Day 76 - Tuesday, August 7

Here is Erik the Black after a hard night partying. Told him we have to get back on the trail this morning.

My new Suunto watch compass hasn't been working since Jerry calibrated it in Sierra City. The last several days it just says S or SE no matter which direction we are facing. I looked for a compass in town but they all seemed too bulky. ETB tried to calibrate it but it wouldn't work from the instructions I had. I don't want to call Moosejaw to try to get another one after this one chased me for hundreds of miles along several PCT stops. I finally called Jerry and he told me how to calibrate it and it's working. Woohoo!

So I hitched a ride back to the trail head.

Wild Things Max was smiling to finally be back on the trail! LOL...

We have a 5500' climb in the next 34 miles from 2130' to over 7600'.

Castle Crags State Park is BEAUTIFUL. Only problem, it is HOT, HOT, HOT - my watch says 95º. Plus there are lots of flies - they like slurping up our sweat. At least the trail is well marked and easy to follow, not like some of the overgrown trails in the previous section.

We expect to make at least 25 miles today.

Days 73-75 - Sat-Mon, August 4-6

(Dirt Diva's Report)

Ok, so Erik the Black and I made it to Mt Shasta City Saturday. We hitched in and by pure luck we got a ride from a trail head from a guy that we saw pouching the trail on his mountain bike a few hours earlier. We really had a better chance being struck by lightning.
We have had really good luck hitching together. Not sure since we look like we belong in a punk rock band. That's what the ranger in Burney told us.
Mt Shasta City was a nice little town. We headed out today with good intentions of hitting the trail. We got a ride to the trail head but decided to do the road walk into Castella to the store. We arrived there to find Abacus, Nadine and her dog Pancha, and Burning man. They were all hitching to Dunsmuir. We headed to the store and met up with Ricola and 2 other hikers but can't remember their names. We hung out for a while and thought let's do a trifecta and hit all the towns today. We immediately got a ride from a young guy from LA. Whenever me and ETB hike together we manifest rides, that's why we get them right away. LOL... Well, that's what I tell him it's all about manifesting what you want.
We are in Dunsmuir along with Bull, Jugz , Big Cat, and 6 others.
I'm at the Library so have to make this short. I WILL BE ON THE TRAIL TOMORROW.
It's all about the smiles not miles. Well, that's what all the hikers say. And they're right it's all about the fun times.
Love to all of you.
DIRT DIVA

Days 70-72 - Weds-Fri, Aug 1-3

Here's the Northern California Section I'm hiking now. I don't have to go higher than 7500' but you can see there are some big climbs and descents ahead. I'll be at nearly the lowest point when I reach Hwy 5 near Dunsmuir.

Me And Erik the Black reached Burney Falls State Park and went to see the 8th wonder of the world, Burney Falls. I only got pictures with my camera. Jerry brought my camera cord to Sierra City and I downloaded some pictures. I told him to send it with my next resupply at Etna so I can send him good pictures for my blog.

I camped with Breeze from San Fran, Gaby from England, Jugz and Wolf on Thursday night. This section from Old Station has been pretty much waterless. I just had to go 15 miles without water. There are awesome views, especially as I get close to Mt Shasta (14,162') to the north. I've called it "ghost mountain" because it seems to disappear in some of the pictures I've taken. ;)

I'm just trying to get out of California. It feels like I'll never get to Oregon! But I'm having fun! The trail is pretty much non-existent it is so overgrown. I can't see the trail so each step is just a guess where I'm going. It's just a sea of green , sometimes taller than me. There are shrubs with stickers covering the trail that are cutting my legs. Erik the Black passed up the camp I used Thursday night but I caught up with him Friday morning. I am doing 30 miles today. We will reach Hwy 5 near Castle Crags Park on Saturday night (mile 1506). On Sunday, we will hitch to Dunsmuir and then take a bus to Mt Shasta City to get resupplied at a health food store there.

Day 69 - Tuesday, July 31

(Dirt Diva's Report)
I slack packed today with 10 other hikers. I ran it in 4:45 and inspired 3 others to run. They did it in 5:30. Kurt rolled in today. He hiked up Mt Lassen. I think I'm going to hike with Juggs, Erik the Black (in picture) & Bear Cat. They want to hike with me for a bit. Looks like there will be 12 of us rolling out tomorrow. Off to bed to get a good night's sleep so I'm ready for tomorrow.
There is not much cell reception up here so I can't send many pictures for my blog. :(

Days 67-68 - Sun-Mon, July 29-30

(Dirt Diva's Report)
Here is the view of Mt Lassen (10,457') in the distance as I left Hwy 36. I left The Corrupter on Sunday. His ankle was sore and he wanted to do less mileage. I got lost on Monday and ended up on the highway doing an extra 6 miles. Oh well , it's all about the journey, right? ; )
Here I am passing along the foot of Mt Lassen I didn't have to climb higher than 6700'.

I'm in Old Station (mile 1380) at the Heitman's on Monday evening. They are awesome trail Angels with a really cool house. Dennis & Georgie Heitman provide food and drinks for the hikers and put on breakfast and dinner. They even have a tree house that I'm going to hopefully sleep in tonight. There are about 13 PCTers hanging out here.

I'm going to head out for a short run. A bunch of hikers slack-packed to Burney yesterday and got a ride back here today. I might run that section backwards and get a ride back to the trailhead. Not sure though - might as well since I'm not doing a speed record. I really do miss running. I will decide tomorrow.

That's all for now.
Namaste,
Dirt Diva

Days 65-66 - Fri-Sat, July 27-28

Days 65-66 (Dirt Diva's report)
The Corrupter & I headed into Chester. It took us less than 5 minutes to hitch a ride from a really nice older couple. To tell you the truth, they were very conservative and me holding a sign - tattooed and dirty, I would of never thought they would pick us up. It's mostly 30-40 something's that pick me up not people over 70. Anyway they were very nice.

We didn't think we would get a room because I called from Belden and all the Motels were booked. It seems Chuck Norris' daughter was getting married. I thought why here? But later found out her mother is from here. We stayed at the Best Western it was very nice. It had a bath tub. I love soaking in the bathtub. It felt great.
Kurt(Corrupter) ate a whole large pizza last night. I had some French fries and rice dream(vanilla) - yummy.
We are heading to Old Station, should arrive Monday.

Jerry my trail Angel sent me a new sleeping pad since mine got a hole :(

I texted my friend Randy yesterday and it was good to hear back from him. My brother called me yesterday so I need to call him back. Talked to Jo Lynn who left me a surprise note near Mt. Shasta and talked to Antonia who is running the San Francisco marathon today.

I hope all of you are healthy and well. Make sure you take time out today to tell someone you love them.

I want you all to know I read my blog every chance I get and even though I don't respond to all of you I appreciate all the comments. They really lift my spirits on dark days which are very few out here. So keep them coming.
I love all of you. Back on the trail see ya.
Dirt Diva

Days 62-65 - Tues-Fri, July 24-27

Leaving Sierra City, I had a 2800' climb to about 7000'. I pushed my pace and mileage on Monday and Tuesday to catch the group of thru-hikers who had left the day before me. I caught a group of three including Kurt the Corrupter. We decided to hook up again.

We made it to Belden (mile 1289). The Deacon had called me on Monday to say it looked like a haven for drug addicts and drug dealers. Wow, I had to agree with him. It is a pretty scary place! There are no activities going on. I had booked cabin 13 for the night but when we got there, it was dilapidated and covered in cobwebs. We went into the town store and most of the food was expired. We decided to not stay there and went on down to stay at the trail angels place, the Braatens.
My health is good and I haven't had any problems with my feet. Jerry sent new Hardrock shoes to Belden. Got to say Hardrocks and Dirty Girl gaiters are the best!

Darn, my thermarest sleeping pad has a leak so it goes flat during the night. I called Jerry on Thursday to get me a new one and send it to Old Station so I can pick it up on Monday.

As we leave Belden, we have a 5000' climb. Woo Hoo, on Friday we reached the halfway point near Hwy 36.

We are going off trail about 10 miles to Chester to get internet access.

Day 61 - Monday, July 23

Sierra City is mile 1197 on the PCT. I am heading out to Belden (mile 1289) and the final 92 miles of the Central Calif section. Four days is the longest I've been off trail since I started but it was great to see so many friends. I have to say my legs are sore from using different muscles in the 50 mile race. Several groups of thru-hikers have passed through in the last four days. A group of them went out at Tahoe to visit Reno.

Jerry drove me to the trailhead. He and Rocky went up the trail with me for about a half mile before the rocks on the trail got to be too much for Rocky. I kissed and hugged Rocky goodbye for a long time. As I started up the trail I was crying and yelling back to my weenie boy how much I'm going to miss him. I feel like just going home with Rocky. It's going to be a long day hiking alone, thinking about him. :°-(
"Love is when your dog licks your face even when you've left him alone all day" (or in my case for 2 months!)

Days 55-60 - Tues-Sun, July 17-22

Life is good! (Dirt Diva's report)
I have just been cruising along the PCT alone for the past two days. I met up near Donner summit with my
ultrarunning friends, Jack Driver
and his girlfriend, Rebekka and Kathy D'Onofrio. Jack and Kathy were talking about their upcoming hundred mile race, Tahoe Rim 100m.

On Monday I had hiked 34 miles and was thinking about my friend Julia who was going to be running the hundred miler. I really miss her. I thought all day "wouldn't it be crazy if I showed up and surprised her, and at the same time I could run the 50 mile race". Jack told me the race was sold out but he texted me Dave the RD's number. I called on Tuesday and he said I could get in.
I was excited…but a little nervous since these legs haven't really run more than 4 miles at a time and that's been downhill and a shuffle, not really a run. Hmmm, can my body do it?? Figured I would find out!
I called Fast Jerry since he was already coming up to pace Julia. I asked him if he could bring my dog, Rocky when he came and he said yes. So it was all set.
My friend, Alikona from Sacramento would meet me in Sierra City on Thursday and drive me to Kathy's in Truckee and Friday I would sign up in Carson City for the race at the race check-in and surprise Julia.
One problem - on Wednesday I thought it was Thursday and ended up a day early to Sierra City. That was ok since the weather was cloudy and rainy. There were about 10 thru-hikers here and it was fun meeting new people. They thought I was crazy for even wanting to run 50 miles after hiking 1200 miles. We figured I would become the first PCT thru-hiker to run an ultra in the middle of the hike. ;-)

On Thursday, Alikona came out and we had a fun day shopping and hanging out. We got to play with some baby goats - aren't they cute! I stayed at Kathy's and went to Carson City to surprise Julia on Friday.

Here I am with my friends Joe, Mylinh, & Julia

(all 3 ran & finished TRT 100m)

I ran the race Saturday and Fast Jerry was at the finish with Rocky who I was SO HAPPY to see. I was hoping just to finish the race in under the cut off time of 16½ hours. But to my surprise I did great - 13 hours. I proved even on no training, my mind can carry me through.
I was able to catch Julia - the hundred mile runners started an hour ahead of the 50m/50k runners. So we got to run together for nearly 20 miles and catch up on our lives. Near the end I decided to leave her and haul butt to pass a few girls in front of me and get Julia's crew ready for her.

On Sunday afternoon, I am in Sierra City with Jerry & Rocky and will hit the trail tomorrow. I'm sad that I won't see my friends for at least 1½ months. I'm happy I took a little break to reconnect with the ultrarunning community that I love so much. I feel recharged and ready to keep moving forward to Canada.
BTW - In case anyone is wondering. I am no longer going for a speed record. I think some people didn't realize that I decided that - for now I am all about the experience and loving this beautiful trail.

"Life's a journey, not a destination" Steven Tyler

Day 54 - Monday, July 16

I wanted to get an earlier start today. Jerry was going to run the 24 miles back to his car on the PCT but couldn't run downhill on his ankle. He decided to hike directly down the mountain to Sugar Pine and then try to hitch a ride on Hwy 89.

I left after Abacus for my trek to Donner Pass. I passed through Granite Chief Wilderness near Squaw Valley with some more incredible views and flowers. These pictures need no descriptions!

I saw this little spruce branch arrow laying on the ground, pointing the way north. This was natural, just the way it fell off a tree.

Today, I saw Ashley Idema, who won Angeles Crest last year in 2nd fastest time ever with her husband Josh (PCT'02) and their dog Mattie. They are here from Corvallis, OR hiking the TRT for a few days.

After hiking along Hwy 89 for 5 miles, Jerry got a ride to his car from Griffin, a spell caster/ Worlock/ magician with full dreadlocks and a wolf named North. He was willig to take any ride since it saved hiking 8 miles on his ankle.