Burney Falls to Mount Shasta

Bugs! Dust! Poison oak! 30+ mile days! 100+ degree temperatures! If that doesn't sound like a honeymoon, I don't know what does. Oh... you mean Bora Bora isn't like this?!







More than halfway!





Views ain't bad

Despite the Tragedy of the Cheese (see previous post), we've been dead set on trying to have a romantic, beautiful, relaxed trail honeymoon. I have to say, the variables have been stacked against this happening. In addition to the heat and tough days, we have also found ourselves in a big old "bubble" of people. Sometimes this happens - as a bunch of hikers will all leave town at the same time, or maybe get consolidated on the trail because of where water and campsites are located. Usually, it's nice to know some people around you and see folks throughout the day, but also nice to feel like you're having a real wilderness experience (including the solitude that comes with that). This last section has felt just way too crowded. For example, on our last night before getting to the town of Shasta (where we are now), we slept in a tiny campsite with something like 15 people (many of whom snored!). We keep trying to wake up early and push the miles, but we seem to be endlessly surrounded by all 6'2 26-year-old dudes, who have no problem catching up to us by lunchtime. We're hopeful that with a town stop and a long stretch coming up, folks will spread out a little. Or, we'll just have to shift our honeymoon mindset a bit to include lots of Hikertrash around every corner. Hikertrash, by the by, is a term of endearment and respect.






Getting up before sunrise - not Lemonade's strong suit

When we last wrote, we were wrapping up at the Burney Mountain Guest Ranch. As we left, a group of dude hikers was really settling into the corner for an afternoon of waiting out the heat and watching Downton Abbey. I love this life.

That day, we made it another very hot 9 miles to Burney Falls State Park, which was an incredible oasis. Just a quarter mile off trail, there's a general store (chips! Root beer floats! Our resupply package awaiting!), and then the falls themselves, which were stunning. Now it's starting to feel a bit more like a honeymoon!







The next few days were a bit of a blur. We've been waking up at 5 am and leaving camp by 6, trying to get 30+ miles in, and talking a lot about happy wedding memories. Also the Democratic convention - we talk a lot about what we imagine each of the speakers is discussing (we were super excited to make it to town in time to watch Hillary on Thursday!). And our books. Justin is currently reading Shogun, and I'm rereading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, my favorite from 8th grade. We start each day with a plot recap of our reading from the previous evening. Later in the afternoon, typically while we do a big climb, we do "Podcast Time," which is arguably my favorite part of the day. I have gone deep in podcasts this summer (is anyone surprised?) and at some point will do an entire blog post on podcasts. But for now, I'll say that my new favorite is "Politically Re-Active" and the episodes on private prisons and white supremacy are both stunning.



Walking toward Mount Shasta for days - and loving it






You can kind of see how hot it is in this picture






Podcast time!






Cooking dinner. It's still hot, we're just wearing layers to keep the mosquitos off






Sometimes, you just have no choice but to camp in the middle of a dirt road

So that's how we're spending our days. Again, classic honeymoon, right? There are exceptional moments though: Burney Falls was one. The McCloud River was another - we spent 2 hours chilling by the banks, swimming, rinsing out our clothes, scrubbing off the poison oak, and enjoying a leisurely lunch. Eating Thai food in a dive motel while watching Hillary was another. I mean, we had Thai food!! Most trail towns boast little more than a burger or maybe some pizza. This was THE LIFE. And we're trying to allow ourselves little luxuries where we can: Justin is carrying all our trash in a serious act of backpacker chivalry, we brought our wedding koozies and enjoyed a koozie-held beer while waiting in a laundromat yesterday, and are savoring every last bite of the treats Emily & Jack and Bev & Ed brought to our wedding. Seriously. We have two caramels and about 10 dried peaches left and we're loving it.






Cool infrastructure this section





We stared mesmerized at this for like 10 minutes





The McCloud River, site of a wonderful lunch hang

















Laundromat beers in wedding koozies

One thing I need to mention is my shoes. I wore size 9.5 Brooks Cascadias for the first 1328 miles. I'm typically an 8, but your feet got mad swollen out here. On the whole, I loved them - comfortable, supportive, spry, and limited blisters. However, the one issue: they were way too wide and I kept slipping. During the wedding week, I decided to try out a size 9 and see if they were roomy enough for the toes, but reduced the sideways slipping. Seemed perfect when I tried them out in REI. Fast forward a week - now we're married and back on trail. Within 2 miles of walking on rugged terrain with a pack, I had to acknowledge: they were not perfect. A day or two later, I took my knife to them and engaged in some "shoe surgery," a classic thru hiker pastime. I cut open a slit for my baby toe to escape, thereby relieving the most intense pain. I was hoping to get a new pair of the trusty 9.5s here in Mt Shasta, but the gear shop doesn't carry them. So I'll order a pair to the next town and keep trucking in these for now. Only 163 more miles. Ouch!





#husband





Approaching Castle Crags State Park





Rules of the trail. Basically - feet good, wheels bad.





Sweet water source. Also this picture shows how cool I look while backpacking, with my shorts super high and my shirt tucked in. Gotta prevent that back chafe at all costs.





Shasta sunrise

Mount Shasta is a cool town. The mountain looms high over everything, there are crystal shops everywhere, and there are two health food stores. They call the locals "Shastafarians." Justin and I have tried to get into the Shastafarians spirit in the yuppiest ways possible - drinking $4 kombuchas, inquiring into massages, and cheering on Hillary. Our hotel is hilarious and has three rules:
1. No pets
2. No cats
3. No sneaking in hikers to sleep on your floor

Seemed pretty reasonable and we followed them to a T.






How we watched the DNC. Yes, Justin is using a shopping bag as a plate for cheese in bed.





Town dress! Another luxury of the honeymoon (also it helps me blend in with the Shastafarians).





This store sells aromatherapy for pets.

From here, we've got our longest section of the whole trail - 163 miles till the next town. There's a bail option in the middle, so if we decide we have an urgent need for air conditioning and an iced tea, we've got an escape route. But we're hoping to crank it out in 5.5 days. That's right, we're real thru hikers now and miles don't scare us. At our desert pace, this section would have taken more like 8 days (and probably wouldn't have been possible, as carrying that much food stinks). Though as we do remind ourselves several times daily - "it's about smiles, not miles." Because it is our honeymoon after all.







Greatest honeymoon ever.

Hot and dusty start to the honeymoon: Chester to Burney Falls

Getting off trail wasn't easy before our wedding, and if anything it was much harder to get back on trail afterwards. Basking in the glow of the love of all of our family and friends could only last so long. After three days on trail, it feels like a dream. We're writing from the Burney Mountain Guest Ranch, an oasis in the 100+ degree heat where the proprietor Linda greets hikers with a cup of homemade strawberry ice cream. A different kind of heaven. 

In our rush to return our rental car in time to catch the bus from Susanville to Chester, we made a mistake we would only identify once we were eating lunch happily at the Thirsty Trout in Chester. We had left cheese in the fridge of our hotel room in Reno. While this would be frustrating normally, the cheese -- being leftover Cowgirl Creamery cheese from our wedding -- somehow symbolized the last bit of our wedding that would come with us on the trail. And now it was gone. This probably set us back an hour or two in our attempt to start hiking. We were too sad. Besides we now needed to buy replacement cheese. 

This is a well, weird, section of trail both as our first section post-wedding and by itself. Northern California is weird. We saw a thermal geyser and a boiling lake in Lassen Volcanic National Park, the subway cave (an cave created by an old lava flow that's a delightful 46 degrees inside), and a fish hatchery, all within 80 miles. We are also now completely in the State of Jefferson. If you haven't heard of the State of Jefferson before you're not alone, we hadn't either until this year. You can read more about it here. The short version: they want their independence as a new state given neglect from California and Oregon. It's a unique part of the West. 

Jenny's first geyser





Boiling lake, stay back!


Swimming hole


Subway cave

The last 80 miles are known to be hot and dry, notably around Hat Creek Rim where there is a 29 mile dry stretch. By the end of day three on the trail my new bright blue shorts were caked with dirt, Jenny's pedicure was holding strong but ringed in black, and our legs were nothing short of disgusting. We were able to go for a swim in Lower Twin Lake before the real heat and limited shade kicked in, where we first met Spice and Cap -- part of the trash pick up team. They pick up any trash they find on the trail and throw it out. It's amazing. It's not that Jenny and I don't do our own part, we do, but if we're on day 1 of a 7 day section we're probably not going to pick up broken glass. They do. Heroes. Last note on the heat: while we are now done with the driest stretch, we are on day 3 of a 10 day heat wave in Northern California. The heat is in triple digits for this period. Last night, it was so hot we couldn't sleep in our sleeping bags for the first time on our hike. 

It's hot out there, gotta take advantage of any shade


On the rim


Looking back at the rim


Fields of gold


Pedicure is still holding up


Lava field


Luckily, we ran into some awesome trail magic, all of it yesterday on the hottest, driest and most exposed part of the section on Hat Creek Rim. We ran into a couple from Oakland who had hiked the trail in 2013 -- JIT (Just In Time) and Crossover -- who gave us ice cold sodas twice: once at the top of a climb up to the rim, and once halfway to the Forest Road 22N where there is sometimes a water cache. Yesterday, we were even luckier: Coppertone was there. Coppertone hiked the trail in 2006 when 300 people started the trail. In contrast, more than 3,000 people started the trail this year. Coppertone is famous for following the heart of the pack from Deep Creek in the desert, all the way north towards Canada. He splits his time between going on hikes and enjoying the outdoors, and serving up rootbeer floats for hikers. Oh, and he's retired. We hadn't met Coppertone until yesterday. And it was as amazing as it sounds and then some. He had camper chairs, rootbeer floats and fruit. We wanted to stay forever. 

Trail magic! Pounding sodas

Instead, we kept walking. One of the more amazing parts of this section is how well our bodies have held up. We walked 29 miles a day for two days in a row, which is pretty much the pace we had left off at. 

Next up: Burney Falls itself, and the walk to Shasta. From the top of Hat Creek Rim we could see both Mt. Lassen and Mt. Shasta and we're excited to get closer to Shasta in the coming weeks. 

Near the trout hatchery





Something out of Frozen


Mt Lassen

Wedding!!

We got married!! We've accomplished one of our two goals for summer 2016. Now we just have to hike the remaining 1,322 miles to Canada.







Mission accomplished

When we last wrote, we were in the town of Chester, and frankly really sad about getting off trail. We'd hit a great rhythm, we were hiking with fun folks (what up, Toe Touch!), we were pulling big miles, and our bodies were feeling the best they'd felt since Mexico. It was really tough to pull ourselves away from that. Especially given what was ahead: a day of wedding logistics in everyone's favorite city, Reno. But get off trail we got. We spent a day decompressing in Chester (we highly recommend the milkshake shop) and assembling our epic pre-wedding to do list, which for weeks we'd been scribbling on the backs of maps and in scattered notes on our phones. The next day, we headed to Reno, where we hit up CostCo, Total Wine, Trader Joe's, and REI. If you're looking for a way to ease off of spending a bunch of weeks in the wilderness, I do not recommend going to any big box stores, let alone 4. It was a really difficult and exhausting day. But there were two bright spots. First, we exclusively ate Asian food all day, which we'd been fantasizing about for weeks. Justin found dim sum and a banh mi shop, it was awesome. Second, we ran into our friends Joe and Lindsey in REI! They came early to do a week of camping before the wedding and were at REI to buy some essential gear (sleeping bags, pads, etc). We walked them right out of REI and gave them our gear, which we wouldn't be using for the next 10 days. Problem solved. Then we had lunch!






Secret about the Cohan-Shapiros? They love Costco.






Rental car pretty full. Good thing we went for the SUV.






The next few days were a blur of sitting in Tim and Heather's basement, calling wedding vendors, return trips to Reno, and writing/distributing increasingly precise and specific schedules. The fact that there's virtually no cell service in Sierra City or Downieville significantly added to our stress. What if the band got lost? What if our wedding planner had a question about setting up the Community Hall? What if we couldn't even find each other? We wanted to make sure everyone was in the same page about every detail before we lost cell service. This was a not-fun process and we really missed the simplicity of the trail during these days. There were a few bright spots though - namely a lovely dinner with Bruce, Carol, and Ian at West Shore Cafe to belatedly celebrate their 40th (!!!) anniversary, and a big family dinner with Tim, Heather, and co and all the Cohan-Shapiros, where we roasted marshmallows and drank wine as the sun went down.

And then, "it was on" (remember that quote - it will come up again later). We stopped in Truckee on our way to Sierra City and had the best udon noodle salad of my life (the hiker hunger was still strong at this point) and saw some other thru hikers also eating their faces off in the cafe. We were wearing street clothes at this point and Justin had trimmed his beard, so we were unidentifiable. It was kind of weird, like wearing an invisibility cloak.

Speaking of trimming the beard, Justin tried to get that professionally done on his return trip to Reno with his Dad and brother Ian. He did some research and found the perfect place: The Beautiful Bearded Man, a hipster place that specializes in mega-beards. Unfortunately, Reno seems to be having a resurgence in hipster beards and The Beautiful Bearded Man told Justin that though he is beautiful, the earliest appointment was at least 7 days out. This momentarily caused panic, as we wanted Justin to be bearded for the wedding, but not at the full volume he was currently rocking. Fortunately, he found another hipster spot that had a scotch menu and got an awesome shave. We can recommend Derby Supply Company if you're ever in Reno with an epic beard and in need of a shave.






#thebeard before





...and after. I had no idea there was such a handsome man under that bear cub face!

So back to Truckee. Lunch, while tasty, was stressful. We talked to Nicole, our amazing photographer, one last time, cobbled together the final grocery list, and sent some lingering logistics emails. Ten or fifteen minutes after we left Truckee, we lost cell service. It was the BEST. We both started to relax, breathe, and settle into it: our wedding weekend had started!

We had a rehearsal at the beautiful Sardine Lake. Our families arrived 15-60 minutes late. We love you guys! We had never seen the Lake before, as we had cranked out all our wedding planning between January and March, and the road to the lake is closed in the winter. So there were some surprises - namely, it's very windy on the dam, it's narrow, and it's a steep slope. Great wedding venue! Fortunately, our wedding planner Jennifer from Farm 2 Table catering is the bomb.com and said she'd figure everything out. We gave her a high five and called it a day.

Friday, we applied for our marriage license, where we got very strict instructions to not make any mistakes on the form when we fill it out after the ceremony. No problem, it looks really straightforward (foreshadowing).




Then, we started an activity that would consume much of our families' time over the next few days. We started to load up the cars to caravan to Sierra City (we stayed in Downieville) with drinks, napkins, random wedding props, ice, coolers, and lord knows what else. The drive between the two towns is about 20 minutes on a windy mountain road and I can't even tell you how many times our family members did the trip (I think Bruce might be the champion for overall trips taken, but Matthew has a close second). Thank you one thousand times over to our ever patient families - for loading and unloading the cars, for driving back and forth, and for always asking how they could help so we could spend the weekend being with our friends and extended family. You guys are the best!!



Thanks for always riding surrounded by boxes, Ian!

The Welcome Dinner was awesome. We had it at a historic gold mine, called the Kentucky Mine. The Mine came complete with twinkly lights (a theme for the weekend) and it was unseasonably warm, despite us having put the fear of god in our guests about what happens in California once the sun goes down. The Kentucky Mine was incredibly kind and kept the museum open late for our guests to check it out. Dianne, the curator of the museum, even gave us a beautiful PCT map as a gift! The BBQ food delivery was a tiny bit late, and that was the one moment we regretted not having cell service. Jamie drove to the general store and used their landline to call the restaurant and see what was going on. #oldschool. Fortunately, all was well and the food showed up a few minutes later. BBQ for all!






Dinner at a Gold Mine!





Hikertrash, we are not.











It's as if the man has never tapped a keg before.





Ben made it!

We then had an open mic where people were invited to roast us. Highlights included my college friends comparing us to great cheeses (like Brie, tough on the outside and mushy on the inside), our roommates Lauren and Ashwin doing a run down of our friendship by the numbers (5 - total number of roommates including the dehydrator, 1 - total number of bathrooms), Justin's friend Devon heralding the glories of when they "studied abroad" in DC, Jamie's explanation of his decision-making process ("I think 'what would Jenny do,' then dial it down a few notches and only sometimes follows through"), Ian crushing the mc'ing, and Max and Skye welcoming Justin as their new uncle. Also Tim losing focus for a second and roasting Jamie and Matthew, but we'll let that one be for now. At the end of the evening, Ian also encouraged any thru hikers to come up, and our friend Bivy gave a beautiful toast about poop and how quickly friends are made on the trail. Only at a trail wedding would poop be a perfectly acceptable toast topic!






Maxman teaches me how to elevate my selfie game.





The scene





Mercifully, it was a perfect warm night






Max and Skye's toast, which also dwelled on my dislike for chocolate.






Happy birthday, Aunt Margaret!






#roasted

One of the highlights of the wedding weekend is how many thru hiker friends were able to come!! We were thrilled to be able to share our wedding weekend with Bright Eyes, Blue Sky, Boy Drogo, Bivy, Skywalker, and Swiderman. And we loved how supporting thru hikers became a theme of the weekend - countless guests gave hikers a hitch, bought them cold drinks on the porch of the store, or engaged them in conversation about their journey so far. We were so thrilled to get married in a trail town because we wanted to share a little of the PCT experience with our guests - and I think it worked!

The next morning, Lauren led a group of us in yoga by the river. It was a perfect way to start the big day, with reflection and intention. Justin, of course, was still in bed when I got back. Snoozing the alarm is his own important morning reflection routine. We then headed off for our very gendered "getting ready" rituals. Justin and his boys found a swimming hole and spent the morning jumping off rocks. During the same period, I was at the salon with my mom, Carol, and Aunt Margaret, getting beautiful. The thing our rituals shared: we were both frantically scrambling to get our vows done. You'd think having had 3 months of hiking to think about them, they'd long be written. Nope. We were both still writing them in our respective cars on the way to the ceremony.






Tulp Yoga






QT with mom!





The Wharton ladies stopped by - I wanted to go on the hike with them!!






Apparently you're supposed to do make up first, then dress. Thanks for the assist, Amy.

When I got to the ceremony site, I had my one big bridezilla moment (every bride is entitled to one, right?). There's this Korean film crew doing a documentary about the PCT. We'd met them once before, when they did a lengthy interview of us as we repacked a resupply back in the first 150 miles. Somehow they'd heard about our wedding, found our wedding website with all the details, and SHOWED UP intending to interview guests and film the whole thing. But today was my day dammit, and I was not going to have it turned into a documentary. I told them they could film from the back but in no circumstances could they talk to guests. Apparently, they'd already ambushed Justin, who, despite knowing it was not great to have them there, said they'd have to talk to me to get a verdict. ....And that my friends is the kind of teamwork that makes for a great marriage. We explained the situation to our wedding planner, who went and had a talk with them about what "filming from the back" looks like. A few minutes later, we looked up and they were setting up a tripod next to the chuppah. We thus had no choice but the pull out the big guns: my brother Tim. Tim went and drew a line in the dirt for them. They were allowed to film, but only behind that line. And then, everything was fine! Our guests thought they were our hired videographers, Justin gave them his email address, and maybe one day we'll get a copy of the footage, with our wedding ceremony dubbed in Korean. I can't wait to show the grandkids.






Max and Skye are available to rent for all future weddings, just give me a call





Thanks for making the trip, Uncle John!






Family

The ceremony was the most perfect thing ever - according to our unbiased opinion. It was a tri-faith ceremony, incorporating Jewish, Episcopal, and Buddhist traditions. Everyone cried. The mic broke halfway through. A random shirtless man emerged from the woods and watched the whole thing. It took Justin two tries to locate the glass to stomp. It was way too windy to set up the chuppah on the dam, so we had it more in the woods. You know, basically everything was perfect. It truly was.





Note thru hikers in foreground


















First kiss ever


















I now need to dedicate a paragraph to our friend Matan, who called Justin a few days before the ceremony to ask permission to interpret "mountain chic" however he wanted. Justin gave him the go-ahead, thereby opening the door for Matan to show up in a full fur bear costume. And that he did. Our wedding planner tried to kick him out, before we told him that he was an invited guest and should instead be offered a glass of lemonade. Despite it being hot, he kept the costume on for the whole ceremony and much of the reception. And that is the story of how we saw the third bear of the trail, thanks Matan!






Sardine Lake is a beautiful spot and it moved everyone. For most of our adult guests, it compelled them to take identical photos in front of the lake before the ceremony. Our Instagram feed was filled with photos of our friends posing in front of the Sierra Buttes. They are awesome and we want to make a collage of them all. That however is a project for after the trail. The beauty of the lake also spoke to Max and Skye, who immediately stripped off their ring bearer and flower girl outfits after the wedding and jumped in the lake. I think all the adults were jealous.

A selection of the Sardine Lake series


















And the requisite school pictures:






Wharton (with bear!!)





Princeton!!





Stanford!!

Everyone then boarded the bus to the reception back in Sierra City. Justin and I took a few more pictures with Nicole, then rode with her to the reception. As soon as we got in the car, we started yawning - all of the anticipation, stress, and planning was over - and we were exhausted! Fortunately, Justin had thought ahead and bought us five hour energies. Bright Eyes and Blue Sky taught us about 5HEs a few months ago on the trail, and I have to admit that they are awesome if deployed correctly. The start of your wedding dance party - yup, that's the right time!






The next few hours were a whirlwind of amazing food, spicy mules, incredible dance music (thanks Windy Hill and DJ Jeff), and hugs. The highlights are many, but here are a few standouts:

- Windy Hill playing "Wagon Wheel" and getting everyone out on the dance floor - including my dad and his signature "guns out of the holsters" move
- Max trying to help with the hora but being too short - so every time my chair got hoisted high, everyone was actually picking up both me and Max, who was dangling off the chair rung
- My Uncle John informing me that "Livin' on a Prayer" is the traditional Uncle-Niece first dance
- The amazing dance-along to Chop My Money led by the Sierra Leone crew
- The fact that Justin and I had been fantasizing about the catering for weeks while on the trail - and then didn't get to eat any of it because we were too busy having fun
- Lindsey M's amazing rap skillz, complemented by Dan Eyre's epic dance moves
- Signing our marriage license around midnight, with the help of our two witnesses Amy and Ben, as well as our officiant Lindsay. Somehow, the date on the form ended up reading "10/16/16" so it appears we are actually getting married in the future. Some new paperwork via mail is currently in the process of being issued.
- Magic Tim making an appearance
- The perfect sing along to Piano Man at the end - never have we so literally been surrounded by the love and support of our community.






The Community Hall





Thanks for the A+ koozie work, Matthew






Windy Hill = amazing





Awwwww





Family dance party!





Signing the Ketubah - fortunately, we didn't mess that one up

And that's pretty much it! We after-partied at the St. Charles place, woke up with the dreadful realization that we had to go back to Sierra City to get all the stuff for brunch, did the drive, then enjoyed burritos in Tin Cup Diggins park one last time. We got written up in the NYT, which, no surprise, Emily CP was the first to spot. They had requested a candid photo of us backpacking, which of course we didn't have (who would have taken the photo?), so the photo is from a photoshoot in Tim's backyard a few days after we got off trail (though we are wearing our authentic hiking outfits, and Justin's beard is huge). I'm very proud that my backpack is in the NYT though. This is the pinnacle of everything.






Heading to the afterparty





39 pins in my hair





The NYT photo!

We spent the next 4 days decompressing with our family: hiking (back on the PCT - no joke. We went to Aloha Lake), tubing, eating, and generally enjoying the novelty of being able to say things like "my husband." And now are on the journey back to the trail! We'll pick back up in Chester, exactly where we left off. Our hiker friends are all ahead of us now, so we're motivated to put some pep in our step. Hopefully we still remember how to hike after all that pie and dancing. Honeymoon time!






Kicking it with my new brother





The whole crew





Stayed in Reno for a night on the way back to the trail. Note we are back in Hikertrash clothes.





Too much party. This is how I fell asleep for the night in Reno





Justin used the $8 he won at a Reno casino to pay our bus fare back to Chester. What a husband!