Dropping like flies

7/21: We started the morning off with Golden laughing as Lady Ex. raged war on Eddie, who was put on her shit list by being the first the thru-hiker to ask "are you out here BECAUSE you, like, read Wild?" After being asked this by EVERY  day hiker, Explagrance snapped and responded "no, actually, I'm not a heroin addict who opens her legs for random strangers. And not to toot my own horn but I've walked over a thousand miles and didn't skip half the desert and the Sierras." On that note, we hiked out with Rustic. We found him to be especially refreshing, as he bitched more than Lindsay about the 1/4 mile off-trail hiking we had to do to make it back to the PCT! Hiking up to the Sierra Buttes was exposed and piping hot. Lady Ex. had to hang her soaking wet underwear from a trail sign to dry when she finally made it to the top for lunch. Gross! While we were enjoying lunch, Solstice caught up to us and immediately burst into tears. Crazy Knees, she told us,  had finally come to the decision to listen to his body and his mind and get off trail.
This was our first of many heartbreaks to come. Sierra City proved to be hard on people's spirits, having been shortly after the 1000 mile mark and the next easiest bailout point. Northern California, although not home to difficult elevation changes or extreme temperatures/water shortages,  is difficult in it's own right. Northern California is a different kind of beauty. The thick forest engulfs you, however,  preventing the panoramic views that you had come to expect from the trail. Furthermore, people become far and few between, as hikers' pace is no longer defined by the terrain. As much as we love each other, we had come to enjoy and depend upon the company of others. It's extremely disheartening when you find out that a person that you've come to know so well over the past three months has decided to quit. You, too, begin to think about how far you still have to go rather than how far you've come. Stealth quit. Babyface, D-Cup, and No Bad Days hitched to Canada to Southbound in an attempt to reignite their passion and reasons for hiking. We know of at least three others who made it to Sierra City and could go on no longer. Drama Queen, our long lost love who we had been holding onto hope would catch us again,  wrote to tell us he was flying home to Utah because he couldn't do this for another two and a half months. In the midst of all the depressing news, we've been trying to hold onto the hike-it-out mentality and share laughs and love with those that remain.
Terry and Nancy Williams support couldn't have come at a better time. We hiked into the trail angels' house around 9pm on 7/22 and were received with open arms. Nancy was so excited to take care of hikers, since she wasn't hosting anyone yet and had thought it was going to be a quiet, lonely night. Terry and Nancy provided such a warm homey feel, the perfect experience for Solstice's first angels. The home cooked meals, the soft foam mattresses, showers, laundry, and genuine display of love in action helped us to get past our home sickness and refocus.
Unwilling to become a feral child again, we made our way the 25 miles to the Braatens, another family of trail angels, in Belden, CA. Two angels in two nights--we had never been so spoiled!
The hike out of Belden is one of the largest elevation changes on trail. Already a time consuming and rough climb, Explagrance made her life all the more difficult by getting lost for over an hour and a half. When she caught up to Golden and Solstice 13 miles later, she broke down into a fit of tears. Golden silently slipped her a snickers bar in an attempt to cheer her up...it worked! The evening was improved further when a group of day hikers insisted that we drink their beer and eat their chocolate.
We woke up anxious to hit the trail, as we were to finally hit the half way point. As we came up on the tiny concrete monument, Lady Ex ran into Golden's arms in a celebratory embrace! We popped the champagne generously packed out by Fireball and Busted, sat on our butts for two hours, and posed for several silly pictures. Our spirits were high! We had walked 1325 miles, half way to Canada! We planned to head into Chester the following day for some proper celebration.