Over halfway there!

Over halfway there!!! :) Three months for the front end, two for the back??? We'll see. The high Sierra took time and I took lots of zeros leading up to them to give the snow some extra time to clear. According to everyone Oregon is much easier trail and we can expect to be able to put in lots of high mile days. #1, my hiking partner since Bridgeport/Sonora Pass, and I have already done several 30's here in NoCal so we're expecting we'll be able to make good time for sure. Really tryin to not stress tooo much on the time we have left... Balancing the need to make miles as quickly as possible with the need to listen to my body and actually enjoy the hike continues to be the struggle.

But I'm definitely getting excited about how close it feels we're getting! Seeing these huge beautiful solitary snow-capped volcanic peaks (Lassen and Shasta) makes me feel like we're really getting into the familiar and sorely missed Cascades :) Oregon is just a little over 200 miles away! And here in Mount Shasta I finally found my Tillamook ice cream so I KNOW we're close! :D Me, #1, and Avery easily tore through half a gallon of "Udderly Chocolate" and I was lovin every minute of it :)

The trail continues to find new ways of challenging us... From the hot and dry stretch of the Hat Creek Rim filled with volcanic rock and its fine dust/dirt which seems to be causing me some blister problems for the first time in a while, to this last stretch of trail that was really overgrown and filled with poison oak to dodge. My shoes are still slowly falling apart and no luck with shoes here in Shasta, so these'll have to last me 100 more to Etna where I have a last already well used pair waiting for me which will have to make it to Ashland or Bend..

Barely a couple small patches of snow through this last stretch so I think we'll at least be good 'til WA where I'm hearing there's still a good bit of snow that has yet to melt - that and tons of blowdowns blocking the trail! Should continue to be interesting/challenging.

Well I'm off... Oregon here I come!!! :)

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Location:Mount Shasta, mile 1,506