July 24, 2013
0 miles
Mile 1506

Came to on a bed in air chilled by an air conditioner. Very novel, but not unpleasant. Looked the length of my bed and saw my feet no longer caked in filth. Very novel, but not unpleasant. The perks of civilization are underrated. Hobbled down to a thin continental breakfast and asked for an extra hour to check out. “No extensions.” I surrendered meekly.

To return or not to return, that is the question. A full day off from the trail feels like a desertion and indulgent behavior all at the same time. Both negatives. An echo from one failed math class or another came to me—-two negatives make a positive. I’m in California, the center of positivity, so I chose the positive and took the day off. As did Slack, Red Beard, and Orbit, but still there was movement. We jumped on the public bus and shifted to the next town over, Mount Shasta. There, in the shadow of her namesake, we set up base camp behind Base Camp, a local outfitter. Base camp generously allows through hikers to camp behind their shop, as well as use their climbing wall, for free. In return they ask that we don’t start any fires. Deal and so much thanks.

I murdered my backlog and was thus free to stroll the streets. The town was thick with hippies. Every other store was selling crystals or coffee. I tried to make the connection but couldn’t. The town vibe was very charismatic. I’m glad I stayed.

At the edge of town lay a little slice of Thai heaven. Finally some real food with bite. I went through the door and did the authenticity check. Pictures of the king and queen on the wall. Check. Buddhist shrine over the cash register. Check. Chai yen sai nom. Check. We’re good to go. The Thai owner/chef to the table. Thai spicy not farang ( foreigner) spicy, please. Okay and so it was. As the pores opened up and noses ran, we shoveled the delicious food, confident of dawns fiery constitution to come.

A reluctance to return to our field and tiring of pool, why not see what Hollywood has on tap? A rush walk back into town and then a shortcut across a field and over the railroad tracks would bring us right to the cinema, in theory. In practice, the field was a swamp filled with blackberry briars and the speeding train bore down. We arrived at the theater soaked, torn, adrenalined and deafened by the train horn.

The only flick on tap was “Pacific Rim.” In we went. It turned out to be a film about monsters hitting robots and robots hitting back. The film was horrible as was the acting. It was so bad that it morphed into a comedy. We laughed through it, and continued to laugh as we exited. So we got our money’s worth. But for the drama the film was trying for, I’ll take our shortcut any time. The toughest hiking so far on the PCT.

To the field and bed with laughter still ringing. I thought of some PCT hikers climbing Mount Shasta as I lay down. Earlier I had heard thunder. I wished luck in their direction and turned the stars to fade.

Steve Halteman
On the Pacific Crest Trail
Hiking the PCT for the Kids of Escuela Verde

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