Day 107 : 1500 miles

4th August 2013
Mile 1484 to mile 1506 : Non-descript logging rd to I-5.\
Mileage : 22

Average mileage since day 101 : 24.4

My body punished me all day today for not having a hot meal yesterday evening. I dilegently counted the calories, but my body seemed to know i was cutting corners, and was not happy. Luckily, the day was short, only 22 miles, mostly down hill, and shaded, except for a climb in the middle of the morning. The only thing worse than an exposed section of trail, is an exposed section of the trail which goes up. I was worried that the climb might be such a section, so planned to repeat yesterday's 12 miler before the first break. The hunger, however, set in about 5 seconds after i put my rucksack on, and by the time I reached the bottom of the climb was growling audibly. Concered about the increasing heat of the morning, i decided not to stop and eat but rather content myself with sugar, something I don't usually do. I try and avoid sugar on the trail as it is not very calorie dense, and provides only a 'hit' of energy that i can't sustain during my 12 mile stints. I do, however, always carry a big bag of skittles for moments when i need to push through the hunger and get somewhere quickly. I raced up the 6 mile climb at speed stopping every half an hour to eat a few handfuls of skittles, which would get me through the next half an hour before i would start to crash. This tactic proved effective, and i was glad I did it, as there were significant portions of the climb that i could tell would be exposed to the sun in a very short space of time. After the climb, it was all down hill to the 1500 mile marker, and I-5. After an obligatory photo at the marker, we all headed down to the road looking for a ride into Shasta City for a night off the trail. Some hours later, Rocky, T-Rex and I were sat outside at a bar/restaurant (Dr Slosh carrying straight on up the trail to meet his girlfriend's family, with whom he'd be hiking at a leasurely 10 miles per day for about a week) when out of the blue appeared Cuddles, the hiking cellist, and his wife Emma who is supporting him as he makes his way to Canada. I hadn't seen cuddles in over 1000 miles, so it was a chance for us all to catch up and swop stories. As we were doing so, he reached into his bag and pulled out a pinata. Not just any pinata, but Prophet's pinata that had been given to him as part of the Top Gear challenge many miles ago in Tehachapi. To say I was surprised to see the pinata would be a significant understatement. Prophet ditched the Pinata at Kennedy Meadows South, just we were beginning the Sierra Nevada so PRT decided to mail it to him at Mammoth where we assumed he would stop and pick up a package, and then rediscover the pinata. For a long time Prophet has been 10-14 days ahead of most people I know, so none of us knew whether or not he had picked it up in Mammoth or not. Along with the Pinata we had put a note saying as punishment for ditching it he would have to take it all the way to Oregon, and to give him credit it appears he almost made it. Given how light it is, I have decided to tkae it up the trail as far as Ashland, where I intend to leave it for the rest of PRT, who are now about 4 days behind me. After dinner, a couple of beers and a catch up the three of us headed back to the scabby motel we were staying at looking forward to a shower and a well deserved lie in.


Nel took us from the trailhead into Shasta City



From left to right : T-Rex, Rocky, Myself and Slosh at the 1500 mile marker!



From left to right : Rocky, the Pinata, Cuddles, T-Rex and Emma