After more than 3 months, I am finally done California.

Almost all of NorCal I spent alone, passing hikers but rarely spending more than a half day with them. I haven’t minded it, but I’ll admit it’s been lonely at times, and a stark difference from how social the first half of the trail was.

Compared to the other sections, Oregon is short and flat. Known for having lots of ponds and lakes, it’s also known for having the worst mosquitos on trail. I can confirm this. The mosquitos in Oregon are by far the worst I’ve ever endured.

The end of NorCal and start of Oregon brought with them storms and fires. The day before I got to a section it was closed due to a fire that was growing in size, another time I had just started my day when another hiker coming the other way told us there was a fire directly on trail from last night’s thunderstorm. Honestly I’ve been lucky, had I been a week behind I would’ve had to skip double the amount of miles (as some friends behind me have had to do). Going around these fire closures is never very easy, requiring multiple hitches, and going into small towns that see very little traffic. I’ve had to skip about 80 miles so far due to fires. Hopefully the worst of the fire season is behind me, but you never know.

Despite having only started Oregon not long days I’m nearly finished it. About 6 days to the end of Oregon, then I’m in the final stretch of Washington. In under a month I’ll be done.

Thanks for being a fan, Noah