Let’s start with the good news.   Store, showers, and beer tonight.   Bacon, pancakes, and bacon burgers tomorrow.   The bad news is that it is damn hot and will keep getting hotter as we lose altitude.   The worse news is that the climb out of the valley will be a nasty 5k gain over 8 miles.   This one is even worse than Belden. 

I didn’t get a good look at my campsite last night because it was dark when I arrived.  It actually was a nice spot to camp.  

Soho and Twigsy packed and left while I was crawling out of my tent.   I really slept like a rock last night.   

First thing in the morning was a 500 ft exposed climb.   Glad I’m doing it early in the morning.   It was a good warm up.   Here is a view from the peak looking back.   The campsite and lake is behind the ridge.   

Then the great descent began.   7k to 1300 feet in 20 miles.   Rule of thumb is that I’ll gain 3 degrees for each 1k drop as the Sun (and temp) is rising.   

Stopped with Twigsy and Soho for some brunch action.  The German boys showed up while we were there (Bay Watch and Golden Snitch).   Those kids look dirty as ever.    I took off ahead of folks to get a jump on the miles. 

Down, down, down.   Began to start seeing these

My pace began slowing as I stopped and picked these whenever I found them.  The trail was overgrown in some areas and I missed a turn.  Spent 15 minutes beating around until Soho showed up and told me where the trail was.   Back on and more hiking. 

Followed this river for 8 miles or so.   Most of the canyon was burned so there was little shade.   It was now over 90.   There are a bunch of little streams feeding it that we cross every mile or so.   I started dunking my head and dumping my hat in each stream.   The cold hat would last me for 15 minutes then it would turn into a hot, moist hat and the cycle would repeat again.

All the dead trees are getting pushed down during the avalanches and spring flooding. 

The trail crosses the river several times.  There are nice bridges which is nice.

Eventually the trail spilled out to a 6 miles road walk.  What total sucks about this is that 4 miles are just going around this stupid river.   I was looking for a place to cross while walking it, but there are No Trespassing signs everywhere.   Found out later one of the German guys jumped the fence and walked/swam the river. 

There was an upside to this road walk.   Gigantic bushes of Blackberries !

I ate about 6 handfuls of these.   Wanted more, but I figured I’d be barfing soon at this rate.   They were soooo good. 

Here is the stupid bridge that 4 miles of the road walk forced us to cross. 

Here was the route.  Why can’t someone get a right of way to cross the river instead? 

Got to town at 6:30 in time to get beer and some burgers for the grill at the RV camp.   Soho, Twigsy, and me had a good dinner.   It was 26 -ish miles today.    Glad we rocked these two days.  

 

 

I arranged a ride back up the to the trailhead for 6:30 in the morning.  Soho was pleasantly surprised (not really).   He and Twigsy showed up at 11 after spending a few hours at the beer tap.  

In the morning we were milling around waiting for Blossom to show up with the keys to the car.   Twigsy jumps out of his rack wants to join  in.   We got dumped at the trailhead around 7 and I took off ahead of the group.  

Was hiking for a bit and ran into Rattler and Rockdoc.   They were taking a break on a nice vista.  I chatted with them for a minute and mentioned that I was thinking we needed a 30 today.  

 

I wanted my brunch, but every time I stopped the bugs were swarming.   I’m a bug magnet.  I just put the pack back on and kept hiking.   Eventually I hit a nice exposed vista at the top of a climb with enough wind to keep the swarms away.   It was 11 or so.   Soho and Twigsy showed up and joined in.

While munching away, Soho says he heard that we are doing 30 miles today.   Heh.   I guess Soho ran into Rattler and go the news.   His reply to them “That’s news to me.   Well I F’ing guess so.”   Trail rumor gets around quickly.  

So I came up with this idea without really looking at the effort.   Soho says we have 6k work of climbing to do those miles.   This is going to be a viscous day.    

Packed up and took off.  Ran into Optimistic Turtle along the way!   She is south bounding a section because she needed new shoes at Ashland.   Probably run into her again soon.   

 

The theme for most of the day was hot, dry, and exposed on one side of a mountain, then hot, wet, and shady on the other.   Didn’t expect to take many photos, but the small streams with the steep drops made for some really cool looking waterfalls.  

Live Waterfall Action

Here’s another one.

More Waterfalling

I like the smaller ones that are taking divided paths down the fall line.  Maybe one day I’ll make one like this in my backyard….if I ever get my house back 🙂 

Walking and walking.   Ran into some snow again.   I’ve been thinking it was time for a Tang Slushy, but needed just the right spot.   This one looked pretty good (around 1614). 

Well this is a good stop.   I saw Soho walk right through without stopping.   That will not be my agenda.    I cleared off the nasty snow and scooped up some raw materials then headed for the shade. 

After poking at my bowel with my spork for 10 minutes, it turns into this

This turned into a 20 minute siesta.   Twigsy visited the slushy stand on his way up.  He declared it delicious.  

 At this point it was 3 and I still had 12 miles to go.   Lots of pain on this stretch.  

So much exposed burn.   This was hot and miserable hiking.

With a few lakes.   Of course everything is burned above where I’m hiking.  

    

This was cool.   I think this is the beginning of marble mountain. 

It was 7 and I still had 5 miles to go with some climbing to add to the enjoyment.   After I picked up another 2 liters of water the trail became this overgrown mess.    No trail crews have cleared it this year and I could barely make out where the footpath was.   The drop-off to the right is pretty steep.    

So I’m trucking along making good headway walking at about a 3 mile/hr pace .  I stuck my right trekking pole on a hidden rock slanted  downhill and it slides.   Turns out the right side of the footpath is washed out next to the rock, so my right foot hits thin air.   Gravity took over and face-planted.    Bit my lip and my glasses tore open a cut on my nose which bled all over my face.    Here is a post crash view.

Finally 

  Finally made camp at 9am.   Soho and Twigsy were setup and eating dinner.   I just wolfed down some cheese block and a tortilla and crash.   This was a max effort day for me.   I don’t think I can do more than 6k elevation change and 30 miles.   Racked up a 29.5 miler today.    Sleep came quickly.  

 

The important thing about today is real Breakfast.  

We hit the pickup point at 9am.   Unfortunately was sat there for an hour waiting for a ride.   First car going the right direction had a gal in it crying her eyes out.  Soho saw it and pulled his thumb in.   Don’t wanna get into that.   

While we are waiting around, Soho’s buddy Twigsy shows up.   They were hiking together for several hundred miles in the desert.   Now he has gone through the high Sierra and caught up with us.   Really cool guy.      

Anyway, after a while some guy in a beat up toyota pulls up.   Twigsy, Soho, some other hiker, and me all jump in the bed for a roller coaster ride down the hill.   The guy driving says not to lean much against the tailgate.   Uhh…ok.   We managed to survive the trip.  

I was chatting with another couple later and they said they too got a ride from a toyota that was pulling an open trailer.   They rode in the trailer.  Now that sounds scary.

While in town we hit a cafe for a couple hours worth of feeding on various breakfast and lunch items.   We are setup in a hostile for the night.   It is a nice dig.   Spent most of the day doing laundry, drinking beer and updating this blog.   Bunch of hikers rotating in and out.   Nice to catch up with everyone.    

Getting late and the crew is about to bed down.  

  

 

I laid in the tent as usual when dawn broke.   What is not normal was that flies immediately started buzzing around in the twilight.   When I unzipped the bug flap on the tent this morning, a swarm of mosquitos started feasting on me.   Man I hate these damn things.

I declared this an area of evil and packed with haste.   Soho was making coffee apparently oblivious to all the insect mayhem.   When I left he was drinking a cup and trying to get service to call his parents.  

Today’s destination is Payne lake.  Shortly after hitting the trail I took a couple shots because….well….I have to post something.

Today I have been obsessing over finding some snow to make a Tang Slushy.   The last couple days I’ve seen Snow on the peaks at similar altitudes, but the trail never crosses any.    Same thing happened today.  

We have now passed into yet another wilderness name.   This one, however, has me concerned.   Has Trump sold this land to Russia?  

So here is an interesting study of misery.   It was around 2pm, super hot, and there is absolutely no shade on this climb of about 400 feet.   Here is a picture of the next 30 minutes of my life in misery. 

After precisely 31 minutes, I hit the pass, turned around, and snapped this photo looking back.   Notice that it actually turns out to be much longer. 

Then it was a wonderful 1 hour hike through the forest hit by a nuclear blast. 

And finally down to the lake

I passed the camp site.   Was looking all over the place and didn’t see a lake.   Checking the maps, it said the campsite was to the east somewhere.   I started bushwacking over a ridge and…there it was.   A beautiful lake surrounded by granite mountains.   It was awesome.   

I setup camp and sat down.  Soho showed up and we chilled out with our dinners at about 5pm.   Plenty of time to relax.   A southbound German dude turned up as well.   He was a quirky dude.   He is carrying a violin with him and plays classical when the mood hits him.   

Soho and I were munching on our meals when the German dude says he’s taking a swim.   Strips down buck naked and jumps in the water.   Well to each his own I guess.   Seemed refreshed afterward.   I’m just relieved he found his clothes. 

It was a light 21 miler today.   I jumped into my tent early and crashed.  Slept almost 12 hours. 

 

 

Soho and I were noodling on our plan last night.   We plan to stop at Etna (1597) for a Nero and resupply before carrying on to Seiad Valley at 1653.   Thing is that doing another 30 isn’t going to shorten the journey unless we follow up with another 27 and hope for a late night hitch which is unlikely.  

Instead it will be a pair of 21 ish milers and a short walk on Saturday morning.  

I decided this morning to make it a pseudo-30 day by keeping my pace similar as yesterday.   I will just end much earlier in the day.  I want to see if my body/feet can take it.     

At 6:30, it was off to the races.   

For most of the day I could see that smoke getting bigger.   The Airplanes and Helicopters showed up mid-morning and did drops for most of the afternoon.   Found out later from some hikers behind me that they seemed to have put it out. 

There was quite a bit of climbing and drops, but at least the trail stayed above 6k.   So much cooler up here and the views are better. 

At one of the low points there was an interesting placard about the old stage coach route.  

And a posting about a lost horse ?!?!   Seriously? 

Entered the Trinity Wilderness.   Not sure how that really makes a difference.   Same trees, hills, and rocks. 

This one is looking back toward the fire.   You might be able to spot an airplane flying in there. 

I hit our target camping spot shortly after this picture at around 4:30pm.    I did the miles with several short breaks and a 30 minute lunch.   I felt I could have done another 2 hours with no trouble, so sustaining a longer day should be possible several days in a row.

I am noticing that my feet hurt a lot more that usual.   No blisters, they feel like they are one big bruise.   Going to have to watch that.   More that likely that will be my limiter. 

Soho showed up 30 minutes later.   He hikes faster than me, but didn’t see the need to kill himself.   Smart man.  

There are flies buzzing around everywhere up here and the mosquitos are eating me up.   Sucks.   There is no water nearby that I know of and we are on top of an exposed ridge.    Saw a lot of cow pies scattered around here, I’m guessing that is part of the problem.   Going to another fast 20 tomorrow.