Into the Marble Mountain Wilderness. Surprise surprise, it is also nice.
Into the Russian Wilderness. Also nice.
In the Trinity Alps. Pretty nice place.
Leaving Mount Shasta after taking two nights off. Due to a miscommunication with our driver we skipped 25 miles and were dropped at Gumboot trailhead. It was probably for the best though, the first 10 miles were a hot miserable uphill.
Views of Mt Shasta. Climbed out of the river valley and dropped down to I-5. Good views of Castle Crags. Cross the Sacramento River. A nice Swiss man on vacation that we met on the trail gave us a ride to Mt Shasta city. We will spend two nights in Shasta before picking up our resupply on Monday at the post office and heading towards Etna, CA.
Down to the McCloud river with lots of poison oak.
Walking towards the McCloud river.
Resupply at Burney Falls state park.
Wake up early to get the Hat creek rim walk over. It was hot. A little under 100F. No shade, and hiking on black lava rock. At least there was a little bit of a breeze. Cross 1400 miles. Stop at the Burney Mountain Guest Ranch for the night which was an awesome place. Great homemade burritos for dinner and a very friendly family.
Walk through a lava tube (subway tunnel). Fill up on water and head up to the Hat creek rim which is notoriously hot and has a 20 mile dry stretch. The walking wasn’t that bad tonight though, and the views were good.
Walk through burn areas in Lassen park. Get some nice views of Lassen peak to the west. Found a nice spot to camp next to Hat creek outside of Old Station, CA.
Cross into Lassen NP. Pass by boiling springs lake.camp at Warner valley campground.
Hike until we are just south of Lassen NP. Pass the halfway marker! Saw a black bear and cub as they were running from us.
Long climb out of Belden. Surprisingly warm even at 6 am. Heavy packs, dense brush, poison oak, and a rocky trail made it more difficult. On the plus side there was lots of water so no need to carry more than a liter. Mosquitoes were partying that night.
Road walk up to Buck’s summit to get back on the trail. Long day of 25 miles takes us way down to Belden town. It is not a town, it is a store and hotel that host music festivals. It was expensive, only took cash, and was filled with drunk and high people. The rattlesnakes and oppressive heat probably didn’t help me like it either.
Climb out of the river valley early when it is coolish. Walk to Buck Lake town and take a shower and wash clothes since we were gross due to the excessive heat and poison oak. A nice relaxing afternoon with fish tacos and pacifico.
Drop wayyyy down to the middle fork of the feather river. Very very hot. Not much water until the bottom. Lots of poison oak below 4500 ft. Swarms of mosquitoes where we camped. Not gonna say this was a super fun day. Pictures make it look a lot better though.
Camp near Beartrap creek. Pretend to be a mule.
Leave Sierra city with heavy packs and climb into the Sierra Buttes. A rattlesnake reminded that we are generally at lower elevation now, but he was polite and rattled and retreated quickly. Cross 1200 miles.
Battery was low on the phone so no pictures this day. Walked to Wild Plum (fee) campground near Sierra city where we picked up our resupply. On this last 5 day section we managed to average a little over 20 miles a day.
Someone decided to camp in our spot despite our presence because we weren’t using most of it and there were no other spots left. At least they coughed up some cash in the morning when I asked.