Last night’s campsite was absolutely perfect. The sky was totally dark and I was able to see the Milky Way so clearly that for the first time I noticed splotches and clusters within the Milky Way. I opened my eyes at 5:30am and could see the first orange glow to the east with the silhouette of Mt. Shasta looming in front of the glow. Tabasco and I got up at our normal 6am time and started the day’s hike about 6:40. He was dry and I was almost out of water, but the 3.3 miles to resupply was very fast with a nicely graded descent.
We descended half the morning; passing a couple day hikers a couple hours into the hike and crossing a paved road with a parking lot that had seven or eight vehicles parked, but we saw no other humans the balance of the morning as the miles went by. About 11am we stopped at a trickling creek which was our last water opportunity for 9 miles. We had already hiked 13, so it was time for lunch and a break.
Early on the views were spectacular toward the Trinity Alps, but as we descended the field of view was narrowed to the immediate mountains we were side slabbing across and a canyon like valley floor below. The first 15 miles took us in a complete semi-circle, and I was flabbergasted that after that much hiking we were a mile and a half or two, as a crow flies, from our beginning point, though on the next mountain ridgeline over.
Afternoon hiking was interrupted by the passing of a true southbound thru-hiker, Splash. She asked us for a water update going south while we got good information from her about a trail angel in Etna who gives rides to/from trail to town (15 miles each way). We talked for a while and Splash claimed she is the tail end of the southbounders this year. She may be right as we haven’t seen any others for a couple days now.
The afternoon dragged on as the trail meandered up and down for miles with no real net elevation gain or loss. Our original goal had been to hike 30 miles today, a monumental number and we pushed pretty hard all day. At 6pm we reached Highway 3, where we needed to resupply water before facing a 5 mile climb. Tabasco and I discussed our options and decided we really didn’t want to push on until dark and we had had enough for the day.
Some old guy with only one or two teeth appeared from a dirt road near the highway and started telling us that he was the only one at the nearby campground and that he was concerned because high winds were expected over the weekend We asked about water at the campground and he said we could walk the highway for “a block or two” to a creek or go to the campground to find a spring. We opted for the road walk and retrieved water, then returned to the trail.
We hiked a couple tenths of a mile past the highway crossing and found a level, small grassy meadow that was flat and perfect for a campsite. We set up, ate dinner, and about 7:30pm Tabasco crawled into his tarp to continue reading The Long Walk, which I read earlier in the year. So it’s 8pm now, and I’m journaling inside the tarptent because there are a couple pesky gnats outside. I’m covered with dirt and I’m starting to smell again, so I look forward to getting to Etna on Tuesday. I don’t know how hikers put in 30 mile days, except to start early, hike all day without many breaks, and finish late. Not my gig at all; 25 is about my limit.
Going to stop journaling so I can read some, listen to a couple tunes on the radio, and get a good night’s sleep so we can do it all over again tomorrow. No wildlife today except a dozen deer or so who are being hunted… it’s bow season. If I had carried a bow with me, I could have shot just about all of them; they didn’t seem too afraid of us. Maybe they know that thru-hikers are harmless. Today’s weather, sunny to partly cloudy, windy. Low 51, high 84.
Today’s mileage: 27.5; cumulative mileage: 1154.2..
