho, it’s up the hill we go. My southbound
mission to finish the stubborn nooks and crannies of Northern
California began with a nice hearty uphill through a wooded valley
and along a gurgling stream. With tunes cranking, I suddenly found myself face
to face with a hairy, fearless creature. I would’ve been scared, if not for the
fact that I met this true northbounder the third day of my trip. Amazed at the
fact that he made it through the Sierras unscathed, we swapped stories and
wished each other luck on our migrations. The rest of the uphill was not
without small joys however, as I ran into and reminisced with several more
hikers from the early days of my trip. They had all made it through the Sierras
and were grinning from ear to ear, despite a unanimous consensus of it being
brutal with the snow drifts and swollen stream crossings. With an elated tone,
some recounted instances where they had almost died, and others remarked on how
it took them twice the time that they had anticipated. The common theme I
realized was that each of them had gone through the formidable Sierras with a
solid group of people. At this point I had at least two hundred more miles
under my belt and they all seemed to feel the urgency of making it to Canada before eventually
getting hit with winter’s fury. I should’ve felt ahead of the game, but I
couldn’t help feeling a bit jealous of their social experiences. I yearned to
be with a solid group again, but I knew that in order to enjoy the rest of my
hike I would have to cherish each moment with whoever I met, no matter how the
short the encounter may be.
As I hiked along the ridge the next day, I noticed a lot of
smoke coming from the west. A northbounder told me about a fire that was
getting close to the trail, so I hiked at almost a jogging pace to get past the
smoke. I could literally see the flames across the valley, and helicopters with
buckets were flying over the trail. Firefighters were suiting up in the landing
zone in a meadow just left of me, and they wondered what the heck a thru-hiker
was doing in the area. I wanted to answer “getting to town, like I’m always
doing”. The truth is, I love being out in wilderness, but being in town gives
me a chance to recharge and gorge on precious calories. It also makes the
wilderness that more precious because it reminds me how wild and untamed it can
be compared to the civility and order of town. Eventually I got to the road
crossing to get to Etna , California
