Start: 1500 - Burney Falls State Park
End: 2100 - Peavine Creak
Miles (today): 14 (13.5 PCT, 0.5 off)
Miles (cumulative): 1472 (1315.5 PCT, 94 alternate, 62.5 off)

Despite desperately wanting to sleep in, I was up at 0600, per usual. I would have tried to go back to sleep but there were several hikers around the picnic table right outside our tent so it felt necessary to get up.

We took our time making breakfast and getting packed up because the mail wasn't scheduled to arrive until 1000 at the earliest.  It was so difficult to not start hiking at 0700, though - I know that in the grand scheme of things a few hours lost isn't a huge deal, but when it's hot like it is now, hiking in the morning is the easiest.

The good thing about taking our time this morning was that we had a chance to visit Burney Falls.  Holy cow, they were incredible!  If anyone is looking for a cool vacation spot in California, look into Burney Falls.

looking down at the falls

By 1100 we learned that our resupply didn't arrive.  It's not a huge deal - we have extra dinners and figured we could get everything else we needed from the store.  While I was at the store, however, I overheard Slim tell two other hikers he would take their extra food to the hiker box.  Oh yeah, that's right!  Hiker box!  I asked to see what he was getting ready to drop off and was amazed to discover the hikers were getting rid of 3 days worth of food (for the both of them).  It was PERFECT - they had breakfasts, awesome granola bars, cookies, fantastic trail mixes... Basically everything we needed to get us to our next resupply.  No need to spend money at the store!  Hiker boxes rule!!

At the store I ran into Michelle, a wonderfully nice, friendly, and complimentary woman - she told me my legs look great and that I look great and that this hiking thing is doing me good.  Please don't think I'm writing this to brag - I'm writing this to remind myself of how nice Michelle was and to highlight how easy it is to make a positive difference in someone's day. Michelle's compliments made me feel a little better about myself - being around 'normal' people while wearing your dirt stained hiking attire doesn't exactly give you a lot of confidence.  

By the time we got the hiker box food sorted, it was noon and very, very hot.  Jeff told me it was going to get up to 102 degrees.  Ugh.  The thought of hiking in the heat made me queasy and I had a very difficult time getting motivated.  Rather than torture ourselves, Nick and I decided to kill a few more hours and wait out the hottest part of the day.  It was the smart move but I lamented getting even further behind schedule.  The good side is that I had time to nap in the shade (really, I wish I could take a nap every day)

The other good thing about waiting was that we bumped into Moses - it was great to see him again, the last time we saw him was when we celebrated 1000 miles together (over 416 miles ago!) We also saw Smiles and Dilly Dally - they were hiking in as we were hiking out.  :)

It was still pretty hot when we started hiking at 1500 but most of the trail was shaded and there was a small breeze to keep us cool.  In fact, I really enjoyed the trail this afternoon/evening.  We walked past a dam, which was impressive, we ran into SPF while getting water at a stream, and we hiked past sundown, which meant hiking in the dark (which I like).

The campsite was a little past the water, so I claimed the site with my poles and clothes bag and then went back to get water. There were a lot of trees blocking the sky, which made it extra dark and a little creepy, especially when I had to walk down an overgrown side trail for water.  While I was purifying water (and getting eaten by mosquitos), I watched about 7 bats fly around and mentally told them to eat the mosquitos torturing me.  The bats were fun to watch, but they didn't do a good enough job eating the mosquitos so I got out of there as soon as I finished getting water.

I walked back to the trail and waited for Nick so I could show him where the campsite was (it was really dark by now and it would be difficult to spot).  Seeing his headlamp was a welcome site (but noticing all the millipedes on my pack was definitely not).  Ahh, life on the trail with all our creepy crawly friends.