Day 100, mile 1606

Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Layover between legs 15 and 16: Etna, California
Friends on trail: Chris Wheeler (aka Wheezy)

Last stop in California!

Flanagan, Mathes, and Wheezy finished leg 15 about lunch time and grabbed a bit at the Etna Brewery.  Wheezy will deliver our thru-hikers to the trailhead this afternoon for the push to Ashland.

Day 94, mile 1506

Thursday, July 25, 2013
Mt. Shasta City, California
Friends in trail: Chris Wheeler, aka Wheezy

Departed town for the trailhad at 4:30pm.  Wheezy's beautiful wife, Aki, is delivering the three boys to the trail.

I spoke with Red very briefly this afternoon.  Just long enough to (1) learn that all the food is in order, (2) inform him that new sites and insoles will be waiting in Etna next Tuesday, and (3) wish him a happy fifth anniversary.

Day 89, mile 1423

Saturday, July 20, 2013
Burney Falls State Park, California

Candy and Rich Mathes delivered another cache box to the trail.  Candy sent a couple photos home.

Day 78 from Command Central

When the Andrews were hiking through the dessert, they leap-frogged Spot (aka Greg Howe) a couple of times.  Spot is from Portland, has been hiking the PCT in sections, and this summer was his last segment of the PCT.

Evidently, our boys and Spot ran low on topics of conversation and the fact that I recently sat for and passed my second bar examwas shared.  Fast forward to early June, Spot came off trail to recover from an injury, and returned to the trail to finish this segment north to south opposite the normal flow.  This gave Spot the chance to pass all his previous trail friends as they hiked north.

Well, you know where this is going.  Spot passed our boys just after they returned to the trail post San Francisco.  A few minutes of chatting and all hiked on.  Skip ahead another couple weeks and Spot finds me on the Oregon State Bar member directory.  (He's a lawyer, too, so it's not creepy.)  Tonight Spot and I had a good chat as I updated him on the trail news.  We're hoping to meet up this fall after Andrew finishes the trail.

Day 77, mile 1155

Monday, July 8, 2013
Layover between legs 11 & 12: Truckee, California

Day 76, mile 1125ish

Sunday, July 7, 2013
Legs 11: Sonora Pass to Highway 80 (Donner Pass), CaliforniaMilestone: over halfway complete for days on trail

The Andrews are a day away from their next cache drop -- a mailed package waiting in Truckee -- and found 4G reception atop a ridge.  Not a bad location to stop and call their ladies.  The view from Squaw Peak, a ski resort on the north side of Lake Tahoe, is spectacular.  

Lake Tahoe

There is a fire raging southeast of Lake Tahoe.  You can see the white smoke plume as well as the long grey soot trail the winds are pushing north.  These are the only "clouds" in the sky today.

Smoke clouds beyond Lake Tahoe

Wondering where the wildfires are in relation to our hikers?  Remember to check Jonno's incredible map at http://www.backnine.org/~jnicol/pct_map/map.html.

The boys are still enjoying each other's company, their gear is in working order, and the food is hitting the spot.  A requested changes to future cache drops, but those food swaps will be easy enough.  So glad they doing well.  Post a comment or question below and I'll be sure to pass it along to them.

Day 73

Thursday, July 4, 2013
Leg 11: Sonora Pass to Highway 80 (near Truckee), California

Another cyber spotting of our Andrews on Muk Muk's blog:
http://mexicotocanada2013.wordpress.com/2013/07/07/the-4th-of-july/

This time Muk Muk not only mentions "The Andrews" in passing, but they are featured in a video!  I slipped a couple packets of Pop Rocks -- yes, the delicious candy all the children of the 1980s will remember fondly -- into the last cache drop.  

So great to actually SEE our boys.  Perhaps more videos will come along . . .

Day 70, mile 1018

Monday, July 1, 2013
Layover between Legs 10 & 11: Sonora Pass, California
Overnighting: Bridgeport, Mono County, California

Cache drop delivered by Flanagan parents who drive down from Seattle.  Sometimes a mom just needs to see her boy.  Staying in a hotel tonight, and each Andrew gets his own queen-sized bed!

Crossed the 1,000 mile mark yesterday.  Only 700 miles remaining in California.  They will be picking up the pace the next few legs add they only have five weeks until Oregon.  Yes you're mental math is correct, the remainder of California will be hiked at an average of 124 miles each week or 18 miles per day (21 miles per day of you figure six days on & one day off).

June is high mosquito season.  But add in multiple  breathtaking alpine lakes (and the swampy terrain that surrounds the lakes) and you have a recipe for miserable swarms.  At one point Red was walking about eight feet behind Mathes and the mosquitos were so thick a haze formed between them.  Uck!  They are combating the bugs with head nets that for over a hat, long sleeves and pants, and DEET on all exposed skin.  Still getting bites, but not becoming anemic.

Lots of family and friends support these next couple weeks as well.  As mentioned above, the Flanagan parents delivered the cache for Leg 11.  Leg 12 was mailed today.  The Mathes parents will deliver cache drops for Legs 13 and 14.  Wheezy brings Leg 15 resupply with him when he joins, and Aki delivers Leg 16 box when Wheezy departs.  Then two drops from the Cowan family and were in Ashland, Oregon!  Rebecca and get mother are delivering the food for Leg 19 at Crater Lake just six weeks from today!