Day: July 31, 2016

I heard several hikers pass me in the night and early morning, but I managed to drag myself out of bed at 4:45 and get hiking by 5:15.  The hiker hobble was worse than normal since I only got five hours of rest, but it eventually warmed up and I was on my way to the desert again.

The morning was a continuation of the evening walk along the bluff overlooking the desert floor.  But the difference now was that you could see how wide it was and how hot it looked.  Up on the bluff there was a nice cool breeze, but who knows what it would be like down there.  The photo shows the mountains on the other side of the desert floor that I must get to before I fry.

I got to the water cache by 10:30 and loaded up one more liter just in case.  I had three liters, but now had 13.3 miles to go to next water.  You can’t trust that the caches will still have water when you get there, and this one was getting low.  It had a food cache as well, but every morsel had long been consumed.  I found out later that the caretaker restocked it a few hours after I left.

I looked on down the bluff and when I got to the point where it was time to climb down from the bluff onto the desert floor, I looked around for places to hide from the sun.  There were a few that were good now, but by 3 PM the shade would be in the wrong place.  It was 12:00 so I decided to go for it and hopefully the last 8 miles across the desert would be finished by 2:30.

I wasn’t even thirty minutes into the desert when I got sleepy and wanted to rest.  I found a pair of pine trees that offered good shade, so I rolled out the mat right on top of the bushes and crashed.  I rested for about an hour then thought about getting up and going on.  I was hungry, so I ate instead.  I stayed long enough that it made sense just to stay there until at least 4 PM.

While I lounged there, four other hikers passed me in the heat of the day.  Two of them I knew, but two I did not know, but had seen one in Old Station at the restaurant.  If they could brave it, then so could I.  I managed to get hiking again by 4:15, but staying under that pine tree got sap all over my gear, including in my hair.  I’ll deal with that later.

It was hot, but the hiking was not bad except for the rough lava rock.  It took me a full two hours To make the last five and a half miles, but I finally made the creek.  The water was not cold, but it was cool, and I dumped my last four ounces and loaded up with fresh cool water.  I drank at least a liter and a half on the spot as well.  I figured I only needed to carry two liters, so I topped up and headed out.  My feet were killing me from the rocks,.but I had to go on.

I passed the dam and saw several fishermen all fishing the outlet of the dam.  Seems an odd place to fish, but for four guys to fish the same spot, there must be something to it.  I passed the fish hatchery next.  That was pretty cool.  Their breeding tanks were covered with nets I am assuming to keep birds from eating all the young fish.  The whole thing was fed by fresh flow from the lake and they had a neat contraption to filter the water with a screen and a mechanism to keep the screen clean as well.

I had three options ahead of me.  I have boxes at Burney falls state park, so I have to stop there at some point to pick up my packages.  It is about ten miles away.  They have tent sites for a fee, showers, and laundry.  It’s too far to make tonight.  Option two is to hitch into the town of Burney and get a hotel which would cost about $90 and they have laundry, too.  The road is four miles away and the hitch seven miles.  Option three is Burney Mountain Resort which has bunk rooms or tentsites plus meals, showers, and laundry for $100 and it’s two miles away, but I won’t get there until 7:30, which means I would miss dinner.  I decide on a modified option one which is camp before the road and just go into the park in the morning and just do everything there.

There is a campsite up ahead but the register comments say there are red ants everywhere.  I check it out and there are lots of flat spots, so I pick one and there are ants, but not more than normal.  I set up the tent, then go off to cook dinner.  The mosquitoes and yellow jackets are out, but I manage to cook and eat without going insane. 

When I return to the tent, I find the ground cloth and everything that was on  it is overrun with ants.  Great.  I spend the next twenty minutes removing ants and hanging everything in the trees.  Nothing is left on the ground, and the ants slowly disappear.  I am sure they will reappear, but I’ll just make sure there is nothing of interest to them.  Well, not thirty minutes after settling in, I have discovered that they have made a trail up the side of the tent to go after my sweaty shirt, which is hanging in the vestibule.  Super.  They are not getting inside the tent, but there are a few in here, so I spend ten minutes squashing ants.

I get settled in and start to blog when I hear a crashing noise in the woods.  It doesn’t sound like a bear or anything, but I saw a cougar about a mile back walking down the trail.  I left the tarp off the tent because it is hot as blazes and I see a skunk heading right for my tent.  I shine the light in his eyes, but it does not phase him, he is headed right at me.  When I turn the light out, he notices the light from the phone and he freezes.  Great, he is going to spray me and the phone inside the tent with no tarp on it.  He will destroy everything I own except clothes and food which are hanging in the trees.  Luckily, he turns around and runs straight away into the woods.  I wonder what else is lurking in these woods to eat me tonight.  Tune in tomorrow to find out.  Or maybe there will not be a post tomorrow.

I had about the best night sleep so far on the trail last night.  I did not wake up once until 4:15 and slept in until 5:45 then finally got up and got going at 6:45.  I had no bear visits, my food was still intact, life is good.

The trail continued in the burn area for quite some time.  There was not much to look at, other than Mt Lassen in the background, sticking up above everything else and showing off its snow covered peak.  We have been staring at it for a week, but now the trail is northeast of it and I am seeing a different side of it now.

Two other hikers that I ran across and myself encountered a fourth hiker.  This guy was an oddball.  You would say hello, and get zero response from this guy, not even a glance.  One of the other hikers repeated his hello very loudly and the guy flipped him the bird.  I saw him twice again that day and said hello and no response either time.  I found out later that this guy is well known as being in a perpetual foul mood and was even verbally rude to trail angels.  What makes a person so bitter like that?  I saw him one last time (I hope the last time) and just glared at him the whole time I hiked last him, not saying a word.  He glared back.

After about 9 am the trail turned to planted pines.  This is the first time I have seen planted pines the entire trip.  It was nice easy hiking and shaded well enough.  It went down to a very nice river, so I stopped to eat lunch one and wash socks.  I spent about forty five minutes there.

About an hour later through the planted pines, I came across some trail magic.  It was a cooler full of water, beer, soda, and apples.  A soda and an apple hit the spot.  We were less than four miles from town, so I moved on, and this section of trail was out of the planted pines and I to a very low and very hot section.  The soda was a welcome treat.  The trail climbed towards the end and I could see town, and eventually the trail came out to the road and I started the half mile roadwalk to the restaurant.  I got there right at 3:00.

I set my pack on the porch.  There were already a dozen packs there and half a dozen hikers.  I sat and cooled a while, then went in and sat at a table with some other hikers.  One was from Germany and one from Maine.  I ordered a grilled pastrami and it was fantastic.  The pastrami was made from local grass fed beef and grilled with a hint of a smoke flavor.  I would come back here to JJs just for the pastrami.

I chatted until 5:30 or so then made my way to the store next door.  All I needed was tortillas and three one liter bottled drinks.  We were about to hit a 30 mile hot and waterless section and I had gotten rid of extra bottles since I did not need them through the water rich Sierras.  The store only had 20 ounce bottles, though, so I got two Gatorade and one coke.  I would use the coke to keep awake so I could night hike tonight, the orange Gatorade for breakfast, and a lemon lime Gatorade for the heat tomorrow. I also bought a drumstick ice cream to eat on the roadwalk and chips and a cookie for dinner.

I finally left at 6:00.  I still had one more stop.  There is an underground lava tube called the subway just across the road that i wanted to hit.  Besides being cool (literally) their trailhead had water and I still needed to fill my bladder with two more liters.

The subway was very cool indeed.  I unknowingly went in the exit, so all the signs were backwards.  Not even thirty feet in, it was so dark I needed the headlight.  They did a good job explaining all the different formations and what you were actually looking at.  The floor was rough and rocky lava.  The in cave part was probably less than ten minutes, but it was worth it.  I got my water filled and got back on the trail at 6:35.  Now begins thirty miles of blah.

The climb out of town was not too bad.  It was well graded, and took us to the top of the plateau that overlooked the hat creek valley.  The sun was setting about the time I got to the official overlook, so the views were fantastic.  I hiked along snapping pictures galore. 

The trail turned rocky right after dark, so I had to use the headlamp right away.  It was slow going, but I trudged all g until 10:30 when I had enough and looked for a campsite.  It took a while, but I got a good one that had six inches of pine needles.  I age a cold dinner and went straight to bed.  No music, no blogging, just sleep.  I took notes of the day and will blog it during my siesta tomorrow.