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.