PCT Day 96-100

As many of you have heard, on July 29th a fire near the town of Yreka was reported. It was a few hundred acres and by the morning of July 30th it had grown to 15,000 acres and showed no signs of stopping. While it was not directly on the trail, it kept creeping closer and closer and the smoke became dangerous. Dozens of PCT hikers had to be evacuated by search and rescue, the forest service, and firefighters. Thankfully everyone was okay and I was just south of the fire and smoke.

I had just reached mile 1500 when I learned of the news and was in shock. They closed about 100 miles between where I was and Ashland, Oregon. That meant we wouldn't be able to hike across from California to Oregon. While this was very disappointing at first, I came to realize there were so many more important things to come on trail that I quickly moved on. The next question was what to do next... There were still roughly 100 miles till the closure but the fire was growing quickly and the smoke was greatly reducing visibility, not to mention the harmfulness of breathing it in.

Luckily my cousin Laurie and her husband Gary came to the rescue! I was originally going to stay with them near Ashland, Oregon but now it just happened to be sooner. They offered to pick Tallboy and I up and host us for a few days. We were spoiled rotten! We had home cooked meals, drinks, dessert, our own rooms, and showers anytime we wanted. Laurie also pulled out some old photos of old family members which was fun to see! This was the perfect place to figure out where to go next.

Thank you Laurie and Gary for creating a very memorable experience with! What a great way to start Oregon!

-Pickle