Hiking in State of Jefferson Territory

California, Section P: Highway 5 (near Castle Crags) to Etna Summit

Section Q: Etna Summit to Seiad Valley

Section R/Oregon, Section A: Seiad Valley to Highway 5 (near Ashland, OR)

Charles and I are now 1717.7 miles down the PCT and we’ve made it to Oregon! While we’ve been in State of Jefferson territory for quite awhile (I saw a flag near Kennedy Meadows North), the support becomes much more apparent the further one moves into Northern California. The State of Jefferson is a proposed 51st state to the U.S. that would extend from Northern California to Southern Oregon. This proposal came about for the people living in the area to gain better political representation. The state’s flag/seal, distinguished by double “x”s, is especially apparent in Seiad Valley.

Leaving Mt. Shasta I found an unlikely little hitchhiker in my pack. A PCT hiker, known as Night Crawler, started carrying a dragon egg at Campo and eventually gave it to another hiker at Casa de Luna. The dragon egg has worked it’s way from hiker to hiker in an attempt to reach Canada. The bottom of the egg says, “I want to thru-hike, but eggs have no legs. If I become a drag then give me the slip. Please put me in another’s bag so I can continue my trip.” The hike out of Mt. Shasta was pretty smoky so honestly my most interesting pictures feature the dragon egg on it’s thru-hike adventure.

Shasta County currently suffers of smoke from the Carr Fire and we were no exception. All the way to Etna it felt like walking in a cloud or we were in the presence of some residual smoke. Unfortunately we missed out on the view provided by the “best campsite” on the PCT, but the smoke did make for some beautiful and mystical looking pictures.

We entered the Klamath National Forest and spent some time in the Trinity Alps Wilderness and Russian Wilderness. I had spent some time in the Klamath last summer working as a wildland firefighter and not much has changed. It’s still smoky and the hiking is steep, though not as steep as hiking on a dozer line.

The Klamath might be my all time favorite National Forest of the trip so far. Despite the smoke, the views have been beautiful from the mountain ridges and the mountains in the forest are absolutely spectacular and awe inspiring. There are also small lakes tucked away between the mountains, which are fun finds when coming around a corner.

We arrived in the town of Etna, known to be one of the friendliest towns on the PCT. The town’s people have been wonderful and very helpful to us very needy PCT hikers. We were lucky to be in town the evening of “Jammin’ on Main”, a little street festival with music, vendors, and free cotton candy. Charles’ friend, Mary, works at a summer camp near Etna and we met her during a zero day. We had a wonderful time staying with her and spent the afternoon in Yreka (the proposed capital of the State of Jefferson).

Mary dropped us off at the trail Sunday afternoon where we entered the Marble Mountain Wilderness. It took us about two and a half days to reach Seiad Valley. The most notable part of that time for me, of course, was passing two trail crew pups.

There are at least two things PCT hikers dread when heading toward Seiad Valley: the six and a half mile road walk into town and the huge climb leaving town. At least on the road walk there were numerous blackberry bushes to keep a hiker happy. For leaving Seiad Valley, Charles and I took an alternate route that avoided most of a burn area and had more water sources. On that hike out we saw a mama bear and cub, a doe and two fawns, a toad, a scorpion, a dead rattlesnake and a live one, and a waterfall (animals pictures compliments of Charles). We also got to night hike, so overall it was a pretty exciting hike.

I also finally gave the dragon egg to another hiker at Grider Campground and he carried it for six and a half miles to Seiad Valley. Unfortunately, he found the egg and just decided he wasn’t going to carry it. I couldn’t believe a hiker would just leave it, so Charles has been carrying the egg for a bit.

From here it was all about getting to Oregon. Charles noted our nice send off from California with a few last ridge walks before entering our second state. We crossed the border in the evening and really started off with a bang, doing 4.4 miles that evening. (Also, several seasonal creeks/springs we’ve used have these leaves to improve water collection and I find it very fun.)

We spent our first full day in Oregon hiking to Ashland. We found some trail magic and had lunch at an emergency shelter, making our first full day exciting.

Ashland is known for it’s Shakespearean Festival. The town has an area of several theaters that reminded us a lot of visiting Fantasy Land at Disneyland. We’re fortunate enough to stay with a trail angel in town who hosts hikers. Unfortunate is all the smoke that is still in the area and will be for awhile.

From here it’s on to Crater Lake National Park. Hopefully by the time we arrive the views blocked by smoke will improve. Besides the park, I’m also excited for this next section because in five days my parents will visit and hike on the PCT again to work on gaining their hiker trash status!