Day 69 | mile 1340.7 - 1369.7 | 29.0 miles

Slept like a rock. Woke up at 4:50 and thought, “if I don’t eat breakfast I might make it to Drakesbad Lodge for breakfast”. The breakfast hours (singular hour is more accurate) are 7:30 - 8:30. I packed up in the dark and started hiking at 5:15.









Found trail magic at one of the numerous dirt road crossings in this section. I was in a rush, but couldn’t pass up trail magic. I grabbed a banana, an apple, and quickly gulped down a small orange Gatorade. Ate the banana and apple on the way.



It was cold! I was climbing out a valley. North fork of Feather river flows through it. My hands were numb but there was no way I was stopping to pull out gloves. It smelled like sulfur most of the way there. I kept thinking about the hot springs and how my whole body would be warm once I get there.

I basically ran/walked the whole way. Got to the lodge at 8:10. YAY! Breakfast. Eggs. Cereal. Fruit. Coffee. I even pulled out my Nutella to spread on my burnt toast. I love breakfast so much.

This resort is really expensive and food is included with your stay. I was very conscious of my dirtiness, kept my arms glued to my sides so that I don’t stink as much. Everyone was really really nice though. I can’t believe how accommodating the staff and the guests are to hikers.

The whole breakfast was $9.89. I tipped $15 because everyone was so amazing and I feel like I ate $25 worth. One of the staff was Russian - Bella. And one of the guest families was Russian. The cute kids (Ellie and Jonathan) were really curious about my adventure and kept running over to ask me questions.



I chatted with Bella. She gave me a towel and toiletries for the shower. Ooooooweee. It was amazing. They also let me use the giant pool-size hot tub. It’s water from the hot springs mixed with cold water. Hot springs water up here would melt your skin off, apparently.



I had the whole pool to myself for a while. I didn’t know what to do! I kept moving around to different leisure activities trying to optimize the relaxation. Hammock, hot tub, cut and clean toenails, hot tub, back to hammock, hammock and lotion.

Then some people started rolling in. I talked to this woman named Jenni for a while. She is getting a Siberian Forest cat from Winnipeg at the end of July. Also talked to Mario. I first saw him working in the kitchen when I was having breakfast. His shift had ended and he was chilling at the pool. He is from Bulgaria on a J-1 visa. He told me that a lot of the staff are in a similar situation. That explains why everyone working here is young and foreign!

I’m the only PCT hiker here, so I feel like everyone is especially nice to me.



It was so nice to relax and really hard to leave. I finally started packing up at 1. I left my pack outside the lodge to get the battery pack I had left charging inside. I was inside for maybe 5 minutes. Came out to find squirrels eating through my backpack’s bottom mesh pocket to get to my best granola bar. Aghhhhh.

I felt like a slacker leaving Drakesbad Lodge at 1:30. Climbed the hill coming out of of Drakesbad and was off. I set my sights on Hat Creek.

Finished The Goal. It got weird at the end and I didn’t really get it.

Walked through a lot of burnt area. Everything kind of looked the same. I could only orient myself by Mt. Shasta. It’s huge!

Listened to 2 MBMBaM episodes that didn’t really make me laugh. Rough. Finally finished The Habitat. The narrator kind of annoyed me so I stopped listening back in the Sierra.

I really missed the internet today. I was wondering how Selby’s cake turned out. I wanted to call my mom to ask how her 4th of July was, whether she had a day off. Also, the trail magic container instructed me to call my mother. “I would if I fucking could, trail magic!”

Got to camp at 7:30. Early but I was tired for some reason. Camping in close proximity to 2 girls who have their tents facing each other. Cute.





I washed my feet and socks in the weirdly not too cold stream. Mac and cheese for dinner, crushed banana and Nutella tortilla, a bunch of Swedish candy. I sure ate a lot for only hiking 29 miles today.

Missing home tonight. Hwy 44 is only 7 miles away. That’s where I told myself I’d get off the trail when I was leaving Alex in Quincy. Ugh. I want to quit so bad.