PCT day 70 - mile 1495 to mile 1515 (Mt Shasta, Dunsmuir)

June 27, 2022

Quick resupply day and back on the trail, the heatwave is still in full blast but the trees are graciously lending us their shade along the way.

I woke up and proceeded with everything as per usual - early. There was just over five miles to walk to Interstate 5, I arrived at the Soda Creek Road leading to the Interstate just before 8am. Here I met Ninja, a Japanese hiker also trying to get a hitchhike to one of two available towns - Dunsmuir which was closer but had no outfitters or budget friendly restaurants and Shasta, further away but was bigger. Just as I started to walk away towards the main road hoping that maybe someone will take me from there (it is illegal to pick up hitchhiker's from Interstate's in US), Ninja managed to stop a car and so I also got a ride to Shasta! We got picked up by Gary a lorry driver leaving nearby who was on his way to work. He dropped us out at Shasta's city centre, we could see a smoke coming out of the forest just above the road as we drove by, the traffic has been slowed by the police to allow emergency units to set up.

I decided that I want to get new shoes as the ones I had called Topo's started to give me serious blisters underneath my feet which was hurting every time I stepped on a sharper stone. Because it was Sunday, the outfitters has not been opening until 10am so I went to a nearby Starbucks for a coffee, Subways for a breakfast sandwich and ended up resupplying at Ray's Food Place.

Because of summer solistace, there was a lot of hippies giving chakra advice and charging their phones in Starbucks while meditating. The shoe seller at the outfitters was very helpful letting me try many different pairs of shoes, I settled on buying La Sportiva's which had no special features but were simply the most comfortable.

Once that has been sorted I went to the near the gas station to catch a hitchhike to Dollar General in Dunsmuir, finishing my resupply with few cheaper items. Before I drank half a can of coke, archeologist Ben picked me up in his fancy car and very generously drove just outside the shop where I met Camp Post, Can't Touch This from Switzerland and Alex - they were heading for a lunch. Once I finished shopping, I went downtown but couldn't find any of the people I knew, everyone has been hiding from the heat. I decided to go back to the trail and do the portion of a big ascent ahead to make tomorrow a little bit easier. Once again I got a ride fairly quickly with a local firefighter. He assured me that the fire although close to the trail is under control, and that it shouldn't affect the PCT traffic at all. I thanked him for a ride and went back to grind those few extra miles.

The trail although very steep has been largely shaded by the trees and no rattlesnake made an appearance so I finished walking around 6:30pm. Two hours later Fomo and Can't Touch This joined me, rest of the crew decided to stay in town and wait out the heatwave in the local pub.

Today was also the first day I decided to try a cult classic hiker dish called 'ramen bomb' - it wasn't bad, but after working so many years in Wagamama where Chicken Ramen was one of my favourite dishes, it's been a bit sad to call this dish the same name :) But hey a packet costs 45 cents, so I guess I shouldn't complain.