Aug 3rd - Getting around the Chips Fire

Flagman and Scooter showed up this morning while I was waiting for the store to open for breakfast.  No way around the fire.  I talked with the trail angel and Sybille and it's getting much worse.  They are evacuating parts of Belden.  I hiked east on Rt 70 for two miles to the checkpoint for the controlled fire closure road access.  Then it took over two hours to get a ride to the interstate.  Then another two hours to get a ride to Greenville.  Rumors are that a bus would stop at the interstate on-ramp to pick up stranded hikers but the bus wasn't scheduled for another hour and I wasn't sure it would actually stop.

In Greenville I got a sandwich and bread and meat for the trail.  Finally caught the bus to Chester at 2:08pm.  There were a dozen other hikers from Quincy on the bus all going to Chester to get around the Chips Fire.  I got veggitables, fruit, and a ride to the trailhead in Chester.  I turned down an offer in Chester to drop me off at Drakesbad which would have cut another 20 miles from my hike.  At the trailhead there was trail magic with bananas, apples and soda.  Ended up spending half an hour with the large  group of hikers hanging out at the trailhead.  Lots of jellous comments about my two foot long sourdough baggette strapped to the top of my pack.   There were a lots of bees so I moved on after a while. 

I hiked into the dark thinking I would be safe from the bugs and so didn't set up my tent at first.  Then one or two ants came by.  Then a few nats. Lots of flies, more ants, nats, and then bees.  To hell with this - Up goes my tent.  Well, at least there were not any mosquitoes.  lol  Very disappointed about missing the PCT half-way-point and this section of trail.  There was just no reasonable alternative because all the roads anywhere near the trail were also closed.  At least I got to hike into Belden.  Most of the hikers had to make an even longer detour. 

Trail Magic at Chester Trailhead

Why am I eating this pinecone when I have a nice loaf of bread?