Trail Day 90: Tentsite (mile 1394.3) to tentsite (mile 1418.8)

24.5 PCT miles

I started a couple hours before sunrise again. I don't really like doing this but I had two reasons for it. The first was that I needed to pick up my resupply package in MacArthur Burney Falls State Park. I needed to get there early enough to be there during store hours, plus give me time to shower and use the internet. The second reason was I was headed down in elevation. It was going to get hot. I wanted to do some hiking while it was cooler outside.

I headed down the trail and hit some switchbacks early on. Even though I was in the dark, I could tell that I was going over lava rock and sometimes over old lava flows.  When daylight broke, it confirmed this.

Soon after it got light out again I hit the 1400 mile marker. I walked passed it at first and had to backtrack because it was not obvious. It was spelled out in lava rock and there were lava rocks everywhere.

1,400 miles.

After that I was walking through exposed trail again. Mostly it was dead grass with some scattered trees and lava rocks. It was pleasant in the early morning, but I knew I would cook if I walked it in the afternoon.

This will get hot later.

Eventually,  I  came across a stream. I took a break and filled up a liter of water, adding electrolytes, and drank it. Then I dumped the rest of the cow pond water from my water bladder and filled it with stream water.

As I continued down the trail,  I was surprised to come upon a wetland area and a hydroelectric plant. After walking the water starved Hat Creek Rim most of yesterday, it was surprising to see so much water so quickly today.

Water!

After passing the water,  I headed back into the dry forest area. By 10 am it was already really hot. My pace slowed down considerably. Even though I was walking through trees, the trees were fairly spread out and the shade didn't seem to be much cooler than the sun.

As I was dragging myself across a road, I spotted what looked like a picnic table. It could only mean trail magic. Given my food predicament, I was hoping for food, but it was a cooler of water and a cooler of lemonade. I grabbed some lemonade. There were also markers to add your name to the Class of ‘17 table. There wasn't much room left, but I was able to squeeze my name in there.

Trail magic.

Adding my trail name to the table.

After the trail magic,  it was hours of walking through the heat. It was in the mid 90s, something I endured in the desert but was not used to anymore. I basically shuffled forward like a zombie, taking many more breaks than I normally would have.

As I neared the state park, I had to cross a highway. Right before that crossing was more trail magic that I had apparently missed out on. It looked like water and a pureed fruit squeeze. After a couple days of snacking on ramen and tortillas,  I could really have used that fruit squeeze. Damn.

All out of magic.

I shuffled down the trail some more until I hit the state park. It had some pretty little bridges leading over the river and then a nice overlook of the beautiful falls. I stopped quickly to take a picture and then headed to the general store to pick up my package.

The river upstream of the falls.

Burney Falls.

At the store a man noticed me and my backpack. In an act of incredible generosity, he offered me his extra shower tokens he didn't use at the campground. I was going to get a free shower.

I unpacked my resupply,  ate some of it, then put the rest in my food bag. I then headed to the visitors center to use their free wifi, since I had no cell network in the park. I fiddled around on the internet for while and then meant to start in on my blog posts. I was already behind since Drakesbad had no internet. Just as I started on the blog the internet went out.

I decided that would be a good time for a shower. I headed to the campground and stood in line for the shower, making conversation with others about the PCT.  When the woman in the shower before me had finished,  she had a little bit of time left from her tokens that she let me have. After I finished, another woman gave me a beer and a Twinkie. It has been a nice trail magic day.

After the shower, I went back to the visitors center and the internet was back on. I got a journal entry up and had loaded half the pictures when it went out again. Whenever I next have both internet and electricity I am going to be backed up on blog entries to do.

Around sunset I decided to head out. It had just barely gotten cool enough to start hiking again. I made a stop at the falls and took the short trail to the base of the falls to try to get a long exposure photo of the waterfall.  It was really low light and I didn't have time to fiddle with camera settings, so I took a quick picture and headed back up.

Base of the falls in the evening.

The rest if the trail I did in the dark. I'm not a huge fan of hiking in the dark, but it was way too hot during the day. I hiked about 2 more miles, including over Lake Britton Dam, then found a space near a dirt forest road to pitch my tent. I have a several mile long uphill climb tomorrow morning.