~Etna to ~Seiad Valley.

Mile 1,609 – 1,660.

Days 80-81.

Past the Etna Summit Trailhead, the Pacific Crest Trail continues following rocky ridges with stunning views. Notably, the trail passes near the Marble Mountains – silvery-white rock outcrops that jut up from the surrounding forest. Earlier in the 2025 thru-hiking season, this area closed, and hiking was prohibited in this section due to the Summit Fire, a small wildfire. However, the trail recently reopened, allowing thru-hikers to once again experience this unique portion of the PCT.

Day 80

I woke up in my campsite several miles past the Etna Summit Trailhead. For some reason, today I woke up feeling extra exhausted. I’m not sure if it’s fatigue from my 34-miler two days ago finally catching up with me. Or perhaps cumulative fatigue from a challenging section with lots of climbing and heat. Or perhaps it’s since I haven’t taken a full rest day or showered since Burney, CA, 200 miles ago.

Consequently, I got started hiking late, around 8:30 am. I took it easy all day, enjoying the absolutely phenomenal scenery in this part of Northern California. In this area, the PCT follows along the top of many rocky ridges and traverses the sides of mountains. There are rainbows of wildflowers and spectacular views. The views are often clearest in the morning, when the air quality is best. Smoke from the nearby wildfires, including the Green Fire and Summit Fire, tends to build throughout the day or whenever the winds pick up.

Notably, today I crossed an area that burned recently in the Summit Fire. Until a few days ago, this section of the trail was actually closed. For weeks, other PCT thru-hikers and I have monitored the situation online. We all made plans for getting around the fire – such as arranging shuttles around it or walking on other trails/roads. Hikers who reached this area before us had to skip it. However, since the trail recently reopened, I got to walk through it.

The recently burned area was actually quite small. However, I spent much of the day crossing other burn areas from older fires too. Even so, I’m glad that I got to hike this part of the trail. The Marble Mountains were definitely a highlight. They are tall outcrops of silvery white rock standing tall above the surrounding conifer trees.

I feel lucky to walk through this unique area – even though walking in the burn areas wreaks havoc on my body and especially my feet. I’m developing a heat rash on much of my torso and sores on my toes and heels. These ailments are similar to the ones I got while walking through the Dixie Fire burn area before Burney, CA.

I reached my planned campsite around 8 pm – a beautiful spot on a grassy ridge. However, there was still an hour of daylight left and I felt pretty good. I decided to push on and enjoy hiking. The sunset was especially beautiful tonight – bright red due to the smoke in the air from the nearby wildfires.

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Day 81

Some days on a thru-hike are hard. Today was one of those.

My day started with about 20 miles of downhill to reach the resupply point of Seiad Valley, CA – a very small town (population 350) at about 1,400 feet above sea level – very low for the PCT.

Despite waking early, I got off to a slow start thanks to the many blowdowns all over the trail in this area. With all the climbing and crawling over and under fallen logs, I barely hiked 2.5 miles per hour. Pretty slow compared to my usual downhill pace.

Fortunately, I made up time when the trail joined a dirt road. The PCT follows dirt and paved roads for about 6 miles going into Seiad Valley. While I don’t love walking along roads, at least they usually don’t have blowdowns. I was kind of in a rush this morning, since the restaurant at Seiad Valley closes at 2 pm and I was hoping to get a hot meal.

The final few miles before the valley were grueling. At this low elevation, the midday heat was brutal. I reached the restaurant dripping in sweat, with 45 minutes to spare before they closed.

I enjoyed my restaurant meal and resupplied at the small general store next door. These two businesses, an RV Park, and a small post office are really the only amenities in the tiny town. Most of the thru-hikers were loitering in the parking lot next to the restaurant, under some large trees that provided shade. There was a public toilet and a spigot nearby – making this spot the ideal hiker hangout. Like me, many hikers had the idea to wait to hike until later in the evening when the temperatures cool off. Immediately after Seiad Valley, the trail climbs several thousand feet back up into the mountains.

I don’t know how hot it got in Seiad Valley today, but I was pretty uncomfortably hot even sitting completely still in the shade. Even so, I did my best to rest up and air out my feet.

My feet are covered in a painful mixture of heat rash and chaffing from my socks. After walking through many burn areas in NorCal, my socks are caked with dust, ash, and salt. Even after washing and rinsing them, they never get clean. They are roughly the texture of sandpaper and stiff as boards on the rare occasions that they are completely dry. Usually, they are sweaty from my feet. Each day without laundry, it grows increasingly painful to walk in these crusty torture devices.

Around 6:30 pm, I left the hiker hangout spot in Seiad Valley and began the climb. I’d hoped to knock out a good chunk of the climb tonight. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it far. Despite having rested most of the afternoon, my body feels exhausted from sitting around all day in the heat. I opted to stop and camp early and try to rest up. Hopefully, I’ll feel better tomorrow when I tackle the rest of the big climb out of the valley.