Day 107

9 Miles

With our last day in town we got some croissants from the bakery where we saw Shorts and Pepper jack. We took our food back to the hotel and talked a bit with Banana Legs who was also trying to figure out a ride past the smoke. Night ranger texted me to ask if we wanted to join his ride up to Seiad Valley, which we did. Banana Legs wanted to go too, but wanted to go all the way up Ashland since she had heard the smoke was bad until Crater Lake. Our ride agreed to go to Seiad Valley first so we could see for ourselves if we should hike from there. We got our bounce box packed up and dropped off at the post office then went to the park to meet our ride. Bev showed up right on time and we all loaded into her car. She took us up the winding road to Seiad Valley Cafe. The cafe had hikers all around and most were trying to decide what to do about the smoke. The Count was there and planned to hike out in the morning because he expected the winds to change. The smoke was just as thick as it was in Etna so we made the tough call to continue up to Ashland. This meant that we’d miss another big mile marker. We missed the halfway point due to the Dixie Fire detour, and now the CA/OR border crossing. Oh well. Bev took us to the trailhead where Nightranger and the two of us got out. We thanked Bev and then she and Banana Legs continued on to Ashland. We hiked in to a spot near the last water for the next 13 miles.