Day 113: Mile 1714.6 - 1718.7

So I've set up my tent in some tight spaces before, but I admit last night was one of the smallest. Not in terms of being stuck between trees or wedged between rocks or anything--I was surrounded by dirt--but the platform of that dirt was pretty narrow, basically only as wide as my sleeping pad. So half the tent was sort of going down the hill. But when I saw the space I confidently declared: it'll work, and if it doesn't work it can be made to work.* And I put in some work: spent some time carving out a flat space in the dirt with my foot to reduce the slant. But in the end, I made incorrect estimates: the flat space was only as wide as my sleeping pad rather than my whole tent (oh well), and I was wrong as to the way the tent would slant and ended up sleeping with my head at the foot end of the tent rather than the head end (oh well). But I got through it, and when I woke, the tent was still standing, and I was still at the top of the platform, rather than rolled down to the bottom. That's a win!

I will say that this little bit of trail seems to be full of old defunct truck trails, long since overgrown and, by now, uprooted and lost. I do wonder what their original purpose was--logging, maybe?--but moreso I wonder where they *go*. And I would love to take a day (or probably two or three), and just start heading up one and using it as a basis to start reading and understanding the land. That would be fun, I think.

But fun for another time!

At this time, the point was to break camp and hike the few miles to get to Callahan's Lodge, and then, ultimately, catch a ride into Ashland. Today the sun rose yellow, and the skies were actually clear, clear enough that at one point, I could actually see Mount Shasta from the trail, even see the snow still decorating the north face! And it was the clearest I'd seen it so far this trip! That was pretty special. As for the rest of the (short) hike into Callahan's, the only really notable thing was that there's a dirt road that the PCT crosses that you're supposed to take into Callahan's, and there's supposed to be a sign, only the PCT crosses a lot of dirt roads in this bit, and I must have missed the sign. Because I looked up and Guthooks said, yep, you've missed the turn, by more than half a mile! And at that point it was about half a mile to the intersection with the *paved* road of Highway 99, and from there you can follow paved roads on Google Maps to Callahan's, so I did that instead. And sent a Garmin inReach message ahead to Double Snacks (who had left much earlier than me this morning) of what had happened and that I would be late. Only when I arrived at Callahan's, it turns out she had done the same, and only received my Garmin inReach message as I was standing there. So yeah, lots of not fails, per se, but certainly not wins, this morning!

But one thing did go right, and that is that we caught a ride into town from Callahan's. It was the four of us who camped on the defunct-truck-trail ledge: Double Snacks, Butt-Tape, Spielberg (who I basically met today), and myself, and we got a ride into town from another thru-hiker (because of the smoke she'd thought to rent a car and drive up to Bend and resume the trail up there, but as soon as she signed the car rental form, the air started to clear and by the time she left the rental place, it was blue skies), who recommended we take breakfast at Ruby's. So we did, and the breakfast burritos were massive and good, and the green smoothie I got (and, yes, it was literally called the "green" on the menu) was good, and then we spent the day doing chores around Ashland. And I will say this about Double Snacks: after doing chores with her in Truckee, in Etna, in Seiad Valley, and now in Ashland, I do like that she's very gung-ho about getting them done quickly and early. She brings a certain energy that seems very get-it-done, and we did here: gear shop, post office, laundry, check-in, shower, resupply, even two sit-down meals, all done in one day. And I got charging done and washing-of-gear done, and pretty much all my chores done, leaving tomorrow open for just writing. It's a skill to be able to do that and not feel flustered and rushed the whole time, and hopefully I've learned a bit of that from her.

Oh, and there's another thing I learned. Sitting at dinner with Double Snacks and Butt-Tape and Spielberg and Oh-Man at Little Tokyo, I realized that I haven't been laughing of late. As in my usual just throw back your head and laugh. I used to do that a lot--that's how Helena recognized me back in the day (one of the greatest compliments I received on trail, in fact, when she recognized the laugh)--but of late I haven't. And I think it was first the fall and the problems breathing, then the cold and cough and further problems breathing: for a long stretch, laughing out loud was either painful or invoked a long series of wheezes and coughs. But now, with all that behind me (knock on wood), it seems I can laugh out loud again--rather than just silently smiling--I just need to remember that I can. And, at dinner tonight, I did, and I must say: it was pretty glorious. (Well, for me at least: as for whether my companions appreciated it, you'll have to ask them!)

But that was the day: a short hike into Callahan's where I got a bit lost and missed a turn, then a day in Ashland doing chores. I will say that Ashland's a pretty big town as far as trail towns go, and pretty hot. And in the evening, coming out from the restaurant at dinner, the air was a bit muggy, and the smoke had settled back in for the night so there was that scent. And there were people milling about in downtown, live music playing at a bar down the street, and the streets here were more like local alleys than streets, and ran at strange angles to each other, and for a moment--just a moment--in the darkness I felt almost--almost!--as if I was in Taipei. It's strange: every town we go through, Double Snacks stops to think, could I live here? (In Etna, I think her answer was yes: she seemed to like every house with a bay window--thought they were cute--and I swear half the homes there have bay windows.) And every small town that I go through I think to myself, yeah, I could live in Taipei. Which is the exact opposite of these towns: massive and crowded and built in that east-asian metropolis style where (as Rabih once noted) every square inch of space is used for something, nothing is left unused. For some reason, coming through these little towns just makes me think of Taipei and other big cities more, makes them seem *more* appealing. And maybe it's just a grass is greener effect, but I do find myself dreaming of just wandering the streets of a big city, backpack on so I can stay out all day, with nothing but a vague destination and a camera, just walking around and shooting street photography. That would seem like the opposite of what I'm doing, and would seem like a good time.

Of course, I know that if I were there and doing that, I'd think being here and doing this would be a good time, so such vague dreams, while nice, do not a motivation make!

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Some notes:

-- Campsite > Siskiyou Mountain Wagon Road > Old Highway 99 > Callahan's Mountain Lodge > Ashland

-- "It'll work, and if it doesn't work it can be made to work"--that's a Professor Leon Simon reference for you, from whom I took Math 52 (which was basically multivariate integral calculus) and who, after working on a proof that took two days to complete, stood back from the blackboard, folded his arms, and looked back over his work, and said, well, this isn't rigorous but it can be made rigorous. Ok, that's a standard math-thing to say, but that proof took *two* *days* and it still isn't rigorous? Then what, pray tell, *is*?

-- I do tend to set up the tent on slanted surfaces in general. This is because when I sleep, I like my head to be higher up: I found this kept my sinuses from getting stuffed up in the desert. So my pillow is pretty tall, and I add to the effect by sleeping with my head on the uphill if I set up on a slant. I set up on slants so often, in fact, that one of the people I hiked with back in the day thought to give my the trail name Slanty, then thought about it for a hot minute and decided, no, that's a bit racist a thing to call someone who's Asian!

-- At Callahan's, as we were milling around looking for a ride, talked a bit with Fungi, an older guy who's been camping there for a while (camping is free at Callahan's, I believe). Evidently he also had some rib problems: had been in town somewhere, slipped in a tub, and hurt his ribs. So he was taking some time off to let them heal. And we commiserated about rib injuries: about how it's tough to breathe, about how it's tough to sneeze, about how it's hard to lay down in the evening and get up in the morning. I gave him the advice my doctor gave: keep breathing, even though it hurts. It looks like he'll stay at Callahan's a bit longer--actually, he took a job washing dishes in the back of the house because he felt bad camping on their lawn for so long--but hopefully he'll soon feel good enough to get back out there!

-- In town, we did our laundry at Henry's Laundromat, which has an extra service: they'll wash your down sleeping bag! Which I did: it's $25, but we're also halfway through the trail so if I'm going to wash it, might as well be now! I talked to the lady who does it: she uses a special soap and cold water for the wash, then for the dry puts it in the dryer with tennis balls to keep it fluffy, then doesn't dry it all the way, but takes it out and hangs it to fully dry. It's an involved process--she babies the bags--so it takes a while: usually you'll pick it up next day. But, yeah, since I'm planning to zero in Ashland tomorrow, I'll be around to pick it up, so I put my sleeping bag in for a wash. Going to be good!

-- At dinner, Spielberg told this hilarous story about him and a friend taking on the Arizona Trail. They had done some of the southern sections already, so were coming back to do the northern sections. So they get to the northern terminus in March, with little research because, hey, they've done the AT: they can do this no problem! And they start hiking and there's nobody around but that's ok, they've done the AT: they can do this! And a little bit in, they encounter snow. And before long, they're postholing. And as they go, the snow is getting deeper, they're into it up to their waists now, and the trail is nowhere to be seen: there aren't any tracks out here. And as they continue on the snow is just getting deeper, and now it's up to their chests. And Spielberg is like, this is not good. I can't see the trail, it's a wonder I haven't stepped off the edge of something. There's a road coming up, we gotta take the road and bail. But his friend is much more gung-ho and wanting to push forward: they've only done a handful of miles, after all, and we've done the AT, we got this! Nonetheless, when they get to the road they take it, go to a store down the road, where the proprietor looks at them and says, where did you come from? We're hiking the Arizona Trail, they reply. Well you're about two months early, she says, I'm amazed you got even this far! Eventuallly they would get a car ride back into town (for a cost of over $200: while his friend had balked at the price, Spielberg paid it all so they both ended up taking it), but there's the lesson: we've done the AT, we got this!, will only get you so far--every trail is different!

-- So just for reference, here was the itinerary for Ashland:

* Arrive, go to Ruby's for breakfast. Eat! Steak and egg burrito--good! Green smoothie--very good!

* Walk to Mountain Provisions, a gear shop. Buy backpacker meal, fuel canister, extra patch kit for sleeping pad.

* Drop by Mix Bakeshop down the street. Eat! Lemon basil sherbert--very good! Tiramisu--good!

* Walk to post office. Pick up package, mail back some stuff (torn gaiters, Darn Tough socks with holes).

* Take bus down to motel. Can we check in early? No, come back into about 2 hours.

* Walk a couple blocks to laundromat. Start laundry. While I watch laundry, Double Snacks goes to Heartsong smoothie place we saw along the way.  Brings back smoothies for all. Eat! Sweet potato, mango, something something--good!

* Go to motel and check in.

* Shower. Charge everything. Wash everything (including backwash of filter).

* Drop by Market of Choice next door (roughly equivalent to Whole Foods), do resupply. They have so many bars: half an aisle's worth!

* Grab bus, take it back to downtown for dinner at Little Tokyo at 7pm.

* Little Tokyo, eat! Bento box--good! Unagi sushi rolls--good! All the leftovers from other people's orders--good!

* After dinner, Double Snacks joins Butt-Tape, Spielberg, and Oh-Man to hit up a bar. I don't drink, so skip it. Instead, walk to Safeway just south of downtown, finish resupply. Well, mostly: Safeway is out of some hiker stuff--too many of us in town!

* Bus not running, so walk back to motel. Drop by 7-11 on the way, pick up Smartwater bottles, some snacks.

* Arrive at motel, sort out resupply. Put everything in ziplocs, then Ursacks.

* Work on blog entries.

* At midnight, go to bed.

It's a busy day, but basically it gets done all the chores--and about 3 meals worth--from about 10am to midnight. And that's what I need to keep doing if I'm going to make it to Canada in time, got to get this one-day turnaround on chores thing down pat!