8/15/2023
Section: Milepost 1614.8 to 1600.8
Total Trail Miles: 1339/2650
Distance: 14.13 Miles
Moving Time: 05:56
Elevation Gain: 1762 ft
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Last night the light show really went off. For about 2 hours we were surrounded by lightning so, maybe, not the best sleep ever but really cool to witness. Amanda is not a fan of thunder and lightning, especially when she’s separated from it by only a few millimeters of fabric. I missed saying hi to Cat and Mouse as they were up and out super early. We ate and took a little longer to get ready and were last out, behind the German Couple by a few minutes.
Today’s stage exits out of the Marble Mountain Wilderness to Etna. The stage rounds around a few local peaks and cuts across Shelly Meadows before turning due south and then east. The path exits the Marble Mountain Wilderness about 2 miles before reaching Etna Summit on Sawyer’s Bar Road.
After some tea and breakfast bars we were out at 06:45, chasing the Deutchen. The day was pretty uneventful – a lot of weaving around local peaks and staying towards the top of ridges whenever possible, I mean – it is called the Pacific Crest Trail for a reason. It was hot again today, hence the thunderstorm, but fortunately we were higher than our ascent out of Siead so that was a relief. We ran into a few NOBO’s hiking out of Etna. One encouraged us to take a look at the little spa in town as well as the outfitters. He also said that we should take any chance we get at cell service to call a ride up from down below as there wasn’t too much between where we were and the road.
We continued south and, at the turn east, we caught some service. There was a…disagreement…at the turn about stopping and making a call or continuing on. We ended up stopping and making a few calls down to Etna. On the 3rd try we got a hold of a trail angel named “Dusty” who was happy to give us a ride. The call cut out towards the end but enough critical information had been transferred at that moment that we could be reasonably confident she would be at the summit for us when we got there about an hour and twenty minutes later.
The path turned downwards as we sank to the road. We picked our way down, occasionally skating on round rocks that made their way under our feet. Again, walking in the Marbles is really like walking on marbles. A little over an hour brought us to the road and a Ford Escape sat waiting on the far side of the road. Dusty recognized us, flipped a u-turn and came up to us asking if we were Amanda and Payden. We said yes, got in and Dusty pulled out onto the road headed down to Etna. As we descended several thousand feet, Dusty told us all about Etna and when we arrived in town she took us on a little tour so we knew where everything was. Sadly, it was an early weekday and both the new brewery and distillery were closed, but Dusty did point out Dotty’s, a nice diner style hamburger joint which served burgers made of locally sourced beef and supposedly amazing homemade drinks. Dusty also pointed out a few venues for the evening as well as the city park which was targeted towards accommodating budget minded hikers. After a swing through town, Dusty dropped us at Dotty’s and we paid her 20 bucks for the ride before getting out. We went in and ordered two burgers and Amanda got a Root Beer malt while I went with a homemade Lime Ricky. Oh..My…God – those alone were ludicrously good. The drinks were served in like 100 oz mugs with that good-good crushed ice but I still put most of mine down before the burger even got to me. The burgers were great, they ranked in at a solid 2nd or 3rd place on the trail so far with some tasty fries. I polished off Amanda’s malt because it was insanely good as well.
Once we were done, Amanda and I made the very hot walk back to downtown while deliberating on a place to stay for the evening. We decided on the Collier Inn, which was in an old common house that had been masterfully redone in the style of the day and sat just outside of downtown. We went in and called the number on the informational board. A lady picked up and said she was headed our way. I headed to the Ray’s grocery store across the street for some beverages and snacks while Amanda got us checked in. When I came back we both took showers and then made a list of things we needed.
We split up and I headed to Etna Creek Outfitters while she took a walk through downtown. The outfitter was one of the best equipped and well organized little shops we saw on the trail. Run by a young woman and her mother, they had everything we needed, including trade in’s for DarnTough socks which we took full advantage of. Happy to say I got some awesome American Flag patterned socks! I also looked for a replacement filter for our ailing Sawyer, but they had been crushed by hikers in the past weeks and were completely out. As I was shopping, a deluge came down outside making it impossible to hear anything in the store… kinda glad we weren’t in the park under our compromised tent. Thunder boomed everywhere. Hopefully the water was dampening any fire activity down… I checked out and walked across the street to where Amanda had just made an appointment for the spa. I had wanted to spend the evening writing but she said I was coming with so… evening got filled up for me. Our last stop was at the Ray’s where we found a decent resupply for ourselves. The walk back to the Inn smelled strongly of fresh rain quickly evaporating off the hot pavement. We spotted the German couple and asked if they wanted a beer and they followed us to the Collier. We chilled in the common room talking about our time on the trail and living in Germany. Eventually they continued on, wanting to catch Dotty’s before it closed and Amanda and I headed to the Spa.
I’ll be the first to say, the Etna Spa was fantastic. A kind old lady met us in front and we picked out our own salts before heading out to a back patio where two soaking tubs waited for us. We stripped down, mixed in our salt and got in, enjoying the mix of scents from the warm California evening and our salt. We soaked for a solid hour, broken up by a very quick stint in the sauna and, around dark, begrudgingly got out to head back to the Collier Inn. When we got back, I made some homemade nachos with Tillamook cheddar cheese, ground beef and the other typical fixins’ – it was fantastic. Afterwards, we quickly passed out. Etna, at this point on the trail, is probably one of our favorite little towns. It has everything hikers could want and the brewery and distillery weren’t even open! We both agreed as we laid in bed that someday we would do a PCT road trip and Etna would definitely be on the list of stops.
