8/8/2023
Section: Milepost 1750.0 to 1731.1
Total Trail Miles: 1208.2
Distance: 19.09 Miles
Moving Time: 07:16
Elevation Gain: 3153 ft
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Well, it's our 8-year anniversary today and what better way to spend it than hiking through southern Oregon! The stage today starts out at the Apserkaha cabin camp and heads west, parallel to Soda Creek. The path then runs alongside Hyatt Reservoir and passes through the northern section of Hyatt Meadows before winding down to route 66 at Green Springs summit. Here, most hikers get off the trail briefly to enjoy some BBQ at BBQ69, which is a short hitch down the old road. From Green Springs summit the trail climbs up towards Hobart Bluff and Baldy Creek where we ate that night.
Today I woke up pretty excited because it was BBQ day…and our anniversary - of course. Everyone on FarOut has been raving about this BBQ69 place and today we are going to try it. I also woke up pretty fresh because we slept in a cabin last night. After a quick breakfast we shuffled outside, made one last use of the very nice facilities and then cut up the hill leading out of the campground. The trail climbed up to where we had left it off and, once there, we merged on. The day was largely uneventful. Many hikers choose to walk a south running road of the trail a short distance from the cabin camp, straight to the bbq place but I am a bit of a stickler when it comes to staying on route, so we did not deviate. The trail winds through a patchwork of different jurisdictions in this section, made clear by many signs demarking the transitions. Eventually we wound around Green Springs Mountain and descended to route 66, Amanda making the obligatory "Get your kicks on route 66" comment which drew a dry laugh out of both of us. At the road, which California appears to be taking very good care of, I had just enough reception to make a call down to the bbq place. According to FarOut, the new owners were very hiker friendly and typically game to offer a pick-up at the pass. A quick call determined that this would not be an option for us. "Sorry," the owner reluctantly said "it's just my wife and I working today and we can't leave to come up and get you." I told him not to worry and that we would get ourselves a hitch down. "Sounds good,'' I heard him say before the line went dead. So Amanda and I, like we had done so many times before, waked to the edge of the road and threw ourselves on the mercy of the passing vehicles. Several cars went by before a brand new Subaru, going the wrong direction, stopped in the middle of the pass and asked where we were going. We told him the bbq place and he said "Oh sure, i can take you there!" We hopped in after playing tetris with our packs in the back and he pulled a U-turn to take us back the way he had come. On the short drive down he explained that he had just moved to the area and just purchased the "Trail Rated'' Subaru, which he was very excited about. 5 minutes brought us to BBQ69 where we thanked the guy, tried to give him 5 bucks and retracted our backpacks. 3 hikers sat on the porch as we came in, all giving us the classic hiker nod before we sat down. We loaded up the electrical outlets before taking a seat. I ordered a giant portion of pulled pork with a local brew and Amanda got some Tri Tip. We ate and relaxed, happy to be out of the heat.
When we were finished stuffing ourselves, the next challenge was getting back up to the pass. As we traded our sandals back out for our hiking shoes, we started up a conversation with a group from the EU; a German and a Finn. They were headed north but also needed a lift back up the road. We headed out to Route 66 and Amanda and I took up positions on the westward travel side of the road while our european counterparts gave the east bound lane a shot (not sure why they thought hitching in the wrong direction of travel was going to work better for them, but whatever). After about 30 minutes, it became apparent we weren’t getting a ride on what used to be the country's most popular road. Just as we were about to lose hope, I noticed a woman coming out of the restaurant to her Dodge pick-up. I approached her and asked if she would be willing to take the 4 of us up to the pass. She was hesitant as it wasn’t in the direction she was headed but I told her we could pay and that it wasn’t that far. She was also worried because she had a bed cover on the pickup and couldn’t open it for us as there was a ton of equipment in the back. We assured her we would take any ride that avoided an extra hour long hike and 2000 feet of elevation gain. Finally, she agreed to take some money and give us a ride up. It turned out to be a pretty terrifying experience. The bed cover, which had to stay down due to al the equipment in the bed already, was glossy and despite our firefighter savior trying to take it slow, we still slid precariously around on the top as she navigated the sharp turns up to Green Springs Mountain Pass. Eventually, we made it to the top, a little shaken but no worse for wear. We said goodbye to the German and the Finn and thanked our hitch for the ride before heading off.
Amanda and I headed south, struggling with full stomachs and in the heat of the day. A short distance beyond we took a break in a meadow to film our anniversary video. Turns out mosquito nets make great mock veils for such a video. After that we walked just until dark. We were only going into Ashland the next day so there was limited drive to go on into the dark. We stopped at a campground not far from Baldy Creek and set up in the shade of a single cops of trees. A spring nearby provided water and another couple joined us later in the evening. We watched a gorgeous sunset, did some easy yoga and went to bed.
