Legs and Borders

"Possums, rats, rabbits pigs and goats are all considered pests in New Zealand. I get 10$ per possum, can catch 40 per day, gives me 2000$ a week" Steve, pest control guy Tuesday, 28th of November 2023 Day of hitchhikes around the trail closures and river crossings. I woke up early and left Dave's and Alex place while they were still sleeping. I've walked back to the beach and then up through Helena Ridge, beautiful but overgrown forest section. At about 11am I came out to the gravel road where a cyclist looking like Santa informed me that I will have to take 20 kilometres long detour around the closed section of the trail. The land owners here didn't want TA hikers to walk through their land and denied access - it was part of 'Kauri dieback' disease dispute, causing one of New Zealand's most iconic trees to decay, I encountered measures to stop it before, like disinfecting and brushing shoes along certain sections of the trail. ...

"We do not belong to those who only get their thought from books, or at the prompting of books, it is our custom to think in the open air, walking, leaping, climbing, or dancing on lonesome mountains by preference, or close to the sea, where even the paths become thoughtful." Nietzsche. I got awaken by a mixture of barking and howling from a bunch of coyotes, night in the cabin was quite cold but enjoyable. I got out of it few minutes past five and half a mile later just few hundred feet before the border, California gave me best goodbye present I could ask for, I saw a cougar, a mountain lion!  I never really comprehended just how big that cat is, it was a size of a cheetah, it appeared twenty metres in front of me on the trail and kept on walking in front of me for about thirty metres until it just vanished into the forrest. The cat wasn't in any hurry either it was surely aware of me and just slowly walking away. When it disappeared I got scared that it might suddenly ...

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 d...

"Don't love the world or the things of the world. Agape." John, chapter 4 - Old Goat. Today initially was supposed to be a short stop at South Lake Tahoe and swift return to the trail, but the plans as you might have noticed already are often rewired here and planning anything more than two days in advance is pointless. Initially things worked as planned, we hiked remaining eight miles to SLT which were fully covered in snow confusing the path, swarms of mosquitos and to be honest were a tough stretch for a descent to town. We caught a quick hitchhike to town thanks to Jacky from Georgetown who was going to Lake Tahoe to do her grocery shopping, she dropped us of by Raley's Fresh Market. We got a Taco Bell, and went to my favourite place in town - the laundromat! I started the washing, put the phone on charge and went to do the resupply. After about an hour everything was done so I decided to call the number of trail angel Owen texted me (it's usually way easier t...