Thursday, October 1st, 2026

(More photos when bandwidth allows)

More morning sunlight to start the day.

I spent the day trying to decide if I should stop and resupply and get a Zero Night in Etna.

I had enough dinners and breakfasts to make it to Seiad Valley, but I was running a little short on trail stacks.

The problem was that Etna was 10 miles from Edna Summit, which is where the PCT crosses the highway going to Etna. So, it would take time to get a ride into the town and then organize getting back to the trail.

And of course, there was always a chance I could turn it into a Zero Day.

So I pondered that as I continued north on the PCT.

There were some burn zones in this section, but it wasn’t entirely burned out, so there was a mix of dead trees and living trees.

Before reaching Etna summit, there was one other thing to celebrate:

1600 MILES!!

Yes, another milestone in the hike from the Mexican border. As always, I celebrated this accomplishment and looked for the trail made milestone marker.

But I couldn’t find one.

So I made one myself.😄

Yes, it’s kind of a crappy 1600 marker, but I wasn’t gonna spend all day making things fancier.

And then shortly after…

End of PCT California section P!!! Northbound mile 1601.2!

I was not able to arrange a ride with a trail angel, but it turns out that I just needed to stick out my thumb and wait for a couple cars to come by.

There was more traffic in the westbound direction, but I did get a ride with the second eastbound car that came by.

Once in the town, I went to the outdoors store first because it closes at 5 PM.

After that, I went to the food store and got my Diet Coke and some additional re-supply food.

I ended up at the only motel in the town and had a pizza at a local pub.

It was a nice break from the trail.

Mile 1591.9 to 1601.2 – 10.7 miles total hiked on PCT

+1 Zero Night = ??? Zero Nights Total