Got moving by six. Slept okay last night. The ZLite mat definitely isn’t as comfortable as the NeoAir, I hope I get used to it. 

Terrain was pretty easy today, pretty much zero elevation gain. Had some annoying rocks to deal with though. Took a long break from 1:30 to 2:15. After that is where the day started to go downhill. 
The mosquitos started to come out around 3. Not bad at first. But from around 5:30 and on it was ridiculous. You won’t truly know what I’m talking about unless you were here. My entire upper body and head are swollen. I hiked the last hour and a half with my rain jacket on. I actually called it a somewhat early day a few minutes before 8PM because I just couldn’t take it anymore. 
Setting up camp and eating was intense. As soon as you stop moving over a hundred mosquitos would swarm you. It was ridiculous. It reminded me of the AT in Maine. I had to walk back and forth just to eat. I wanted to take a picture to show you but I just wanted to get in my tent. 
I don’t know how but there were dozens of mosquitos in my tent when I got in. I didn’t leave it open and there are no holes. I spent ten minutes clapping them to death, blood got everywhere. Just typing this right now the buzzing of them flying around my tent is almost deafening, not kidding. Really hoping it’s not like this ever again. 

Got up at 6:30 and went to the cafe again for my third and final breakfast there. Back in the room I showered for the final time, I think it was my seventh. Lint picked me up at 7:40ish and I was back on trail at 8AM. I’ll pretty much get to do a full day of hiking which is nice. I felt really refreshed after two and a half days off, won’t last long though.

The trail was incredibly easy to walk. I hope the rest of the way is like this. I’ll probably have too much food for all of Oregon since I’m doing boxes. Guess that means I can eat more. Did not expect to do almost 35 miles today, if I hiked a full day it would have been 40+.
Found a good camp spot at 8:15. I’m going to go back to hiking normal hours, I really pushed it the last few hundred going into Ashland. I normally like to get moving no later than 6AM and take the first good camp spot after 8PM. 
I kind of miss Ashland, I was there for so long. Not gonna lie, I kind of can’t wait to be done with the trail. Should only take about another month. Hoping to cruise through Oregon. 
Probably won’t be able to sleep tonight since I’ve stayed up until midnight the past three nights

Woke up at 8 and headed over to the cafe for breakfast. It was there that I convinced myself to take another zero. Just did not feel like hiking. I figured I was still ahead of schedule since I skipped my resupply package at Drakesbad and Ashland is the last big town on the trail. And if I stayed another night Sonic would catch up to me and Lint would be able to give me a lift back to trail in the morning which would eliminate hitching or a cab. Unless I get some kind of serious injury I’m definitely not taking another zero the rest of the trail. 

Anyways, went to the post office to send stuff home and shipped out three boxes up the trail. From there I bought and ate another pint of B&J. I’ve found that the “Phish Food” one is my favorite. I first had it at Kennedy Meadows and got it anywhere it was sold afterwards. I recommend it if you like B&J. 
Back in the room I just watched TV and took a little nap. Normally, I have hiker chores to do but since this is my second zero I can just chill out. Sonic got into town around 3:45. Haven’t seen her since Sierra City which was around mile 1,195. We went to a Chinese restaurant around 8PM. I didn’t feel that hungry but I still destroyed my combo plate and bought more ice cream on the way back. 
Took another shower when I got back to the room and just watched TV the rest of the night

Today was my first and probably only day where I woke up in bed and knew I won’t be hiking any miles, it was a great feeling. Woke up at 8:30 and got some breakfast at a cafe next to the motel. From there I went to the Shop ‘n Kart to resupply. They had by far the best selection or protein/energy bars I’ve ever seen. I bought 115 bars among other things for four resupplies, cost about $300. 

On a side note, thru hiking makes you realize how fucked up this country is. When I’m on trail I have no connection to the outside world so whenever I go into town I find out something stupid has happened in the US again. First it was the shootings in Orlando, then the killings of two black people by officers, then riots all over the country, then the Dallas shootings and now I’ve been watching the news all day following another shooting in Louisiana. 
At around 4 I went to Rite Aid and bought some more junk food, another pint of B&J, BBQ Fritos, dried mangos and another Monster. On my way out I saw a bag of Epsom salt for only four bucks so I grabbed one. I got back to the room and took out the liners in two trash cans and put some warm water in there along with the salt. Put my feet in there, ate the ice cream and watched more TV. Went back to the cafe at 7:30 and got a burger and fries. Kind of wish this zero day would never end. Time goes by fast when you’re not hiking. 
The post office opens at 9AM tomorrow so I guess I can sleep in a bit. Not sure how I’m getting back on the trail tomorrow, seems like it might be a tough hitch around here. Lint is shuttling the other hikers out early tomorrow but I can’t do that since I need to send some boxes, sucks getting into town on a Saturday and zeroing Sunday but that’s how it worked out. I didn’t really want to head out early anyways, I like to milk out my rest for as long as possible, especially since I probably won’t zero for the rest of the trail. 

Woke up at 4:30 and got moving a little before 5. Had to hike the first 30 minutes or so with my headlamp. 

At around 9:30 I met Lint, I heard about him when I was at Tom Levardi’s place on the AT. He’s one of only a few people to triple triple (hike the AT, PCT and CDT three times each). I used his website as research for gear and trail and I also followed him on IG so it was kind of crazy that I ran into him. He was just doing some trail maintenance and going for a run. We shot the shit for a while before he gave me his number and said he’ll give me a ride once I got to Callahans. 
I got there by 11:45, made good time, ran the last 2 miles. Met up with Lint and his giant white van, turns out he slack packed Rafiki, 2% and Pillow Talk who were behind. These were the same guys I met a few days ago, all cool dudes. We waited for them and headed into town. So glad I didn’t have to hitch
We went straight to an Indian buffet and gorged on food. From there we went to the outfitter where I bought a Thermarest Z Lite pad to replace my deflating NeoAir. It won’t be as comfortable but it’s lighter and I’ll save time morning and night. I cut off three panels of it to make it shorter and lighter. It only cost $29 because they had a hiker discount. 
I got a room at the Rodeway Inn, $75 a night. The room was surprisingly nice and clean. I went to the Supercuts to try and get my head shaved. It was an hour wait and would have cost $14.99. I went to the Rite Aid and found clippers for the same price so I bought those instead along with a pack of mint Oreos, Monster energy drink, pint of B&J and some shower products. 
Went back to the room and devoured the ice cream and then shaved my head almost bald. Drank the Monster and headed next door to do laundry. They had real detergent at the Rite Aid for less than $2 so I bought that and dumped half the bottle in for my clothes. I used the leftover detergent and washed my long johns back in the room. I always wear them when I wash everything else so they never get cleaned
Spent the rest of the day watching TV and using wifi. Went to Subway for dinner, took another shower and relaxed on the bed eating mint Oreos. I’m going to enjoy my time here

Slept in until 5:45, warm night and warm morning. Got to Lookout Spring about a mile in and it was a very slow source, took over five minutes a liter so we all got held up there. 

Had a ton of elevation gain today, these last hundred miles or so were pretty tough. At 6PM I arrived in Oregon for the first time in my life. I still remember leaving from Campo like it was yesterday. Only two more states to go. 
Ended the day at 8:30, kind of chilly out with some good winds, hope I don’t freeze. Only about 19 miles to Callahans where I plan to hitch into Ashland. I’ve been thinking about this zero day since Sierra City, over 500 miles back. I might wake up earlier to get there sooner but the cold might keep me in my bag.
I got a bad raw spot on my left foot today. Not sure how it happened but it hurts every time it touches anything. I guess it’s good timing with my zero coming up
I can’t wait to get a new sleeping pad, the past couple nights I had to wake up and blow it up again. I heard the outfitter in Ashland might exchange it for free, that would be amazing if true. If not I’ll probably get a regular roll out pad that most people have. 

So I found out last night my Neoair has a hole in it somewhere. It sucks but I’m not too mad because that thing lasted me the entire AT and over half of the PCT, so I got my money out of it. I’ll try to fix it in Ashland. 
Anyways, I hauled ass about 38 miles to Seiad Valley and got there at 6:20PM. It was really hot and humid. When I got to the store I immediately plug in my phone and proceed to stuff my face with a pint of ice cream, soda, chips, candy etc. I bought a little resupply to get me to Ashland and updated my blog. 
I made great time so instead of staying in Seiad I stepped off at 7:45 to do a little more. There ended up being zero camping opportunity going up the hill so I hiked until 9:10ish. This is my first forty mile day. I’m camping with three other dudes, saw them before going into Etna. Aside from Junco and Sonic they’re the only hikers that I’ve seen multiple times and have gotten along with. They hike pretty fast. 
Gonna go as far as I can tomorrow to make going into Ashland as short as possible. 
I’ll be in Oregon tomorrow!

Couldn’t sleep last night, probably because I slept well in town. Woke up with morning dew all over my stuff. Started hiking at 6, had a ton of little climbs today. 

Second half of the day was really dry and hot. After about 15 miles I finally got to a water source and I sat there and drank over a liter and ate some cheese it’s. I hiked until 9PM which is later than I normally like to stop but I think I’m going to try and pull big days until Ashland. Really can’t wait to get there and zero. If I can do a small day into there it would mean more time to relax. 
I’m hoping I can make it to Seiad tomorrow before the store closes. 

Slept great last night. So nice to sleep indoors on a bed. Passed out around midnight and woke up at 9. Went and got breakfast and then headed back to the grocery store and bought a resupply to sent up the trail to Oregon. Went back to the room and showered for a third time, packed up my stuff and watched some TV before I left. Always hard to get out of town after a night in but it’s only five days to Ashland where I plan on taking only my second zero day. 

Got a ride back to the trail from the motel owner and started hiking around 1:30. Did almost 20 miles and of course there were people where I wanted to camp. Didn’t see a single they hiker the entire day, just my luck. Pushed about one more mile and got to a parking lot where I decided to cowboy camp on the pavement. First time since day one in the Sierra, hope it doesn’t rain. 

Woke up at 5AM. It was pretty cold. Actually threw on my down jacket and started hiking with my rain coat and gloves on. Broke camp at 5:30. 

Made it to highway 3 by noon. Felt nice to be done hiking by then. The hitch was difficult, very few cars were driving by. There were four other hikers there that needed to get into town but they were just sitting there and not trying to hitch. I walked about 50ft away and threw up a thumb. Eventually got a ride at 12:45. Got a room at the Motel Etna for $65, kind of pricy but whatever, I need some kind of break. 
First thing I did in town was head to the local burger joint where I destroyed a nice burger, fries and a banana split. From there I went to the dollar general and bought some food. Went back to my room and did the usual hiker chores when in town. I got to use a real washer and dryer for free, so I threw in a ton of detergent and fabric softener. From there I sat on the bed and watched TV and used the wifi which was really strong
At 8 I went to a restaurant and had a huge plate of pasta and some pie, it really filled me up, felt great. Check out is at noon so I’m going to get every minute out of my money, plus I need the rest.