We were headed down to Etna Summit, the place where the PCT crosses the road into Etna, and in the last mile or two we passes around 100 teenagers in several groups of 10-12. They were all a part of the JH Ranch, a Christian Ranch that does outdoor leadership camps for teens, young adults, and families. What cracked us up is the guy the leaders had running through the woods dressed in a gorilla costume to mess with the kids. We thought we were hot! Can you imagine hiking in the July heat in a gorilla costume? Apparently this area also has a lot of Bigfoot sightings as well, so it was a perfect costume.
We hit Etna Summit around 2:30pm and read the unfortunate sign that told us that the trail was closed from Etna Summit to Marble Valley, 24 miles away. We were soon to learn that most people were hitching around to Seiad Valley, the last stop in CA.
Despite road closures, we got a hitch from the first car that drove by. Etna is a very hiker friendly town, so locals are awesome when it comes to hikers. We got to the PO and were surprised with another great note and pkg from my friend Julie (THANKS AGAIN!!), and letters from both Gma Schmerse and Coach. We then grabbed some ice cream at the very cool old fashioned soda fountain. Etna truly feels like what you would imagine a small town to be. Very cute and friendly. Two of our hiker friends were sitting on a bench by a pizza place talking and a local walked by and talked to them for a second about their hike. His response was, "You both look too skinny! Here's $20...go buy a pizza!" How great is that!
The fun thing about the weekend is that we managed to hit this sleepy little town just as a bluegrass festival was beginning. We were allowed to sleep in the city park (where the festival would be in full swing the next day), and we were also allowed to take free showers at the local pool after hours!
Although you have to pay to get into the festival, they did a free deal in the evening where they blocked offf main street and had the bands play in different spots along the street. After dinner we wandered over there before heading back to the park for the night.
Total Miles:1606.3
Miles Today:19.1
Camp 82:Etna City Park
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1 comment:
Paul & Brooke and Sharon and I just finished the Wind River Mountains on the CDT--we're in Pinedale WY today... great to catch up with your hike... will you try the pancake challenge in Seiad Valley? Watch out for any "interesting" hikers heading up out of Seiad Valley...and be wary of that snake you almost stepped on near the California-Oregon line ;-)
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