PCT Day 100 & 101 – Chester to Seiad Valley to PCT mile 1677.7
July 13&14, 2026
Total PCT miles: 20.2
Non PCT miles: 0
Total: 20.2 miles / 32.5 km
Total elevation gain: 7395 ft
Total elevation loss: 2688 ft
Steps: 48660
Remaining Distance: 977.3
Day 100 – Chester To Seiad
I slept in until around 0700 this morning in Dale’s backyard. I actually had a great sleep and felt rested for a change. It must have been the full belly I went to bed with. I packed up my belongings and said farewell to Dale before heading out. I really appreciated his generosity and wish I had more time to chat.
Today I’m getting a ride from Chester to Seiad Valley from Emily. I had posted on a Trail Angel page looking for advice on how to do this via public transport and Emily offered to drive me. I’m still a bit in shock over this if I’m being honest.
Before she picked me up I needed to have breakfast and do my resupply at the grocery store. From my understanding there wasn’t much in Seiad so I wanted to get that done here. I’m really glad I did because my understanding was correct.
I and two other hikers were picked up by Emily before noon. She’s doing a bit of a tour. Dropping off a few hikers in Burney, picking up more and dropping them off in Shasta then finally dropping me off before taking the last hiker to Ashland. It was quite the beautiful drive especially as we neared Mount Shasta. I don’t think I’ll ever come back to hike the section of PCT I am skipping. But maybe someday I’ll road trip and day hike around here.
I was dropped off at the Seiad Valley General store around 1700. Sadly the restaurant was closed but I grabbed a few more beverages before hiking down to the Wildwood RV park which has PCT camping for 15$. Fortunately I was in time for dinner! For a 20$ donation it’s ribs, salad, bread and beans. Not bad!! Showers and Landry were also available for a fee but I needed neither so I passed. Thankfully the WiFi was free as there is no cell service here.
Here I ran into two hikers I had last seen way back in the Desert section. Sicko and Rocket.
Day 101 – Seiad to PCT mile 1677.7
I knew today was going to be hot and I also knew I had a massive 4500 ft climb out of Seiad Valley onto the sounding mountains. Maybe I should have just skipped to Ashland to avoid this climb. What I didn’t have a full appreciation of was how exposed the remainder of the day was going to be and that I would be hiking through another burn scar during the peak heat of the day.
I was up near zero dark thirty and hiking by 0430 am. I tried to be as quiet as possible while packing up as I was surrounded by other tents. Everyone else but one other hiker was getting up at a more sensible hour but I wanted to do as much of the climb as possible while it was cooler out.
As the sun started illuminating the valley below I was treated to a beautiful view of Seiad. I reached the top of the first climb of the day and started the ridge walk past the lower middle and upper devils peaks and had amazing 360 views. The trail continued to loose and gain elevation but overall was fairly cruisy. I passed a few questionable water sources and was happy I had carried 3 heavy liters with me.
I descended towards a forest service road and saw a pickup truck that had a camper parked and I immediately started drooling thinking trail magic was to be had. Unfortunately they were just camped there, in this random spot and no such magic had been brought. But at least the water source here was cold and there was good shade for lunch. I rested about an hour until I had enough of the bees. It started with one but continued escalating. They seemed particularly interested in my hat for some reason.
I left here up the next climb in the peak heat of the day and entered a very exposed, burn scar area. The heat was intense and I took lots of breaks but I was moving slow. I had to be cautious with my water because the next source was some distance away. The trail was in pretty horrible shape and I completely lost it once. I also ripped the knee of my pants on a downed tree. I mean I’ve worn these pants for every day for the past 101 days so I can’t really complain. I’ll try to have them repaired or repair them myself in Ashton. Along this ridge walk I could see the smoke from the Evan’s fire thst is burning north of Medford. Fortunately its not impacting the PCT at this time.
There have been several new fires in the past few days in Northern California and Oregon. I suppose it is the season. I check a website called Watch Duty anytime I get service to make sure there is nothing nearby I need to be concerned about.
I reached Bear Dog Spring around 1700 and decided Id had enough hiking for the day. The spring is barely a trickle but easy enough to collect and it’s cold. It’s not the best camp site, I’m on a bit of a slant, there’s an overly friendly rabbit and I’m camped under a large dead tree. But there’s no wind tonight so I doubt the tree will cause me any issues fortunately.
You’re like Annoyed Snow White out there. Bees and rabbits get the fuck outta my face!