Mile 1601-1607 Paynes Lake to Etna

It was just a 6 mile walk to the pass and the highway. From there it's a 15 mile hitch to Etna. There was a parking area and lots of fire trucks. Tracy went across the road to ask questions while I kept my hitching thumb at the ready.  The PCT trail from Etna on to Seiad is open today but may be closed tomorrow because of a fire near the first half. 

We were lucky and got a hitch very quickly from a couple and their 3 young kids. They were driving a truck and a huge motor home. They had sold their house in Texas and were traveling around the states for a while. The dad is going to home school the kids and the mom's job as a medical translator just required Internet access. The dad was really good at accents so we had a fun ride into Etna. 

Etna is impossibly tranquil and cute. Like a town you'd see on tv in the 50's, but not believe such a friendly place exists. This is it. We camped in the beautiful backyard of the Alderbrook B &B, had lunch with other hikers at the Brewery. Showered, and checked out the town.  We happened to get chatting to a lovely old woman called Delta who invited us into her home for a tour and to meet her husband. It was great to meet them and learn a little about their family. 

We then went back to the brewery in the evening. Moonshadow, Astrid, Isra, Hooligan, Lullaby, Tracy and I then went to another local bar with a few locals where spontaneous leg wrestling, then folk music and guitar playing occurred. Fun evening!

The next morning a group of us went to Toms for breakfast and hatched a plan for walking the next section. We are going out to the trailhead late this afternoon to  camp there and plan to hike a big 27 mile day tomorrow to get well past the fire area.