Day 64 July 28, 2017

Daily mileage 14
Total mileage 1135
Hiked from 5:30 am to 10:30 am

Town day and goodbye to an old friend

Got going at the usual time and finished off a small climb then started down 11 miles of downhill to I5. There really was not much to look at on this hike today.

Early morning trail

The ever present Shasta

Castle Crags 

One really interesting thing today was I met a true Southbounder. I mean true in that there have been a lot of Sobo' s who skipped the Sierra and flipped up to Ashland to hike South. But John actually started his hike at the Canadian border in late May and snowshoed some 400 miles in Washington. He is a hiking bad ass.

Got down to the I5 and had a hitch to Dunsmuir very quickly. Waiting for me at the hotel was my replacement pack. Or what was supposed to be my replacement pack. I have hiked with a 58 litre Osprey pack for years and that was supposed to be the replacement. But they sent a 38 litre pack instead. That is a huge difference. Long story short, Osprey is sending the proper pack to Ashland and I will make do with the small pack until then.

So with all that, I mailed away my trusty Osprey Exos 58 today. That pack and I have done a lot together. But she was just worn out.

Goodbye old friend

Funny story here. As I was waiting to get my hotel room, I was sitting outside with three other hikers. We got to chatting and when I mentioned that my wife and I owned two retail stores, one of the guys looks at me and asks if I am Silver Fox. Turns out he has followed.this blog for a while. Chris, if you read this, it was nice meeting you and you son and your buddy.

In between all of that, I ate lots, mailed home some stuff (remember the smaller pack) and got a shop done for the next 100 mile section.