Week 6 Mileage: 246.5
PCT Mile: 1401
“It Won’t Get Out!”
Hiking into the Donner Ski Ranch after doing 20 miles on one packet of Ramen noodles was a sight for sore eyes. Nevertheless, 20.3 miles by 2 pm, I was very happy about that. I ordered loaded nachos but couldn’t wait, so I got a piece of chocolate cake and a bag of Dorito’s to hold me over. After that, a slice of caramel apple pie ala mode. Thankfully they had my resupply box, and I spent the next 3 hours charging my stuff, organizing my pack and taking a nap in the ski lodge. A quick thunder shower rolled through and afterwards I took off, saying goodbye to Breeze and the rest of his trail family. I only hiked 4 miles out. All that food and heavy pack made the going tough and after a hard-fought couple of days, I was spent.
Rolling out at 5am the next morning, I made it to Peter Grubs Hut about 6 miles away. The snowpack had returned, and I figured another 70 miles of this before lower elevation would clear the way until Oregon.
I was between hiking bubbles, no footprints to be found. So here I was, getting in touch with nature, staring at my phone screen every 30 seconds to figure out where the hell I was. After lunch, I found myself in deep thought about why they don’t make Cool Ranch Fritos when all of a sudden some winged devil larger than a mosquito and smaller than a June bug flew into my ear. No, not just flew into the side, flew IN! Inside my ear canal. At first, I thought it was gone, but after a minute or so I felt crawling, tickling and then, wings fluttering. I tried to grab whatever it was with my fingers but too big to fit. What about a stick? No that would smoosh it. I thought about using my tweezers, but the ends are too pointy. I didn’t want to stab my ear drum. Now I’m thinking about the nearest road to the nearest town to the nearest hospital. I was literally in the middle of nowhere. The fluttering and crawling continued. AAHHH, what a nightmare! Finally, I had a thought. Bugs are attracted to light, what if I tilt my head towards the sun? Maybe it will come out, it’s gotta be getting bored by now, not too much going on in there. So, I stopped, and like a statue, stood still looking like the possessed girl from the Exorcist and waited. If any hiker showed up now they would definitely be freaked out. At first nothing, then I felt crawling, a little at a time. The damn thing was walking through my ear canal around like it was in one of those fun houses at the fair. Around and around it went until eventually it reached the exit point and flew away. Son of a bitch, you’d think after 22,000 miles of hiking I’d dealt with it all. Broken bones, poisoning, hypothermia, heat exhaustion, helicopter extraction to name a few. Well, let’s add invasion of the body snatcher to the list. If I get an ear infection, the damn thing laid eggs. I finished the day 38 miles in at a campsite next to a water tank. Right near the road that led into Sierra City. After playing Pacman with the hiking trail all day and dealing with the winged devil, I was spent.
