We walked the final 13 miles before lunch and then got an easy hitch to Chester, CA. Turtle is becoming quite proficient with this skill. Upon arriving in Chester we found out that "The wildfire in Plumas had exploded from 300 acres to 2,400 acres almost overnight and that the alternate route we took was closed almost immediately after we took it. We are very happy to be in Chester to say the least.
The great thing about Chester other than the amazing shakes that are found at the Pine Shack is that it is the closest town to the PCT midpoint. That means we have completed over 50% of the trail. Over 1300 miles and arguably the most difficult. Don't get me wrong there is still fun to be had. Rattlesnakes are now back as we have been greeted by two timber rattlers in the last 4 days. We also have a 30 mile waterless stretch coming up on extremely hot Northern California terrain. Also much of the trail in Oregon is still covered with snow. Most of this will likely melt before we walk the final 300 miles in California. The melting snow will add to the excitement of river crossings which tried to practice in Austin. Yes, there is water in TX. Maybe those armed locals were right we are crazy.

Nonetheless we head back to the trail tomorrow and in Lassen Volcanic Park. The Pine Shack in Chester was offering a free order if Lassen erupted while you were ordering. We had no such luck though. We are extremely well rested though as there is not much else to do in Chester other than eat constantly and sleep. Kristi got her wish and ate a huge piece of "halfway finished" celebration cake. I on the other hand have been shown the light and found Wonka chocolate truffle ice cream. I am not sure if we are ever going to be able to stop walking less we risk being the stars of the cautionary tale about the 800lb retired thru hikers who just couldn't change their 5000 calorie a day diet who had to be lifted out of their house by crane. We will cross that bridge when we come to it. We still have another 1330 or so miles to go. We are trying to push our daily mileage average to 25 per day and
we even hit 28 miles and some change the other day. Granted we walked from 8am to 930pm but 28 miles is 28 miles. Tomorrow we will be walking past the Drakesbad Guest Ranch which offers a 50% discount to PCT hikers on food. Not staying there more than 7 days could be our biggest challenge yet. We will keep everyone posted on how this turns out. For now I have a date with a Butterfinger milkshake, a can of Pringles, and the Olympics. I can't help but wonder if the Olympians train for their events the same way we do. I can only hope they do.