Day 130 (27 August) - Mile 1677.67 - 1700.10

Campsite by unpaved road 47N81, California to Campsite in the wooded saddle, Oregon

It was a good night sleep for our last night in California, except for a truck passing by at 1:30 AM. I guess we should have thought twice about camping on the side of a dirt road during hunting season. Actually, the truck passing by in the middle of the night wasn't as bad as the truck that passed by as I was in the squatting position taking care of my morning business. I waved at them as they passed and said, "Good timing."  I guess as they passed by Share Bear and Brad they were laughing.

Anyway, we all did our typical morning stuff and somehow we were all ready to hike at 7:08 AM, beating yesterday's record by 3 minutes. 

Ready to hike

It's dealt not too surprising that we were all ready to hike early since we have an epic day in front of us. Today we finally cross the boarder into Oregon! And, in case that isn't enough, we will also be passing the 1,700 mile mark. But first, as usual, we have a 2.5 mile climb to accomplish.

Share Bear leading the morning climb

As we were climbing, Share Bear came to a sudden halt and I looked to the left and saw a big, brown animal that I thought was a bear, but it was just a cow and a calf. It's weird seeing cows out here in the middle of nowhere. 

Cow and calf

Check out my great views of the PCT with Share Bear in front of me:

Share Bear on the amazing PCT

And Brad just behind me:

Brad on the PCT

Today there was plenty of spring water available on the trail. This was a really good one with a PVC pipe delivering the water.

Typical spring on the PCT

Just before crossing the border into Oregon, I stopped for my last self-portrait in California.

Self-portrait "Goodbye California"

Finally, after 1,689.17 miles of hiking, we made it to Oregon!

On the border between California and Oregon

Just after we showed up Doc, Bigfoot, and Blackout crossed the border as well. We all signed the trail register and hung out amazed that we had made it.

Hanging out at the border

Proof I am standing at the Oregon/California border.

Of course I had I take my first photo of Oregon right after I crossed the border.

OREGON!!!

Of course, even though we are now in Oregon, Mount Shasta still seems to be following us.

Mount Shasta from Oregon

This big bowl of a valley just mesmerized Share Bear and I. We must have stood there for 5 minutes just staring and taking it in.

Amazing valley view.

And of course, I had I take my first Oregon self-portrait:

Self-portrait "Hello Oregon!"

10.83 miles after crossing into Oregon we hit a new milestone, the 1,700 mile point. Bigfoot, Doc, and Blackout were already here taking a break.

Proof I'm standing at PCT mile 1,700

My 1,700 mile pose

Just 0.10 miles past the 1,700 mile point was our campsite for the night. Tonight is our first night in Oregon. From the start of planning this hike it seemed almost impossible that I was going to make it this far. No matter what happens now, I can always say that I thru-hiked the entire state of California with continuous footsteps from the Mexican border to the Oregon border...just incredible!

We now have 950 miles to the Canadian border with the border of Washington 444 miles away. Believe it or not, these numbers seem very doable at this point. We just need the weather to cooperate though the Cascade Mountains of Washington.

Well, enough dreaming of the next border and time to get to sleep. We have 15 miles of hiking between us and Ashland, Oregon tomorrow. We actually plan on waking up a bit earlier, at 5:45 AM, in order to get into town a bit sooner. We don't plan to take a zero in Ashland, so we want to have as much time as we can to get all our chores done in town. So, until tomorrow...

My first Oregon home for the night