Update from Seiad Valley

I'm sitting here in Seiad Valley do I figured I give a quick update since Dunsmuir.

We left Castella with the intention of coming all the way here and bypassing Etna. I'm glad those plans changed. We ended up getting a hitch from the first car that passed and were in town within 10 minutes of getting to the trailhead. Scallywag, Julia and I sat in the back of a pickup truck as the woman sped down the windy, steep road toward town. It was about 13 miles in total and boy was it fun!! I'll try to get up some photos soon. In Etna, we stayed at the house of this incredible family who do missionary work all over the world. The house was given to them to use as a means of continuing this work and so I guess hosting hikers is in some way considered missionary work. The family is made of a couple and their 10 kids, many of whom are adopted. They ween't even home the nigh we stayed as they were going on a camping trip of their own, so the big beautiful home was just full of dirty hiker trash. that was a great stay. We also had punch with Dazzle at the Etna pub and he shared stories of his travels of yesteryear. He's done a lot of bike touring and sailing.

We got out of Etna the following day, much the same way as we got in, in the back of a truck. This time it was just the two of us. We were in the back of a 1970s Fors truck, no tailgate and clinging to furniture that the9 lady was trying to sell at a yard sale. Oh well, we survived and got back to the trail by 12:30. That afternoon / evening we saw about 6 or so others, but haven't seen them since! Yesterday we wanted to do a big day, and we ended up doing our biggest day yet by 7 miles. We finished with 34 miles, 54.5km!! We ended up making it to the trailhead of the PCT at Seiad Valley and camped next to the outhouse. We saw a bear on the way down, but he seemed pretty terrified of us and bolted straight away. The walking in general is getting easier. The scenery is still stunning and we're as filthy as ever.

Julia attempted the pancake challenge here. It's 5lbs of pancakes and got through a third of it. Again, hopefully I can get some pics up soon. There's a big fire here and the trail is closed for 15 miles going north. There's a road walk detour but most people are hitching a ride. The waitress offered us a ride at 2:30 and so that what we're doing. Showers at the RV park!!

Tomorrow, after nearly 4 months, we'll be walking out of California. Dang this state is LONG!! We should be through Oregon in less than 3 weeks.