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.