Up and away.   Today is town Day. 

Went under this 

And a bunch more just like it, then it was a big descent down to 2200 feet.   

On the way down I ran into a group of southies that I knew well.   Unicorn, Tetris, Monarch, and Orion.   They were hiking with Seabiscuit and Sizzle (Zach).   Just heard that Zach went off the trail.   They said he hit a 1000 miles and said “Enough”.   Haha, get it Zach.   Hopefully one day I find that guy again.   

Got down to Belden and setup in a room.   This is a cool resort.  On weekends it sometimes get swarmed by some oddball event.  Apparently they are still cleaning up from a pre-burning man party last week.   Dunno, all I see are giant garbage cans full of beer bottles.   Must have been good.   

Here is the view from our place. 

Burgers are good and the folks are friendly.   A trail angel brought over my resupply box which I had sent USPS (they don’t deliver here anymore).  

Spent the afternoon catching up with a wounded warrior who is hiking the trail.   His name is Jackalope.   He’s from Kansas and did 2 tours in Afganistan.   Man he has some stories to tell.   He seems like a really good kid.   Likes to hunt, respectful, good shape.   Probably dealt with some stuff over there that messed with his head.   Anyway, he seems like he’s getting what he wants out of the hike so good for him and the folks sponsoring the thing.  

Did only 9 today.   Soho and I are fattening up for the big climb tomorrow.   It is going to be a nasty one.   We are thinking about leaving around 5pm ish.  

 

Woke up to this

Packed and began the hike down.   It was mostly green tunnel stuff.   Here is a sample

It is actually good hiking, but doesn’t stand out in the pictures.    There was another small climb ahead then a stream called bucks creek.   Stopped there for the afternoon and relaxed until 2:00.   

Some day hikers came by as well as a few south bounders.   One of them I recognize from KM.   We caught up a bit.  He bounced to Ashland and is heading South.   Groups are split up all over the place. 

Another southbounder was this guy

 

Soho met him near Campo in April.   He has been bouncing around doing bits of the trail as they clear.   His wife follows him in a trailer to support.   He was whining about the blow downs and having to get down to scout them out and/or cut off branches.   He seems well fed, so I’m not sure I have much sympathy.    Anyway, we had a good chat and he took off.  

 

We hiked up to Clear Creek springs which is at a swampy spot at 6600 feet.   That was camp for the night.   I made us a little fire to keep the bugs away.   Pretty easy to light…just grab some pine needs and sticks, and add a lighter.    

Later that night after turning in, the Israeli kids turned up.   They had diverted to Quincy to get all you can eat pizza.    They had been talking about it for days, so they hitched in, ate a bunch, hitched out, now here they are.   The unspent energy of youth…..

Did 16 today.   We will need to pick up the pace soon.   And do it without the Pizza buffets

 

 

Today was a short down hill to Middle Fork of the Feather River.   On the way there were some balloons laying on the trail.  I left them for Soho.

Soho caught up with me later with this

Soho is such the boy scout.   Picking up trash and packing out his poo paper.      

The Feather river is a big-un.

Soho and I had lunch on the bridge then napped on and below it to wait out the heat.    Here is the evidence. 

It was a cool spot.   There were huge butterflies floating all over the place doing their thing.   Water was peaceful.   No mosquitoes.    I took off at 1:30 to start the climb.   Soho was 45 minutes behind me. 

Our destination is called Lookout Rock which is next to a spring.    Something doesn’t get the name “Lookout” whatever unless there is a big climb preceding it.   So…

Got passed by some kids from Israel and then….

Until finally 

Made camp up here.   We were getting mobile service so I called Alice and Mom to say hi.    Great spot.   There were folks rolling through most of the day.    Got to met this Czech dude named Bam Bam, he cowboyed on the rock.   

A French gal came by as well and we chatted a bit.   She did the entire high Sierra.   I’m impressed.   The gal is probably 5 foot 3 and 110.   Said she swam across some of the rivers, because they were so deep.   Her trail name?   Deathwish.    Heh. 

 

 

 

I packed in my tent this morning then jumped out, wadded up my tent and started walking.   The bugs wanted breakfast more than I did.

This one was fairly uneventful.    Mostly green tunnel stuff.    

  

 

We put up camp at Fowler lake trail THis was 19 miles for the day. 

 

Didn’t sleep well last night.   It was a good spot.   Exposed, but no wind.   The rain fly was not on but it was a good temperature.   So what’s was wrong?

Well, the skeeters were thick around the tent.   A couple of them made it inside before I zipped up before bed, so they were buzzing me all night long.   My headlamp was out, so I’d wake up and flail around then try to go back to sleep.   The damn moon was full so that was like a 20 watt bulb in my face.   Constant buzzing outside my tent plus my tormentor inside.   Sucked.

In the morning, I found the remaining live mosquito all fat from sucking my blood.  

 

I was going to squish her, but then I thought.   Hey, this damn creature spent all night dodging my blows.   She won and I lost.   So I let her go.    She will spawn a race of super-skeeters on the Buttes for next year’s hikers.  Fear her offspring.

Packed up and took a pano of the surroundings.   Really nice spot, aside from the insects.

   

I wasn’t waiting around for Soho, so I took off while he was stretching.     Figured he’d catch me anyway.   

Got into a little snow at first, but it wasn’t bad.    

 

There is a neat car camping area up here.   The trail parallels a dirt road with camp sites on either side.    Apparently someone took some mercy on us, because I ran into this little sign.   

Pointing at this 

Soho arrived shortly after, then Pocahontas and grumpy BF showed up to grab a couple.    They were nice and cold.    Great for breakfast.

Talked to a couple camping here.   They said the lakes are stocked and the fishing is supposed to be good.   Lot of trails to ride mountain bikes on.  

Kept on rolling, lot of lakes around here.

 

 Here comes the pain

This bit was super sketchy.    It was an open ridge line of snow that curved off into who-knows-what.    Could see and didn’t want to.   My poles were racked, so I grabbed two sticks for my self-arresting gear.   I don’t think they sell those at REI.   

After that we got into a tree line with some more of this crap. 

As we went lower it was a mixed bag of nasty and nice. 

 

 We had lunch next to a stream and a bunch of piles of snow.   It was here that, through my own genius, I created a fantastic new trail sensation.    Tang Slushie.    Here is the recipe: 

1.  Clear off the top layer of snow, including all sticks, dirt, footprints, and leaves.
2. Scoop into cooking pot that virgin snow (well as far as you can tell it is).
3. Add a bunch of tang powder
4. Furiously stab at the pile until mixed up and correct consistency
5. Enjoy

Soho agrees, it ranks in the top ten. 

Bunch of hiking down to a stream for our camp site.    There is so much vegetation around here, the vistas are getting harder to find.   Mosquitos seem to like it though.

Camp is at Nelson Creek  swamp.   Our insect friends were feasting today.    Soho was out there with his hat and shirt off getting raped.   He says, “help, I’m being violated”.   I made a fast dinner and zipped up.   Screw these bugs.   19 miles today.   Die Mosquitos, just Die.