7/26/20; mile: 1,346; elevation: 5,906 ft.
The tent spot wasn’t perfect, and the neighbors (deer) were up late eating my piss-dirt. Mental note, piss further away from camp. The sunrise was quite nice as I hit the trail early again. I have a date with Dave at 0900 for my resupply at Highway 89/36, about 8 miles away.
The hiking is lonely again, no other hikers in sight, which is fine when I want to make time and meet a schedule. After a few miles of gentle downhill hiking through trees, the trail levels out as it crosses some private lands before the highway. Some open meadows allow the sun to shine down on me and the dirt roads look like something I’ll have to come back to explore later on my KTM.
I arrive at the highway right on time, and Dave is just a couple of minutes after that. Again, my friends pull through and go above and beyond. He whips out a propane stove and proceeds to heat up some breakfast burritos for me that I wash down with beer and Coke. Second breakfast! Besides the food package, he also took the initiative to bring me a new solar panel when he heard I was having some charging issues. Thank you Dave! As we were packing up an RV pulled up to the trailhead and out poured the Cuddle Puddle. I swear it looked like a clown car with the number of hikers that were crammed in that thing. Vader, Sherlock, Pits, Lucky, Banquet, Nectar, Barbie, Spice Rack, Case and Cool Runnings. It was quite a reunion and it had been many miles since I’ve seen them.
So for the rest of the day, I had company on the trail. Which is nice since it’s 15 miles to camp. Yeah, only 15 MORE miles…..When did miles like this become my new normal? First stop is Stover Spring. While the spring flow is nice, the muck around the pond to GET to the piped flow is a pill. And there are some mosquitoes, but it’s not horrible. The slinky of hikers stretches out again after we leave the spring and we meet up again at the bridge crossing of the North Fork of the Feather River. This spot has shade and cool flowing water so I take the time to rinse my feet and socks.
Our camp for the night is a place called Boundary Spring. It’s right on the border of Lassen National Park, allowing us to camp without bear cannisters (required within the park). From here, it’s only a 15-mile stroll to get out of the park again. While in camp, the humidity climbs and thunder is heard. Being in the trees, it isn’t such a big deal to some rain drops overnight, as long as it doesn’t downpour because wet rainflies suck when packing up the next morning. With all of the bodies, it’s a crowded campsite. We all tend to our chores and then enjoy our dinners together. Tomorrow: Lassen National Park!
Savior out.