July 22, 2008 Pacific Crest Trail

Destination: Seneca Motel, Chester
Miles: 46

Adrian:
The alarm went off at 5:15 a.m. in order to assure an early start to avoid some of the midday heat. We froze for the first few miles though, especially our hands on the downhills. Cold but fun. I'm amazed how fast the miles go compared to walking. We stopped at Anna's in Greenville for breakfast just before the big 1,200-foot climb of the day up to Canyon Dam. That was hard.

The road, a scenic byway, had many logging trucks clearing trees from the Moonlight Fire last year. Coupled with very small road shoulders, the ride through the canyons was quite frightening at times. Hills were abundant, but with the uphills also came the downhills. I think it ended with a net climb of around 1,500 feet.

Arriving at Canyon Dam, we saw Squatch, Gazelle, High Octane and Nathan at the store. They had some boxes forwarded there from Belden, which is where the trail normally goes through, but not this year due to fires. These hikers are road walking the 84-mile road detour, a noble cause.

The route joins a bike path off the highway and into trees. It went around about half the lake before ending back on highway 89. We continued on the highway until Highway 36 where we turned east towards Chester, and stayed the night in the Seneca Motel. Another typical hiker motel.

I feel good about not skipping the road section even though we did bike it instead of walking. I have a hard time understanding why people are skipping so much of the trail. Some trail angels are recommending a big skip and that might be influencing some people. Hike your own hike, but if you are going to skip a section, go back and finish it as a section hiker before saying you've hiked the trail. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Kirsten:
The day started and ended with my bottom aching. The ride out of Quincy started well, a nice bike lane, a cool even cold climate. Within a few miles the lane ended and we were left with little to no shoulder. At first this didn't really bother me. The traffic on this scenic byway became busier with logging trucks, semis and fire-related trucks as our ride continued. About four miles from Canyon Dam I had a scary moment. As I began to slow down and pull over for a semi - which I heard coming up behind me - I lost my balance. The wind gusts created from the passing truck caused me to fall over onto the shoulder. I was a couple of feet from the road at the time. This small fact didn't ease my nerves and I shakily rode up a mile more before reaching Adrian. Thankfully, Cuddles told us about a bike path from Canyon Dam almost up to Chester. The 8 or 9-mile reprieve from traffic was nothing short of a miracle.

I'm still glad we did the ride. Something new on our adventure up to Canada. But any little dreams I had of biking back home after the hike have been permanently shelved.