Happy JO and I, although not technically thru-hiking this year, live by the premise that maximizing calories is the way to success. When hiking 20-25 miles per day, your body can burn 4000-6000 calories. You can never carry enough food to replenish the deficit on the trail, but you can try. Then again, if you carry too much, you risk hurting your feet from all the extra weight. The time to replenish your calories and rest your feet is in town.
We walked into Ashland's Callahan's Lodge with a few tablespoons of powdered milk and three melted chocolate-covered espresso beans. Almost perfect planning. We had just enough for our 65-mile trek from Seiad. One bag of Trader Joe's fried green beans turned out to be rancid, so we buried it during the climb out of Seiad Valley. Some colony of giant California ants are partying like crazy right now! But later on, I was lucky enough to find a rogue sourpatch kid on the trail, thanks to some fumbling thru-hiker in front of me. Yum!!
We had mailed a box from Portland to Ashland, containing all our food for our five-day journey to Crater Lake. Although I had also included gauze, lotion, and a razor, I did not anticipate the blisters I would need to baby over our 'zero' day. Thanks to Freya and Marty in Portland, I was sent a mondo bag of Epsom salts, Phineas and Ferb band-aids, and a lollipop. The Epsom salts went straight into the jacuzzi tub and I bathed in them twice so far. Ahhh. My feet should be perfectly prepared for the last leg of our trip.
We had an awesome dinner of pasta and salad (gotta keep the scurvy at bay) last night, and a filling breakfast of omelettes and sausages this morning. After a quick trip downtown to the library and the outdoor store, we scurried through Safeway and grabbed bread, cheese, salad fixins', beer (that's the hydration part) and two pints of Ben & Jerry's.
Happy JO has performed minor toe surgery and iced his knee while on a marathon channel-surf. My work emails are done, clothes laundered and I've just about gotten all the dirt out from under my nails.
Next section is 108 miles --the final stretch to connect my footprints across a 646-mile section from northern California to the OR/WA border.
Song for this section is "Can't Sleep" by Above & Beyond. Five-hour energy drinks are great for getting you up the tough climb, but definitely not advisable after 2pm.
Hey Jenny and Owen,
ReplyDeleteWow, you two are zooming up the trail! Hope the weather is nice. It has been pretty hot at home and the fires are popping up all over. Yesterday I gave the first speech of the school year to tthe freshman at Richland, Washington. They had as many kids in one class as we have in the whole town of Dufur!
I wish there was a way to donate calories. You can't get enough and I have too much haha. Have a good day and keep on rockin!
Jake French