Today was a lounging day.   I was planning to go into town to resupply, but after looking over the contents of the store at the ranch, I found all I needed.    

Found a my box with my new treads.  I’m now comfortably equipped with size 12 LA Sportiva’s.    My old shoes did about 700 miles and held up surprisingly well.   Now they go to shoe heaven.  

Lot of hikers coming in/out of here.   Most stay for a day, some for 2 days.   Soho and I were talking to a really trippy dude named Megaman.  

Megaman used to be an amateur boxer and was raised uber-Mormon.   While he was on his missionary gig (I guess it is 2 years), he decided it wasn’t for him and ran away.   He had a big bag of nuts to eat.   Meanwhile 30 Mormons and the cops were looking for him.   His parents told the cops he was a suicide risk.   I suppose there was some truth in that, because he later got hospitalized because he ate too many of the same nut and got some kind of poisoning.

So now this dude is on his own hiking the trail.   Because he (now) believes one should control his own fate, he does not want to grow old and die of Cancer or whatever.   He has decided instead that at age 40 he is going to Alaska and pick a fight with a bear.   Mano a Mano and see what happens.   Someone should implant a go pro in this guy’s forehead and sell the footage.    

 

Taking off early tomorrow morning.   I’ve been writing blog posts, but this place must be on a satellite Internet connection.    Downloads are fast, but uploads are incredibly slow.   Have to post at the next stop.  

 

Woke up to the sound of cows roaming around our campsite.  They dropped some fresh pies for tonight’s hikers to enjoy with their empty tank of water.  Packed up quickly and got out.   

After a mile or two I passed our “alternative” water source.   A pond full of cow shit.    

Too bad I cannot blog the smell, it was really, really special.  Found out later that Jackalope tore through here last night and got water from an adjacent pond.   He said it was better…fewer cow pies.   Uhh, I don’t think so.   I think I’d rather die. 

Had another 10 miles worth of crappy lava rock trail.   Once in a while it would seem I was getting back into dirt only to be hit with a bunch of lava pebbles and toe stumpers.    

 

Once we left the rim, the trail dropped down into a stream bed.   I think this is one of the streams feeding the FAMOUS Baum lake.   Scrappy, Soho, Sing Song, and another dude named Mike were hanging out here.  I had 1 liter left and didn’t want to get sucked into lounging.   Told Mike I was going to check on my Lake.    He said he was going to pee in it and make it his own.   Hmm…I better hurry ahead then.

Walked past the fenced in Baum homestead, past the Baum hydroelectric power station, to the lake access.   The excitement is building.   It must be a gigantic body of water supporting all sorts of water sports.  

Finally I got to the vista looking over my lake.   It turns out it is really just a big swamp.   Figures.

My lake turned out to be such a bust that I didn’t even bother getting some water there.   I was dry for the next 3 miles to Burney Guest Ranch.    I was pretty thirsty when I finally arrived.

This is has been one of the nicest spots to stop on the trail.   The owners are super hiker friendly.    They have a tiny general store filled with EXACTLY what hikers need to resupply.    The ‘fridge is full of soda, gatorade, and ice cream.   All this is run on an honor system.   You grab a sheet and fill out what you use, then settle up before leaving.   

Susan, the owner, gave me a cup of sherbet and the lowdown on the place.    Soho and I will be staying a couple of nights.   Nice gal, save for all the preachy Jesus stuff.   Later I found out that Papa Bear and her went to the same High School in Carson Nevada.   She reluctantly names some of her friends and it is clear from Papa Bear that this was a nasty crowd.   Her ex boyfriend spent a lot of time in the pokey.   She is a gal of extremes.  

They have a huge dining room/rec area done up very tastefully.   There is a laundry, pool, nice deck in front.   All the fix’ins for a good lounge spot.

Passed the day on the front deck chatting.   I watched Jackalope consume two fresh Mountain Dew cans and two ice cream sandwiches together in less than 10 minutes.    On my 3rd or 4th Soda I found out that the famous Optimistic Turtle was here!  

Wrote about her earlier.   She is all over the water report sending in updates about the streams and water caches.   Given all the snow, you can just about assume every known creek is running, but our trail reporter seems compelled to tell us  “Good Flow” anyway on the water report.    Soho and I have been joking about meeting up with here for weeks now…..and there she is.    We told her she’s wrong about the 500 gallon tank on Hat Creek Rim.   Sure enough, she whips out her phone and starts furiously typing in an update.

Her trail name came from her boyfriend.   Apparently she kept saying they would do “20 miles” that day but instead turned in 10.   She took off shortly there after.  The turtle will be phoning in reports of flowing water ahead of us.

It was a 17 miler today.    Susan is laying out yet another all you can eat buffet for us.  Going to Zero tomorrow.   

                        

 

 

  I didn’t get any water at my lake….my disappointment over

 

 

 

Had a great sleep.   We were camped a few feet from Hat’s Creek which is flowing fast and furious over some cascades.   I’m finding I like to sleep next to that white noise.   Or maybe it is the “negative ions”.  

On second thought, I think exhaustion is the likely explanation. 

Anyway, Soho got the jump on me today.   Our destination is JJ’s and I think he is inspired by the potential breakfast/lunch combo.   The rest of the folks were still in their tents, apparently uninspired.

Trail was generally flat and boring.   Which is fine by me.   I want my French Toast ASAP !

The Hiker Hunger thing is creeping up on me again.   I last felt it after doing about 3 weeks straight in the desert.   Food.  It becomes one of the primary topics in my hiking thought chain.   Footstep placement, French Toast, View of surroundings, French Toast, Playlist selection, FRENCH TOAST.  Man this 7 miles is taking forever. 

Got to 1374, walked the highway, and found JJ’s.   Soho was there already with his order in.    I ran into a German Couple that I haven’t seen for a while, Ironman and Mashed Potatoes (aka ‘taters).   Last saw them near Acton.   Joined them for the breakfast and lunch combo.    

They are a South bounding for a bit, then jumping up to Ashland and going North again.   They have some convoluted plan to hike the High Sierra in September.   Hopefully I’ll see them again in Oregon.   They are a nice couple.  

Iron Man gave us the 411 on the Burney Guest Ranch, which is our next destination.   Good place to stay, good resupply, a little too heavy on the Jesus thing.   He was particularly bummed that no Beer was allowed there.   Hmm, I share his bummage.  

After my mega breakfast, I had a milk shake.   Iron man finish his breakfast, then ordered lunch.  We were all doubling down.

We headed over to the gas station for a couple snacks to pack out and Soho ran into a gal he hiked with in the Desert named Jitterbug.  She is hanging with some other guys Lost and Found, Polar Bear, and another dude.   They went through the High Sierra’s.   I can tell these folks are doing big miles now.   They have the look.

Before hitting the trail we walked through the “subway” tunnel.   It is a 1000 foot long lava tube.  Pretty neat diversion.

The next 41 miles is known as Hat Creek Rim and does not have much water.  It is a long plateau of basalt that was barfed out by Lassen during its last eruption.   There is a reliable water cache halfway through that most of us are depending on.   Some locals setup a 500 gallon tank and keep it filled at mile 1391.   According to Iron man, who just traversed it, there are 300 gallons left in it.   He mentioned something about pushing down on the spigot to get the water to flow.   That registered as suspicious to me, but I let it go when another local at the gas station said he checked it yesterday and there was plenty of water.

Turns out they were all wrong, but I wouldn’t find out until I got there.  

Since there is plenty of water waiting for us in 15 miles, I downed a liter from the town’s water spigot and filled up 3 liters for the journey to save weight.    Going to hit the cache dry tonight.  

This segment absolutely sucked.    The climbing was exposed.   The sharp lava rocks are killing my feet because my shoe’s padding is non-existent at this point.   The trail is full of uneven fist sized blobs of basalt which I keep tripping over.    My toes are all cramped in my shoes, so I get to experience the pain in a fully immersive 3D experience.    God this sucked.

There was a nice view of Mount Lassen to the South and Shasta to the North.   Here is a pano. 

Shasta looks damn big even at this distance. 

Soho and I keep crossing each other on the hike.   He gets ahead, rests, I pass him, then he passes me.    Just before the communication tower at 1388 we run into a pair of South bounders.   They were at the 500 gallon water tank and said there IS NO WATER THERE.   Dry.   This could be bad.   Between Soho and I we have maybe 2 liters of water to last us for another 20 miles.

At the communication tower, there are a bunch of 5 gallon empty jugs.   I kick a bunch of them around while we mull over our fate.   In 3 miles, we either figure out how to get some drops from that tank or we are going to be night hiking.  

 

 

We got to the tank around 7.   The gauge on the tank says “300 gallons” but the thing is empty.    So the mystery is solved, the damn gauge is broken.

Jitterbug and her crew are there.   Someone has unscrewed the valve at the base of the tank and according to One of the guys you can get water from the remaining 6 inches of tank below the pipe.     They were sucking water into their hollow  trekking poles and spitting it out in a jug.   That’s pretty gross.   Soho and I think about it a bit and work out that we can use the tube and filter from my hydration pack to siphon water from the tank.    I sit there for 20 minutes slowly filling our bags and bottles.   We are saved, but I pity the next groups coming through.   

The place is  next to fenced in cattle loading area.   Cow patties dot the landscape.    We cowboy camped next to the tank in a bunch of dried cow crap.   The smell adds to the experience.   I think there are a couple dried patties under my ground sheet poking me in the back.  

22 miles today.   Can’t wait to leave this miserable spot.  

   

Got to spend some time in the pit toilet before leaving. That was some luxury. It does not even smell bad anymore. Either they are cleaner in Northern Cal or I’m dirtier.

My toes hurt. Damn shoes. They have gone from awesome to a foot compactor.

The trail picked up just outside the camp site, which was a nice change. The climb was rough going up, but after hitting some plateau it was an easier ascent.

Arrived at this river crossing

I almost gave up and walked through it, but fortunately scouted around and found this log.

<Pic Log>

After that it was some crossing through marshes like this.

And relatively nice trail

Next to miles of marsh land. With the marsh comes mosquitoes. Hoards of mosquitoes. I dial up the pace but these damn things are still landing on me. When I stopped and pulled out the earbuds, I realize just how bad it is. They are all over me. Bastards. I threw my pack on the ground and was dancing around while trying to fish out my deet. That got sprayed on everything. Me, my hat, my pack. It seemed to help a little, so I packed up and jammed out of there.

Around 11ish I left the Marsh and stopped for a little brunch.

Jackalope shows up and tells me that Soho is coming up behind him. When he shows up we hike together for a while and run into Ricky Bobby at the first lake.

Somehow I get in the lead of our little group and get a burst of energy. The trail is exposed because of a recent burn, but flat, straight, and soft. I turned up the music and hammered out a total of 12 miles, only stopping to say hi to Jackalope and Canada Joe while I passed. Ricky Bobby kept up for a while, but eventually fell back.

We have passed mount Doom without the eye of Mordor spotting us.

I made it to Hat creek at 3. Did ~20 miles in 8 hours. Soho showed up 30 minutes later while I was having lunch. Ricky Bobby turned up, hung out, then pressed on. Later in the evening Canada Joe, Papa Bear, his niece Chatter showed up. I was already in my tent half asleep by 7. Sometime during the night Sonny turned up as well.

Tomorrow it is breakfast at JJ’s in Old Station. I can get used to this.

Today my feet hurt. I packed them into my shoes so they hurt some more. Got a bruise on each of my second toes where they are squished against the front of the shoe. 

Plan today is to hike 4 miles past the Lassen park boundary and use the bear boxes to store our food. The park has a new policy requiring bear canisters and I’m definitely not going to be packing one of those things.

I took off before Soho today and put some climbing miles in. While going up a dude named Papa Bear passed me. He’s a 60 something guy hiking a section with this niece. He stops every couple hours to have a smoke and I catch up.  The guy still outpaces me. Wow do I suck that much?

Hiking was mostly unremarkable. Still nice to see all the green and trees. Here’s some pics

 

A couple miles into Lassen park we passed Boiling Spring Lake. Found Papa Bear lounging under a bush, smoking a cig. This lake is most definitely not a good water source. Looks like it will dissolve my bag, filter, and most of my intestines.

Hiked the PCT to a side trail leading to Drakesbad. The place is known to take care of hikers….but only after the paying guests are cared for.

Got there around 1 and met a few others there (Terminator and a couple of Southies). They explain the rules. We are to sit at the table between the dining hall and the horse corral. The guests get the deck and all the clean areas. We get the dirt and a table.   Accommodations befitting our current social status. Papa Bear, Canada Joe, and the Czech Bam Bam turn up just as the paying guests finish lunch. We are turned loose on the dining hall’s buffet which we swarm like locusts. Many plates were consumed. The remaining guests scatter in fear.

The rest of the day was spent chatting, showering, laundry, and lounging in our table by the corral. Occasionally we’d run over to the gift shop for ice cream and sodas. Most of us were waiting around for dinner. Occasionally we run into the guests who look at us with a mixture of concern, disgust, and curiosity. It is fun to watch.

While sitting around, a gal named Ricky Bobby shows up. She is a 20 yr old Canadian who apparently likes to “Go Fast”. Soho and I keep hitting her with Talladega Nights quotes, but she doesn’t get them. Apparently the movie did not make the same impression on her it did us. Sonny also turned up around 7. Apparently she ditched her Malaysian pack-a-day partner.

Watching Canada Joe go through his resupply package was interesting. This guy’s strategy is…unique. Cans of spam, sardines, chili, and other random heavy stuff combined with mountain house dehydrated. He ended up dropping off half of it in hiker box.

The Dinner bell rang around 6:30. All the guest enter the dining hall and deck to get an awesome meal served by white coated wait staff. We sit at our table in the dirt and look on. Then, at 8, a gal comes over with placemats, silverware, glasses, etc. Chicken or stuffed tomatoes plate is $18. Prime rib is $31. Our cheap asses all order chicken. The Chef takes sympathy on us and gives us BOTH a stuffed tomato and chicken. Wedge salad and desert. It was excellent. He came out after it was served to check on us. Nice touch. We’d been happy with a couple bowls of chili.

After this we headed over to Warner campground and crashed at Papa Bear’s campsite. There are 9 tents all crowded in a site for one car camper. Nice end to a 15 mile day.