Got onto the trail around 6:30am this morning after doing the breakfast/coffee thing in camp.

Thought about random things from Sierra City I forgot to mention earlier. Back before I left the PCTA (Pacific Crest Trail Association) had posted that ______ company was looking for hikers to try out their hiking socks. They would pick out some hikers and send them new socks for the whole trip. I was busy with 800 other things at the time and didn't get my name in. I found out that it turns out I didn't miss much. One of the hikers who got picked ended up emailing the company telling them not to send him/her any more...they were terrible. Apparently they were getting holes and blowing out by Warner Springs, which is only 110 miles.

Today the hiking was pretty uneventful overall. At the top of a ridge I got good cell service so I updated the blog and downloaded some podcasts. The Nick Cave WTF podcast was good, especially when he talked about having to have his own office space for writing because when he was doing creative things, he was not pleasant to be around. (yes, now I really must do this when I get back to Portland unless a nice job job plops in my lap).

The trail turned into more brush and fallen trees and then I realized I wasn't on the PCT. I cut down the hill to where the PCT was and continued on. It started to really bother me for some reason as to how exactly I ended up off the PCT. I ended up dropping my pack and retracing my steps back. After about 1/4 mile I discovered that a tree had fallen over a switchback and there was a well-worn (incorrect) path that kept going straight.

Hiked with Stilts and Muppet for a chunk of the day, all of us telling stories. It made the time go a little bit faster. Muppet asked what I was thinking of doing for my halloween costume...finally, something to think about that I haven't already on this trip!

I figured Lightning Rod and his Mom would still be up at the Quincy-LaPorte Road so I didn't really take any long breaks at all. Ran into Will and Roadrunner and had a nice talk with them while we walked. Got to the paved road and didn't see Lightning Rod, but saw that the trail crossed a side road about a mile up. Went the mile up and sure enough was a van and then I heard someone yell my name. Lightning Road, his mom, plus a few other hikers were there.

Two of the hikers that were there I first met in Sierra City, Bristlecone (since he is the oldest thing ever) and Uberbitch. Lightning Rod's mom had made spaghetti and had beer/soda. It was a nice way to end the day, especially since it made for exactly a 25 mile day for me. I need to do at least 25 miles per day if I want to hit the post office in Old Station before they close at 3pm on Saturday.

We all had a good time talking. Turns out that Uberbitch was the one who named Jug. We were wondering where he was on the trail. I want to see him so I can tell him I went onto iTunes and bought the Richard Shindell song he was playing (The Kenworth of my Dreams) way back at the Kern River. Uberbitch said that the gallon jug that Jug carried was filled with Tang. He ended up cooking with the Tang too since it was his only water. She asked him if he was going to just get water bottles and put them in his backpack, but he felt like he had to keep carrying the jug since it was his trademark.

I got a nice compliment about how funny I was...I only say this just because it came from a woman named Uberbitch so I figured that was a notable compliment.

Oh, also found out that Lightning Rod's name is "Joe". I could have asked him but sometimes it is more fun to have a non-PCT person "out their name".

Looks like I'll be in Belden in a couple days. Definitely not going to hitch into Quincy like Ryan Christensen and I did in 1996..that story you will have to wait for.

Lastly, Cora is fixing my typos and links...you can thank her for making the words look pretty but I don't think she will fix the run on sentences that sometimes go on for long periods of time due to them being written prior to me going to bed.