Man vs Food

Well, I made it out of California. I didn't get every mile done in the state that I wanted, but it feels good to make it to Oregon. Mentally, it feels downhill from here on. Oregon is the flattest section of the trail, so hopefully it'll only take 2.5-3 weeks to make it to Washington.

Coming out of Etna through the Marble Mountain Wilderness was a real treat. Large granite mountains and plenty of lakes made for some wonderful photos. From Etna it took only 2.5 days to make it to Seiad Valley, home of the Seid Valley Cafe's infamous 5lb pancake challenge. I took it on with a fury. Long story short, I hit the proverbial wall after about 2 of the 1lb cakes. But not wanting to go down with only 2 gone, I powered through and was able to get a 3rd and half of the 4th. The owner said it was the 2nd best showing she had seen in 2 years. Only 18 people have beat the challenge in 22 years, last in '06. She told me most only get 1-1.5 lbs down before they throw in the towel. Although I failed, I still gave a "world-class effort." Downside? It put me out of commission for about 3 hours. We ended up staying the night and made the last 5,000 foot climb of the PCT out of Seiad.

The following day we hit the border and continued onto Ashland, OR, home of the world's largest Shakespeare festival. Ashland is a wonderful little town with a very hippie-shiek feel. Train and I took a couple of zero days to explore all the micro-breweries. We also met back up with Sunseeker. We're hitting the trail today and are planning to really crank out big miles to get through the state. I'm very excited to knock Crater Lake off my bucket list which is only 100 miles away. The only town near the trail between Ashland and Washington border is Sisters, so if you want to send me anything awesome (which I highly encourage) then please do.

Hold for James Church

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Sisters, OR 97759