Days 97
Start: Hat Creek Rim
Finish: Rock Creek
Daily Mileage: 27.5
PCT Mile: 1425.8
I didn’t need an alarm clock today. A heard of cows ambled to camp mooing to high heaven around the time I planned to get up.
On the trail, it was an easy stroll to finish the Hat Creek Rim before Honeybun and I dropped down off the rim to cross flat plains. The walking was pretty easy apart from the pieces of lava periodically sticking up from the trail. The trail went through some dry grasses and it really had the look of African Savannah. It was a unique look I was not expecting.
Leaving the lakes, after a short climb we reached the turnoff for Burney Guest Ranch. This is a newer campground that offers resupply. We wanted to try it out to avoid needing to hitch into Burney. We were welcomed in with sodas and charging. The store was not perfect but had everything needed to resupply, and they made Honeybun and I 2 burritos, salads, and fruit cups when they normally serve only breakfast and dinner. It was a good score and a great choice to pay them a visit.
We hung out for an hour or two, but then continued down the trail because we still had miles to put behind us.
The trail continued with flat forested terrain that was fast but rather plain. I will take the great progress though.
After grabbing water from a backpacker campsite complete with water spigots, we shortly arrived at Burney Falls. Unfortunately, most of the trails around the falls are closed this year for maintenance, but we did manage an oblique view of the falls which were pretty unique and spectacular. Water was not only going over the falls, but coming out of the volcanic rock in the middle of the rock face. It was a pretty interesting sight, highlighting how water doesn’t only move on the surface.
Continuing down the trail, we had a few more miles to kill. The day was heating up, and we are at the beginning of a heat wave. I keep not eating my Snickers early enough before it melts, and today I decided to tear off a corner of the wrapper and squeeze it out like an energy gel. It worked quite well and wasn’t messy as all. The Snickers just flowed right out of the wrapper when I squeezed it out.
We crossed over a dam with interesting construction with the spillway right on top and the turbine piped through the dam to a building off to the side. We have not gotten to cross many dams on this hike, so it was nice to walk high above the outlet river on this one.
It was only a few more miles to camp, but the day was getting pretty warm. Not enough to stop us, but I was losing energy the further I went. It took some willpower to keep on rolling, but the promise of camp drove me on.
We reached a nice stream just before camp and filled up and washed our disgusting legs and feet. It takes no time at all to be covered in dust and dirt on this trail, even above my knees with pants on. I don’t know how that happens.
We set up camp and made plans for the next 3 days to make sure the miles are manageable even with the upcoming heat wave which is supposed to clear 100. It could make for some nasty hiking but we will see. It was supposed to be 90 today, but it didn’t quite feel it.