Seiad Valley

The highlight of a long climb out of Seiad Valley this morning was a striped skunk which ran across the trail right in front of Honeybuzz and me, leaving just a faint musky scent as it passed. Otherwise I was glad to reach the top of the hill, with distant Siskiyou peaks across the Oregon border to the north, and spent the rest of the day ridgewalking.

Well, except a two-hour break for lunch when my mom met us at a road crossing, and another two-hour break to chat with a southbound hiker named Brian (or, as he calls himself now, Overload) who I last saw in the desert more than a thousand miles ago; so, despite camping after dark, we only gained 21.7 miles today. Hoping for a longer effort tomorrow.