Couldn’t sleep last night, probably because of all the sugar I had. Got back on trail at 8 and decided to push it as far as possible to make it a short day into Etna tomorrow. 

I hiked until 10PM. It got really cold the last few hours. It’s been really hot at night lately so this was a pretty big change. I originally planned to cowboy camp but it was so chilly I pitched my tent. 

Got moving at six. Trail was real easy today. Pretty much just booked it to Castella where I had to take a two mile side trail to Ammiratis Market. Got there at 7PM. They had B&J ice cream there so of course I grabbed a pint along with a tall can of Coke. 
A big family came up to me and asked me questions about the trail. They were pretty amazed of the whole thru hiking philosophy. After that I started planning my resupply. I had originally planned to carry five days to Seiad Valley which is about 150 miles away. I’ve been feeling really burned out on the trail lately so I decided to carry only two days to Etna, I hear it’s a nice town. I could use some time off, even though I’ll probably still do 20+ going in. 
I resupplied and also bought a pre made burrito they had there. It tasted great. Also bought a 32oz Gatorade, it was the lime cucumber flavor which tasted like shit. 
Walked back about a half mile to a campground. Tented in a spot designated for thru hikers. There’s other people close by, hope they’re not loud tonight. I only have to average about 29 the next two days to get to Etna so that will be nice. 

Got moving by six. Pretty normal day of hiking. It was really cool out, nice and cloudy. The sky looked like it was going to rain but it only sprinkled on me for about ten minutes, got lucky. 
Pushed a little further today. I was intending on staying at a particular camp spot but of course when I got there I saw people had a already taken it. All the tent spots I passed were open but it’s always the one I plan on staying at that is occupied. It was 8:30 so I was kind of pissed I had to keep going. But I lucked out, just .2 more and I found a trail previous hikers have made and it led me to a nice tent spot. 

Got moving by 5:45 and made it to Burney Mountain Ranch by 8:45. There was only one other hiker there who was leaving, so I was the only person there which was cool. I immediately bought some sodas and snacks out of their fridge and used the wifi. Took a very long shower, first real one in a long ass time. Then did laundry, the detergent they used smelled really good. I haven’t done laundry since 300+ miles back in Tahoe. After that I resupplied three days to get to Castella, only 92 miles away. Before I left I got lunch which cost ten bucks, it was a taco salad along with other stuff. 
Left at 2 and cruised about 18 more miles. Felt very refreshed leaving there. I felt clean and my clothes were clean. This is probably the cleanest I’ve been inside my tent and sleeping bag, it feels pretty good but won’t last long sadly. Tomorrow will be my first full day of hiking without stopping anywhere in three days. 

Slept in until 6 again. Got to Old Station at 8, right when the store opened, lucky me. I resupplied one day here to get to Burney Ranch which is 36 miles away. And of course I pigged out here and charged my phone. I called the Chester PO to try and bounce my missed package, but I couldn’t. Looks like I’ll lose the package, that sucks but it was just four days of food and a trash compactor bag. 

Left at 10 after eating a little more. Had to take a .25 side trail to a water fountain at 11. Filled up 4.75 liters for the next long dry stretch. There was a side trail there that leads you into a cave so I did that while I was there. It was pretty cool. Got back on the trail at noon and from there it was all open an exposed for the rest of the day. Reminded me how much I hated the desert. This was my first big water carry since SoCal. 
At 5:30 I hit some nice trail magic and a water cache. Ate a little bit and drank .75 liters. Felt rejuvenated after that to finish out the day. Found a small camp spot right off the trail a little after 8PM so I stopped there. 
Only about 9 miles to Burneys Guest Ranch where I plan on resupplying along with showering and laundry. I hope this place is better than Drakesbad. 

Slept in until 6 since I had a short 12 miles to Drakesbad Ranch. Got there at 10:30. That’s where I made some big changes to my day. 

The whole mail drop thing there is really confusing. Nobody delivers packages to their ranch. And of course there’s no cell service or wifi to try and straighten things out. All packages with their address gets left at the Chester PO, even UPS. But even then they apparently put the packages next door to the PO which is a hard wear store. 
So my package doesn’t even arrive until the following day and when I checked the tracking days prior it said “by end of day”. Which means the people at Drakesbad would probably get it the day after. Which would mean I would be forced to take a zero here. And there’s absolutely nothing to do here. 
I looked into my food bag and find I have enough food to make it to Old Station which is only 23 miles away. So I decide to just leave Drakesbad. I will try to contact the PO to bounce the box but worse case scenario I lose the box which was only four days of food, of well. Time is money and I’d rather lose food money than my time. 
Before I left I went to shower. They had an outdoor shower for PCT hikers with no soap or anything. I saw two real showers that were open so I grabbed a pool towel and went in there. Other hikers told me there are no laundry services so I washed my underwear in there with me. It felt great to be clean, even though I had to put on dirty clothes again. 
I finish in time for lunch at 12. I go in to pay but apparently they have to serve the guests there first and any PCT hikers last, so I had to wait an hour where I spent my time listening to music and typing this up. 
I go up for food at 1PM and the woman said they’d charge an extra $7 if I went up for seconds. Good thing she told me that because I loaded up my plate with probably 5-8lbs of food. Ate it all in about 10 minutes. 
Got back on trail at 2PM. Did almost 20 by 8:30. Trail was nice and flat. I’m only a few miles out from Old Station. 

Broke camp at six. Trail was pretty easy to hike today. For some reason my stomach felt like crap for most of the day. Kind of like a nauseous feeling. Because of this I took a ton of breaks throughout the day. Pretty happy I still managed to do 34. 

I got great reception on top of a mountain where I took about thirty minutes to update my blog. First time in a while I could actually upload some pictures. 
Later in the day at a highway crossing to go into Chester I ran into some trail magic. In a cooler there were Pepsis and only one Powerade. The soda looked nice but I impeded at the Powerade because of how my stomach was feeling. I filled up my 24oz bottle with it and drank the rest. In the hiker box there were cookies and Dorito crumbs so I ate it. It kept me full the rest of the day which meant I save money on my own food. Also had an orange. There was a couple there that got a ride into town, the driver asked if I wanted a lift. It was really tempting but I had no reason to go and I would just waste money. 
Drinking the Powerade definitely made me feel better, it had the potassium, sodium, etc to help out my stomach. Ended the day a little after 8PM. Only 12 miles to Drakesbad Ranch where I’ll have to spend the night to wait on my package. I hope I get it on the sixth. 

Started hiking at 5:30 and got to Belden a little before 9:30. There’s a huge Burning Man Festival going on. Loads of people. First place I’ve been where people don’t stare at the thru hikers. There was a woman that was on some serious drugs. 
First thing I did was hit up the general store. Bought a can of Sprite and some Pringles. Another hiker told me about a “breakfast buffet” going on for $13 so I got on that real quick. Turns out you can’t go back for seconds, lame, what kind of buffet is that? 
Went back to the store and got some chocolate milk. It’s a great recovery drink for the unaware. Has the calories, sodium, potassium, carbs, sugars, protein and of course calcium. After downing that I did some thru hiker chores (toilet, brush teeth and washed my socks). Went back to the store and bought a 32oz Powerade and finished the rest of my Pringles. Moved my stuff inside to get out of the sun. 
Left around 1:45, it was nice to chill out for a while before this long climb. I bought another 32oz Gatorade, butterfingers ice cream and M&M brownies before I left though. This is why I try to avoid towns. 
The 13.5 mile climb took me until 7:30, took a few breaks going up of course. Since I was in town for a while I hiked until 8:45. I’m sleeping without my rain fly tonight since its been hot out and it doesn’t look like it’ll rain. 
Should hit the half way point tomorrow. 

Started hiking at 6. Today was easier than yesterday, probably because most of the day was in the shade. Had to do a seven mile climb. It was all switchbacks so it wasn’t bad. Tomorrow there is a 12 mile climb out of Belden, not looking forward to it. 

Apparently the trail goes by a little general store in Belden. I’m definitely going to be there stuffing my face before that climb. Hopefully I can charge my phone too. I am ahead of schedule so I could take some more time there. It’s only 12.6 away so I’m going to wake up at 5 and get there ASAP. 

Didn’t fall asleep until late, probably because of all the sugar and caffeine I had in town. Got up at 5 which is the earliest since the desert, felt pretty well rested. Finished the remaining miles of the climb. Trail was easy to hike which was nice. Took a break at a water source at 10:45 and got moving by 11:15. 

The heat is picking back up. It went from 60s in the Sierra to 80s and 90s. I hit a wall around 2PM but kept moving after a ten minute break. Took another twenty minute break at 5PM. Can’t sit still for long because the bugs will get you. Ended the day around 7:30. 
I didn’t intend to do a big day today. I forgot that my package doesn’t get to where I’m going until the sixth and I’ll probably be there on the fifth. Don’t really like having my days dictated by anything but me. But I guess that will give Sonic and Junco time to catch up to me. 
The new pair of shoes I picked up from Sierra City are great. Same make and model but it feels great to have the cushion again. I’m going to try and make this pair and another last the rest of the trail. So I’ll need to get about 725 miles out of both.