Aug. 13th-16th Etna Summit to Seiad Valley

And so begins the 3 day, 1 meal challenge for Boogieman and Birdshit. Our greatest ally and yet our arch-nemesis: summer sausage, cheese, and tortillas (sometimes with honey). While the experience of eating the same meal for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks didn't necessarily wear us down too much, we realized meat and cheese do not give you all your essential vitamins and nutrients. My, were we fatigued and crabby. But we made it into town in 3 1/2 days and gorged ourselves. We connected with two other hikers along the way: Darth-Raspberry and Live Yeast. A delightful pair who we shared the Aug. 12th meteor shower with (Awesome!), some pancake muffins, and tons of laughter. We've been hiking with the since; however, we were not able to convince them to take the "freedom" shots (see photos), of course, in tribute of Dan Wielechowski and Jake Gray.

Another notable hiking duo we have encountered, Bones and Lo, are traveling musicians. We were treated to a "campfire concert," where Lo played his 2.1 pound guitar and Bones played lead vocals. Quite a treat after a long day of hiking.
Due to the impossibility of downing 5 pounds of pancakes, Boogie and The Bird have chosen to replace the Seiad Valley pancake challenge with an Ashland, OR, pizza showdown of some sort. Stay tuned....

August 6th-11th: Castle Cragg to Etna Summit

The strange thing about life on the trail is that everything which occurs during a day is so insignificant that it makes everything which occurs significant. For example: Sean (aka BirdShot) receives a pair of toe socks from fellow hiker, Nar. This seemingly insignificant event signifies life or death for Sean (metaphorically, but pseudo-literally as well), because his entire world, as far as he's concerned, is massive pinky-toe blisters and pain. And this is what's so beautiful on the trail. Life compressed, distilled.
Meanwhile, Sean has been initiated into the hiking community with a trailname: Bird Shot. He had set his boxers on a rock overnight to dry, when he awoke, he found that a mouse had chewed through the left buttock area. Boogeyman's initial reaction was that Sean must have been shot in a bird hunting accident. Birdshot.
It's remarkable how things seem to work themselves out on the trail. Birdshot had painful blisters and ended up meeting Nor, who saved him. Hitching a ride hasn't taken longer than 15 minutes, and when Boogeyman and Birdshot arrived in Etna without a place to stay...wouldn't you know they'd be seated next to the owners of the "Hiker Hut" at the local brewpub!

However, sometimes Birdshot slips by Boogeyman while he's filling water and Boogey thinks Birdshot is behind him. Birdshot thinks Boogie is in front and doesn\'t stop until he meets up with Boogie. It created quite a predicament, but after a 2-hr chase, everything did turn out. Boogie didn't lose Birdshot and Birdshot didn't get lost.

August 3-6

Lesson number 1: Never complain about the length of a cross-country train ride. Why? Because a 60hr. train couldn't possibly get longer, could it? Well, it can. After a train derailment in Ottumbwa, IA(not ours thankfully!), we found ourselves 6 hours behind. Which became 8.5hrs. Which became one more hour on our transfer in Sacramento. But it was nothing a couple PB&J's, avocado and cheese sandwiches and goldfish couldn't fix.

68.5 hours went by surprisingly quickly, considering the people we met along the way - we had lunch with our siblings Megan and Dan in Chicago, we met a Polish animator named Tom, George the history buff, Tony from San Fran and Jeffrey the chinese tourist...just to name a few.
We arrived in Dunsmuir, CA in the wee hours of the morning. Saw Turtle Dawn (or maybe Turtle Don) on his way and got a hearty breakfast before embarking on phase 2.

And what do you know about royal railside moonings!? Ben and Sean know plenty. Approximately 10 butts, mostly young adolescent fishermen, but some surprises like the blondie moon. It sure is hard to feel offended by a blondie moon.

The 2010 Sequel!!!

So the journey continues. This time with both an old and new participant. Remember Ben (Boogeyman, Monkey Dump, Shit Monkey, Boogieman): a hiker of passion, certainly, but also ultimately of failure as far as the PCT and personal challenges go in 2009. However, he returns for the final 1160 miles, humbled. Eat your heart out, H! Meet Sean: backpacking novice with a professional attitude. Experience ain't got nothing on excitement. The plan - two weeks out hiking a total of 225 miles. Notable hobby - barefoot running. Soon-to-be notable hobby - let's all see after he gets the long-distance trail itch.

Leave comments, enjoy the pictures, and thanks to all who follow! We plan to post pictures and posts whenever we have the opportunity.

And now for the 60 hour train ride . . .
Ann Arbor, MI, to Dunsmuir, CA . . .
upon the Silver Lady . . .

And keep an eye out for that wily Hamburguesa (The Wave, stupid Paul, etc.) . . . he is sure to return . . . right?!