8/2/12

   We slept for nearly another 10 hours last night. When we awoke, we felt energized and Lauren even felt hungry! Both very good signs. I woke and instantly had to poop, not a good sign. But we were both willing to try to hike. At this point we decided we either had to hike onward down the trail towards Etna, or turn around and hike back to the interstate. Though neither one of us was feeling 100%, neither of us wanted to give up either.
   We hiked onward, northward, towards Canada. But after a mile, it no longer felt good. We both felt weak and a bit sick as well. We talked about our options... We could try to make it to Etna, some 85 miles away. That could take us awhile though, and if we do need a doctor, we were not even sure that Etna had one. But turning around is not an easy task, not for 2 stubborn Northbound PCT hikers. We eventually decided it was the best thing to do though.
   So we hiked back to the interstate, 13 miles south of where we were 2 days ago. It was hard to do, but I felt exhausted and had a loss of appetite. We got a ride to Dunsmuir in no time, Gail a really friendly woman gave us a ride.
   In Dunsmuir we looked at our options at the library. We came to the conclusion that we should take a bus to Yreka, about 40 miles north of where we were. From there, we would take another night off, and on Friday take a bus to Siead Valley where we would meet the trail again. This would jump us up the trail 150 miles. Certainly not an ideal thing to do, but with our finish date of September, 25th, we don't have much choice. Being sick on trail is hard. It can take a week or 2 to feel strong enough to do big miles again.
   So we took the bus to Yreka. Very strange being in a non-trail town. We have backpacks, no one else around does. No hikers in site. We got a cheap hotel room and went and watched the new batman for $5 each. Still feel very glad to have a toilet and unlimited toilet paper...