Days 110, 111 – Nero and Zero day in Ashland

Aug 8. and 9.

With just 6 miles left and leaving at 6am, made it to the highway before 8am. Crumbs and I were walking together to the the highway and met another hiker from Switzerland who had already called a trail angel for a ride. We were lucky – with basically no waiting time, we got into Ashland!

I went to the motel where Cactass and Tinkle were sharing a room with three other hikers. My early arrival was a surprise and being reunited was really nice! But it also meant good bye again soon after! Cactass is attending some weddings in September and for that, she decided to skip forward a couple of days to Crater lake.

With Cactass gone, we spent the rest of town time shopping for food, eating and resting. I used the life long Darn Tough socks warranty the first time and exchanged a pair with holes with a new one in the Mountain Provisions shop in Ashland.

It was also time for my forth pair of shoes:

• First was Salomon X Ultra Mid, 0-700 miles
• Second Lowa Camino Leather for the Sierras, 700-1100 miles
• Third Salomon X Ultra 1100-1700
• Fourth Salomon X Ultra 1700-?

The smoke situation from the forest fires is quite bad, especially around Ashland.

You see many people with filter masks on their faces on the streets – we will check out a local hardware store before hitting the trail later.