I shipped out of Chester close to noon because of the World Cup finals and also because of a slow hitch. The guy who picked me up thru hiked in 2016 and he remembered how tricky that hitch was. At the trailhead he revealed that he brought out cookies and pop to give to hikers to celebrate the halfway mark.
In 15 miles i was going to hit the south border of Lassen Volcano Park, a place with feisty bears and a bear canister requirement. None of us thru hikers were still carrying our canisters so we had to do the full 19 miles of the park in one day.
Lassen had a couple small side trails to its volcanic and park delights. I hit up a geyser, a boiling lake, and a lodge for a couple sodie pops. All my excursions cost me time and i had to hike right up to sunset.
As i was setting up camp with Chess and Thumbelina we heard an ominous grunting noise around us. It gave us spooks of bears, but not enough spooks to not go to sleep. The next day Chess did some research and found that those noises were made by deer and not bears which holy cow deer grunts are pretty spoopy.
The trail soon skirted Old Town and i was drawn into a diner for a nice town meal and way too much dr. pepper. The gas station had knock off apple earbuds which despite their tinny sound are my new pair of headphones since both of them work. Both those places had signs warning hikers about an active mountain lion in the next stretch of trail.
Right next door was the subway tube, a chilly cave that also had the last water source before a dry stretch.
We climbed onto a ridgeline in the boiling sun. The crushing heat drove me to shady spots every handful of miles, one of them right outside of a smelly pit toilet. As the day dragged on my morale started to dwindle. The trail sensed this and provided.
My spirit rekindled by ice cold water and dr shasta and a clementine and a rice krispy treat i set off again. I ran across 3 rattlesnakes, one of them was a very small baby so that was fun. The sunset stopped me, because it was choice and also i didn’t want to get picked off by a mountain lion.
OH baby the next day was hot. A ~15 mile water carry in the crushing heat. I didn’t reapply sunscreen often enough and i’m now rocking a solid burn in the shape of my usa tank top.
Morale got real low through this part. My feet were screaming and the water that i was carrying was real hot when i sipped my rations. Shady spots were still crazy hot, and the warm breeze did little to help.
I set up at the lake at the end of the water carry for a good hour and drank about 2 liters. I didn’t take any pictures of all the pretty swans that hung out next door though oops.
In Burney a church hosts hikers and offers free showers and i chose to go there instead of a welcoming guest ranch just outside of town. It was the right choice because i hit up the grocery store across the street and climbed a different mountain.
Sleep in the spacious church gymnasium eluded me, i got maybe a couple hours in between trying not to lay on a giant back zit and getting woken up by a rogue snore or the fan turning on. I’m okay with this because i’m going to nero out of town to help repair morale. Also the church coffee shop gives hikers a free drink and I like how it feels when caffeine wakes you up. Also also Cashew, Tinkles, Monster, and Cheez It are all about a day behind me i think and it would be cool to hang out with them for a bit.
much to do in lassen, i have interest in returning and exploring. volcanoes are neat.
nature trails and placards around old town. the tunnels were rad. continue to eat shit, satan, that bit made me laugh out loud for real.
crushing heat is real, this the hottest crushingest section right here. someone passed by me and asked for water near the end of that 15 mile carry, but i only packed enough for me and couldn’t help.
burney church cozy nice. i finished a redwall book and sang with a girl there, when i wasn’t seeing just how gluttonous i could be.
man i dunno 