I had one thing on my mind while I walked the 6 miles to town. Pancakes. Today was the day. My friend Calc talked about this pancake challenge for most of the desert, saying his dad had won a pancake eating contest and pancake eating was in his blood. When we got to Grumpy Bear’s at Kennedy Meadows, he couldn’t finish their one giant pancake. He stopped talking about the pancake challenge then. I did finish that pancake though and it gave me hope for today.
I had hope until I saw the stack of pancakes though. I didn’t know what five pounds of pancakes looked like and seeing it finally was intimidating. I dug in while other hikers watched. I had two hours, which is a long time for an eating challenge, but in the end it wasn’t enough. I finished 3/5 pancakes, which is better than the other guy I saw trying the challenge. The waitress said I did better than most. Apparently only 4 people have completed it in the last 9 years.
While I let my pancakes settle I went and picked up a package. It was time for some new shoes! The holes in my old ones had started getting a little ridiculous and I’m pretty sure my recent foot pain was mostly because my shoes were so trashed. So this was exciting.
The shoes are a little narrow, but man do they feel better on rocks. The bottoms of my feet didn’t hurt today after hiking like they have. I wasn’t wincing with pain every time I walked over talus. I’m hoping they stretch out like my last pair. If you look at the picture, you can see a pretty big difference in the width. Big thanks to Seth and Jenna for being my support crew while I’m out here!
Now, to the hiking. The climb out of Seiad Valley might be the most infamous climb on the whole PCT and I had a belly full of pancakes. It’s about 5000 feet in 7 miles. I’ve don’t taller climbs on the trail but over greater distances. This was steep. The mountains were also covered in smoke, making it that much harder.
It’s a little disappointing I didn’t get to see any good views, because this area looked spectacular, but the climb wasn’t that bad. I went slow at first, really feeling those pancakes. At around the halfway point I stopped for water, only to find the spring infested with yellow jackets. I decided I could go 5 more miles on the little water I had left. As I got closer to the top I started to feel better and better. I also realized the only food I had eaten all day was those pancakes. No snacks, just pancakes. I managed to do about 15 miles after leaving Seiad Valley, bringing my total to 21 miles of pancake powered hiking. (I did cook dinner once I got to camp)
Oh yeah, I’m also less than 1000 miles from the border! It’s nice taking a digit off of that countdown.